Individuals and groups who practice their religion outside state controls are often at serious risk of being detained, arrested and sentenced to prison, stated a recently released report focused on human rights defenders in China.

Individuals and groups who practice their religion outside state controls are often at serious risk of being detained, arrested and sentenced to prison, stated a recently released report focused on human rights defenders in China.

"Amnesty International remains deeply concerned about ongoing patterns of arbitrary detention, torture or ill-treatment and other serious human rights violations against those defending the right to religious belief," the organisation stated its first report on China that focused specifically on human rights defenders.

Amnesty International, which released the report on Dec. 6, stated that criminal charges such as "illegal assembly" and "spreading rumors and incitement to disturb social order" have been used against Christian congregations meeting in unofficial churches.

Although "freedom to believe in or not to believe in religion" is guaranteed by the Constitution of the People's Republic of China, the Constitution makes it clear that only the freedom to engage in "normal religious activities" is protected, Amnesty International reported. These are understood to be activities sanctioned and controlled by the state-run associations representing the five officially recognised religions in China: Catholicism, Protestantism, Buddhism, Islam and Daoism.

According to Amnesty International, the State Administration for Religious Affairs (SARA), which administers all official religious activity in China, obliges religious groupings first and foremost to be "patriotic". Recent pronouncements by the government on religion have also emphasised that "the broad masses of believers" must play a role in "reform and opening up, and socialist modernisation". Such policies have resulted in numerous official controls over all religious groups in China such as the prohibition of Catholics in China to express loyalty to the Vatican and the requirement for religious leaders and teachers to undergo "patriotic education" – the compulsory study of political doctrine.

Individuals and groups who practice their religion outside state controls are often at serious risk of being detained, arrested and sentenced to prison, the report noted. Several Christian groups practicing outside state control have officially been banned as "heretical organisations", leading to widespread arrests of their members. In the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR) and Tibet, "religious extremism" is regarded by authorities as one of "three evil forces" along with "separatism" and "terrorism."

"Leaders and members of unofficial 'underground' or 'house' churches have often been detained by police in 'sweep' operations, and are at high risk of suffering torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment in police custody," Amnesty International stated in its report. In July 2004, China's official press reported that Jiang Zongxiu, a 34-year-old woman detained when handing out Bibles in Guizhou Province in mid-June, was beaten to death in police custody on the day she was detained.

The U.S.-based Cardinal Kung Foundation estimates there are around 50 members of the unofficial Catholic clergy who are either in prison or labor camps, or whose whereabouts are unknown, following detention by the authorities. "Many are elderly," the report stated. "These bishops and priests were all sentenced or detained as a direct result of exercising their fundamental rights to freedom of religion, or defending the right to religious freedom for members of their congregations."

Since March 2003 there has been an increased crackdown against underground churches, and many unauthorized places of worship used by Protestants and Catholics have been demolished by the authorities. "A strategy commonly used by the authorities to stop 'illegal religious activities' is to simply demolish places of worship," the report stated. The demolition of churches and homes used for prayer groups has been reported in various parts of China, including Zhejiang, Jiangsu, and Hebei provinces.

In August 2004, three Christian underground church leaders were sentenced to prison terms ranging from one to three years on charges of "supplying state secrets to foreign entities" after sending details to a U.S.-based Christian publication of the demolition of churches in Jiangsu and Hebei Province, and the detention of around 300 members of the churches’ congregations. The arrest and sentencing of the three drew widespread protest from human rights groups and Christian persecution watchdogs.

Amnesty International, which has published numerous reports on the detention of prisoners of conscience in China, has called on the authorities to ensure that all those defending the right to freedom of religion are able to do so without fear of arbitrary detention or other serious human rights violations.




Kenneth Chan
Ecumenical Press