(Linfen, Shanxi Province – October 7, 2024) On September 30, 2024, Wang Qiang, a Christian born in the 1990s from the Linfen Covenant House Church, was released from detention center under “residential surveillance at a designated location” and returned home to see his wife and daughter after a “long separation”, as well as his son who was born during his arrest and whom he had never met.
Wang Qiang was taken away by local police on November 1, 2022, under the charge of “fraud” for refusing to give up his faith and refusing to falsely testify against the church’s two preachers, Li Jie and Han Xiaodong. He was initially placed under “residential surveillance at a designated location”, during which he suffered severe torture and interrogation, including sleep deprivation, being forced to sit on a “tiger bench” for 7 days and 7 nights, being hit on the head with books by police officers, and not being given adequate food.
Only after complaining and reporting to the procuratorate was he transferred to criminal detention at the Yaodu District Detention Center. His wife, Wen Huijuan, continuously appealed for help. His lawyers repeatedly visited and spoke out. His brothers and sisters in Christ kept praying for him. Finally, they welcomed Wang Qiang’s return.
Wang Qiang is a local from Yaodu District, Linfen City, Shanxi Province, who grew up in a Christian family. In his wife Wen Huijuan’s eyes, Wang Qiang is a kind, passionate, and upright person. They went to university together, got married and had children after graduation, and started a business together. Although not wealthy, they were very content.
But since Wang Qiang’s arrest, their life has undergone major changes. At that time, their daughter was only 3 years old, and Wen Huijuan was pregnant with their second child, who was born through C-section on January 24, 2023. Wen Huijuan hired a lawyer for her husband and did her best to appeal for him. She posted multiple times on Weibo appealing for the three Christians in prison, stating that they are all honest and kind Christians who could never commit “fraud”. Before the birth of their second child, she posted an article on Weibo titled “How did my Christian husband become a ‘fraudster’?”, publicly questioning how her kind and upright husband, who only tithed to the church as a Christian, could be charged with “fraud”.
At the end of July 2024, Wen Huijuan, along with Li Shanshan (Li Jie’s wife) and Chen Ying (Han Xiaodong’s wife), went to the Yaodu District Court in Linfen City five times to request a meeting with the court president. They held signs outside the court that read:
“Long detention without decision, complete inaction”,
“Freedom of belief, Christian offerings are not fraud”, and
“Release Li Jie, Han Xiaodong, and Wang Qiang”.
The three wives stated that as long as their husbands were not released, they would continue to fight against this injustice.
The Linfen Covenant House Church that Wang Qiang belongs to is a Reformed house church that has been persecuted by the government for refusing to join the Three-Self Church. On the evening of August 19, 2022, when the church was holding an outdoor “family camp” activity, it was raided by police. Hundreds of police officers took church members away overnight. Preachers Li Jie, Han Xiaodong, and co-worker Wang Qiang were accused on suspicion of “fraud”. Later, Li Jie and Han Xiaodong were administratively and criminally detained. In early November 2022, Wang Qiang was also criminally detained after 7 days of “residential surveillance at a designated location”. The case was formally submitted to the Linfen City Procuratorate for review and prosecution under the charge of “fraud” on March 26, 2023.
Wang Qiang had written a letter to his wife Wen Huijuan from prison, expressing that he had no regrets about being imprisoned for his faith and fully submitted to God’s will. He encouraged his wife to practice piety, patience, endurance, hope, faith, love, and joy together with him, to encourage each other and walk the heavenly path together.
The other two preachers of the church, Li Jie and Han Xiaodong, are still in detention, and there is currently no court date set for this case.