Islamist police in Saudi Arabia have stormed a
Christian prayer meeting and arrested its entire
congregation, including women and children, and
confiscated their bibles, it has been reported.
The raid was the latest incident of a swingeing
crackdown on religious minorities in Saudi Arabia
by the country's hard-line Commission for the
Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice.
The 28 Christians were said to be worshipping at
the home of an Indian national in the eastern city
of Khafji, when the police entered the building and
took them into custody. They have not been seen
or heard from since, raising concerns among
human rights groups as to their whereabouts.
Nina Shea, director of the Washington-based
Hudson Institute's Center for Religious Freedom,
told FoxNews.com : 'Saudi Arabia is continuing
the religious cleansing that has always been its
official policy.
'It is the only nation state in the world with the
official policy of banning all churches.
'This is enforced even though there are over two
million Christian foreign workers in that country.
Those victimized are typically poor, from Asian
and African countries with weak governments.'
Activists are now calling on the U.S. to use its
considerable influence in the region to help secure
the release of the incarcerated Christians.
A spokesperson for the Saudi government claimed
to have no knowledge of the arrests, according to
Fox News.
But the English-language newspaper, The Saudi
Gazette, as well as several Saudi Arabic-language
news outlets, have reported on the arrests.

Arabic-language news channel, Akhbar 24, said
the arrests came after the Kingdom's religious
police got a tip about a home-based church.
The report also reported that 'distorted writings
of the Bible were found and musical instruments,
noting their referral to the jurisdictional
institutions.'
At least 3.5 million Christians live in the Gulf Arab
region, mostly Catholic workers from India and
the Philippines.
In Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam, it is
against the law for Muslims to abandon their
faith, a practice known as apostasy. Proselytising
for other religions or practising them openly is
also illegal.
Judges have considerable leeway in how to
interpret the kingdom's Sharia code of Islamic
law and are not bound by sentencing guidelines
or a system of precedent. Both capital and
corporal punishment are legal.
Last year King Abdullah, who has promoted
limited reforms since coming to the throne in
2005, opened a centre for religious dialogue in
Vienna that drew criticism because of Saudi
Arabia's own lack of religious freedom. In 2008
he sponsored an inter-faith conference in Spain.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2756134/Dozens-Christians-including-women-children-arrested-Saudi-Arabia-tip-state-s-Islamist-police-force.html