Contact: Annee Kahler, Media Coordinator, 267-210-8278, Annee@ChinaAid.org; Jenny McCloy, Directory of Advocacy (Washington, DC), 202-213-0506, Jenny@ChinaAid.org; www.ChinaAid.org, www.MonitorChina.org
GUANGDONG, China, March 5 /Christian Newswire/ -- For more than two years, the Guangzhou police have harassed the house church believers of Liangren Church for their faith. In the boldest strike since last September, a mixed band of plain-clothed and uniformed PSB officers barged into the local restaurant at 3:20 PM on March 4, 2010, where Liangren Church Head Pastor Wang Dao was meeting with twelve brothers and sisters for a meal. According to eye-witnesses in the restaurant, the policemen threw Pastor Wang violently to the ground, without showing their ID badges or any official documentation. They seized Pastor Wang and rushed him outside to a waiting vehicle, shoving him into the back seat as they tore off down the street. Pastor Wang's whereabouts are still unknown, and no one has been able to contact him since his forced departure.
Pastor Wang Dao has weathered severe persecution with fellow believers in Guangzhou since the church was founded in 2005. In 2008, the government banned Liangren Church, indicting them for holding "illegal religious organizations." Pastor Dao filed several appeals against the government ban and persisted in holding meetings with believers despite two rejections, several delays on appeal decisions and numerous other official attempts to disband the church permanently. He was last interrogated for more than three hours on September 3, 2009, when officers questioned him about his involvement with the Chinese Christian Charter, a proclamation of faith signed and released on June 4, 2009, the 20th anniversary date of Tiananmen Square massacre. See the press release from September 21, 2009.
Pastor Wang Dao has been interrogated repeatedly by PSB officers looking for ways to discredit him and his faith. ChinaAid urges the Guangzhou PSB officials to release Wang Dao back to his family and end their unjust persecution of peaceful Liangren Church. We call on the international community to pray for Wang's safe return.
To learn more about the abuses, view past CAA reports about Pastor Wang and Liangren House Church:
"Statement of Indictment for Administrative Litigation" Filed by Wang Dao.
Haizhu District People's Court of Guangzhou Notification of Acceptance of Administrative Case.
Guangzhou House Church Pastor Wang Dao's Case Against Persecution Accepted by Court.
Liangren House Church Speaks Out About Raid.
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