China Releases Christian Missionaries; Others Remain Detained

China Aid Association
Source:         www.bosnewslife.com
Date:            August 11, 2008
By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife with BosNewsLife Asia Service
(BEIJING, CHINA (BosNewsLife)—August 12, 2008) China has released two of four Christian missionaries detained in its Inner Mongolia for their Christian activities, but there remains concern about other key Christian leaders arrested in recent days and weeks, representatives told BosNewsLife Monday, August 11.
Religious rights group China Aid Association (CAA), which has close ties with the underground church movement in the country, said missionaries Yu Yongqing and Li Shusen were released on last week Wednesday, August 6 and Sunday, August 10. “Yu Yongqing was released after paying an undisclosed amount of money” to officials of the Public Security Bureau (PSB), one of China’s main law enforcement agencies, CAA said.
However two other missionaries, Li Li and Wang Shuang remain in detention, despite health concerns, the group said. “Mr. Wang’s wife and sister visited the PSB detention center where he was being held. Upon entering the station they were shown into Wang’s cell where he was seen being hung by handcuffs,” the group claimed.
“The two women left seriously distraught yet helpless to change the situation. The other detainee, Li Li has been diagnosed by PSB officials as having a serious lung disease and possibly lung cancer,” CAA said. Prison guards, apparently “fearful that Li will die under their watch” therefore placed Li “under house detention under condition that he will not escape while at home,” the group explained.
BOOK STORE OWNER
CAA said it has also learned that Beijing book store owner and house church leader Shi Weihan, has been suffering of “deterioration health” since his imprisonment four months ago. “Poor prison conditions and refusal of diabetes medication have contributed to Shi’s lack of health,” CAA added.
Shi has reportedly lost over 10 kilogram in body weight amidst what Chinese Christians describe as “constant physical and psychological torture” employed by prison officials. “Recently Shi was coerced to sign and recognize a confession convicting him of “engaging in the printing and distribution of a large number of illegal publications,” CAA said.
The charges stem from Shi’s printing of Bibles and Christian literature which were sold at his Beijing Christian bookstore, but deemed “illegal” by Beijing authorities, as they were not printed by a government backed church.
MOCKING WORLD COMMUNITY
CAA President Bob Fu, a former house church pastor, told BosNewsLife that he fears China continues to “mock the world community by pledging to uphold religious freedom while simultaneously persecuting its own citizens for their personal beliefs.”
In one of the latest incident, a house church activist was detained Sunday while on his way to a church service in Beijing attended by President George W. Bush. Hua Huiqi, 46, and his brother, Hua Huilin, 52, an electrician, were taken into custody while cycling to Kuanjie Protestant church in Beijing at dawn, the brother told reporters hours after he was released.
“Police came to our house last night and told me not to let my brother venture out today. I told him not to go because it’s during the Olympic Games and this period is sensitive. My brother was baptised at the church and determined to go. I went along to try to protect him,” he added in several statements monitored by BosNewsLife.
Police seized the activist’s Bible and cell phone and forced him into a car which sped away, the brother said. He later told Hua Huilin that the activist had escaped when plainclothes police watching him fell asleep, the brother said, adding that Hua Huiqi’s whereabouts were unknown.