SRI LANKA: 146 PLACES OF WORSHIP CLOSED IN LAST 4 MONTHS. [ANS]

1:04:49 PM    

CHINA: Authorities block Wall Street Journal and Deutsche Welle sites [RFA]

Reporters Without Borders has condemned growing censorship of the Internet in China as access has been blocked to Chinese versions of the Wall Street Journal and Deutsche Welle sites since the opening of the annual People's National Congress on 5 March. [more]

EXCERPT:

"The Chinese authorities possess advanced technology that allows them to monitor Internet surfers in real time, to intercept their emails and to filter online news. Several hundred thousand sites - including that of Reporters Without Borders - are blocked inside the country.
With 60 people behind bars, China is the world's largest prison for cyberdissidents."

12:46:19 PM    

Chinese pastor on the run  [VOM]

 A Chinese house church leader is on the run from Public Security Bureau officers after his church was raided February 9.

Chu Wei, age 40, leads a group of over 50 house churches in China. He and his wife, Yin Yan-ling, 37, were among 12 people arrested when PSB officers raided their church in Huaibei City, Anhui Province. The twelve were held all day and interrogated by police, who did not allow them food or water, or even to use the toilet. Then officers asked the Christians to sign a form renouncing their faith and their attendance at "evil cult" gatherings. Some signed the documents. All twelve people were released later that day. [more]

11:49:55 AM