Beijing [China], November 21 (HBTV): 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 what has been described as a sweeping nationwide operation targeting unregistered churches, as reported by The Epoch Times.
According to the report, Bob Fu, president of ChinaAid, said the detainees have been accused of ‘illegally using information networks’, an offence that carries a maximum three-year prison sentence. Rights groups say this charge is increasingly used by Chinese authorities 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 operation against Zion Church members. Within days, prominent pastor Mingri ‘Ezra’ Jin and nearly 30 pastors, ministers, and congregants were detained across Beijing, Shanghai, Zhejiang, Shandong, Guangdong, Guangxi, and Hainan. The arrests drew criticism from the US State Department and the US Commission on International Religious Freedom.
Police also interrogated the wife of one of the detainees. 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 described the formal arrests as ‘a chilling milestone’ in the Communist Party’s campaign to eliminate independent Christian groups. He added that the leaders’ only ‘crime’ was spreading their faith and refusing to turn their church into a Party-controlled entity, citing The Epoch Times.
Founded by Jin in 2007 following his conversion after the Tiananmen Square massacre, Zion Church grew to nearly 5,000 members across 50 cities. In 2018, authorities shut its physical premises, prompting the church to move operations online — an activity now heavily restricted under new regulations banning unsanctioned preaching on the internet, according to The Epoch Times. (ANI)