Forty House Church Leaders Detained in Henan; One Pastor Sentenced to 18 Months Imprisonment for Distribution of Christian Literature Among Muslims in Gansu

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Contact: Bob Fu (267) 205-5210

Photo: pastor Liu Huiwen’s formal arrest paper

Forty House Church Leaders Detained in
Henan; One Pastor Sentenced to 18 Months Imprisonment for Distribution of
Christian Literature Among Muslims in Gansu

Midland, Texas (Nov. 27, 2007)

CAA learned that forty church leaders from China Gospel Fellowship were
detained on November 18, 2007. One House
Church pastor was sentenced to 18
months imprisonment in Gansu
province for writing and distributing Christian literatures among Muslim
believers.

According to one eyewitness, at 5:00 pm on November 18, a group of PSB
officers from Xiancheng county, Henan raided a
House Church leadership meeting in Peichang
village, Fanhu town. The PSB detained 40 leaders immediately. 21 of them were
released before November 24 and 19 are still being detained at the county
detention center. Family members of the 19 detainee were notified by the Police
Department to send blankets and 360 yuan ($50) for 15 days’ living expenses.
All of the detainees are seninor leaders from one of China’s largest house church groups
called China Gospel Fellowship (CGF). Among them, Pastor Shen Yiping is the
founder of CGF. The leaders were having a bible study when they were raided.
They are from different counties of Henan
province.

CAA has also learned that Pastor
Liu Huiwen was sentenced to 18 months of prison by Gansu Dongxiang Nationality
Autonomous County People’s Court on October 25, 2007. 

Liu was detained on April 28, 2007
after distributing flyers at a funeral and was arrested on May 31, 2007. The
bill of indictment from Dongxiang County Procuratorate charges that defendant
Liu Huiwen committed the crime of publishing a discriminating work and
insulting people of ethnic minorities when he distributed a flyer called “A
Letter to Our Muslim Friends.”

Click here for the full text of
the sentence paper http://www.monitorchina.org/english_site/document_details.php?id=5125

The defense counsel for pastor
Liu, Beijing attorney Li Dunyong countered that Liu’s public letter does not
contain any discrimination or insults against people of ethnic minorities; that
it was not intended for the people of ethnic minorities; that Liu Huiwen does
not have any subjective intent to insult the people of ethnic minorities; that
it is a case of minor circumstance and that the conduct of the defendant has
not exceeded the boundary set for freedom of speech though the letter contains
some inappropriate wording. All these arguments by the defense were rejected by
the court.

China Aid believes the trial of Pastor
Liu Huiwen was not fair and the 18-month heavy sentence of Pastor Liu Huiwen
for distributing a flyer whose content was all legal is a barbarious attempt by
the Chinese authorities to stem the growth of Christianity that is expanding in
China.
China Aid also urges the Christians worldwide and governments concerned about
this case to pressure the Chinese authorities to retry the case through strict
and accurate interpretation of the relevant Chinese law.

Letters to comfort
brother can be sent to his home:

Premier Wen Jiabao, PRC

PO Box 1741, The State Council, Beijing, PRC (zip code 100017)

Contact Phone：+86-10-66012399

 Ms. Wu Aiying, minister of Ministry of Justice of PRC

Tel: +86-10-65205114

Fax: +86-10-64729863

Address：No. 10, Nan Da Jie,
Chaoyangmen, Beijing
City (Zip Code: 100020)

 ©
Issued by CAA on November 27, 2007.

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