Christian Solidarity Worldwide have called for the release of members of the Early Rain Church in China, describing their continued detention as a “grave violation” of the right to religious freedom.
More than 100 members of the church were arrested in December and 11 members were reported as still being in detention in a church social media post on 20th March including Pastor Wang Yi and his wife Jiang Rong, who have both been accused of inciting subversion.
UK-based CSW said the crackdown on the church comes at a time of increasing pressure on unregistered house churches in China while state-sanctioned churches are being forced to fly the national flag, remove religious symbols and sing pro-communist songs during services. The UK-based organisation said that under 18-year-olds have been prohibited from joining religious meetings in some areas and churches have been demolished.
Mervyn Thomas, CSW’s chief executive, said the continued detention of Pastor Wang Yi, Jiang Rong and other members of the church “constitutes a grave violation of the right to freedom of religion or belief”.
“The charge of inciting subversion is completely unfounded: this is a response to Pastor Wang’s peaceful criticism of the authorities’ treatment of independent churches,” he said.”We call on the government of China to immediately release all members of Early Rain Church still in detention and all those arbitrarily detained across China, including the one million individuals currently held in Xinjiang.
Thomas also called on the Chinese Government to “end the harassment of all religious groups in China, ensuring that all Chinese citizens are free to practice their religion or belief”.
“The international community must take every opportunity to raise this with China at the Human Rights Council and elsewhere.”
