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ACTIVISTS CALL FOR U.S. ACTION
AS CHINESE CHURCH LEADER IS SENTENCED IN BEIJING

By Michael Ireland

Wednesday, November 9, 2005

BEIJING, CHINA (ANS) -- American activists are calling on U.S President George W. Bush to raise the issue of an imprisoned Chinese church leader with China's President Hu Jintao during a visit to Beijing this month.

A Chinese court sentenced the underground Protestant church leader to three years in jail, his lawyer said Wednesday, and American activists want U.S. President George W. Bush to raise the case during a visit to Beijing later this month.

According to an Associated Press (AP) report posted to a CNN website, Pastor Cai Zhuohua was convicted on Tuesday of running an illegal business, said his lawyer, Gao Feixiong. He said Cai's wife, Xiao Yunfei, was sentenced to two years and her brother, Xiao Gaowen, was sentenced to 18 months.

The web report says they were detained in 2003 in what activists say was a crackdown by China's ruling Communists on independent religious activity.
The Chinese government allows worship only in churches run by state-monitored religious associations and strictly controls publication of Bibles.

The report says Cai's supporters in the United States are calling on Bush to make the case for religious freedom in China when he visits Beijing November 19-21.

"We want, of course, f or him to raise this case and talk about increasing religious persecution and other human rights violations in China," said Bob Fu, president of the China Aid Association in Midland, Texas -- Bush's childhood home.

Fu said a member of the group's board of advisers, Deborah Fikes, met with Bush in the Oval Office this week to discuss Cai's case.

"Everybody familiar with this case, who knows Pastor Cai and his family, knows they are very innocent," Fu said by telephone from Texas.

The AP says Cai was detained with 200,000 copies of unauthorized Christian publications, according to his lawyers. They say he gave away the books for free and deny he was running a business.

Cai and his two relatives were sentenced by the Haidian District People's Court in Beijing, Gao said. A court employee referred inquiries to the press office, where calls rang unanswered.

One of Cai's sisters-in-law, Hu Jinyun, also was detained in the case but was released without sentence, he said. Cai faced a maximum of 10 years in jail for the charge of illegal business practice, Gao said.

Gao said he was preparing an appeal. Even with the shorter-than-expected term, "this sentence is ridiculous," he said.

Fu said China was employing a new tactic in using economic charges to stop religious activity.

In a report released Tuesday, the U.S. State Department included China in a list of eight countries of "particular concern" for insufficiently respecting freedom of religion.

** Michael Ireland is an international British freelance journalist. A former reporter with a London newspaper, Michael is the Chief Correspondent for ASSIST News Service of Garden Grove, California. Michael immigrated to the United States in 1982 and became a US citizen in September, 1995. He is married with two children. Michael has also been a frequent contributor to UCB Europe, a British Christian radio station.

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