More than 100 believers in Almighty God were recently arrested in various cities across Jilin.
Bitter Winter reported yesterday about the arrest of 95 members of The Church of Almighty God (CAG) in Zhejiang on September 11.
New reports confirm that by September 17, authorities had picked up a total of 102 CAG believers in another province – Jilin. Fifteen were arrested in Siping, 12 in Liaoyuan, and 9 in Gongzhuling, among other cities. In three instances, families of the believers were taken into custody as well.
In Siping, Zhao Yumei was arrested at her workplace on September 12; this is her second arrest, the first happened in 2003. Two days later, another resident of Siping, Sun Li, was arrested at her home. Her husband asked the arresting officers how they found out about his wife’s faith, to which an officer replied, “We have been tracking her for a while.”
In Liaoyuan, Ms. Li Min was frightened when the police showed up at her door on September 14. She suffered a relapse of her heart ailment and had to lie in bed to compose herself. However, the police did not wait for her to feel better and took her away for detention soon after raiding her house.
In Dunhua, police officers showed up at Han Yu’s home to check her household registration. Hours later, more officers returned to raid Ms. Han’s house and arrested her. Her religious books were confiscated as well.
The Church of Almighty God, which was designated a xie jiao (heterodox teachings) in 1995, has been facing an intense assault as of February this year, when the revised Regulations for Religious Affairs came into force.
(The names are all pseudonyms.)
Reported by Piao Junying
