According to a field investigator from the China Aid Association (www.chinaaid.org/), on Feb. 25, at least 10 leaders of Associations of Evangelicals, including eight Americans, one Taiwanese and an unknown number of Koreans, were deported from China after being detained for 13 hours.

According to the source, more than 10 Evangelical leaders were attending Christian fellowship training with leaders from the Chinese House Church in an office building in the suburb of Haerbin, Helongjiang province. More than 100 public security agents, building security, armed police forces, provincial religious management division staff and translators from the Foreign Affairs Bureau broke into the meeting room at 11 a.m. on Feb. 24. According to a House Church leader who requested anonymity, the police did not show any identification or arrest warrant. All foreigners were interrogated separately.

They were held for interrogation for 13 hours after protesting at the U.S. Consulate in Shenyang. They were deported at 1 a.m. Feb. 25, ordered to leave China within five days. Those deported include U.S. church leader Dr. Brad Long, executive director of the Presbyterian Reformed Ministry International, and the Rev. Zhang Jingxiang, senior pastor from The Grace Christian Church in Flushing, N.Y., and his wife.

It was reported that the Chinese security bureau also installed devices in the church leaders’ laptops that are designed to spy on their e-mail communications. In all, more than 140 Chinese House Church pastors were bodily searched and interrogated until the early hours of morning. They were forced to provide their home addresses and House Church affiliation, and have their fingerprints taken. Their cell phones and US$2416 were confiscated without any written receipt.

According to an eyewitness from the China Aid Association, Pastor Cai Zuohua, the famous Beijing House Church leader who was arrested on Sept. 11 last year, was subjected to interrogation with an electric baton at the Qinghe Detention Center in the Haidian District of Beijing. The eyewitness said, “Minister Cai Zuohua was forced to sign a confession that says he is guilty of illegally managing a printing business that earned him profits of $24,165. He was physically wounded and spiritually depressed.”

Pastor Cai heads six churches in Beijing. His wife, Xiao Yunfei, her brother Xiao Gaowen and sister-in-law Hu Jinyun were arrested in Hengshan county, Hunan province on Sept. 27. While Pastor Cai and his wife were detained in Qinghe Detention Center, their 5-year-old son had to stay with his grandmother. The authorities prohibited visits from any relatives.

Fu Xiqiu, chairman of the China Aid Association, is calling for righteous people from all levels of society to make a phone call or write a letter to the Chinese government expressing their concerns over this incident. He asks that they request that the Chinese authorities only make assertions that are based on facts, and follow their international commitment to comply with legal procedures and citizens’ freedom of belief. He also appealed to the Chinese authorities to investigate the incident and affix criminal responsibility to those who break international human rights laws, which forbid illegal detentions and the use of torture during interrogation. He requests that all demand the unconditional release of Pastor Cai and his wife, as well as all other illegally detained members.

Fu Xiqiu is a former lecturer of the communist school of the City of Beijing, Evangelist of Chinese House Church, and philosophy post-doctoral candidate with Westminster Theological Seminary.