China has owned two members of a Protestant church, Anhui’s eastern province for its refusal to join an organization supported by the government, accusing them of being involved in a “cult”, said rights defense groups.
Police from the city of Fuyang d’Anui made a descent into the church reform of the wheat aspects on March 10, holding two of its members in administrative detention to “use cult activities to endanger the company,” the Weiquanwang rights website reported on Saturday.
The two members of the church detained initiated lawyers and filed an administrative examination, but the municipal government of Fuyang has neither accepted nor rejected the revision, he said.
The US-based Christian rights group, China Aid also reported the incident.
A Christian based in Fuyang who gave only the Wang family name for fear of reprisals confirmed the report.
“Two members of the church were recently sentenced to 15-day administrative penalties in detention to” use cult activities to endanger the company, “he said.
Local Christians said that this decision was probably linked to the church’s refusal to join the patriotic association of the three Protestant organizations of the Communist Party in power.
Under President Xi Jinping, officials embarked on a national repression against religious activities and Muslim, Christian and Tibetan Buddhist places since 2017.
Patriotic churches with three auto
Protestant churches are authorized to operate if they are part of the Patriotic Association with three auto-autonomas. The three “self” refer to self -government, self -support and autopropagation – essentially rejecting any foreign influence – and “patriotic” refers to loyalty to the Chinese government.
China has many unauthorized “house churches” across the country, which are frequently attacked by the authorities, and some “three” churches have also been targeted sometimes.
Pastor Wang said more than a dozen members of the church had been targeted by the police in recent years, either receiving warnings or in detention.
“This has happened a lot in the past three or four years,” said Wang. “State security police have warned members of the church that any church that does not reach the association of the three soles is a cult.”
Repeated calls for the local police station and the religious office and municipal ethnic affairs of Fuyang sounded unanswered during the hours of office on Tuesday.
Local Christians said that the Church reform of wheat aspects has always refused to join the Patriotic Auto Association and was vocal to support religious freedom, making it a continuous target of harassment and detention by the authorities.
At least 19 of its members have been detained in the past three years, while some have been forced to leave their homes. Police also physically attacked certain members after leaving a meeting with the children present, they said.
“They were hardly affected,” a local pastor said on Tuesday who gave the family name that Zhang fears reprisals to RFA Mandarin. “The churches are targeted because they refuse to join the Patriotic Association with three Soi.”
“If they do not join, they say that you are a worship and that you are also committed to fraud,” he said. “Cult activity is an accusation of tote used to target any religious person.”
Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Malcolm Foster.