"an extremely harsh sentence" if convicted in an upcoming trial as part of a national campaign against evangelical Christians, BosNewsLife learned Friday November 12.
The China Aid Association (CAA), a well informed human rights group, said 32-year old Pastor Cai Zhuohuaring oversaw six house churches before he was "kidnapped by three plain-clothed officers believed to be from the Department of State Security" on September 11, this year.
CAA, which has close contacts with persecuted Christians, quoted one eyewitness as saying that Cai was taken into custody while waiting at a bus stop after a Bible study lesson. "Three strong men approached him and pushed him into a white van," CAA said. Cai’s wife, Xiao Yunfei, along with her brother, Xiao Gaowen, and sister-in-law, Hu Jinyun, were arrested September 27 after Chinese authorities discovered they were hiding in Hengshan county, Hunan province, CAA added.
Unidentified sources reportedly told CAA that pastor Cai and his wife will "face an extremely harsh sentence because of their prominent role in the Beijing house church leadership."
STATE SECURITY
The case has been handled directly by the Department of State Security. Another source close to the central law enforcement authority allegedly revealed to CAA that Qiang Wei, deputy General Secretary of Politics and Law Commission of Beijing, has issued "a two-word handwritten directive" to deal with this "case harshly and severely."
The central government has "already labeled this case the most serious case on overseas religious infiltration since the founding of the People’s Republic of China," CAA announced.
Chinese officials could not immediately be reached for comment, but the government has said it wanted to crack down on "dangerous sects," including apparently ‘house churches’, the term used to describe the growing number of evangelical Christians who are in many cases forced to meet secretly as they do not recognize the state approved churches. Communist authorities refuse to allow their meetings to take
place.
"The Christian church of China may not have as many martyrs as Colombia, face as many restrictions as their sisters in Sudan, or fight as many extremist mobs as their brothers in Indonesia. But the 60-80 million Christians in China remain the world’s largest single persecuted community today," said the well informed human rights watchdog Open Doors in a recent statement.
BROADER CAMPAIGN
A prosecution team source, who was not named, told CAA that "this case is part of a broader national campaign against the underground church and so-called illegal religious publications that began this past June."
The Chinese authority is especially unhappy about a house church quarterly magazine called Love Feast (www.AiYan.org) in which pastor Cai has been involved. In several issues in the past, contrary to Chinese official position, it published articles on President Bush’s faith and commemorations on Dr. Jonathan Chao, one of the most respected Chinese church historians, who passed away this year, CAA said.
"Instead of on religious grounds, the authorities are considering convicting pastor Cai and his wife, along with the other two relatives, on criminal charges such as tax evasion or illegal business management," CAA quoted the source as saying. If convicted for the alleged trumped up charges, the Christians could face life sentence.
DETAINEES HELD
CAA said that all four detainees are being held at Qinghe Detention Center, Haidian District, Beijing. So far none of their relatives have been allowed to visit them, CAA said.
"All of those who know pastor Cai over the years can testify that he and his wife are wonderful Christians with loving hearts for both the church in China and their motherland," added Bob Fu, CAA’s president and a former coworker of pastor Cai, in a statement to BosNewsLife. "We urge people of all faiths to take action to demand their immediate release."
CAA said that letters of protest can be sent to the Chinese Embassy in Washington DC via postal address: Ambassador Yang Jiechi, Embassy of the People’s Republic of China, 2300 Connecticut Ave NW, Washington DC 20008. Its phone numbers were identified as :(202) 328-2500 or fax :(202) 588-0032, while the Director of Religious Affairs can be reached at: (202) 328-2512.
