Archive for the ‘Religious Oppression’ Category

‘Bike’ Zhang Released After International Outcry

Thursday, November 6th, 2008 |

Pastor “Bike” Zhang Mingxuan, his wife and his wife’s sister were declared “free” by Chinese government officials on October 27, 2008 at 1 p.m. in Nanyang, Henan province as a direct result of international outcry on their behalf. It is believed that the three were being held to prevent them from attending the third anniversary of the Chinese House Church Alliance which was held in Beijing on October 20. Pastor Bike, President of the Chinese House Church Alliance, was one of approximately 300 delegates invited to attend the celebration. Because of police harassment, only about 100 of the delegates made it to Beijing for the event.

Pastor Bike was first detained on October 16, after his sons, Zhang Jian and Zhang Chuang, were beaten by police and his wife was evicted from their apartment. The Public Security Bureau (PSB) sent out two separate groups to arrest the family. (more…)

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Physical Abuse and Detention of Pastor “Bike” Zhang’s Family in China

Thursday, October 23rd, 2008 |

In response to the recent abuses committed by the Chinese Government against Zhang Mingxuan, the President of the 250,000 member “Chinese House Church Alliance”, two Congressional Leaders: Congressman Frank R. Wolf (R-VA) and Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ) have co-written a letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urging the Cabinet member to request urgent action from the Chinese Government to free Zhang Mingxuan from his detention and to rectify the personal damages inflicted upon his family.

In July of 2008, both Congressmen had the opportunity to personally meet with Zhang Mingxuan and his wife in Beijing, despite Chinese Government interference. During the meeting Zhang was able to personally share with the Congressmen the daily struggles and abuses he and fellow Christians face on a daily basis from the Communist Party of China.
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UN assisting Iraqi Christians seeking refuge in Syria

Thursday, October 23rd, 2008 |

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is helping hundreds of Iraqi Christians who fled the northern city of Mosul to neighbouring Syria, which is already hosting at least 1.2 million refugees from the strife-torn nation.

“Many Christians from Mosul have been systematically targeted recently and are no longer safe there. We are ready to provide support for those Iraqis that seek refuge in neighbouring countries,” said Laurens Jolles, UNHCR’s representative in Syria.
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American Physician Murdered in Pakistan

Sunday, September 14th, 2008 |

The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community strongly condemned the Sept. 7 television broadcast of ‘Aalim Online’ on GEO Television, which broadcasts in several countries including Pakistan, US, Middle East and the United Kingdom. The broadcast, presented by Aamir Liaquat Hussain, sought to ‘commemorate’ the 34th anniversary of Ahmadiyya Muslim Community members being declared non-Muslim in Pakistan. The program, which included both a panel discussion and telephone conference, was extremely inflammatory and highly inciting.

During the broadcast the Founder of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (peace be upon him) was spoken of in the most vile and repulsive language and utter malicious lies were attributed to him. Ahmadi Muslim beliefs were grotesquely distorted and the moderator of the program eagerly put incendiary words into the mouths of the extremist clerics he interviewed. The language used offended the sentiments not only of all Ahmadi Muslims but indeed those of all peaceful people.
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Persecution Still ‘Behind the Scenes’ in Communist China

Tuesday, August 19th, 2008 |

On August 8, 2008, three American Christians were arrested in China. After the group’s press conference in Tiananmen Square, during which they condemned the country’s widespread oppression and human rights violations, they were imprisoned and subsequently deported back to the United States.

On that same day, as the world prepared for the commencement of the Olympic Games in Beijing, several Chinese house church leaders were quietly detained in the Henan Province, in an effort by government leaders to curb protests and reports of religious persecution in the country.
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Stephanie Brown Trafton Testifies From China as Planned

Monday, August 18th, 2008 |

For two years, 4 Winds Christian Athletics provided Olympic athlete testimonies to the media throughout the world, including the underground Chinese church. One of those testimonies has been from Stephanie Brown Trafton.

A huge underdog, Stephanie Brown Trafton won the first gold medal for the track and field team in Beijing, sparking the team to win more medals throughout the Monday evening.
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Secret Crackdown Campaign Prepared in China

Monday, August 18th, 2008 |

CAA release says that an important secret directive issued by the Political and Legal Committee of the Central Committee of the CPC has been communicated to all the law enforcement agents including the court, PSB and prosecution agencies within China. Reliable Sources within the high level Chinese Government security sectors informed CAA recently that an unprecedented nation-wide campaign is being designed to crackdown on four specific “unstable social elements” within China.

They are: illegal Christian House Church leaders, petitioners, human rights defenders and political dissidents. The campaign will begin in October. The source, who is sympathetic to the four groups, has communicated the directive’s ongoing preparation effort to CAA. The campaign is designed to be launched in concurrence with the Government’s campaign of “China’s 20 more years of political and social stability”. On June 16, Mr. Zhou Yongkang, the head of the Political and Legal Committee of the Central Committee of the CPC who is also the former leaders of China’s KGB and MPS, one of the 9 members of the Standing Committee of the CPC’s Politburo, made an unprecedented chilling speech. It was published in an internal CPC magazine, “Qiu Shi” recently. In the speech, he called for “extraordinary measures to be taken against” those unstable elements in order to protect the CPC’s continuous ruling and economic reform.
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IRD Urges Chinese Government to Stop ‘Lip-Synching’ Religious Freedom

Wednesday, August 13th, 2008 |

The chief music director for the Beijing Olympics recently revealed that the young girl portrayed as singing during Friday night’s ceremony was actually lip-synching another girl’s voice. This revelation is unsurprising to critics of the Chinese government, who allege that such showmanship is also characteristic of the state’s treatment of religion.

China has provided Bibles for athletes, officials and spectators. At the same time, the government has requested travelers to only take one Bible into China, ensuring that no mass distribution of Bibles takes place. It has imprisoned a Beijing book store owner for printing and selling Bibles and other Christian literature, charging him with “engaging in the printing and distribution of a large number of illegal publications.” It has also cracked down on Christian Bible teachers and house church pastors.
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Two Missionaries Released from Detention in Inner Mongolia

Monday, August 11th, 2008 |

China Aid Associationrelease says that two of the four missionaries detained in Inner Mongolia in early July have been released after serving 30 days administrative detention.

Yu Yongqing and Li Shusen were released on Aug. 6 and Aug 10, respectively. Yu Yongqing was released after paying an undisclosed amount of money to PSB officials for his release. Two of the four detained missionaries, Li Li and Wang Shuang remain in detention. Mr. Wang’s wife and sister visited the PSB detention center where he was being held upon entering the station they were shown into Wang’s cell where he was seen being hung by handcuffs. The two women left seriously distraught yet helpless to change the situation.
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A Journalist’s Walking Guide to the Persecution of Falun Gong in Beijing

Wednesday, August 6th, 2008 |

The Falun Dafa Information Center released today a report providing detailed leads on 16 Chinese citizens detained or killed recently in Beijing and surrounding provinces for practicing Falun Gong. At least nine of the 16 have died in police custody since the beginning of 2008 and several were persecuted with the complicity of local hospitals and educational institutions.

“Most of those traveling to Beijing this week for the Olympics have likely heard of Falun Gong and the Communist Party’s brutal campaign to crush it,” says Levi Browde, the Center’s Executive Director. “But few realize that the violence meted out against these peaceful believers has been so pervasive to have affected most neighborhoods in Beijing, including those within walking distance of Olympic venues, hotels, and prominent landmarks.”
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Three American Christians Released from Custody After Arrests in Beijing

Wednesday, August 6th, 2008 |

Three Christian activists were arrested in Tiananmen Square and forcibly taken into custody after displaying a banner that read “Jesus Christ Is King” in both English and Chinese. They were later released.

Rev. Pat Mahoney of the Christian Defense Coalition in Washington DC, Brandi Swindell of Generation Life in Boise, Idaho, and Michael McMonagle, National Director of Generation Life were standing in solidarity with the victims of human rights abuses, including forced abortion, religious persecution of Christians, and other denials of fundamental civil liberties.
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Saudi Arabia to Deport 15 Christians

Monday, August 4th, 2008 |

Deportation Comes Two Weeks after King Abdullah Calls for Reconciliation between Muslims and Christians at Saudi Hosted Interfaith Dialoge. The Washington-DC based human rights group, International Christian Concern (ICC) www.persecution.org has learned that Saudi Arabia is deporting 15 Christians on Tuesday, August 5th, for holding private worship meetings in a house in the city of Taif.

On Friday, April 25, twelve Saudi Arabian police raided a house where 16 Christians were holding a prayer meeting. The first officer to enter the house after breaking down the main gate pointed a pistol at the Christians and ordered them to hand over their resident permits and mobile phones. The other 11 police followed quickly and started searching the entire house. They confiscated an electronic drum set, an offering box with 500 Saudi Riyal in it ($130), 20 bibles, and a few Christian books.
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Discrimination against Kurdish Iranians unchecked and on the rise

Wednesday, July 30th, 2008 |

Iran’s government is failing in its duty to prevent discrimination and human rights abuses against its Kurdish citizens, according to a new Amnesty International report. The organization fears that the repression of Kurdish Iranians, particularly human rights defenders, is intensifying, according to the report Iran: Human rights abuses against the Kurdish minority.

The report also says that women face a double challenge to their human rights, both as members of a marginalised ethnic minority and as women in a predominantly patriarchal society.
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Heilongjiang House Church Persecuted in Coordinated Effort by Chinese Federal Agencies

Monday, July 7th, 2008 |

China Aid Association was informed that on July 2, 2008, house church member, Jiao Chunbao, was detained in Hegang city, Heilongjiang Province. Jiao, also a house church Missionary, was on his way to a worship service when he was intercepted by more than 20 government officers and policemen. The officials then forcibly escorted Jiao to the local police station. Jiao was told that his Church was banned from meeting, and threatened that if meetings continued he would be re-arrested and placed in detention.

Two female church members were also taken to the police station and questioned. This instance of house church persecution was carried out in joint effort by local government officials, Bureau of Religious Affairs, the Christian “two associations” and the local police station. The incident is yet another example of the degeneration in human rights and religious freedoms in China as the Beijing Olympic Games draw near.

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World Jewish Congress Urges Lithuanian Progress on Property Restitution

Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008 |

The World Jewish Congress has called on the Lithuanian government to urgently address the negative
climate in the country vis-a-vis members of its Jewish community and to speedily enact legislation allowing for the restitution of properties seized during the Nazi occupation. At a meeting in New York attended by leaders of several Jewish organizations, WJC Secretary General Michael Schneider told Lithuanian Prime Minister Gediminas Kirkilas: “The World Jewish Restitution Organization began its negotiations with your government six years ago. Until today, not a single piece of legislation has even been sent to the Lithuanian parliament for deliberation.”
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