American Church Leaders Deported; Beijing House Church Pastor Tortured in Prison According to CAA's field investigators in China, at least 10 foreign evangelical church leaders including 8 Americans, one Taiwanese and an unknown number of South Koreans were detained and later deported by the Chinese authorities on February 25, 2005. CAA also learned from an eyewitness that the imprisoned Beijing House Church leader pastor Zhuohua Cai was tortured for a confession with electric cattle prods by his interrogators.
At around 11am on February 24, over 100 Chinese security officers from five different government agencies raided an office building used as a temporary house church leadership training site in the suburb of Harbin city, the capital of Heilongjiang province, one of the major cities in northeastern China. About 140 Chinese house church leaders from 7-8 provinces were attending church fellowship training with these "brothers and sisters in Christ from other countries," according to one Chinese pastor who was at the scene when the incident happened. CAA learned this raid was directly orchestrated by the director of the Public Security Bureau of Heilongjiang province and carried out jointly by the officers from the provincial public security, national security, foreign affairs office, religious affairs bureau and military police office.
At around 11am on February 24, over 100 Chinese security officers from five different government agencies raided an office building used as a temporary house church leadership training site in the suburb of Harbin city, the capital of Heilongjiang province, one of the major cities in northeastern China. About 140 Chinese house church leaders from 7-8 provinces were attending church fellowship training with these "brothers and sisters in Christ from other countries," according to one Chinese pastor who was at the scene when the incident happened. CAA learned this raid was directly orchestrated by the director of the Public Security Bureau of Heilongjiang province and carried out jointly by the officers from the provincial public security, national security, foreign affairs office, religious affairs bureau and military police office.
