NEWS RELEASE

The Voice of the Martyrs, Inc. PO Box 443 Bartlesville, OK 74005 (918) 337-8015 Fax: (918) 338-8832 http://www.persecution.com

Contact: VOM News Services Gary Lane or Todd Nettleton (918) 337-8015

Or China Analyst Bob Fu (267) 205-5210

Chinese Christian family beaten in home

Unidentified men burst into the home of Brother Hua Huiqi and his wife, Ju Mei, in Beijing, China at about 8 p.m. last Sunday. The attackers, approximately ten in number, forced all members of the household, including Hua’s elderly parents, to lie on the floor. They then savagely beat the family, breaking one of the legs of Hua’s 80-year-old father. Before leaving, they confiscated all of the home’s portable heaters, leaving the family to suffer from the cold of winter. Christian sources in China believed the intruders were either sent by police or could even have been plain-clothes policemen.

When Hua went to the police on Monday to request the return of the heaters, he was detained for several hours, during which he was beaten again. He did not receive the heaters. Ju Mei told The Voice of the Martyrs on Monday that it was minus 14 degrees Celsius in Beijing.

The attack followed a peaceful protest by the family in the early hours of January 4, as they and other members of their neighborhood objected to the cutting off of the electricity and water to their homes. Chinese authorities had cut off water and power when they were unable to obtain the names of various house church members from Hua and when they learned that he had been responsible for collecting approximately 10,000 pieces of used clothing for distribution among poor Christians in rural areas outside Beijing.

Hua Huiqi is an active member of the house church movement in Beijing. His wife, Ju Mei, was a fulltime evangelist before her marriage to Hua. They have one young daughter.

Hua has been arrested and beaten several times because of his house church activities. They share their home with Hua’s parents, who are also Christians. Hua believes the current attacks are part of a campaign to drive him and his family out of their home into the streets, where they will be more susceptible to arrest and detention for vagrancy.

The Voice of the Martyrs’ China analyst, Bob Fu, a personal friend of this couple, says, “It is such a tragedy that this family who only wanted to help families in need should now find themselves left beaten, cold, and potentially homeless in the winter weather. As we begin this New Year, we need to remember how much more we need to pray for the thousands of persecuted brothers and sisters in China like the Hua family.”

The Voice of the Martyrs urges American Christians to pray for Brother Hua and his family. We also encourage Christians to place a polite call of protest to the Chinese Embassy in Washington DC on behalf of this Christian family.

“China’s constitution promises freedom of religion,” says Todd Nettleton, a VOM spokesman. “But incidents like this show how empty that promise really is. Christians in the West can make a difference in cases like this, though, when there is a concerted effort to make the Chinese government know that this case has become known outside of the mainland.”

Ambassador Yang Jiechi Embassy of the People’s Republic of China 2300 Connecticut Ave NW Washington DC 20008 Tel:(202) 328-2500 Fax:(202) 588-0032 Email:

35 Years of Serving the Persecuted Church

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