Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) reports that authorities in Chengdu, in China’s Sichuan Province, have employed a series of ‘unlawful expedients’ to prevent Christians taking part in an online prayer meeting.
The prayers were held to mark the fifth anniversary of a government campaign against the Early Rain Covenant Church (ERCC), when over 100 members were arrested.
Furthermore, the church’s pastor, Wang Yi, and elder Qin Defu were detained on trumped-up charges before being sentenced to nine and four years in prison respectively. Pastor Wang is still serving his sentence and the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has said his detention is arbitrary.
Ahead of this year’s event, ERCC church members were subjected to power cuts, telephone warnings, door-to-door threats, stalking, having police stationed outside family homes, and being forcibly removed to police stations, to prevent or deter them from participating.
Then, as the world celebrated International Human Rights Day, marking the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), ERCC confirmed that church subdeacon Jia Xuewei had been detained for 15 days, and that preacher Dai Zhichao had been arrested for ‘picking quarrels and provoking trouble’.
CSW’s Founder President Mervyn Thomas said: ‘These mass police operations against house churches show the Chinese authorities’ utter contempt for universal and inalienable human rights. They are especially jarring as the world celebrates the establishment of the fundamental rights enshrined within the UDHR. We call for the immediate release of Dai Zhichao, Jia Xuewei, Pastor Wang Yi and all others who have been detained or imprisoned on account of their religion or belief. We also urge the international community to continue to highlight human rights violations in China and to hold the Chinese Communist Party to account for them at every possible opportunity.’
