More Than 100 More House Church Leaders Arrested
(June 14, 2004)
High Level Government Meeting on Religion Reported
China Aid Association has learned from a reliable source that more than 100 leaders of China Gospel Fellowship (CGF) were arrested on June 11, 2004. The massive arrest took place at Wuhan city, Hubei province while these church leaders were having a retreat together. According to a senior house church leader and an eyewitness of the arrest both of whom want to remain anonymous for security reason, about 50 police believed from PSB of Wuhan City raided the church meeting around 2:00pm and arrested all of the participants including one of the senior CGF leaders Mr. Xing Jinfu(photo attached). Mr. Xing Jinfu, 39-year-old, was arrested at least three times in the past for his church activities. He was sentenced to three years re-education through labor in 1996 for his accused “illegal preaching.” The whereabouts of the arrested are still unknown. At the same day, according to a reliable source of China Aid, the well-known leader of CGF pastor Shen Xianfeng(photo attached) was put under house arrest at a residential area in Wuhan city after the PSB thoroughly searched a house where Mr. Shen was recovering from illness of his crippled legs. China Gospel Fellowship was established in mid-1980s. It is one of the five major Chinese house church groups with estimated at least five million members.
China Aid also learned from an internal source of the Chinese Communist Party that the Politburo of the CCP had recently convened a special secret meeting discussing “how to deal with religious affairs in China”. According to the source, a secret directive was issued after the meeting calling every level of the Chinese government and the Party to crack down the “illegal religious activities.” The directive also urged the CCP’s Department of Propaganda to carry out a special media campaign to promote atheism.
“Given the recent massive arrests of unregistered religious leaders in different areas in China”, said Bob Fu, president of China Aid Association, “the international community should be alarmed and take concrete actions to urge the Chinese government to fulfill her signed pledge to protect her citizens’ religious freedom mandated by relevant international human rights covenants.”
CAA urges the Chinese authorities to release these arrested church leaders immediately. People of conscience in the US could send a letter of concern to the Chinese embassy in Washington DC:
Ambassador Yang Jiechi
Embassy of the People’s Republic of China
2300 Connecticut Ave NW, Washington DC 20008
Tel:(202) 328-2500 Fax:(202) 588-0032
Director of Religious Affairs: (202) 328-2512
Issued by China Aid Association, Inc. on June 13, 2004.
NEWS RELEASE
China Aid Association, Inc.
PO Box 263
Glenside, PA19038
(267) 205-5210
Fax: (215) 886-1668
www.ChinaAid.org
Contact: Bob Fu
(267) 205-5210
(boxun.com)
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