Guards, Islamic inmates bullying Liu Huiwen for distributing gospel
leaflet.
http://compassdirect.org/en/display.php?page=3Dnews&length=3Dlong&lang=3Den&=
idelement=3D5291
BANGKOK, March 18 (Compass Direct News) =96 Liu Huiwen, a Chinese
Christian sentenced to 18 months imprisonment last November for
distributing a gospel leaflet to Muslims in Gansu province, is
suffering mistreatment in a Muslim-majority prison, local sources told
Compass.
After a recent prison visit (allowed only twice a month), Liu=92s wife
Miao Hui Lian said that he was limping badly and looked very thin.
Liu, unable to speak openly, told his wife that the prison was a =93very
bad place=94 and that he was being =93bullied constantly.=94
When Liu=92s wife attempted to travel to Beijing to re****t the suspected
abuse, police warned her to stay at home and make no complaint.
She is under heavy police surveillance, a Compass source confirmed.
After his wife=92s recent prison visit, a local source told Compass
that, =93We have reason to believe the guards or inmates are puni****ng
him for what he did and trying to cast terror into his heart.=94
They also claimed prison guards had withheld food and other items
taken into the prison for Liu.
Liu, 39, was arrested on April 28, 2007 after distributing a leaflet
entitled =93A Letter To Our Muslim Friends=94 during a funeral in Manping
Groupin Ketuo village, part of the Dongxiang Autonomous Region, a
Muslim-majority ethnic area in Gansu province.
Villagers immediately re****ted Liu to police.
A Compass source said police severely beat Liu before detaining him at
the Dongxiang police station.
They officially arrested him on May 31 and held him for several months
in a nearby town. For about five months, police would not allow family
members, including Liu=92s wife, to visit him.
In September, the Dongxiang County Procuratorate charged Liu with
publi****ng literature that =93discriminated against and insulted people
of ethnic minorities.=94
Court evidence included a copy of the leaflet, the contract with the
printer, and testimony from several Muslim witnesses, according to a
China Aid Association (CAA) re****t last November.
Liu=92s lawyer argued that the leaflet did not contain any
discriminating remarks or insults against ethnic minorities and that
the distribution of the leaflets was a minor incident. He also
asserted that Liu had not overstepped the boundaries of freedom of
speech outlined in Chinese law, CAA re****ted.
The leaflet spoke of Jesus Christ as =93the only person in this world
who overcame sin and death=94 and appealed to Muslims to turn to Christ,
a local source told Compass.
Judges rejected the lawyer=92s defense and found Liu guilty as charged,
sentencing him to 18 months of imprisonment.
The court determined the day of Liu=92s arrest =96 April 28, 2007 =96 as
the=
first day of his prison term, meaning he is due for release on October
27 this year.
After sentencing, Liu was returned to a prison in Dongxiang. Many of
the prison guards and inmates were Muslims, alarming family members
concerned that Liu would be mistreated in prison.
Liu=92s wife fears that without intervention her husband=92s well-being
could be severely impaired.
She and their 4-year-old son are living with Liu=92s parents, as she has
no income to sup****t herself during his imprisonment.
Liu became a Christian in December 1995. The couple moved from Lanzhou
to Dongxiang in October 2004.
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