GUANGDONG—In the latest wave of persecution against Liangren Church, Pastor Wang Dao has been held by force and interrogated for more than two days, criminally detained on May 9.He was arrested the morning of May 8, and led from his home despite the pleadings of his wife and no documented authorization for the arrest.
On Sunday, May 9, Pastor Dao’s wife received notice of her husband’s formal criminal detention, purportedly on charges of “gathering a mob to disrupt the public order.” Though the he had been detained twice by security officers since last Thursday, May 7, the criminal detention notice was dated “May 9, 2010”—suggesting the charges were retroactively established. He is currently being held at the Fanyu District Detention Center of Guangzhou Municipality.

Authorities searched Wang’s home for evidence on May 8. At 3:00 PM, while on her way to Luopu Police Station to bring a meal to Pastor Wang, Mrs. Wang got a call from a Luopu officer, stating they would like to “have a talk” with her. When she arrived, the Domestic Security Protection Squad told her to go home, informing her that several people would be waiting for her. When she returned, she saw seven or eight people sitting in the downstairs hall, only one dressed in police uniform. She recognized a few of them to be the same officers who seized Wang Dao that morning.

The officers asked to go into the house with her. When Mrs. Wang protested, saying they could talk outside the house with her, so that the children would not be disturbed, the officers insisted that they go inside. Two more officers stood guard at the entrance. As Mrs. Wang opened the door, the officers took out a search warrant and began to search the house.

“When they found Pastor Wang Dao’s computer, they were in a euphoria,” Mrs. Wang reported. “They said they at last had the evidence with which they could punish him for his offense. After that, they seized Pastor Wang Dao’s ID card, passport, Hong Kong-Macau Pass and bank passbook.”

Pastor Dao had originally been detained on May 7 on suspicions of spreading sensitive information online. He had just written an article, explaining Liangren Church’s reasons for issuing an international call for prayer, when authorities seized him at 10 AM, indicating they had been monitoring his activities closely.

Following the search and confiscation of materials, the officers orally summoned Mrs. Wang to the local police station at 4:30 PM. They moved her to five or six different rooms in which they interrogated her throughout the night. A policewoman frisked her, finding nothing on her person. Mrs. Wang was detained for more than 20 hours without charge before being released at noon on May 9.

Wang Dao's wife then received the criminal detention notice for her husband, issued by the Fanyu District Branch of Guangzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau at 4:00 AM. She has still not heard from her husband after more than two days of detention and interrogation. Prominent human rights attorney Dr. Li Baiguang was then notified of Wang Dao and Liangren Church's case. After reviewing the facts, he agreed to defend the church on grounds of religious persecution.

Across the city, in Guangzhou People’s Park, 20 Liangren Church members met for worship, defying the public order to disband the church. As they met peacefully, a combined force of police officers, plain-clothed agents, security guards, employees of urban management departments and volunteers forced the group to disband in a military-style operation. As the members retreated, the law enforcers seized and damaged the cameras of onlookers who were filming the informal gathering. Mrs. Wang shared more details with her interview with Radio Free Asia that afternoon.

ChinaAid condemns the unjust persecution of Liangren House Church and the criminal detention of Pastor Wang Dao, which violates the Chinese citizen’s freedom of belief and expression of worship. We call on the international community to pray for Liangren Church and urge the Guangzhou authorities to release Pastor Wang Dao and cease the harassment of house church Christians.