Sichuan (China): On June 9, 2009, more than 30 house church leaders were arrested while gathering in a house church in Langzhong city, Sichuan province. Thirteen leaders were given 15 days of administrative detention, and five of the leaders were placed under criminal detention. The other leaders were released.

The Christian leaders were gathered in Pastor Li Ming's house church at 5:30 p.m., in Lanzhou city, when several dozen officials in six to seven police vehicles from the local Domestic Security Protection Squad surrounded the site, then arrested all of the Christians and searched the house. The 13 leaders who received 15 days of administrative detention are: Wang Fang, Ma Zhongqiong, Wang Huaying, Pang Kaizhen, Chen Deying, Hu Xiuying, Li Daxiu, Deng Shuhua, Chen Jingfang, Wang Yulan, Song Liangqing, Wang Shixiu and Li Shufeng.

The five leaders who received criminal detention are likely to face a formal criminal indictment or up to three years of reeducation through labor. They are: Pastors Gao Guofu, Pastor Li Ming, Zhang Guofen, Gu Lianpeng and Yu Zhipeng. Pastor Li Ming was sentenced to three years of re-education through labor in recent years because of his Christian faith.

ChinaAid calls on Christians around the world to pray for the imprisoned Christians and their families. ChinaAid also strongly denounces the Langzhong authorities in Sichuan for their reprehensible conduct which violates both Chinese and international laws guaranteeing freedom of religion.

PASTOR RECEIVES HEFTY FINE IN BELARUS
Minsk: A court in the eastern town of Osipovichi has fined Pastor Nikolai Poleshchuk 2,100,000 Belarusian rubles for running a Christian street library, according to reports. The fine, according to local Christians, is the equivalent of nearly three months' average wages -- the largest known fine issued for religious activity in Belarus.

In January, Poleshchuk and another believer were approached by the head of the Osipovichi District Ideology Department and told that they had no right to run the street library since their church is unregistered.

At a hearing in March, Poleshchuk was given an official warning and the confiscated Christian literature was ordered to be destroyed. At the trial on May 27-28, 2009 Poleshchuk was charged with "violation of the procedure for organizing or conducting mass events or pickets." The court also amended their decision regarding the literature and ruled that the books instead be handed to the state.

SHI WEIHAN RECEIVES THREE YEAR PRISON SENTENCE IN CHINA
Beijing: On June 11, 2009, Shi Weihan (38), a Christian bookstore owner and house church leader, was sentenced to three years in prison and fined 150,000 Yuan for "illegally" printing and distributing Christian literature, according to reports.

The time that Weihan has spent in prison since he was first arrested in November 2007 will reportedly be considered part of his three-year sentence. Six others believed to be shareholders and executives of the printing company which printed the Bibles that Weihan distributed also stood trial and received criminal sentences.

EGYPTIAN COURT REJECTS CASE OF CONVERT FROM ISLAM
Cairo: On June 13, 2009, a court in Cairo rejected Maher El-Gohary's attempt to change his religious status on his identification card from Muslim to Christian, according to reports. He has been attacked on the street, subjected to death threats and driven into hiding as a result of opening his case 10 months ago.

In April, the Coptic Church granted El-Gohary a conversion certificate, making him the first Egyptian convert from Islam to be publicly accepted by the church in this way.

BOOKSTORE OWNER SENTENCED FOR THREE YEARS FOR PRINTING BIBLES TO GIVE TO LOCAL CHURCHES
Beijing: A Chinese bookstore owner who was taken into custody and accused of printing Bibles to give to local house church congregations has been sentenced to three years in prison and fined nearly $22,000, according to reports.

The report said a Beijing court delivered the guilty verdict in the trial of Shi Weihan on allegations he ran an "illegal business operation." WND has reported on the case since the businessman's original arrest, including when a report came out last year that even his friends hardly recognized him because of the deterioration of his health while in jail awaiting court proceedings.

WND first reported when the house church leader became one of the Christians in China who simply "disappeared" in 2007. He later was tracked to prison, and although in January of 2008 he was cleared of allegations made against him, he was taken into custody again in March and has been held there since.

Officials with China Aid Association said then his life was at risk. "According to personal acquaintances who have visited Mr. Shi, his health has degenerated to the point that he is hardly recognizable to his closest friends," China Aid said at the time.

Now, Compass Direct reports that the bookstore operated legally and sold only books for which he held government permission. But the conviction said he printed Bibles and other literature to give to churches.

Ray Sharpe, a friend of the bookstore owner, told Compass Direct a written judgment is expected within about two weeks to allow an appeal to be filed. The report said friends and business acquaintances of Shi described him as a model citizen of China. He was known, the report said, for his work among the poor in his nation. His wife, Zhang Jing, and their two daughters, have been under surveillance for much of his time in jail, the report said.

Shi owns a bookstore near where last year's Olympics complex was built in Beijing.

Sharpe told WND at the time of Shi's first arrest that Shi is a businessman who also works as a travel agent.

In the run up to the Olympics, WND reported on a "blacklist" of people and groups of people China was targeting specifically because of the games last August. Those targeted included religious leaders. The case involving Shi has gotten considerable attention at least partly because he is the father of a U.S. citizen. Grace Shi, 9, was born during the family's visit to the U.S. in 2000.

HOUSE CHURCH IN VIETNAM ATTACKED DURING SERVICE, 2 LEADERS JAILED

Police invaded the Sunday service of the Agape Baptist congregation in Vietnam’s Hung Yen province on Sunday, June 7, and beat worshipers, including women, and arrested a pastor and an elder.

Christian sources said police put the two church leaders into separate cells, and each man was beaten by a gang of five policemen. Pastor Duong Van Tuan of the house church said officers beat them in a way that did not leave marks--hard blows to the stomach. Police officers had previously disrupted worship services on April 19, May 24 and 31, in one case bloodying Tuan’s mouth with punches.

The congregation in Hung Yen, a small but populous province that straddles the Red River 31 miles south of Hanoi, has endured harassment and attacks by police and other officials since April. The persecution comes after the church’s request for registration was denied by local authorities without explanation. Such denials are commonplace for local house churches a nd congregations in this area.

Congregants, however, say they are encouraged spiritually when such abuse happens because they see it as an outward sign that God is at work.

CHRISTIAN RELIEF WORKERS ABDUCTED AND KILLED IN YEMEN
Aden: On June 12, 2009, nine Christian foreigners were abducted and three of them killed in Yemen. Reports indicate that they were targeted because they were Christian relief workers suspected of being involved in evangelistic work.

According to officials, the Christians left the city of Sa'ada without an armed escort to visit a doctor who lives nearby. The believers left the doctor's home after two hours. Eyewitnesses saw a group of armed men stop the Christians. At approximately 6:45 p.m., one of the women -- a German national -- managed to call a nurse in Sa'ada on her cell phone. However, the nurse could not hear who was calling and hung up.

Investigators believe that the kidnappers executed three of the hostages a short time later. The bodies of German nurses in training, Rita Stumpp (26) and Anita Gruenwald (24), and a South Korean woman, Eom Young-sun (33), were found four days later in the Noshour Valley region -- a known hotbed of al-Qaeda activity.

According to a member of the security committee in charge of the investigation, the six hostages -- Johannes Hentschel (36), a German doctor, his wife Sabine (36), and their three children, Lydia (4), Anna (3) and Simon (11 months), and an unidentified British engineer -- are alive. At last report they had been handed over to tribesmen. Two suspects have surrendered themselves to Yemeni authorities and have been arrested.

CHRISTIAN MOTHER RETAINS CUSTODY OF TWIN BOYS IN EGYPT
Cairo: On June 15, 2009, the Egyptian Court of Cessation ruled that Mario and Andrew, 13-year-old twin boys whose religion was changed to Islam on their birth certificates when their father became a Muslim, will remain with their Christian mother. According to Assyrian International News Agency, the boys will continue to be considered Muslims until they are 15, even though they profess that they are Christians. The boys' mother is reportedly planning to file a case with the Supreme Administrative Court to ensure that her sons are able to choose their religion when they turn 15.