Wife Of Jailed Chinese Church Leader Urges Prayers
By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
BEIJING (Worthy News) – The wife of a well-known church leader jailed in China has urged Christians to pray for her husband ahead of Christmas.
Zhao Weikai, who leads the Xuncheng (Zion) Reformed Church, was detained in July last year after security forces found Christian materials in his home. China’s feared Public Security Bureau described the material as “promoting terrorism and extremism.”
In the months since his arrest, Zhao’s court case encountered many delays, according to Christians familiar with the situation.
Last September 2021, the case was sent to judicial authorities of the Lvliang Intermediate People’s Court, who claimed they could not process the legal matter due to a backlog, rights activists said.
The trial also faced delays due to restrictions linked to the COVID-19 pandemic. In September this year, the court finally held a pretrial conference, “but no further developments have taken place since,” Christians said.
In comments shared with Worthy News, Zhao’s wife, Li Xin, called “on people to pray that the trial would soon be held.”
Christians said they pray “to grant peace, hope, and patience to Zhao and Li – in addition to their friends and other family members – as they continue to wait for this long-delayed trial.”
They also pray for other imprisoned Christian leaders and “many other believers throughout China” who are detained “under false allegations because of their faith in Christ.”
A government crackdown on Christians has increased under China’s Communist President Xi Jinping, according to rights activists and Christian believers. The spread of the Christian faith is seen as a threat to the ideology and power base of the Chinese Communist Party, church observers say.
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