Filed under: China | Tags: beijing, China, China Aid, christianity, christians, church, communist, Fengtai, freedom, gospel, Hua HuiQi, human rights, Jesus, pastors, police, prayer, prison, registered, religion, Shanxi, Taiyuan, torture, underground, Voice of the Martyrs, VOM
Voice of the Martyrs put out this on their blog a couple of days ago.
This afternoon, we received a report from our partners at Christian Aid Association telling us how Pastor Hua Huiqi had been beaten and detained by Chinese police on June 4. The following is how Pastor Hua described his experience:
My name is Hua Huiqi. Before June 4 of this year, I went to a church outside Beijing and shared the words of God with some brothers and sisters. On the morning of June 5 when I was transferring trains at Taiyuan Railroad Station, I was arrested by the police officers from Shanxi and Fengtai, Beijing who had been laying in ambush there for a long time. I was taken to the hotel where they were staying. A team leader named Dong from Fengtai District Domestic Security Protection Squad of Beijing roughed me up and slapped me in the face over 10 times. My clothes were ripped open and they beat me for nearly half an hour.
In the meantime, they pinched me on the neck and said: “I’m going to strangle you and I’d like to see whether you can still preach the Gospel. If you go outside the town again, I’ll break your legs.” He also threatened me: “I’m beating you because God tells me to do so. I’ll get all the materials ready in three months and arrest both you and your wife for sentencing.”
I asked him: “What law did we break?”
He said: “Just because you believe in Jesus. Our Domestic Security Protection Squad is specially set up here to suppress you Jesus believers. We don’t allow you to stir up troubles and establish contacts everywhere. You must apply at our Domestic Security Protection Squad when you want to go out. We don’t allow you to get out of our sight. Otherwise, whenever you go out, we’ll beat you once and break your legs.”
On that same afternoon, over 10 police officers escorted me back to Beijing from Taiyuan and detained me in a mountain where they kept guard on me day and night. Later, with prayers from brothers and sisters and appeals by ChinaAid, they escorted me back home on the evening of June 7 and I’m still not free at this moment. I hope brothers and sisters the world over can pray for the Chinese police and beg God to show His grace and let them repent and believe in Jesus. I also hope they pray that we may freely preach Gospel and live a free life.
Member in Christ:
Hua Huiqi
Please uphold Pastor Hua in your prayers as he is receiving treatment at home.
Filed under: North Korea | Tags: Concentration Camp, English, espionage, euna lee, government, human rights, hunger, Kim Jong Il, labor, laura ling, missile, North Korea, nuclear, police, prison, starvation, torture, treatment, trial, TV
Some speculators are claiming that Laura Ling and Euna Lee, the two American journalists captured by North Korean guards back in March, and who recently went on trial for espionage, will not actually go to a typical “hard labor camp”. Their sentence, handed out early this week, put a 12-year incarceration in front of their eyes. As scary and ominous as that may sound, I’ve been hearing a lot of talk of them actually not having to serve the full sentence, or the sentence as we imagine it. As these girls are journalists, North Korea might have several options. First, they might consider treating them well, knowing that upon any release in the future, they will tell their story to the world. That, of course, will only be the case if they are ever released. This Asia Times article claims that they might even be sent to a state guest house where their “hard labor” will consist of using their training and skills to help the North Korean government, TV stations, or English training.
So who really knows? Time will tell. And time will also tell how far America is willing to go in protecting these girls. I hate to imagine the day when a decision must be made as we’re staring at a scale with two American girls on one side, and a potential global nuclear threat on the other. At the moment it seems all the United States is trying to do is keep these two issues as separate as possible.
Filed under: North Korea | Tags: China, emergency, family, freedom, fund, government, hunger, medicine, North Korea, prison, rescue, torture, visa
Alpha Relief has just set up an “Emergency Rescue Fund”. This is their description of what it is:
Recently we were in China and heard about two teenage brothers who urgently needed to renew their Chinese visas. They have a Chinese father and North Korean mother. Because their dad is Chinese, China will give them a visa that lets them legally stay in China. But the problem is that the boys don’t have the money to pay for the visas. If they’re forced to leave China and go to North Korea, as believers they are at great risk. Their mother is in prison in North Korea because the government found out she is a Christian. So obviously she can’t help pay for her boys’ visas. Right now she’s suffering in North Korea, hungry, malnourished, and of course dealing with horrific prison conditions. She needs medicine, food and her freedom.
This Emergency Rescue Fund will help in situations like this. Our reaction time in stories like this is extremely important. So with the ERF we will be able to immediately impact the lives of people like this family split up because of persecution.
If you would like to get involved with how Alpha Relief is helping the persecuted church in North Korea, go to their Emergency Rescue Fund.
Filed under: North Korea | Tags: Concentration Camp, David Hawk, detention center, execution, freedom, Gulag, handcuffs, human rights, hunger, North Korea, police, prison, rations, starvation, torture
In order to further describe the labor/re-education camps in North Korea, I’ve taken some excerpts from “The Hidden Gulag” by David Hawk of the U.S. Committee for Human Rights in North Korea. You can find this report online at their website.
“There were no public executions during this time at Kwan-li-soNo. 14, but many prisoners died of malnutrition and disease, some twenty-five were executed by guards, and even more died from mining accidents. In one execution, a KIM Chul Min was executed for collecting, without authorization, ripe chestnuts that had fallen to the ground from a tree at the mine entrance. Another hunger-crazed prisoner, KAL Li Yong, died after having his mouth smashed by a feces-covered stick for having stolen a leather whip, soaked it in water, and then ate the softened leather. Kwan-li-so No. 14 Kaechon”
“Rations were meager: only some 450 grams (16 ounces) per day of rice mixed with beans. Many prisoners died in the winter from malnutrition, scabies and other skin diseases, and paratyphoid. Prisoners were beaten by guards. Other infractions and mistakes resulted in longer prison sentences. Those who attempted and failed to escape, or who initially succeeded in escaping but were caught, were brought back for public execution, after which their corpses would be displayed for a day.”
“The torture at Moonsu was particularly severe. Accused of deliberately infiltrating the security service, Kim was forced to kneel for long periods with a wooden bar placed behind and between his knees and calves. He was suspended by his handcuffed wrists from his prison-cell bars, and he was submerged up to his waist for long periods in tanks filled with cold water.”
“CHOI Yong Hwa assisted in the delivery of babies, three of whom were promptly killed, at the Sinuiju do-jip-kyul-so(provincial detention center) in mid-2000.
■ Former Detainee #8 witnessed six forced abortions at Chongjin do-jip-kyul-soin mid-2000.
■ Former Detainee #9 witnessed ten forced abortions at Onsong ro-dong-dan-ryeon-dae(labor-training camp) in mid-2000.
■ YOU Chun Sik reported that four pregnant women at the bo-wi-bu (National Security Agency) police station in Sinuiju were subjected to forced abortions in mid-2000.
■ Former Detainee #21 reported two baby killings at the Onsong In-min-bo-an-seong(People’s Safety Agency) police station in late 1999.
■ Former Detainee #24 helped deliver seven babies who were killed at the Backto-ri, South Sinuiju In-min-bo-an-seongpolice detention center in January 2000.
■ Former Detainee #25 witnessed four babies killed at Nongpo In-min-bo-an-seong police detention center in Chongjin in late 1999, and another six pregnant women subjected to forced abortion.
■ Former Detainee #26 witnessed three forced abortions and seven babies killed at the Nongpo jip-kyul-so(detention center), Chongjin City, in May 2000.”
Filed under: North Korea | Tags: Concentration Camp, death, euna lee, Hitler, journalists, Kim Jong Il, labor camp, laura ling, North Korea, prison, torture, trial
Yesterday the North Korean government sentenced Laura Ling and Euna Lee to 12 years in a hard labor camp. If this sentence is carried out to its full extent…this means a really bad future for these two girls. Keep them in your prayers. These labor camps, as told in “Eyes of the Tailless Animals” are some of the worst places on earth. Torture, lack of food, lack of medicine, and many accounts of mistreatment and death are just some of the things that happen at these “camps”. They have been likened, and in some cases seen as worse, than Hitler’s concentration camps.
Read the LA Times article here
Keep these two girls in your prayers. Euna is a mother of a 4 year old, and both girls have families back home in America.
Filed under: North Korea | Tags: book, China, christianity, christians, Concentration Camp, Europe, Eyes of the Tailless Animals, guards, Hitler, human rights, North Korea, prison, Soon Ok Lee, torture
“When the soldiers shot prisoners during public executions…some of the female prisoners lost their minds and became psychotic. They cried, laughed, sang, or fainted. Their reaction was considered as disagreement with the Party or a lack of a firm belief in Communism…After public executions, all twenty solitary confinement cells were full of prisoners who reacted to the horror.”
We’re in the middle of reading this book. It’s called “Eyes of the tailless animals.” It is the memoirs of a North Korean woman who was in a prison camp. It is really graphic and disturbing, but it’s amazing that this is still happening today. You only hear about these kinds of things happening in concentration camps during Hitler’s reign. But what is happening in North Korea seems even worse at times. After visiting concentration camps in Europe as a kid, it is easier to relate to what is going on in the book. I would really suggest reading the book if you are interested. You can buy it on amazon. I’ll post a link at the bottom of this.
I was in China a couple of years ago listening to a North Korean woman talk about what they did to people in North Korea. She was saying that the guards would take Christians to steel factories and actually throw them into the molten slag (combination of impurities leftover from the making of steel or iron). I couldn’t believe it. I don’t know what could possibly make another person do that to another person.
Sorry, kind of a depressing post. Despite all of these things though, the church continues to grow in North Korea!
Filed under: China | Tags: China, christianity, Gao ZhiSheng, human rights, prison, religion, torture
It’s been 89 days that Gao ZhiSheng has been imprisoned. Help free him by signing the petition on freegao.com (click the link below). He is a Christian Human Rights Attorney.
Filed under: China | Tags: China, christianity, duplicity, Gao ZhiSheng, torture, underground
In China, the saying is that “everything is true…somewhere”. That is also the case when it comes to Christianity. On the one hand, we see articles put out on the huge growth, the relaxed laws, and the optimism on the Chinese government’s attitude towards Christianity.
One billion souls to save – Times Online.
While on the other hand you read accounts of extreme persecution of people who refuse to follow China’s strict religious freedom laws.
Gao ZhiSheng’s story of torture (pdf)
And the confusing thing is, both of these are true. China is such a diverse and unique place in this respect. You have the extremes of persecution and torture, right alongside growth and prospering of the underground church.
So for us it’s not a matter of “buying into” one of these stories. The fact is that China is a land of duplicity. And through both extremes, we know that God’s promises are being fulfilled.
We will “suffer for his name” (John 15:20), but His kingdom is destined to grow (Mark 4:26-29).
We just became aware of the case of Gao ZhiSheng. He is a Christian Human Rights Attorney in China who was arrested on February 4. He was imprisoned in 2007 and tortured for 50 days. I would think the torture this time would be greater because of his actions. Some things you can do:
* pray for him and his family (wife – GengHe; son – TianYu)
* go to www.alpharelief.org to download the pdf of his account of torture
* go to www.freegao.com to sign the petition for his release. (over 60,000 people have already signed. please do the same.)
Christians are suffering like this daily in China. Continue to pray for them.
AT
Also, don’t forget to keep up with our twitter (twitter.com/xunderground)
