CHINA DETAINS NEARLY 2,000 CHRISTIANS DURING PAST YEAR: RIGHTS GROUP

Tue Jun 27, 12:13 PM ET

BEIJING (AFP) - China detained nearly 2,000 underground Christians over the past year, a US-based Christian rights group said.

According to the China Aid Association, 1,958 Chinese underground church pastors and worshippers in 15 provinces were detained between May 2005 and May 2006.

The group said in a statement that police and religious affairs officials displayed hostile attitudes at many Christian gatherings, mistreating and torturing believers during raids on such meetings.

Underground churches are for people worshipping outside state-sanctioned churches which are administered by the government and the ruling Communist Party.

The rights group said the central province of Henan witnessed the most persecution, with 823 pastors and believers rounded up in 11 raids from July 2005 to May 2006. Five American citizens were also arrested during that period.

Many Christians were abused during detention: two women aged 72 and 21 were forced to take off their clothes during interrogation and a disabled pastor, Li Gongshe, was severely beaten, it said.

The statement did not say how long the Christians were detained. But in another statement earlier this year, the group said most were released after they had been interrogated for periods ranging from 24 hours to several months.

The State Administration for Religious Affairs said it had no knowledge of the detentions and declined to comment.

"The Chinese government safeguards and guarantees the freedom of religious belief in accordance with the law," foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said.

"The principle of China (on religious affairs) is to be self-independent, we do not allow any foreign forces to interfere in China's internal religious affairs."