JW China: Jehovah’s Witnesses Hunted Down and Deported

[Guest Indiana]

China’s religious persecution extends to all religions without discrimination.

Not only are Jehovah’s Witnesses facing a severe crackdown in China, but the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is also supporting other countries’ similar crackdowns. As Bitter Winter reported earlier this month, a Russian court sentenced Danish citizen Dennis Christensen, a Jehovah’s Witness, to six years in prison for extremism. While international organizations and democratic countries condemned Russia’s crackdown, the CCP-connected anti-xie jiao website, published an article in support of Russia.

The exact number of Jehovah’s Witnesses in China is difficult to ascertain; they’re not included in the list of the xie jiao, but their activities are regarded as illegal. Missionaries from abroad are considered “hostile forces” and often deported, as part of China’s campaigns to crack down on foreign religious infiltration.

On December 26, 2018, two police officers from a city in eastern China’s Shandong Province stormed into the home of two Spanish Jehovah’s Witnesses missionaries, asking them about work they did and why they were staying there while earning so little. The officers then ordered them to leave China within two weeks on the grounds that “foreigners are not allowed to do missionary work.”

“They [the missionaries] felt that their deportation was very sudden. They just contacted some people to talk about faith; there is no record that they violated any regulations or broke the law,” said one believer.

“They felt very reluctant when leaving China,” another believer added.

As for the foreign missionaries who have not yet been arrested or deported, they’re still facing a difficult time. Worried about being followed by the police, one South Korean missionary told Bitter Winter that she is extremely careful every time she goes out. Another South Korean missionary has suffered multiple recurrences of gastric illness as a result of being under too much pressure and is planning to return to South Korea in the near future.

To prevent being discovered by the police when they hold gatherings, Jehovah’s Witnesses have not only installed a thickened security door at the meeting venues but have also used a foam board, measuring two meters high and ten centimeters thick, to keep sounds from carrying.

Still, believers don’t dare to sing loudly.

They also specially arrange for believers to keep watch at the meeting venue’s entrance – if any danger is detected, they’ll immediately notify others to end the gathering. The believers also use hand gestures to signal each other to turn off the lights.

In May 2018, a Jehovah’s Witnesses meeting venue in Shandong’s Linyi city was raided by the police. Without presenting any credentials, eight preachers were summoned to the local police station. The visas of four Japanese missionaries were annulled, and the police ordered them to leave China within ten days, prohibiting them from returning to China to do missionary work.

Around the same time, the United Front Work Department of Xinxiang city’s Party committee in central China’s Henan Province, the municipal State Security Bureau, and other related departments formed eight working groups to investigate the Jehovah’s Witnesses.

On May 5, they carried out a concentrated operation in which seven meeting venues were raided and shut down. One Japanese missionary was detained for 15 days, fined 20,000 RMB (about $2,857), and ordered to leave the country.

In mid-October 2018, a Jehovah’s Witnesses meeting venue in Harbin city of northeastern China’s Heilongjiang Province was also raided by the police. Officers from the local police station and officials from the local Religious Affairs Bureau stormed into the meeting venue and demanded that all the believers show their ID cards. Three South Korean missionaries were taken to the local police station for questioning and were deported later that month.

In November, a government official in Harbin city’s Shuangcheng district encouraged villagers to report foreign missionaries to the authorities as soon as they discover them.

Reported by Li Mingxuan

https://bitterwinter.org/jehovahs-witnesses-hunted-down-and-deported/

[Srecko Sostar]

This JW members put their health and life to big risks and for what? For WT doctrines that will be changed very soon. Interesting.

It would be understandable, to some measure, that JW as one of Christian Denomination, talking about Bible and Jesus Teaching. But to Incorporate, into Jesus Teachings, all WTGB doctrinal Errors, past and present, and future errors that will be visible in future time-frames, and to preaching such things to people in purpose to make them JW members, is tragedy.  

[Space Merchant]

China is overly communism, ran by a communism. Reasons why Christians have always been persecuted all over the place in China, some of them had to go underground. Some people do not know the truth about Christendom in China and fail to understand the gravity of the situation and of whom China is allied with.

[Guest Indiana]

Near the Chinese Border, Searches and Detentions of Jehovah's Witnesses

On March 17, 2019, in the village of Luchegorsk (Primorsky Territory) near the Chinese border, searches were conducted in the homes of citizens whom law enforcement authorities consider to be Jehovah’s Witnesses. The operation was carried out by Federal Security Service (FSB) officers. In some places, searches and interrogations continued for seven hours. Two believers, Yuriy Belosludtsev and Sergey Sergeyev, 63, were detained and taken to the town of Dalnerechensk.

It is not yet known whether a criminal case has been initiated and where the detainees are being held

https://jw-russia.org/en/news/19031918-669.html

[Matthew9969]

Jehovahs witnesses aren't the only ones being persecuted: https://www.persecution.com/

[Guest Indiana]

New Criminal Cases for Faith Along the Chinese Border

On March 21, 2019, at least five searches were carried out in the town of Zeya (Amur Region) in the homes of local residents who are considered to be Jehovah's Witnesses. A criminal case was initiated under the article on the organization of the activities of an extremist organization. Konstantin Moiseenko, 42, was named as a suspect and ordered not to leave.

Shortly before, on March 17, 2019, searches of the homes of believers were held in Luchegorsk(Primorsky Territory). Local residents Yuriy Belosludtsev and Sergey Sergeyev were sent to the detention center. They were accused of violating the article on the organization of the activities of an extremist organization on the grounds that the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation in an all-inclusive ruling banned 396 organizations of Jehovah's Witnesses, including the local religious organization in Luchegorsk.

https://www.jw-russia.org/en/news/19032121-680.html