China indicts HK man for importing thousands of bibles

A court in China has indicted a Hong Kong businessman who allegedly imported large quantities of bibles to an underground Christian group in China, a human rights organization said yesterday.

The court of Fuqing in the southeastern province of Fujian said Li Guangqiang, 38, from Hong Kong, had "used a cult to undermine the enforcement of the law" by taking bibles to the Shouters Sect, said the Hong Kong-based Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy.

Li took 33,080 bibles to the group, which has over 500,000 members in China, in two trips in April and May. Two members of the group, Yu Zhudi and Lin Xifu, who made the request for the bibles, were also indicted, the rights group said.

Saying Li might face the death penalty, the rights group called on the Hong Kong government to offer assistance to Li and demand the Chinese government define its definition of the cult charges.

Phone to the Fuqing city prosecutor went unanswered yesterday. Calls to the city's court and detention center weren't answered.

Last month, a Chinese court sentenced to death Gong Shengliang, the leader of banned Christian group South China Church on the same charge.

Chinese Christian churches not under the state controlled non-denominational church are prosecuted, along with the outlawed Falun Gong spiritual sect and other religious groups.

The rights group estimated that at least 16 Christian organizations are banned.

The Shouters Sect was banned in 1995 as an "aberrant religious organization," according to the human rights group Amnesty International. The Shouters Sect has a charismatic style of worship, which involves shouting out prayers and singing.