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Nine House Church Leaders Secretly Sent to Labor Camps in Hubei Province

Contact: Bob Fu, China Aid Association, Inc., 432-689-6985, 267-205-5210, info@ChinaAid.org; www.ChinaAid.org, www.monitorChina.org

 

MIDLAND, Texas, Oct. 5 /Christian Newswire/ -- CAA learned that after the 9 House Church leaders were missing for almost two months, only recently their relatives were formally informed by the authority that the 9 pastors had been sentenced to re-education through labor from 12 months to 18 months since August 6 of this year. Among them, 42-year-old Ms. Li Mei has been serving her one-year sentence in a hospital of her county with both hands chained with her bed. She has to have a hysterectomy surgery because of the repeated beatings and torture she received during her detention time from July 15 to August 15. Another female church leader 33-year-old Ms. Qin Daomin is temporarily serving her sentence at home because she had a 2-year-old child to care for.

 

Photo: the Decision Paper by, Re-education through Labor Committee, for the nine House Church leaders

According to the sentence paper issued on August 6, 2007 by the Administrative Committee for Re-education through Labor of Enshizhou City of Hubei province, the 9 leaders were detained on July 15 when they were found having Sunday worship service together at the home of Ms. Qin Daomin. They were accused of the crime of "engaging in organizing and making use of an evil cult organization to undermine the enforcement of State laws". The official reeducation through labor decision paper listed the following things as evidence of their crimes including singing Christian hymns to the villagers and showing the Jesus film in a nursing home and praying for the disabled elderly men for healing from God.

Click here for the full text of the official decision paper- A Decision of Reeducation through Labor  

Click here for Qin Hongjun Administrative Appeal paper

The 9 sentenced leaders are from Anhui, Hubei, Henan and Shanxi provinces. Among them, four male church leaders were sentenced to 18 months in labor camp while 5 women were sentenced to 12 months. The four men are Mr. Wang Caizhang(34-year-old), Mr. Ma Zhao(35-year-old), Mr. Yang Situan(39-year-old) and Mr. Du Dongliang(32-year-old). The five women are Ms. Qin Daofang(40-year-old), Ms. Hu Rong(42-year-old), Ms. Li Mei (42-year-old), Ms. Ren Xianxue (35-year-old),Ms. Qin Daomin(33-year-old). Mr. Yang Situan and Ms. Ren Xianxue are husband and wife with three children in school. Ms. Qin Daofang and Qin Daomin are two biological sisters and their father Mr. Qin Hongjun (65-year-old) was sentenced to ten days administrative detention for hosting the Sunday worship service at his home. He was also severely beaten.

The four male church leaders are now held in the following labor camp:
Enshi Zhou Labor Camp
Shi Jia Po Reeducation through labor camp, Liu Jiao Ting town, Enshi city, Enshizhou, Hubei province (zip code: 44500)

The women's labor camp address:
Hubei Provincial Female Reeducation through labor camp
Team 2, Female Reeducation through labor camp, Te Yi Hao, Wunan Tielu, Hongshan district, Wuhan city, Hubei province
Contact Phone number: +86-27-88422136(Labor camp management bureau) or +86-27-88422142(inside labor camp)

Communicate your concern to the Chinese authority at the following address:
Ambassador Zhou Wenzhong,
Embassy of the People's Republic of China
2300 Connecticut Ave NW, Washington DC 20008
http://www.china-embassy.org/
TEL: 202-7456743                 
Fax: 202-588-0032; 202-7457473
Director of Religious Affairs: 202-328-2512

WEN Jiabao Guojia Zongli
The State Council General Office
2 Fuyoujie, Xichengqu
Beijingshi 100017
People's Republic of China
Fax: +86 10 65961109 (c/o Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
Email: gazette@mail.gov.cn
Issued by China Aid Association, Inc. October 4, 2007