Since November, 15 Christian leaders have been arrested in the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, the Christian Post reports.

According to reports, they were arrested after a video was released on social media of people being water baptized. Families of those who participated in the ceremony were also arrested.

The videos resulted in protests across the country calling for the deaths of the participants. Mauritania is located on the northwest coast of Africa, and a significant proportion of its territory includes the Sahara Desert. It has a population of 4.2 million and is 98% Sunni Muslim. Islam is the country’s official religion.

According to one report, Muslims are complaining that nearly half the village where the baptisms took place has become Christian.

“They want to stop the progression of the Gospel in this closed land. The police arrested six leaders at the beginning, but after checking the phone of one leader, the police found names. They are after any name they found in that phone,” one Christian leader reported.

It is uncertain what crime they were being arrested for, but according to the US government’s International Religious Freedom Report, people can be executed under its apostasy laws for leaving the Muslim faith.

Under Mauritania law, those accused of apostasy are arrested and given three days to repent and return to Islam. If they fail to do so, they are subject to execution. However, the government has to this point never executed anyone for leaving the Muslim faith.

Though it is not illegal to evangelize in the country, in practice the government forbids anyone outside of Islam from sharing their faith and publicly expressing their faith.