China yesterday sentenced two members of a banned religious cult to death for the murder of a woman at a McDonald’s restaurant after she refused an apparent attempt by the group to recruit her, state media said.
The 37-year-old woman was attacked in May in the eastern province of Shandong by members of Quannengshen (全能神), the Church of Almighty God, which had preached that a global apocalypse would take place in 2012.
The case sparked a national outcry after it was reported the woman was beaten to death for allegedly refusing to give her telephone number to members of the group.
The Yantai (煙台) Intermediate People’s Court sentenced Zhang Fan (張帆) and Zhang Lidong (張立冬) to death for intentional homicide and gave another member of the group, Lu Yingchun (呂迎春), life in prison, Xinhua news agency said.
In addition, “Zhang Hang (張航) and Zhang Qiaolian (張巧聯), both cult members, were sentenced to 10 and seven years in jail respectively,” Xinhua said.
The Quannengshen group, which originated in central Henan Province, believes that Jesus was resurrected as Yang Xiangbin (楊向彬), wife of the sect’s founder, Zhao Weishan (趙維山), according to previous Xinhua reports.
Zhao is also known as Xu Wenshan (許文山), Xinhua said, adding that the couple fled to the US in September 2000.
In 2012, China launched a crackdown on the group after it called for a “decisive battle” to slay the “Red Dragon” Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and preached that the world would end that year.
The CCP brooks no challenge to its rule and is obsessed with social stability. It has cracked down on cults, which have multiplied in recent years.
In 1999, then-Chinese president Jiang Zemin (江澤民) launched a campaign to crush the Falun Gong religious group. It was banned as an “evil cult” after thousands of practitioners staged a surprise but peaceful sit-in outside the leadership compound in Beijing.
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