to join the official government backed denomination, religious rights groups said late Tuesday, August 17.
The Voice Of the Martyrs (VOM) said it had learned that "most of the 100 Christians arrested July 12 in China’s Xinjiang Autonomous Region" as part of an ongoing crackdown on believers "had been released" by China’s police "following an international outcry."
It cautioned however that five Christians of the group are still being detained in the area and could be facing long prison sentences. VOM said Mr. Zhao Xinlan, 50, Ms. Li Cuiling, 44, Mr. Wang Chaoyi, 39, Mr. Yang Tian Lu, 39, and Ms. Gao Rui’er, 28 are held in the A Ke Su prefecture, near the provincial capital of Urumqi.
In addition over 100 Christians who were arrested during a retreat meeting on August 6 are still in custody and families of six of them have received formal notice of the "criminal detention" of their family members, VOM reported.
Chinese law allows incarceration up to three years without formal charges or a trial, VOM said. Police forces also arrested other individuals belonging to non official churches, human rights watchers claimed.
CATHOLICS ARRESTED
The well informed Washington based pressure Institute on Religion and Public Policy (IRPP) said Tuesday, August 16, that Chinese security forces arrested eight Roman Catholic priests and two seminarians "who remain in communion with Rome." The clergy had gathered for a religious retreat, IRPP added.
"These arrests follow the detainment of three bishops earlier this year in an ongoing attempt by the Communist regime to eradicate churches outside of the official Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, which is controlled by the Communist Government," the organization explained in a statement to the BosNewsLife news agency.
It said the latest arrests "send an unmistakable message to the world that not only is there no religious freedom within Chinese borders, but also that the freedoms of thought, association, and conscience are not respected or protected by the Beijing Government."
In another province, Anhui, Luo Bing Yin, the leader of the 5-million strong Ying Shang house church group, was transferred to prison from a detention center, VOM claimed. His wife, Huang Xiu Lan, and their two children, a 17-year-old daughter and an 11-year-old son, were said to be "under intense pressure from the police."
FAMILY MEMBERS DETAINED
VOM also expressed concern that "family members of some of the arrested Christians" have been detained in recent days. "Pastor Han Quan Shui was arrested on August 6. His wife, known simply as Mana, was arrested the following day. Ru Xi Feng, the mother of a pastor who died in 2000, was also arrested on August 7. Xue Ying, the wife of arrested pastor Zheng Wan Shun was detained and interrogated by police," VOM said.
VOM Spokesman Todd Nettleton suggested he remains concerned about the future of these and other Chinese Christians. "China talks about religious freedom, but where is it?", he asked in a statement. "We urge the release of these Christians who simply want to worship God freely according to the dictates of their conscience."
VOM said letters of protest can be sent to the Chinese Embassy in Washington DC: Ambassador Yang Jiechi, Embassy of the People’s Republic of China, 2300 Connecticut Ave NW, Washington DC 20008. Chinese officials have denied they are cracking down on Christians, saying they only want to stop the spread of "dangerous sects" in the Communist nation. Despite reports of persecution, the country is said to experience the fastest church growth in the world.
The government says China has 15 million Protestants and five million Catholics in official churches. Unofficial figures put up to 80 million the number of underground Protestants and up to 10 million the number of Catholics who worship in "underground" or "family" churches, which refuse to submit to government regulation.
