More evictions followed as the Public Security Bureau (PSB) tried to "isolate" the house church leader, Bob Fu, president of the China Aid Association (CAA), told The Christian Post.
According to Fu, the intensified campaign against Zhang is "absolutely" related to the Beijing Olympics and the government's efforts to crack down on the house church movement. Fu said the government's main goal is to destroy the house church network and isolate Zhang who is the leader of the underground church.
As noted by many other human rights group, China has engaged in a softer crackdown on churches by preferring to target house church leaders instead of ordinary Christians to avoid attracting international attention to human rights violations.
In his third letter, Zhang urged the international community to pray for the upcoming Beijing Olympics and to press the Chinese government to practice true religious freedom as it claims in its official laws.
"We pray to God that those brothers and sisters imprisoned for preaching Jesus Christ will be released soon and that God will make leaders in the Chinese government to treat the believers in a correct way and that God will make China a country full of love, justice, freedom and prosperity." Zhang wrote.
On Tuesday, CAA said it just learned that 21 major house church leaders were recently sent to labour camp for re-education. They were all detained on December 7, 2007, during a massive arrest at a leadership training gathering with some 249 leaders in Shandong province.
The 21 senior church leaders were sentenced from one year and three months to three years in the labor camp, according to CAA. They were accused of being members of an "evil cult" by the PSB. Among the 21 sentenced, 17 are men and four are women.
Open Doors, a Christian persecution watchdog group, has organised a prayer campaign for persecuted Christians in China centred on the Beijing Olympics. Participants will pray for persecuted Christians in China and for a spiritual revival in the country.
On the Web: www.opendoorsusa.org
