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China Charges Pastor with ‘Subversion’ After Church Raids
Chinese authorities announced on Thursday that they are holding Pastor Wang Yi of the Early Rain Covenant Church on suspicion of “subversion” despite an international outcry from religious freedom advocates and human rights organizations.
Chinese police raided numerous Early Rain churches last weekend and arrested dozens of congregants along with Pastor Wang and his wife. The church was targeted under new regulations that require all Protestant churches to be sanctioned by the government-controlled Three-Self Patriotic Movement Committee. Even churches with Three-Self approval have been subjected to harassment as the Communist government cracks down on religion.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) called for the immediate release of Wang and the scores of imprisoned Early Rain Covenant Church members on Thursday and demanded the government allow them to resume worship services.
“The shutdown of a Protestant church in Chengdu epitomizes the Xi Jinping government’s relentless assault on religious freedom in China. It makes a mockery of the government’s claim that it respects religious beliefs,” HRW China researcher Yaqiu Wang said.
“Everyone who supports religious freedom should stand with Wang Yi and speak out against the Chinese government’s repression of religion,” HRW’s Wang added.
HRW noted that Chinese police seized church property and abused congregants without due process and some of the church members released from custody have said police beat them and deprived them of food and water. The families of some church members still in custody say officials have given them little information about the whereabouts and condition of the detainees. Police told Pastor Wang’s mother, for example, that they detained her son on suspicion of “inciting subversion of state power.”
Police also accused Wang’s wife Jiang Rong of subversive activity; her whereabouts are unknown. The Chinese government described her situation as “residential surveillance,” implying it is a form of mild house arrest, but that is difficult to reconcile with keeping her incommunicado in an undisclosed location. According to her mother-in-law, Jiang was permitted to remain at her home for only a few hours before the police separated her from her 11-year-old son and whisked her away to parts unknown.
A lawyer who claimed to represent her but insisted on speaking anonymously said Jiang might be held for up to six months in an effort to intimidate others from speaking up on behalf of Pastor Wang.
“Accusations can be made against Pastor Wang Yi – after all, he’s the one at the lectern doing all the preaching,” the lawyer told the South China Morning Post. “But his wife doesn’t hold any position in the church, nor has she made any public comments. There are no words to describe the absurdity of this situation.”
“The handling of the case shows how furious the top party leadership is about the church,” the lawyer added.
Wang’s assistant Li Yinqiang, who has been chronicling the attack on the Early Rain church through social media, was arrested on even more nebulous charges of “picking a quarrel and inciting trouble.” Police have jailed other church leaders for unspecified “illegal operations.”
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https://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2018/12/14/china-charges-pastor-subversion-church-raids/