Release International

Twelve house church leaders were arrested during a Christmas Day raid on a church in Xinjiang, in one of a series of raids across the Christmas period.

Eyewitness reports say 200 police officers and officials from the Religious Affairs Bureau swooped on the church in Ma Na Si County where more than 200 Christians had gathered to celebrate.

Seven of the 12 detainees were released at midnight on the following day but five remain in custody. China Aid reports that a similar raid was made on a house church meeting in Korla City in Xinjiang on Christmas Eve. No arrests were made here but the meeting was closed. At least three other raids were made on pastors' homes in Jiangsu province, Henan province and Inner Mongolia.

Elsewhere, nuns and church leaders have been attacked while protesting against the confiscation of church properties in Xian, the capital city of Shaanxi, and Tianjin city in Hebei province. In both instances, protestors wanted to draw attention to the fact that buildings confiscated by the
Chinese government during Chairman Mao's Cultural Revolution should by now have been returned to the church. During the second demo, on December 16, a group of 'thugs' used iron bars, bricks and clubs to try to disperse the 48 church leaders and two nuns who were protesting.

Meanwhile, imprisoned church leader Cai Zhuohua has had his hopes of a reprieve dashed after the courts threw out a second appeal. The Chinese authorities announced the unexpected 'second trial', from which the verdict was announced on December 20, after intense international lobbying. In November Pastor Cai, his wife and brother-in-law were found guilty of 'illegal business practices' for printing Bibles and other Christian literature. Their sentences were three years, two years and 18 months respectively.

• Pray for the speedy recovery all those injured in recent protests against confiscated church property. Pray too for the release of arrested house church leaders in Xinjiang.
• Continue to pray for Pastor Cai, his wife Xiao Yunfei and her brother Xiao Gaowen. All three have reportedly been tortured and repeatedly interrogated since their arrest in 2004.

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