Based on information collected by ChinaAid in 2012 on 132 persecution cases involving 4,919 people, the number of people sentenced jumped 125% over the previous year and the incidences of persecution rose 41.9% from 2011.
Government persecution of Christians and churches in mainland China deteriorated for the seventh straight year, ChinaAid said Monday in its annual report, with the defining characteristic of 2012's persecution being the government's stated intention of eradicating house churches.
Based on information collected by ChinaAid in 2012 on 132 persecution cases involving 4,919 people, the number of people sentenced jumped 125% over the previous year and the incidences of persecution rose 41.9% from 2011.
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The younger brother and father-in-law of Christian human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng were allowed to visit him at Shaya Prison in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region on 12 January, the first family visit he has received since March 2012. In a phone conversation with Human Rights in China (HRIC), Gao’s wife Geng He reported that Gao’s mind seemed ‘clear’ and he spoke normally. Over the years, many people have asked me to pray for them concerning a myriad problems and difficulties, but a request for prayer from a Christian living in mainland China was a first for me: His wife was pregnant with their second child, and with his country’s draconian one-child policy, having a second child would mean severe fines and penalties for many years to come. Would I please pray for him and for his wife? Nine Christians providing medical services in rural areas of Inner Mongolia were detained by local police who also confiscated medical equipment and sentenced two of the Christians to labor camp. Photo: Decision Notification of sentencing Ms. Ren Zhimin to two years in a re-education-through-labor camp (Click to enlarge) Dr Yang Jianli, a US-based Chinese democracy activist, arrives in the UK tomorrow as part of a visit hosted by Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) to the UK and Brussels, where he will address the European Parliament’s Subcommittee hearing on Human Rights in China on 6 December. Dr Yang will focus on Freedom of Religion or Belief, jailed Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo and dialogue between the Communist Party and civil society. A think tank in China is urging an end to the country's one-child policy, but it remains unclear whether that effort is real or propaganda.
Steve Mosher of the Population Research Institute (PRI) is pleased that someone in China is "courageous enough to point out that the one-child policy is a disaster." "Now, of course, the government think tank is not talking about 400 million women who have been aborted under duress; they're not talking about massive human rights violations," Mosher notes. On Thursday actor Christian Bale presented blind forced abortion opponent Chen Guangcheng with an award at the annual gala of Human Rights First. In December 2011, while Chen was still in China under house arrest, Bale attempted to visit Chen but was roughed up by thugs, who prevented him from visiting Chen's village. Bale said at that time, "What I really wanted to do was shake the man's hand and say 'thank you,' and tell him what an inspiration he is." |
Walter Blackwood
Associate Pastor with The Bridge Community of Faith in Kelowna BC Canada. Archives
May 2017
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