Detention of Brother Long Kehai

(Gansu Province, China – March 19, 2025) According to reports, at 5:00 PM on March 19, 2025, Chengdu Early Rain Covenant Church member Brother Long Kehai was criminally detained on suspicion of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” by the Hui County Public Security Bureau in Gansu Province, where his household registration is located. He is currently being held at the Hui County Detention Center in Gansu Province.

Background and Previous Arrests

Brother Long Kehai was born on June 1, 1966, in Jianyang, Sichuan Province. He was formerly an employee of the Hanzhong Engineering Section of China Railway Xi’an Group Co., Ltd, a long-term resident of Baoji City, Shaanxi Province, and a political prisoner. Due to his long-term concern for social justice and human rights issues, and active participation in civil society activities, he has repeatedly been “invited for tea” and warned by the police. On March 4, 2019, Long Kehai was arrested by the police in Baoji City, Shaanxi Province, on suspicion of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble,” and was subsequently placed under “Residential Surveillance at a Designated Location” until his formal arrest on May 15 of the same year. He was sentenced to one and a half years in prison and transferred to the Weibin District Detention Center in Baoji City, Shaanxi Province. After his sentencing, Long Kehai was fired from his company.

After his release on September 20, 2020, Long Kehai still faced many forms of harassment from the government. Although he had long lived in Baoji City, Shaanxi Province due to work, after his release he was forced by the Baoji National Security to move away from Baoji to his registered household location in Jialing Town, Hui County, Longnan City, Gansu Province, where he continued to be monitored and harassed by National Security Agents for a long time. Long Kehai’s bank card was also suspended, and his wife and children were also implicated because of him.

• On July 6, 2021, Long Kehai was summoned by the national security agents of the Hui County Public Security Bureau in Gansu for “spreading rumors and deliberately disrupting public order” and was administratively detained for ten days.
• On November 17, 2021 at 3 PM, the national security agents from his residential area called and requested to meet him. Two national security agents drove a police car from the county police station to the town where he lived. The reason was that Long Kehai had joined a WeChat group called “Urban Church Planting” for Christian exchange and learning.
• On February 24, 2022, national security agents again met with Long Kehai because he signed a petition supporting the “chained woman” in Feng County, Xuzhou City, Jiangsu Province. During his conversation with national security agents, Long Kehai hoped that they still had a conscience and urged them to also sign the petition supporting the chained woman.
• On June 25, 2022, Long Kehai traveled from Longnan, Gansu to Chengdu, seeking to commit to the Early Rain Covenant Church. While he was waiting for his transfer, he was taken back to his hometown by the national security agents from his hometown in Gansu and lost contact.
• On June 26, a Christian from the Early Rain Covenant Church called the national security agent in charge of Long Kehai’s case and learned that Long Kehai had been administratively detained.
• On July 30, 2022, Long Kehai was arrested by the police in Hui County, Gansu Province, on suspicion of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” for his attention to the Chang Weiping case, and was sentenced to two years in prison.
• On July 29, 2024, Long Kehai completed his sentence and was released, and in January 2025, he transferred to the Chengdu Early Rain Covenant Church and became a member of the church.