BEIJING (AP) - A leading member of China's underground Christian church and his wife have been detained as part of a crackdown on dissidents before the start of the Communist Party Congress, a human rights group charged.
Police officers took Hua Huiqi and Ju Mei from their Beijing home and brought them to the northern province of Shanxi, the New-York based Human Rights in China said in an e-mail Friday, citing ``knowledgeable sources.''
The officers did not present a warrant, nor did they give a reason for taking the couple, according to the group, which did not say when the incident took place.
``Once again under the pretext of conducting the 16th Party Congress in a peaceful and stable atmosphere the Chinese government is abusing human rights,'' said the organization's president, Liu Qing.
A call to the Beijing Public Security Bureau went unanswered Saturday.
In the weeks leading to the party congress, which began Friday, the government has banned books, blocked Internet sites and clamped down on other activists. On Monday, Fang Jue, a former government official who served a jail term after calling for free elections, was taken away by police, his sister said. There was no indication why Fang was detained, she said.
Hua is one of the earliest and most important members of Beijing's underground Christian church, the group said, and has been beaten and arrested on many occasions because of his religious activities.
China allows only government-monitored churches, and has harassed and imprisoned Christians, Buddhists and others who worship outside the official system.
A report released in Washington last month by the State Department put China among six countries it said were trying to control religious beliefs or practices. The other five are Myanmar, Cuba, Laos, Vietnam and North Korea.