China: Shuang Shuying was tortured in jail

Shuang Shuying's dying husband clung on to life until she was released from jail – but he passed away the following day.

Ninety-one-year-old Hua Zaichen was unconscious when his wife was finally able to visit him in hospital and Shuang Shuying, who is 79, was able only to hold his hand. As 7x7 reported on January 27,  the Chinese authorities refused to let Shuang Shuying visit her ailing husband before her two-year jail term was up.

It has since emerged that prison officials tormented Shuang by saying she could visit her husband – if she agreed to inform on other Christians. She refused. As her son, Hua Huiqi said, 'My mother would rather suffer than surrender and betray our brothers and sisters.'

Since her release on February 8, Shuang Shuying has issued a public statement saying she was tortured in jail. She says she was forced to drink her own urine and to stand in a prison yard at night – naked and stock-still while mosquitoes attacked her body.

But Shuang also said she had been hugely encouraged by the prayers of other Christians: 'I felt greatly strengthened and empowered which has enabled me to continue to live.' Shuang Shuying, who is from Beijing, was convicted of 'damaging state property' in 2007. She believes it was a ploy to force her son, a church leader, to inform on other Christians.

Meanwhile, Christian lawyer Gao Zhisheng was arrested again on February 4, in Shaanxi province. His whereabouts are not known. His disappearance coincided with the release of a letter he wrote in 2007 detailing torture he suffered during an earlier spell of detention. Gao claims he was beaten and given repeated electric shocks over 50 days.

Gao's letter was released on the same day a Chinese delegate to a UN review of China's human rights record insisted that his nation would 'never torture' religious believers.

(Sources: China Aid, Compass Direct)

Pray for the immediate release of lawyer Gao Zhisheng. Pray too for his family.

Thank God that Shuang Shuying has been released and was able to see her husband, albeit briefly, before he died. Pray God's peace over her and her family.