The level of persecution of Christians in China has ramped up immensely in the past few days with no sign of letting up.
Following the police abduction of Christian human rights attorney Zhang Kai, another human rights activist has been locked away in one of the country’s infamous “black prisons.” The humanitarian group China Aid is reporting that Jiang Tianyong, a Christian activist who served as a human rights attorney until the Chinese government revoked his license in 2007, is being denied access to his own attorney.
The organization reported:
Authorities refused to allow the attorney of a detained Christian human rights activist to meet with his client yesterday, Dec. 29, 2016, and have been keeping knowledge of the defendant’s whereabouts restricted within the public security bureau. According to a [document] provided by the China Human Rights Lawyers Concern Group, officials claim that permitting the prisoner to meet with his defense would risk spreading state secrets and interfere with the investigation.
Jiang disappeared on Nov. 21 while returning to Beijing after visiting the wife of another incarcerated lawyer in Changsha, Hunan. At the time, no one outside of the public security bureau knew his location. Dec. 22, his father-in-law received a notice stating that he was being held in an unnamed place in an unofficial black jail on suspicion of “subverting state power.”
Meanwhile, a woman from Xinjiang in the western part of China was sentenced to three years in prison for holding a Bible study, convicted of “gathering a crowd to disturb public order.” Ma Huichao was taken by police along with four other Christians when they were accused by Communist Party authorities of meeting for the Bible study without government approval.
China Aid issued the following statement:
Her lawyer, Li Dunyong was disallowed to plead innocent on her behalf, and she received a three-year prison sentence—which began today—on Dec. 30. Ma does not plan to appeal.
No one from the incoming Trump administration has responded to requests for comment on the growing persecution of Christians in China. U.S. Ambassador-designate to China, Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad, is a Catholic and has developed a strong friendship with Chinese President Xi Jinping over the past 30 years. {eoa}
