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In one of the largest crackdowns on underground Christian groups in recent years, Chinese authorities have formally arrested 18 leaders of the Beijing Zion Church, according to Christian rights organisation ChinaAid. The group had been detained since early October as part of a sweeping nationwide operation targeting unregistered churches, as reported by The Epoch Times.
According to The Epoch Times, Bob Fu, president of ChinaAid, stated that the detainees are accused of "illegally using information networks," a charge that carries a maximum three-year prison sentence. Rights groups say this allegation is increasingly being used by China to silence Christian leaders who refuse to submit to Communist Party control. The crackdown began on October 9, when police in Beihai, Guangxi, launched a coordinated, multi-province action against Zion Church members. Within days, prominent pastor Mingri "Ezra" Jin and nearly 30 pastors, ministers and congregants were rounded up across China, Shanghai, Zhejiang, Shandong, Guangdong, Guangxi and Hainan. The arrests triggered criticism from the US State Department and the US Commission on International Religious Freedom. Police also interrogated the wife of one detainee. Under Chinese law, suspects cannot be held for more than 37 days without a formal arrest. Earlier detainees were kept at Beihai's No 1 and No 2 detention centres, with four released on bail. Fu called the formal arrests "a chilling milestone" in the Communist Party's intensifying campaign to eradicate independent Christianity. He said their only "crime" was spreading their faith and refusing to turn the church into a Party-controlled tool, as cited by The Epoch Times. Zion Church, founded by Jin in 2007 after he converted following the Tiananmen Square massacre, grew to nearly 5,000 members across 50 cities. Authorities shut its premises in 2018, forcing operations online, an activity now restricted under new rules banning unsanctioned preaching on the internet, as reported by The Epoch Times. (ANI)
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