Photo: Police ripped Pastor Hua's clothing and beat him for nearly half an hour.

"I'm going to strangle you, and I'd like to see whether you can still preach the gospel. If you go outside the town again, I'll break your legs." He also threatened, "I'm beating you because God tells me to do so. I'll get all the materials ready in three months and arrest both you and your wife for sentencing. ... Our Domestic Security Protection Squad is specially set up here to suppress you Jesus believers."

Prior to Pastor Hua's arrest, Pastor Hua Huiqi went to Shaanxi to share the Gospel. On the afternoon of June 4, while Pastor Hua was still away, a house church believer went to visit Pastor Hua at his home, which has been under continual surveillance by plainclothes police. Police officers took the believer to Jinxing Police Station of Beijing where he was interrogated from 6 p.m. to 1 a.m. and then released.

On June 5, Hua Huiqi's wife, Wei Jumei, called the Public Security Bureau upon hearing of her husband's arrest. She was permitted to speak to him. He told her, "My clothes are ripped open, and I'm being detained at Huairou Armored Troops of Beijing." When Hua Huiqi's wife asked: "Did they beat you?" the phone line was immediately disconnected.

After a press release was sent out through ChinaAid's Chinese site, Pastor Hua Huiqi was released on June 7. At this time, Pastor Hua is recovering at home, but his activities are restricted by authorities.

The following is Pastor Hua Huiqi's account of the incident in his own words, sent to ChinaAid on June 8:

My name is Hua Huiqi. Before June 4 of this year, I went to a church outside of Beijing and shared the words of God with some brothers and sisters. On the morning of June 5 as I was transferring trains at Taiyuan Railroad Station, I was arrested by the police officers from Shaanxi and Fengtai, Beijing who had been laying in ambush there for a long time. I was taken to the hotel where they were staying. A team leader named Dong from Fengtai District Domestic Security Protection Squad of Beijing roughed me up and slapped me in the face over 10 times. My clothes were ripped open, and they beat me for nearly half an hour. In the meantime, one officer pinched me on the neck and said: "I'm going to strangle you, and I'd like to see whether you can still preach the gospel. If you go outside the town again, I'll break your legs." He also threatened me: "I'm beating you because God tells me to do so. I'll get all the materials ready in three months and arrest both you and your wife for sentencing." I asked him, "What law did we break?" He said, "Just because you believe in Jesus. Our Domestic Security Protection Squad is specially set up here to suppress you Jesus believers. We won't allow you to stir up trouble and establish contacts everywhere. You must apply at our Domestic Security Protection Squad when you want to go out. We won't allow you to get out of our sight. Otherwise, whenever you go out, we'll beat you at once and break your legs."

On that same afternoon, over 10 police officers escorted me back to Beijing from Taiyuan and detained me in a valley between two mountains where they guarded me day and night. Later, because of prayers from brothers and sisters and appeals by ChinaAid, the officers escorted me back home on the evening of June 7, and I'm still not free at this moment. I hope brothers and sisters the world over can pray for the Chinese police and beg God to show His grace and let them repent and believe in Jesus. I also hope they pray that we may freely preach the Gospel and live a free life.

Member in Christ,
Hua Huiqi

Contact the Chinese Embassy in Washington D.C. on behalf of Pastor Hua Huiqi and ask for the immediate cessation of persecution and harassment of the Hua family. Insist that authorities uphold the Huas' right to religious freedom as articulated in China's rule of law and in the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Ambassador Zhou Wenzhong
3505 International Place, NW, Washington, D.C. 20008
Tel: (202) 495-2000
Fax: (202) 588-9760

ChinaAid grants permission to reproduce photos and/or information for non-fundraising purposes, with the provision that www.ChinaAid.org is credited. Please contact: Katherine@ChinaAid.org with questions or requests for further information.