Two colleagues of prominent Chinese evangelist Li Dexian have been sentenced to 15 days in prison, an Australian-based monitoring group reported. No details are available about the 11 others who have been detained. Police have shut down house-church meetings and arrested Christians in Li Xi, Tian Wei, Fo Gang, Xiang Shan, Huadu, Ping Shan and Xin Hua, VOM said. The group also reported that another evangelist, identified only as Yiu, was arrested with his wife in Fo Gang on May 8 and held for 48 hours. The Associated Press reported on Wednesday that an official at Guangdong's Religious Affairs Bureau confirmed that an annual investigation of local religious groups was under way.
China requires all religious groups to register with the communist-controlled state.
Most Protestants and Catholics, however, refuse to submit their churches to state authority because of restrictions placed on doctrine and practice. Li Dexian, who has been arrested 14 times since October for his unauthorized Christian activity, reports that he is under heavy surveillance by the Public Security Bureau at his home in the Guangzhou area. Authorities stopped his regular Tuesday morning service near Huadu village this week by welding bars over the doors of the meeting place. An estimated 500 to 600 people regularly attend. Those who remain unchanged after many times of education will be dealt with severely.