Chinese security forces for their involvement in Bible training, a human rights group said.
China Aid Association (CAA), which has close contacts with Chinese house churches, told BosNewsLife that it learned Thursday, October 26, that local police "raided the Qilin Mountain Villa in the suburb of Uramqi City" in China’s Xijiang Autonomous Region where the Bible training program took place.
"There were 35 Christians who were taken to the Yongfeng Township Police Station for interrogation, including the American Korean pastor and his interpreter," the group said. The pastor’s name was not immediately released, apparently for security reasons.
Among others detained were two women, Zhou Li and Xia Lingzhi, who CAA said "were put under custody for two weeks last year and fined because of regular service attendance." They were "also abused" during the interrogation, said CAA, without providing more details.
HEART PROBLEMS
Xia Lingzhi, 66, reportedly suffers from coronary heart disease and high blood pressure, "thus should not be detained in any harsh environment," CAA said.
The group said it has appealed to local police to release the Christians as soon as possible, "for their belief does absolutely no harm to both the society and the nation."
Church leaders and human rights groups have reported that especially Christians worshipping outside the ‘official’ churches have become the targets of harassment by Communist authorities in several regions. Most of China estimated 80-million Christians worship in ‘house churches’ named this way as they are often organized in homes of believers.
China has denied human rights abuses and says Christians are free to pray in government backed denominations. (With BosNewsLife Research and reports from China).
