China Detains Fourth Christian in Less than One Month for “Illegal Materials”
ICC NOTE: In the span of less than one month, Chinese authorities have targeted two separate churches in Guangdong under similar circumstances. The first being three Church members who were criminally detained for having religious materials in their possession with one including a Bible. The latest report comes from China Aid where on June 6 authorities detained Li Hongmin, a member of the Gaungfu Church. Li and his wife printed materials advocating for citizens to love one anther and in no way referenced ill sentiments toward the Communist Party. Unfortunately it does not require much for local officials to consider the materials to be in opposition to the state.
6/22/2016 Guangdong, China (China Aid) – On June 6, authorities criminally detained a member of a house church in Guangzhou, the capital of China’s southern Guangdong province, accusing him of “illegal business operations” after he printed religious materials.
Officers from multiple government departments criminally detained Li Hongmin, a member of Guangfu Church, after he printed various religious materials. These authorities confiscated all of the materials, as well as Li’s phone and other items from his home.
A local Christian told China Aid’s reporter that at the time of the detention, government officers told Li that he would be allowed to go home after two hours but did not release him as promised. Members of the religious affairs bureau, cultural affairs bureau, Huangshou Street Police Station and other active duty police officers were involved in the event.
“Those police officers went back to his house and told [his wife] that her husband needed a cell phone, and that was how they obtained his phone. Then the officers came back that night to take away his things. They lied and said that Li would only be detained for seven days, tricking his family members into paying a fee to the detention center,” the Christian said.
According to Li’s wife, several dozen officers arrived in the evening to search the house and did not leave until the following morning.