Release International

House church leader Liu Fenggang has been freed after serving a three-year jail term in Zhejiang.

Liu, who's 48 and from Beijing, was sentenced in August 2004 after being convicted of 'providing national intelligence to overseas organisations'. In fact he had simply reported on the destruction of a house church to Christian organisations abroad. His co-accused Dr Xu Yonghai and Zhang Shengqi served two- and one-year sentences respectively.

Liu's health suffered badly in prison: he was hospitalised five times with serious heart disease and diabetes. China Aid is now helping Liu receive proper medical care. Liu had also spent two years in a labour camp in the 1990s for his work with house churches. Despite his ordeal, Liu remains buoyant, thanks in large part, he says, to the prayer support of Christians worldwide. 'I will continue to stand up for this just cause for which I
am called (to speak up for the persecuted),' he says.

Also in Beijing, police have formally arrested another house church activist and his elderly mother whom they seized in the city's Olympic village last month.

Hua Huiqi and his mother Shuang Shuying, 76, were detained and beaten on January 26 (as reported in 7x7 on February 6). But it was not until February 8 that Hua's family were officially notified of his arrest for allegedly 'obstructing justice'. Shuang Shuying's arrest was announced the next day, for 'wilful damage of public and private property'.

Act

• Write a polite letter expressing your concern about the arrest of Hua Huiqi and his mother to: Premier Wen Jiabao, PRC PO Box 1741, The State Council, Beijing, China, 100017.

Pray

• Thank God for the release of Liu Fenggang and pray his health will now improve.
• Ask God to fill with His peace Hua Huiqi, Shuang Shuying and their relatives.
• Pray that China will clean up its human rights record during the 2008 Olympics.

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