Christians in China are being detained in secret "transformation" facilities where they are brainwashed and made to renounce their faith, according to a report by Radio Free Asia.
The outlet detailed the story of one man, who claimed he was held in one of the facilities for about nine months.
The man, who asked to be identified by the pseudonym Li Yuese, said he was held captive after a raid on his church in 2018. He said he was detained in a facility operated by the Chinese Community Party’s United Front Work Department and the state security police.
"It was a mobile facility, that could just set up in some basement somewhere," Li said. "It was staffed by people from several different government departments.
"It had its own (community party) political and legal affairs committee working group, and they mainly target Christians who are members of house churches," he said.
The man said he was held in a windowless room for nearly 10 months, where he claimed to have been beaten, verbally abused, and "mentally tortured" by staff.
"They use really underhand methods," Li said. "They threaten, insult, and intimidate you. These were United Front officials, men, women, sometimes unidentified, usually in plain clothes. The police turn a blind eye to this.
"You have to accept the statement they prepare for you. If you refuse, you will be seen as having a bad attitude and they will keep you in detention and keep on beating you."
Most of his fellow captives had been released on bail during criminal detention for their church activities.
Those in charge of the facilities used "brainwashing methods on those of us who were on bail from the detention center," he said. "It was in a secret location, in a basement.
"There were two plainclothes officers in my room, and a uniformed officer was in another room.
"There were no windows, no ventilation, and no time allowed outside. I was given just two meals a day, which were brought to the room by a designated person."
Those captives who refused to "admit their mistakes" were put in solitary confinement for an extended period, he said.
"There is no time limit for the brainwashing process," he said. "I don’t know the longest time anyone has been held there, but I was detained for eight or nine months.
The suppression is targeting both Protestants and Catholics. One man said bishops and priests have disappeared for as long as 10-years. RFA reported that China regards Christianity as a dangerous foreign import,
Late last year, Bard College professor Walter Russell Mead, in a column for the The Wall Street Journal, warned that Chinese Christianity "is on a collision course with a government determined to centralize power in the Communist Party in ways not seen since the death of Mao.
"Christians … face growing hostility from a ruling party that until a few years ago was willing to turn a blind eye to the proliferation of unofficial ‘house churches’ across the country," he wrote.
Jeffrey Rodack ✉
Jeffrey Rodack, who has nearly a half century in news as a senior editor and city editor for national and local publications, has covered politics for Newsmax for nearly seven years.
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