China Detains 16 Sect Members

BEIJING (AP) - Chinese police were holding 16 members of a Christian sect banned in a government crackdown on cults and were expected to send some of them to labor camps, a human rights group said Monday.

Police burst in on the followers of the China Evangelistic Fellowship as they met March 2 in a group member's home in Xinyang, a city in the central province of Henan, the Hong Kong-based Information Center of Human Rights and Democratic Movement in China said.

Police detained the sect members, confiscated their Bibles and seized money and belongings from Hao Huaiping, whose home was used for the meeting, the Information Center said.

Among those detained was Jiang Qinggang, the leader of an underground church who has done two stints in labor camps, the latest sentence ending last month, the group said.

Jiang and Hao likely face labor camp sentences, the group said, adding that four other China Evangelistic Fellowship leaders were sent to work camps in December.

A government religious affairs official in Xinyang said she was unaware of the reported March 2 detentions. But the official, who identified herself as Mrs. Yang, said the China Evangelistic Fellowship is a cult, that the group was not legally registered and that its activities had not been officially approved.

She also claimed that the group endangered social stability and said it was ``one of the targets that needs to be attacked.''

The government has stepped up efforts to crush groups it regards as cults in the wake of a crackdown on the Falun Gong spiritual movement.

Although Falun Gong is an offshoot of more traditional health practices, Christian groups operating outside state control have also been targeted. Henan province, a center for evangelical Christian groups, has drawn particular scrutiny.

Another group targeted, Zhong Gong, appealed Sunday to the ongoing annual session of the Chinese legislature for the release of people detained since the government began moving against the group in October.

Like Falun Gong, Zhong Gong is an offshoot of qigong, a regimen of breathing and meditation exercises practiced daily by millions of Chinese, who believe they promote health and peace of mind.

Founded in 1988 by Zhong Hongbao, Zhong Gong had as many as 38 million members at its peak in 1992, the Information Center said.