Release International

A Chinese Christian jailed and tortured for editing an underground newspaper spoke out on her first visit to the UK to brand as a lie the idea that China enjoys religious freedom.

'Sarah', who has spent a total of six years in jail for her faith, was the keynote speaker at a women's conference held on Saturday by Release International, which serves the persecuted church.

'It's very dark in China for Christians,' said Sarah after the conference. 'In the UK or Ireland or the US, I feel the sky is blue.

'A lot of our brothers and sisters (in China) are still being tortured. The persecution never stops in China. Some people don't understand that China is not free.'

Sarah used her speech to Release's conference in Newtownabbey, Northern Ireland, to share some of her own harrowing experiences, including three spells in jail.

On one occasion, she was seized from her bed at night and taken to a warehouse where guards tortured her to try to make her sign a confession and a document implicating her friends. She was beaten severely, especially on her feet, then shackled and made to walk back and forth in chains for hours. Sarah refused to sign.

A video re-enactment of her ordeal posted on YouTube (Sarah's Trail of Blood) was played before she addressed the conference, prompting a standing ovation as she got up to speak.

Sarah, who had to flee China for her own safety, said many Christians she knows are in jail, including several of the 400 members of her church arrested with her in 2001. One of her friends and co-workers, Li Ying, is nine years in to a 15-year jail sentence.

Sarah also spoke about the power of prayer - and about the hunger for Scripture in China.

'In my experience, it's not my physical body that can overcome,' she said. 'I can only think of one thing: Jesus laid down his life on the cross and I just want to follow him. He rose up from the dead and I have hope in heaven.'

Release sources report that the Chinese authorities appear to have launched a particular crackdown on religious rights lawyers and activists. Missing Beijing lawyer Gao Zhisheng and Dr Fan Yafeng, head of the Chinese Christian Human Rights' Lawyers Association, are cases in point.

Only last week, security officers launched a brutal assault on well-known legal activist Chen Guangcheng and his wife at their home in Shandong - then denied them medical care. Chen, who is blind, has been under house arrest since his release from jail last September.

'The Chinese Government is unreasonable,' said Sarah. '(People) just want justice; they just want their country to be better. I just want to talk to people about Jesus - and they made me a criminal.'

Sarah believes Western Governments' lobbying for greater religious freedom in China has been successful in the past - citing in particular the example of US President George W. Bush's visit to China in 2001. 'It can help,' she said. 'Our situation did change some (in 2001) and a lot of people brought news outside and a lot of brothers and sisters prayed for us so things got slightly better.'

Nearly 200 women attended Release's Love, St Valentine conference at The People's Church in Newtownabbey on Saturday (Feb 12). Valentinus, a church leader, is believed to have been executed in AD269 for defying a Roman order banning marriage.

A Release's representative was thrilled that so many participants came to learn more about Release's women's ministry, which focuses on connecting women in the UK and Ireland with Christian women persecuted for their faith across the world. One of the specific examples given in their address to the conference was Asia Bibi, who is currently on death row in Pakistan for alleged blasphemy.

Release provides practical and spiritual support to Christian men and women across the world who are being persecuted for their faith. Conference-goers also saw film footage about Release's work supporting Eritrean and Pakistani Christians. There were also opportunities for prayer, reflection and Bible study.

Part of its work in Pakistan involves giving support and skills training to poor Christian women, who would otherwise be particularly vulnerable to exploitation and abuse. Release is also providing practical support to Eritrean refugees who have fled to Ethiopia to escape persecution.

A Release representative said: 'Christians who are being persecuted will often say that the hardest thing they face is the fear of being abandoned by the outside world and the church. So our women's ministry is all about showing our sisters who are being persecuted that we're not going to let that happen. The response to the conference was phenomenal. One young woman said: "My life will never be the same after today."'