June 15 2004

The China Aid Association has learnt that more than 100 leaders of the China Gospel Fellowship (CGF) were arrested on June 11, 2004. The arrests took place at Wuhan city, Hubei province (mid east China) while these church leaders were meeting together.

According to a senior house church leader and an eyewitness of the arrests, about 50 police, believed to be from the Public Security Bureau (PSB) of Wuhan City, raided the church meeting at around 2pm and arrested all of the participants, including one of the senior CGF leaders, Mr Xing Jinfu.

Mr Xing, 39, has been arrested at least three times before for his church activities. He was sentenced to three years re-education through labour in 1996 for his 'illegal preaching'. The whereabouts of those arrested are still unknown. On the same day, according to a reliable source known to the China Aid Association, the well-known leader of the CGF, Pastor Shen Xianfeng, was put under house arrest in a residential area of Wuhan city after the PSB thoroughly searched the house where Mr Shen was recovering from leg injuries. The CGF was established in the mid-1980s and is one of the five major Chinese house church groups with an estimated membership of at least five million.

The China Aid Association also learned from an internal source in the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) that its Politburo had recently convened a special secret meeting discussing 'How to deal with religious affairs in China'. According to the source, a secret directive was issued after the meeting, calling on every level of the Chinese government and the Party to crack down on 'illegal religious activities'. The directive also urged the CCP's Department of Propaganda to carry out a special media campaign to promote atheism.

Bob Fu, president of the China Aid Association, said: "Given the recent massive arrests of unregistered religious leaders in different areas in China, the international community should be alarmed and take concrete actions to urge the Chinese government to fulfil her signed pledge to protect her citizens' religious freedom mandated by relevant international human rights covenants."

Christian Solidarity Worldwide joins with the China Aid Association in urging the Chinese authorities to release these arrested church leaders immediately. CSW is also asking its supporters to write to the Chinese authorities to petition for their release.

For more information, please visit the China Aid Association website at www.chinaaid.org , email bobfu@chinaaid.org or ring (001) 267 205 5210.

NOTES TO EDITORS:

The Chinese authorities consistently persecute those with religious beliefs such as the Falun Gong, Buddhists, Christian house churches, and all those who do not belong to state-sponsored churches.