Laos

"With this incident, the official crackdown on Lao churches in Savannakhet province that had started almost eight months ago in Dongpaiwan village in Saybuli district on September 14, 2011 has now spread to Phin district of Savannakhet," HRWLRF said. 

"Members of Khamnonsung Church continue to resist the official order to close down their church and are willing to risk their own safety as well as the safety of their families in order to defend religious freedom."

"...the officials declared that Westerners, particularly those from the United States, were using the Christian faith to destabilize the government. They then declared that the 745 Christians in the village could only meet in private homes, claiming that they did not have permission to construct the Khamnonsung church building – although it was erected in 1963, prior to the 1975 Communist takeover of Laos."

After Myanmar's (Burma) recent elections the United States has decided to lift certain sanctions and send a U.S ambassador to the country. At the same time reports of human rights abuses, including the targeting of Christians, committed by the Burmese military continue to emerge from Kachin State in the north. 

In Savannakhet, scene of a vicious anti-Christian crackdown, the government has closed town three Evangelical churches in Dongpaiwan (September 2011), Nadaeng (4 December 2011) and Kengweng (22 February 2012), ostensibly for permit irregularities. 

 "Provincial officials continue to violate the freedom of religion or belief of ethnic minority Protestants through detentions, surveillance, harassment, property confiscations, forced relocations, and forced renunciations of faith." 

Human Rights Watch for Lao Religious Freedom is reporting that members from two different churches in Savannakhet Province gathered together on Sunday at their confiscated church buildings in an attempt to "reclaim" them. The churches were closed down last month by Lao district officials who reportedly instructed the Christians not to worship elsewhere. 

Many times prior to their arrest, these five Christians from another district (Palansai district) had joined church services with other believers in Boukham village without any problem or warning by Lao authorities. Now, they are being charged with “leading a religious movement without official approval.”

Christians in Laos continue to face arrests and harassment, both for converting to Christianity and when attempting to hold worship services. Although by law the Lao government has created provisions allowing religious groups to register with the government, in practice Christians attempting to register have faced unending delays. According to this article, not one religious group or denomination has been registered in Laos since 2002.   

Khamla, a new convert to the Christian faith, was ordered by authorities to recant and on March 2 was confronted with a choice: either abandon the faith for permanently leave his home and village.

Bounchan Kanthavong, a pastor in Laos, was released from prison on February 2 after being locked up for nearly 13 years because of his Christian activities, Barnabas Fund reports.

According to the order, Christians have up to March 18, 2012, to recant of their Christian belief or else they must be expelled from the village. Local Christians nearby are uncertain whether officials will use force to follow through with the order. 

Although religious freedom and religious assembly to practice one’s religion are guaranteed by the Lao constitution and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights as ratified by the Lao government, authorities have refused to recognize the existence of Christians and churches in Savannakhet province other than seven.

Prasertsee, who has close knowledge about the situation, said earlier that the village authorities claimed that the detained Christians "violated the village’s 'hiit'," the local traditional customs and spirit beliefs, because of their Christian faith practices.

“Don’t do anything with the dead body; let the body rot if you insist on clinging to the Christian faith.”

The authorities have not yet charged them. They were detained for “organising” a celebration with 200 Church members. Police and local village officials meet to decide their fate as religious freedom continues to be denied in the Communist nation.

Officials told the Christians they had forfeited their right to live in the village because of their faith, the advocacy group Human Rights Watch for Lao Religious Freedom (HRWLRF) reported.