Officials Beat Protestant Businessman in Xinjiang

October 27, 2005

Xinjiang state security officials questioned and beat Tong Qimiao, a Protestant businessman, on September 28 and on October 1 threatened to revoke his business license, according to September 30 and October 3 reports of the China Aid Association (CAA), a U.S.-based NGO that monitors the religious freedom of Chinese Protestants.

Xinjiang state security officials questioned and beat Tong Qimiao, a Protestant businessman, on September 28 and on October 1 threatened to revoke his business license, according to September 30 and October 3 reports of the China Aid Association (CAA), a U.S.-based NGO that monitors the religious freedom of Chinese Protestants. State security officials beat Tong so seriously that he could not walk; his wife sent him to a hospital in Kashgar, where tests showed that a bone in his chest was broken. State security officials visited him in the hospital, showed him the September 30 press release of the China Aid Association, and demanded that he state in writing that officials had not beaten him, threatening to revoke his business license if he refused. CAA reported on October 8 that Tong refused and that on October 8 he and his wife asked both state security and public security officials in Kashgar to investigate these abuses. Officials of both agencies refused, and, hours after Tong made the requests, hospital officials demanded that Tong leave for home.

On September 29 Forum 18 News Service, a Europe-based NGO which monitors religious freedom in Asia, reported that officials have been tightening restrictions on religion in Xinjiang. One Protestant in the city of Yining (Ghulja) told a reporter that if house church Protestants officially declared their presence, "Our believers could be sacked from their jobs. So we prefer to remain underground." Muslims, Orthodox, and Catholics have all reported the pressure of increasing restrictions and surveillance in recent months. Since July 2005 more than 200 Muslims have been arrested in Xinjiang, and on August 25 police reportedly barred a busload of Uighurs from leaving China on a pilgrimage to Mecca. For further information on religious persecution of Christians in China and the situation in Xinjiang, see the 2005 CECC Annual Report and a CECC Hearing of November 2004 on Religious Freedom in China.