China: Hua Huiqi Brutally Attacked
Oct 30 2007
Postings >> China

Beijing house church activist Hua Huiqi has been brutally attacked by security guards -- twice in four days. The first attack left him unconscious and needing hospital treatment: the second came just hours after he was sent home from hospital.

Hua Huiqi, whose elderly mother Shuang Shuying has been jailed by the authorities to put pressure on her son, was reportedly unconscious for three days after Public Security Bureau (PSB) officials beat him up on October 11.

The Voice of the Martyrs Canada reports that he was attacked as he tried to return to his home in the Chongwen district of Beijing. The authorities had tried to move him to Fengtai district in the south-west of the city, but the Fengtai authorities refused to have him on their patch. They sent him back to Chongwen under police escort.

Medics at the Beijing Tiantan (Temple of Heaven) Hospital allowed him home on October 16. But the following morning, when he tried to use the bathroom next to his bedroom at home, he was beaten up again by PSB officers, according to RI sources. He was forced to stay in his bedroom with his wife Wei Jumei, who had to attend to his wounds.

'Whether I live or die, it doesn't matter,' Hua told China Aid. 'As long as Christ shines on me, and the gospel and Christ's love is spread.' China Aid reports that 'two dozen police disguised as doctors' were assigned to guard Hua's hospital bed, to ensure he did not receive visits from relatives or journalists.

Meanwhile, Xinjiang house church leader Zhou Heng, arrested as he went to collect a delivery of Bibles at a bus station (7x7, September 18, 2007), has been refused bail. His
lawyer, prominent attorney Zhang Xingshui, has been told that Zhou's case has been transferred from the PSB to the Prosecution Bureau but has not yet been 'assigned a case
number'. He is reported to have suffered abuse in custody.

• Thank God for the courage of Hua Huiqi and his wife Wei Jumei. Ask God to protect and strengthen them and fill them with His peace. Continue to pray for the immediate release of Hua's mother Shuang Shuying, who is in poor health.
• Pray that charges against Zhou Heng will be dropped immediately.