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Christian activist's whereabouts unknown after detention in China

2008-08-13 13:56:59

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If Muslims are treated with more respect, and with more rights and less persecution in China, compared to the west, I think it's safe to say freedom of religion in China is alive and well! This is the most ridiculous story I've heard. I find it hard to believe that this happened.
China does not deny who they detain, arrest and hold and they also state the reason and charge, unlike countries such as the US.

And the comments are just a result of jealously from the descendants of racists who wished to keep all the third world nations that they destroyed and stirred up trouble in around the world in the dark. Now they can't stand the success that other nations are finally having.

As for freedom of religion not existing China, that is ridiculous.
I am a Muslim and I am more worried for my safety and rights here in Canada and many other western countries, especially the US where Muslims are under constant harassment and at risk of arrest, deportation and torture without any wrongdoing, and of course as a Muslim I can disappear and these governments won't even acknowledge your existence anymore (eg. Maher Arar and many other examples).

I visited China with my wife, and we declared we are Muslims and we were never bothered or questioned by Chinese immigration or authorities. We visited all the sights such as the Great Wall, Tianmen, Forbidden City, Panda Garden, and the many mosques (they have been there for over 1000 years) and halal restaurants throughout the heart of Beijing.

After coming home, we feel more welcomed as Canadians and especially as Muslims in China.

This is just propaganda and racists love to attack everyone out of jealously. Here in the west we call this the 6 o'clock news and our media is filled with propaganda and bias, with the shoddiest journalists in the world.

The news in China was more comprehensive and unbiased, they even showed shows that highlighted problems with the environment and other issues.
Could it be that China is not detaining people for their race, religion or protests, but that they are trying to stop propagandist journalists and pardon my french but sh** starters? Everyone complains about China, who has done at the most, very little wrong, to their people and the world in recent history.
Look at the US, the UK, and even us, compared to China, but of course it's easy to blame everyone else but yourself. Protesting is allowed in China, you can get a permit, we saw it ourselves and no one harassed them.

Full Article:

Christian activist's whereabouts unknown after detention in China

Last Updated: Tuesday, August 12, 2008 | 7:16 AM ET Comments43 Recommend29

The Associated Press

A prominent Chinese Christian activist managed to escape from police and is in hiding, a rights group and his brother said Tuesday.

Hua Huiqi, a leader of the unofficial Protestant church in Beijing, was detained by police with his brother as they were heading to the Kuanjie Protestant Church in Beijing on Sunday. U.S. President George W. Bush was attending a service there during his Olympics visit.

The New York-based Human Rights in China group said Hua Huiqi contacted them directly Monday and gave details of what happened.

Hua told the rights group that he and his brother were bicycling to the church when they were taken by plainclothes security agents.

He said that during their detention they were put in separate locations. The brother, Hua Huilin, said he was released a few hours later but Hua Huiqi remains missing.

Hua said he was intercepted by "seven to eight plainclothes officers who beat me and dragged me and my brother Hua Huilin into two separate cars," the group said.

"They asked me why I was going to Kuanjie Protestant Church to worship and threatened me, saying, 'You are not allowed to go … because President Bush is going there today. If you [try to] go again, we will break your legs,"' the group said Hua wrote.

"After about four or five hours, when I saw that the people who were watching me had all fallen asleep, I fled. But I'm afraid to go home," he wrote.

Phone calls confirm escape

Hua Huilin said Tuesday he had received at least two calls from public security officers telling him that his younger brother had escaped and that they were seeking information on his whereabouts.

Police denied any involvement in his disappearance.

"We have not had any contact with Hua Huiqi," an official at the Beijing Public Security Bureau's spokesman's office said Tuesday.

"I haven't heard from him. We've been waiting here. We're so worried," Hua told the Associated Press by phone. "My father asks me every day where he is, and I tell him I don't know."

Chinese authorities often round up activists before and during sensitive periods, taking them to detention centers and other faraway locations.

They have further tightened normally stringent restrictions to curb potential criticism or protests during the Olympics.

Hua Huiqi has become a symbol for the fight for religious freedom in China, which allows worship only in Communist party-approved churches such as the one Bush visited. Unauthorized gatherings are routinely broken up and their leaders are often arrested or kept under extremely tight surveillance.

Human Rights in China said that police had warned Hua not to try to go to the church that Bush visited, but the brothers said they managed to slip through security officials guarding their house.

http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2008/08/12/china-activist.html

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