China: Christians Urged to Pray for Shuang Shuying
Sep 04 2007
Postings >> China

Christians worldwide are being urged to step up their prayer and campaigning efforts for Chinese grandmother Shuang Shuying whose health is fading fast in jail.

Shuang's daughter-in-law Wei Jumei says that the elderly Christian from Beijing is now 'in extremely poor health' after seven months in prison. She has lost a quarter of her body weight due to sleep deprivation and relentless psychological pressure.

In a letter to China Aid about a visit she made to Shuang Shuying in her Beijing prison, Wei Jumei writes: 'The jeers and verbal abuses she gets from fellow inmates and the police's terror and psychological pressure have made the old lady all the more miserable.'

Shuang Shuying was arrested with her son Hua Huiqi in January as they walked through Beijing's Olympic Village. They were beaten and arrested on charges which they both deny. Hua, a house church activist, was imprisoned for six months: Shuang, a diabetic in her mid-70s, was sent down for two years.

Wei Jumei also writes that police have visited Hua Huiqi since his release in July and told him that his mother is considered a 'hostage' to make him stop his religious rights work. The prison authorities proved as much when they threatened Hua behind bars. 'You should always remember your mother is in our hands,' they warned him.

In the same letter, Shuang's daughter-in-law recounts that Shuang is no stranger to oppression: Shuang's own father was executed for being a 'counter-revolutionary' in 1950, and her husband served 20 years in a labour camp for the same 'crime'. Hua and his mother turned to Christ in the early 1990s -- and have been persecuted ever since.

Act

• Write another polite letter of concern about Shuang Shuying's welfare to: Ms Wu Aiying, Ministry of Justice of the People's Republic of China, No 10, Nan Da Jie, Chaoyangmen, Beijing 100020.

Pray

• Ask God to strengthen and uphold Shuang Shuying during this trial of her faith.
• Pray that the Chinese authorities would have a change of heart and set her free.