By Worthy News Center

RABAT, MOROCCO (Worthy News)-- Moroccan security forces raided a Bible study group and detained 18 Moroccans while deporting an American citizen, Worthy News learned Friday, February 12.

Christians said 60 representatives of Moroccan security services on February 4 entered the home of a Christian in Amizmiz, described as a picturesque city of 10,000 mainly Berber people 56 kilometers (35 miles) southeast of Marrakech, a former imperial city.

The Christians, including two infants and three other children, were held for 14 hours and several believers were interrogated, church leaders said.

The name of the deported American was not immediately released.

Christians speaking on condition of anonymity said the security forces told them the raid was ordered personally by the new Moroccan Justice Minister Mohamed Naciri and by the country's top General of the Gendarmerie Housni Benslimane.

Authorities had no comment.

MORE INCIDENTS

This was no isolated incident. Police in Morocco also raided a Bible study last year, forcing five Christian missionaries to return home.

Moroccan authorities in Casablanca, the country's largest city, reportedly said at the time that the missionaries were trying to convert Muslims.

The Christians said they were only having a Bible study with other believers and that their Christian materials had been approved by the government before the arrest.

Christianity and Judaism are freely practiced in Morocco, but proselytizing to convert Muslims is considered illegal, Christian observers said.