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Court in China sentences leaders of Christian sect to death
ap ^ | 12/30/2001 | ap

Posted on 12/30/2001 8:58:28 AM PST by TLBSHOW

Court in China sentences leaders of Christian sect to death

BEIJING (AP)

A court in China sentenced the leader of a banned Christian sect to death Sunday, a human rights group said.

The founder of the South China Church, Gong Shengliang, was convicted by the Jingmen City Intermediate Court on charges including "using a cult to undermine the enforcement of the law," the Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy said. The church is banned by the government as cult.

Gong's niece Li Ying, also a church leader, was given a death sentence suspended for two years, the center said. Such sentences are usually commuted to life in prison.

The center said the pair were among 17 church organizers sentenced by the court in Hubei province, in eastern China about 600 miles from Beijing. The others received prison sentences ranging from two years to life.

Gong established the church as a splinter sect of another Christian group, the Total Scope Church, the center said. Such groups typically espouse a fundamentalist, evangelical brand of Christianity and operate in defiance of laws requiring Protestants to worship only in the state-controlled nondenominational church.

The church grew over a decade and has 50,000 members spread through some 10 provinces in eastern and central China, the center said. China's Bureau of State Security arrested Gong and the others in April after labeling the church a cult, part of an ongoing campaign against the better-known Falun Gong spiritual sect and other groups seen as challenging the Communist Party's political monopoly.

At a secret trial on Dec. 18, Gong was also convicted of complicity in rape and injuring 14 people during church rituals, the center said. Li was convicted of conspiring with Gong in the church and causing intentional injury it said.

Phone calls to the court went unanswered.

The charges would be the most serious handed down to the leaders of groups labeled by Beijing as cults since the current crackdown began in July 1999. Leaders of Falun Gong were given prison sentences of up to 18 years.


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: christianpersecutio
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1 posted on 12/30/2001 8:58:28 AM PST by TLBSHOW
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To: TLBSHOW
They need our prayers.
2 posted on 12/30/2001 9:00:13 AM PST by 3catsanadog
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To: TLBSHOW
Coming to America soon:

Court in liberal Calipornia sentences leaders of Christian sect to death.

3 posted on 12/30/2001 9:08:52 AM PST by chainsaw
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To: TLBSHOW
Don't think it can't happen here. David Koresh was just the first prominent martyr in what will be a long list of Christians killed by the US government.
4 posted on 12/30/2001 9:12:38 AM PST by crystalk
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To: TLBSHOW
I feel badly when I read such .I was lazy and did not go to church this morning . These Chinese Christians make feel unworthy when I read of their sacrifices.
5 posted on 12/30/2001 9:27:35 AM PST by Captain Shady
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To: TLBSHOW
The irony of it all...Remember this when we look at all the crap that was bought for Christmas made in China.
6 posted on 12/30/2001 9:34:27 AM PST by AMERIKA
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To: TLBSHOW; black jade; super175; B4Ranch;
The blood of these people are on the hands of those in Washington that have supported the China Lobby and worked to delink human rights from our Trade Policy with the CCP. But this is good for Americas interests right? /sarcasm

What a coincidence that this ruling comes just a day after Bush signed PNTR into law...Way to go Bush.

7 posted on 12/30/2001 9:38:04 AM PST by Enemy Of The State
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To: TLBSHOW
What are the odds that America could become (once again) a sanctuary for Christians persecuted around the world? Wouldn't it be nice to open our arms and welcome God-fearing people from all nations? Immigration is way out of control in the US. I'd be in favor of seeing it shut down completely and replaced with a system of importing 'good', upstanding, God-fearing people from around the world. Does that mean I favor discrimination? or reverse-discrimination? I can't keep the two straight anymore.
8 posted on 12/30/2001 9:48:45 AM PST by so_real
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To: Enemy Of The State
What a coincidence that this ruling comes just a day after Bush signed PNTR into law...Way to go Bush.

Coincidence? I think not.

9 posted on 12/30/2001 9:58:03 AM PST by MSSC6644
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To: so_real
America was a Christian nation at one time. Not anymore!
10 posted on 12/30/2001 9:59:40 AM PST by B4Ranch
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To: TLBSHOW;*Christian persecutio
bump
11 posted on 12/30/2001 10:06:23 AM PST by Libertarianize the GOP
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To: B4Ranch
I really sorry to say this, but there are not too many christians in China, and those christians are generally looked down upon by the majority of people. The people who are christians are usually at the bottom of Chinese society.
12 posted on 12/30/2001 10:08:10 AM PST by borghead
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To: TLBSHOW
Another 1.2 billion person threat to the World.
13 posted on 12/30/2001 10:12:05 AM PST by hsszionist
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To: MSSC6644; b4ranch
"Coincidence? I think not."

Thats the point I was getting at..there is no Coincidence. This is standard procedure for the Chicoms. Everytime they get what they want for the bozo's in D.C. They have a massive crackdown on their own citizens and their basic rights. Apparently nobody in D.C. has caught on to the pattern yet.

14 posted on 12/30/2001 10:37:17 AM PST by Enemy Of The State
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To: Captain Shady
just think, Rupert Murdoch gave a speech in Hong Kong I think 6-8 months ago where he said that the crackdown on the Falun Gong people was a good thing. The Falun Gong people of course meditate in public and this article said that the worst sentence they've received was 18 years. So, there isn't much difference between a government that imprisons falun gong people or christian people, it's about the same thing.

Our policy is to enable the Chinese governing regime. That regime does not tolerate freedom of religion. It killed 50 million of its own citizens between 1949 and 1969. It instituted a population control program in 1980 which has cost the lives of an additional 50+ million girl babies. They execute between 5 and 10 thousand people a year so that they can make money from the body parts. They treat their own people just like slaves. Children have been taken from their parents and forced to work 7 days a week for 20 cents an hour in factories to produce for the American shopping mall where the products are sold at a fantastically high price compared to the pitiful wages paid to the factory worker.

We Americans are hypocrites in that we will condemn Henry Ford for investing in nazi germany during the 1930's, but we will not criticize our collective corporate managerial class today for investing overwhelmingly in China today.

15 posted on 12/30/2001 10:38:10 AM PST by Red Jones
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To: crystalk
"David Koresh was just the first prominent martyr in what will be a long list of Christians killed by the US government. "

I dont support the actions by the US gvt. in Waco but I wouldnt go so far as to call David Koresh a "Christian".

16 posted on 12/30/2001 10:39:09 AM PST by Enemy Of The State
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To: TLBSHOW
It may sound very harsh but this could be viewed as a good thing, as the church always thrives under persecution.
17 posted on 12/30/2001 10:41:33 AM PST by Valin
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To: crystalk
David Koresh was not a Christian.
18 posted on 12/30/2001 10:43:14 AM PST by DittoJed2
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To: Enemy Of The State
No, I think they know what's coming, they are just wondering what they'll say to their supporters to get out of the fire.
19 posted on 12/30/2001 10:50:00 AM PST by B4Ranch
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To: borghead
Yes, I'm aware of that.
20 posted on 12/30/2001 10:50:42 AM PST by B4Ranch
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