REPORTED NATIONWIDE CRACKDOWN ON HOUSE CHURCHES IN CHINA
By Jeremy Reynalds (06/30/05)
Reports are emerging from China that a nationwide campaign against unregistered house churches is underway. Numerous house churches have been raided in recent weeks, hundreds of people have been arrested and many remain in prison.
According to a news release from the China Aid Association (CAA), at about 8 a.m. on June 24, while house church leader Pastor Chen Dongming was leading a church leadership training meeting at his home in Hezhai Village in Henan Province, more than 50 Chinese police and public security officials raided and searched his house without a search warrant.
About 100 pastors from several major cities including Kaifeng, Xinxiang and Jiaozuo City were taken away and detained at Qi County Detention Center. Most of the pastors were released at approximately 6 p.m. the same day after being interrogated.
Nine of them, including Pastors Chen Dongming, and Pastors Wei and Pastor Jin (whose first names were unavailable), are still in jail. According to eyewitnesses, in the early morning of June 24, more than 50 plain clothed security officers surrounded the entire village with three large trucks and a number of police cars and went right to Chen's house.
After bursting into the building, CAA reported, the security officers conducted thorough body searches of each of the pastors - both men and women. Private property including cash, chairs, TVs, books, blankets and rice were confiscated and carried away by the police trucks. One pastor who was released said they were accused of "engaging in an illegal religious gathering."
Meanwhile, according to CAA investigators from various areas inside China, Chinese boarder control guards detained 34 house church Christians on June 3 at a customs office called Kashi between China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and Pakistan.
According to one house church leader who is familiar with the situation, CAA reported all of the 34 Christians were holding valid passports and visas from Pakistan. They were arrested when one of them revealed they were Christian missionaries.
Most of them were released after serving 15 days in administrative detention centers in their respective hometowns. All 34 are now on the run for fear of further repercussion from the Chinese authorities.
Three female house church believers were arrested on May 24, CAA reported, while visiting a Christian leader's home. They were subsequently released after being interrogated at Yiyang County Detention center. None of them, CAA reported, were shown any arrest warrants or release papers. They were accused of "attending a religious black hole," which refers to house churches there. According to an eyewitness report, the three women were brutally beaten. One was released earlier because the beatings caused her to suffer a heart attack.
On May 13, 20 house church leaders were arrested while conducting a Bible training class at Pinglu County, Shanxi Province. Among them, CAA reported, were two well-known local house church leaders, Pastor Zhang Guangmin and Elder Li. After releasing most of the participants the same day, CAA reported, Guangmin and Li were released after serving a detention term of two weeks and one month respectively.
CAA also reported that Beijing House church Pastor Cai Zhuohua's trial date has been indefinitely postponed after it was originally scheduled for mid-June. According to a reliable source, the presiding judge from the People's Court of Haidian District, You Tao, told Zhuohua's mother of this decision by telephone. Zhuohua's mother has taken care of his 6-year-old son since the arrest of Zhuohua, his wife and two other relatives last Sept.
According to a copy of the prosecution papers obtained by CAA, Zhuohua, his wife and two others will be prosecuted on the grounds of "illegal business management," and for allegedly printing over 200,000 copies of Christian literature. Because of Zhuohua's pastoral leadership at a Beijing house church, five prominent lawyers volunteered to defend him. CAA reported that all five lawyers believe this is a case of religious persecution under the pretext of "illegal business management."
Among them, Professor Fan Yafeng is currently an associate researcher at the Institute of Studies on Law in China's Academy of Social Sciences which is the top government think tank. CAA reported that according to a credible source, the government has put mounting pressure on Zhuohua's lawyers to discourage them from defending him.
Because this occurred prior to the 2008 Beijing Olympics, this case has attracted international attention, CAA reported.
"It's widely believed," CAA commented, "that the delay is a tactic that may give the government time to coordinate damage control once a verdict is pronounced. The raided house churches are independent house churches with thousands of believers who choose not to register their Christian activities with the Communist government."
Speaking in the news release, Bob Fu, CAA president, said "This is actually just the tip of the iceberg. China has been proclaiming to the international community that Chinese people are enjoying a golden time of religious freedom, this series of nationwide assaults on unregistered house churches does not support this claim. This is also a wakeup call to the world community that it's time to seriously reconsider its appeasing policies toward the issue of China's religious freedom."
According to its web site, www.chinaaid.org, CAA, established in 2002, is "is a non-profit Christian organization with a mission to explore the truth, to tell the truth and to preserve the truth on the issue of religious freedom in China, particularly focusing on the fate of the unofficial church."
CAA is asking those people interested to express their concern by contacting the Embassy of the People's Republic of China, 2300 Connecticut Ave NW, Washington DC 20008. Tel:(202) 328-2500 Fax: (202) 588-0032.
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