Release International

The relatives of three church leaders executed without their families' knowledge have expressed their grief and anger at being kept in the dark.

Xu Shuangfu, Li Maoxing and Wang Jun, who had been convicted of murder, were executed in secret -- even before the verdict from their appeals court hearing was given. The three leaders of the controversial Three Grades of Servants church had claimed their confessions were extracted under torture.

Sources now claim that Xu's sister has since been detained for exposing the torture her brother suffered. The Epoch Times reports she too has been tortured severely.

The first that Xu's lawyer Li Heping knew of the executions was a call from the Intermediate People's Court of Shuangyashan asking for his address: the clerk wanted to post the 'final judgement paper' from the appeal hearing to him. When Li asked the outcome of the appeal, he was told the three men had been executed the previous week.

Confirmation for the relatives came in a call from the court, summoning them to collect their loved ones' ashes. Li Maoxing's wife told The Epoch Times: 'I have not gone to get the ashes. I can't take this any more and I don't want to go anyway.'

China Aid reports that '15 individual believers and leaders' have been executed so far in connection with the murder of 20 members of the Eastern Lightning cult between 2002 and 2004. Xu Shuangfu had also been convicted of fraud.

Act

• Write to China's Minister of Justice, asking her to launch an independent investigation into this case. Write to: Ms Wu Aiying, Ministry of Justice of the People's Republic of China, No. 10, Nan Da Jie, Chaoyangmen, Beijing City, 100020, China. (Salutation: Your Excellency.)

Pray

• Ask God to uphold the families of the executed men with his 'righteous right hand' (Isaiah 41:10). Pray that justice will be done on behalf of their loved ones.

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