URUMQI, China — A woman in China’s western Xinjiang region has been given a three-year prison term for having a Bible study, with the court ruling that she was “gathering a crowd to disturb public order.”
Ma Huichao and four other Christians were arrested together for meeting to study the Bible without government approval. Her prison term began Dec. 30, 2016.
China has been cracking down on Bible studies and Christian gatherings, arresting hundreds of pastors and laypeople in recent years on similar charges, according to The Christian Post.
The Revised Draft of Regulations on Religious Affairs, which officials began enforcing in October 2016, further clamped down on “organizing citizens to attend religious training, conferences and activities abroad … preaching, organizing religious activities, and establishing religious institutions or religious sites at schools” and “providing religious services through the Internet.”
The government also has destroyed many rooftop crosses on churches, saying they violate building codes, according to the Post. (TAB)
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