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China jails five underground church leaders | A Chinese court has sentenced five leaders of an underground Protestant church to jail terms of up to seven
years. The sentences are some of the harshest in recent years against the members
of so-called "house churches" - underground congregations that refuse to be sanctioned
by the Communist party's Religious Affairs Bureau, The Telegraph reports. The
Linfen Fushan church in the northern province of Shanxi is thought to be one of
China 's largest house churches, with some 50,000 members, according to Boxun.com,
a website used by activists. Police raided a dormitory building where a morning
service was being held in September, arresting the church's pastor, Wang Xiaoguang.
His wife, Yang Rongli, was arrested the day after the raid while protesting her
husband's detention to the local government offices in Taiyuan . Another ten people
were arrested over the following days, but it is not clear whether they are still
in custody. Mr Wang and his wife were given the maximum sentence of seven years
in prison. The other three people arrested were given sentences of between three
and four-and-a-half years. The five were reportedly convicted of two charges:
"illegal land occupation" and "assembling a crowd to disrupt public order." No
other details were given. There are an estimated 50 million to 130 million Christians
in China , but the government requires all Protestants to worship in non-denominational
Three-Self Patriotic Movement, while Catholics must meet in the Patriotic Association. |
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