ICC NOTE: China Aid has reported of yet another house church raid following the unyielding pressure by the Chinese government against unsanctioned church gatherings. The latest report comes from the autonomous western region of Xinjiang where the ethnic religious Uyghur minority consider home. Authorities raided the gathering detaining two in what they have considered to be illegal activities. The government continues to crackdown on the Christian church demolishing crosses in the east and closing churches throughout the country. China’s government sanctioned churches are not safe either as is the case of pastor Gu Yuese who remains incarcerated for speaking out against the government’s cross removal campaign. 

4/4/2016 Xinjing, China (China Aid) – A house church gathering in Changji, a city in China’s far western Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, was raided on March 9 by authorities, who criminally detained two church members, the latest in a long string of house church raids throughout the region.

Nearly 40 people attended the meeting, a Bible training session, including pastors and visitors from other provinces. According to a church member who spoke with China Aid’s reporter on March 29, dozens of police and officers from the local religious affairs bureau raided the meeting, claiming that the proceedings were illegal religious activities and taking the attendees’ ID cards. Authorities took some of the attendees to the police station for interrogation, which lasted several hours, and did not release them until later that night.

Two of the attendees were criminally detained: a deacon named Wang Lu and an unnamed woman who helped transport people to the meeting. Public security officials did not give any notice or explanation regarding the detentions.

China Aid reports on religious freedom abuses, such as the detentions and house church raids in Xinjiang, in order to expose these events and promote human rights and rule of law in China.

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