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China detains five Christians on New Year's day

HONG KONG: China detained five Christians on New Year's day and four others, including the wife of prominent dissident Xu Wenli, may also have been held, a Hong Kong-based human rights group said on Saturday.

The Information Centre of Human Rights and Democratic Movement in China said a group of Christians had planned a prayer meeting to mark the new millennium on Saturday morning, but they were stopped by police in Beijing.

Five of them were detained before the meeting could start, the human rights group said.

Another four, who were on their way to the gathering, were missing. The Information Centre said it was likely they were also detained by police.

One of the missing was He Xintong, wife of Xu Wenli, one of the founders of the banned China Democracy Party.

The China Democracy Party was set up by prominent Chinese dissidents in 1998. Beijing moved to crush the group at the end of 1998, sending scores of members, including Xu, to jail or to labour camps.

Atheist China bans Christians worshipping outside of "patriotic" churches set up under the control of the Communist Party, which has long linked Christianity with imperialism. -Reuters