document about a fresh crackdown on unregistered churches in China and heard evidence of
torture and sexual abuse of Christians in the Communist-run nation, a human rights watchdog said Thursday March 31. Christian Liu Xianzhi, who spent six years in labour camps, gave evidence in Geneva Wednesday, March 30, about the way she was tortured and sexually abused by Communist guards while imprisoned for her faith.
She is one of 20 top leaders of the South China Church, which has more than 100,000 members, despite apparent persecution, suggested UK-based CSW which helped her to prepare for the meeting.
Liu Xianzhi was arrested in 1996 and spent three years in Shauang Labour Camp for being an ‘illegal evangelist’. She was released in 1998, but was arrested again in 2001 in a crackdown on the South China Church, CSW said. "They took us to Zhongxiang Police Training Centre. They brought me to another room where there were four beds at the sides of the room with space in the centre," she said according to a transcript received by BosNewsLife News
Center.
"HORRIFIED"
"There were about seven men there, some of whom were only wearing shorts. They were all sitting on the beds. They made me stand right in the centre. One of the men came to me and started touching my body. I was so horrified that I shouted out loudly," Liu added.
"He slapped me across the face. Then the rest of the men started asking me questions about who I was, what I did and so forth. I told them my name, but before I could say what I did the first man started to kick me on each of my calves. He said angrily, “I’m going to beat you until you understand why we arrested you.” I said that I was free to believe in Jesus. He replied, “You are still so proud to believe in Jesus and not believe in the Communist Party. Jesus is a foreigner’s god. Now is the time of the rule of the Communist Party.”
In an alleged effort to frame the leader of the South China Church, Pastor Gong Shengliang, her interrogators reportedly tried to get her to give evidence of sexual misconduct by him. When she refused to give into their threats, they sexually assaulted her. She said her interrogator assaulted her and forces her to kneel down, according to the transcript of Wednesday’s meeting.
"HUMILATED"
"When I did not he kicked me to the floor and put the shackles on me. He used the electric rod on my head, my back, my [bare] breasts and my buttocks," she alleged. It made her "body double over" and she felt "extremely humiliated".
After she fell on the floor and was forced into a corner "he laughed" she claimed. "He used the heel of his leather shoes to grind the top of one of my hands. I felt so much pain, that in my heart I felt as though I could understand the pain of Jesus when he was nailed on the cross.”
On December 7 2001, after prolonged torture and beatings, Liu was charged with organizing and using an evil cult organization to obstruct the implementation of the law. She was accused of evangelizing, attending gatherings and being involved in the publication of a church magazine, including actively contributing articles, human rights watchers said.
"CULTS"
Other members of the church were also detained at the same time while Pastor Gong and four others were sentenced to death. Under international pressure, the pastor and his co-workers were promised a re-trial while Liu was freed by the judge. However, "in an act of blatant injustice, she was immediately administratively sentenced by the police to three years re-education in a labour camp," said CSW, before she was finally released on February 1, 2004 and eventually managed to flee China
Liu said she "still suffers" today. “When I go out I feel that people are taking note of me. I suspect that someone is following me. When I hear dogs barking, loud and fast knocking on the door, the sound of police sirens, or I see men who are not wearing shirts, like my interrogators, I have an overwhelming sense of fear,” she added according to a transcript.
"The vicious persecution of Liu Xianzhi demonstrates yet again the violence used by the Chinese authorities against Christians," said CSW National Director, Stuart Windsor. "Her account is a horrifying testimony of mistreatment at the hands of a regime which seems to use all means necessary to try to stamp out the Christian faith. Her powerfull testimony before the UN must spur the international community to do more to uphold basic human rights and religious freedom in China,” he said.
VIDEO
Liu’s statements were backed up by video footage of human rights investigators of what CSW described as "extra-judicial killing" as well as "evidence of torture, forced labour, and religious repression." In addition "a secret official document regarding the current crackdown on unregistered religious groups was exposed at the meeting," CSW claimed.
Human rights groups have in the past expressed concern about an alleged recent secret Communist directive for a crack down on ‘house churches’, a reference to evangelical Christians who are in many cases forced to meet underground as they do not recognize the Communist sanctioned church.
Investigators also expressed concern about Zhang Yi Nan whom the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has recognized as being arbitrarily detained "in breach of international standards," CSW said. "Zhang, 47, is a church historian and writer, who played a key role in unifying the unofficial house churches in China. He was arrested by police without a warrant in September 2003," the group added.
Also speaking was Bob Fu, President of the China Aid Association, a key agency documenting the persecution of the church in China. He was a house church leader in Beijing until he and his wife were detained for ‘illegal religious activities.’ After his release they fled to the West to avoid what the couple believed would be imminent persecution for their Christian faith.
Chinese authorities have denied there is religious persecution in the country, and say action is only taken against "dangerous sects." (With reports Stefan J. Bos, reports from UN in Geneva, China and BosNewsLIfe Research).
