30 Chinese House Church Alliance Leaders Detained, Facing Administrative Detention

Henan: January 10, 2010, (PCTV Newsdesk)

In the afternoon of January 8, 2010, Beijing Time, 30 leaders of the Chinese House Church Alliance (CHCA) were detained in Handan city, Henan province. According to one detained pastor, who was able to use his cellphone briefly to notify an outside contact, a group of officers from the Handan City Public Security and Religious Affairs Bureaus broke into their leaders' meeting place where the 30 men and women were having a bible study, and forcefully took them to an unknown interrogation center within the city.

The 30 detained leaders include Pastor Li Cuixiang, from the Handan area, and Elder Wu Jianghe, from Beijing. The informing pastor reported that the PSB were threatening some of the detained pastors with 15 days of administrative detention. Immediately after relating the situation of the 30 pastors to the outside contact, the call abruptly cut off. ChinaAid and sources believe the pastor's cell phone was confiscated, as it could not be reached later on. President of the CHCA Pastor Zhang "Bike" Mingxuan calls upon the Handan government to release the church leaders immediately.

ChinaAid echoes Pastor Zhang's request, and urges the international community to voice their concerns for these persecuted house church leaders, and call for their immediate release.

News source: www.chinaaid.org/