—Xu Yonghai's letter to his friends after his release from the prison.-Beijing Christian Rights Activist's Freedom Restricted after Release from Prison; CAA Calls for Urgent Global Fasting and Prayers for the Endangered Chinese Rights Defenders

China Aid Association
(Midland, Texas (CAA)-February 13, 2006) CAA learned that the freedom of a prominent Christian rights activist was restricted by Chinese security agents after his release from a two-year prison term. Dr. Xu Yonghai, a former psychiatric doctor at Beiijing Pingan Hospital has been closely surveled after his release from a Hangzhou Prison, Zhejiang Province on January 29, 2006.
According to Xu’s own account to CAA, before his release the Chinese security agents installed three video cameras in front of his apartment order to monitor his activities and his identification cards were not returned to him. Xu’s wife, Ms. Li Shanna, refused to sign a form demanding she report her husband’s activities to the Chinese authorities.
Dr. Xu Yonghai, a prominent Christian psychiatrist was arrested in Beijing on November 9, 2003 because of his active role in defending religious freedom for persecuted Christian believers in China.
As a result, Xu along with two other individuals, Mr. Liu Fenggang – 48 and Zhang Shengqi — 30, were charged under Article 111 of the Criminal Law with “providing state secrets to foreign organizations,” and tried in secret on March 16, 2004 by Hangzhou Intermediate People’s Court in Zhejiang Province. On August 6, 2004, the court sentenced Liu Fenggang to three years, Xu Yonghai to two years, and Zhang Shengqi to one year.
According to the indictment by the procuratorate the three were charged in connection with Liu Fenggang’s decision to write, disseminate, and publicise several reports written over a two-year period, documenting the destruction of churches and the harsh treatment suffered by members of underground congregations.
Xu told CAA that Mr. Liu Fenggang’s health is deteriorating because of his heart condition. Mr. Zhang Shengqi was released on Febuary 7, 2005.

Dr. Xu and his wife both lost their jobs at the hospital after Xu’s arrest.(Click here to read Amnesty report on this case)
CAA condemns the Chinese Security restrictions on Dr. Xu’s freedom. In light of the worsening situation facing the Chinese rights defenders in recent weeks, CAA urges international Christian communities including the Chinese House churches to start vigile relay fasting and prayers for both the Chinese authority and rights defenders. “May God soften the hearts of the Chinese leaders and grant justice and mercy to these brave rights defenders like Mr. Guo Feixiong, Ms. Ai Xiaoming and Mr. Gao Zhisheng who are the true conscience of China.” said Rev. Bob Fu, president of CAA.
Write emails and make phone calls to show solidarity and brotherly love for Dr. Xu.
Dr. Xu Yonghai Contact Information:
Tel: +86-10-82082198
Email:
[email protected]
Premier Wen Jiabao, PRC
PO Box 1741, The State Council, Beijing, PRC (zip code 100017)
Contact Phone?+86-10-66012399
Email?
[email protected]
Ms. Wu Aiying, minister of Ministry of Justice of PRC
Tel:+86-10-65205114
Fax:+86-10-64729863
Email: [email protected]
Address?No. 10, Nan Da Jie, Chaoyangmen, Beijing City (Zip Code: 100020)

Issued by CAA on Febuary 13, 2006
I’M RELEASED FROM THE PRISON.  MY SUN HAS AT LAST RISEN IN THE EAST.
—Xu Yonghai’s letter to his friends after his release from the prison.
My dear friends. How are you? I’m Xu Yonghai.  At last, I have left the prison and my freedom is restored.  Ever since I was thrown into the prison, my directions have changed.  In the prison, the sun always rose in the south and set down in the north and it was so every day.  How I wished the sun could rise in the east, but it was not the case.  The pattern of the direction was fixed in my brain and could not be changed.  I would have to wait until I leave here.  In this way, I expected this day every day I was there and finally it came.
On the day I was about to leave the prison, I got up very early in the morning.  While other inmates were released from the cell at about 6 o’clock, I waited in the balcony.  I heard someone call me quietly from the outside and I found it was Liu Fenggang.  He was passing by my balcony.  I lived on the first floor and Liu Fenggang lived on the third floor.  Usually, we didn’t have a chance to see each other.  I met him several times on my way to the factory and talked with him three times.
He is in poor health and suffers from diabetes and heart disease.  Each time I saw him, he told me he had gone see doctors in the prison’s clinic.  I didn’t expect to see him when I was about to leave the prison.  Thank God that I met him.  He wanted me to say hello to all of you and thank you for your care and concern.  He said he was in the clinic and they found his glucose was still high.  He said he had appealed to the authorities 7 or 8 times but had not got a reply.  He said he couldn’t talk too much and after a few words, he left.
At about 10:30 (note: January 29, 2006), people from Hangzhou Municipal Public Security came and said the bureau would like to see me off.  I said I would like to go to the West Lake.  At this age, I still had never been to West Lake and I would like to visit the place.  The people from the public security bureau said they would take me for a fun drive.  As soon as the car went out of the gate of the prison, someone was there to pick me up.  I asked the car to stop and a familiar face came over to me.  However, I did not recognize who he was.  He said to the policemen: “I’m here to pick up Xu Yonghai on Yonghai’s wife’s request.”  Now I looked at him closely and found he was Zhang Shengqi.  He has become mature and full of vitality.
I no longer needed the police’s help.  Zhang Shengqi and I got into another vehicle.  Zhang told me he had waited in front of the gate of the prison since 6 a.m. of that morning.  He had gone there on a taxi and every hour he gave  them 70 yuan.  He told me that many brothers and sisters in the Lord show concern for me, such as Brother Fu, Teacher Wang, etc. and that they were waiting for news of me.  He took me to a hotel and asked me to get a hot bath.  Hot water came out from the tap and it was so comfortable to let hot water flow over my body.  I had not had a hot bath for two years.  There was only cold water in the detention center and the prison, even in the dead of winter.
It was only after I went back home that I learned my wife Li Shanna had suffered a lot for me.  Before I was arrested, my house was demolished by force and we had to rent a place.  After I was arrested, the public security bureau did not allow people to rent their places to Li Shanna.  Homeless and penniless, she had to live in a public bath house.  With much difficulty, she bought a very old house with the demolition money.  Since she didn’t have the money to do the interior finishing, she had to ask friends to come over and make the room tidy enough for her to live in.  While these people were putting things in order in the room, she sat there listless and wouldn’t eat, drink or even weep.
After I was arrested, there was no news of me for a long long time and no one knew where I was locked up.  Given this situation, she had to go to various public security bureaus to inquire about me.  For this, she made numerous unnecessary trips and suffered sneers and jeers.  After a lot of hassles, she finally found my whereabouts.  She wanted to hire an attorney but didn’t have the money.  She worried a lot, so much so that she even thought about selling one of her kidneys.  When she learned they would soon open a court session on my case, she braved against huge pressures and went thousands of miles all the way from Beijing to Hangzhou in order to sit in the court as an auditor.  Under the “escort” of the police and leaders of her work unit, she came to Hangzhou.  However, the court was not open to the public and she couldn’t enter the court.
After I was thrown into the prison, the prison authorities issued a notice of meeting and allowed my family members to see me.  When Li Shanna tried to ask for leave of absence in order to see me, her work unit wouldn’t give her the approval.  One thing that has puzzled me till now is that as both Li Shanna and I were from the same hospital and I was a doctor who had worked there for many years.  When I was in trouble, they not only did not show any concerns for me or Li Shanna, but they also wouldn’t approve the normal leave of absence.  Therefore, Li Shanna was forced to quit her job.  From then on, Li Shanna had to make a living by working at odd jobs here and there.  Some people were not happy to see her show so much care for her husband.  Li Shanna was often monitored by the police.  She had to be picked up and dropped off by the police when she went to and came back from work.  Out of the 365 days of 2005, there were 90 days when she was treated like this.
Facing such a pressure, Li Shanna had to endure the tribulation alone and did not dare to tell her parents for fear that they would worry about her.  Her parents are in poor health, especially her mother.  For the past two years, she hid this fact from her parents and told them that I had gone to work in another city.  On the day before yesterday, some relatives of Li Shanna called and said most of her relatives had already learned that Li Shanna was under surveillance.  It seems her parents would know this soon.  We asked these relatives of hers how they got to know it.  They said: “Don’t ask us.  We won’t tell you.  If we told you, we would be in trouble.  Anyway, someone has said you have joined a cult and your freedom is restricted and they even want to arrest you.”
On May 2, 2002, Li Shanna married me.  On this day in 2003, I was locked in a detention center because I appealed to the higher authorities on the demolition of my house.  On this day in 2004 and 2005, I was again in a jail.  So far, we haven’t celebrated a single wedding ceremony and Li Shanna hasn’t lived a single day of good life with me.  As a wife, Li Shanna has suffered a lot.  As a husband, I hope my wife can live a happy life.
Now that I’m released, I will take care of this family.  Now, I’m distributing to  you “On Eschatology,” a 90,000-word book I wrote in the jail.  I hope you can render me help and I also hope you will read it in a serious manner.  Hopefully, this book can give you an idea of my intellectual structure and level so that you can help me find a suitable job.
Xu Yonghai
Monday, February 13, 2006
Tel: 82082198



China Aid Contacts
Rachel Ritchie, English Media Director
Cell: (432) 553-1080 | Office: 1+ (888) 889-7757 | Other: (432) 689-6985
Email: [email protected] 
Website: www.chinaaid.org

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—Xu Yonghai's letter to his friends after his release from the prison.-Beijing Christian Rights Activist's Freedom Restricted after Release from Prison; CAA Calls for Urgent Global Fasting and Prayers for the Endangered Chinese Rights Defenders

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Fight for religious freedom in China

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