Iran is using sweeping arrests to “warn” Christians against evangelizing over Christmas, according to a religious freedom charity. 

Mansour Borji, advocacy director of Article 18, told the World Watch Monitor (WWM) that the 114 arrests are "staggering." The arrests took place during the span of one week at the start of December.

In the past month, he said a total of 142 Christians have been arrested in “10 or 11 different cities” across the country and belonging to different Christian groups.

Borji said that most of those arrested were allowed to return to their homes after a few hours, or in some cases days. "They had arrested so many of them and didn’t know what to do with them all” – but all were told to expect a call from the Ministry of Intelligence. Each of the Christians had their mobile devices confiscated, while those suspected to be the leaders of the groups remain in detention.

WWM also said that those arrested were made to "write down details of the history of their Christian activities and told to have no more contact with any other Christians or Christian groups."