Chinese Christian asylum seekers reported heading to U.S.

BANGKOK — More than 60 asylum-seeking members of a Chinese Christian church who had been detained final week in Thailand are en path to the United States, a non secular freedom advocate who has been aiding them stated Friday.

A colonel in Thailand’s police immigration division confirmed that the group left Thailand on Thursday evening. He spoke on situation of anonymity as a result of he isn’t his company’s spokesperson.

Thai police on Wednesday stated the 63 members of the Shenzhen Holy Reformed Church, also referred to as the Mayflower Church, could be deported inside per week, more likely to a 3rd nation. The U.S. Embassy has declined touch upon the destiny of the group however was concerned together with representatives of the U.N. Refugee Agency in talks with Thai officers in regards to the matter.

The church members, who’ve been in Thailand since final September, had been arrested final week within the seaside metropolis of Pattaya for overstaying their visas, fined, after which taken to Bangkok, the place they had been detained in immigration amenities.

Bob Fu, president of ChinaAssist, a Texas-based Christian human rights group, stated the group was heading to the United States and is predicted to reach in Dallas, Texas, on Friday night.

“ChinaAid welcomes the landing of the persecuted Chinese ‘Mayflower Church’ to freedom in America and welcome to Texas,” Fu stated in a textual content message which additionally thanked U.S. and Thai officers and activists.

“We will not rest until religious freedom is fully realized in China,” he stated.

Christian church organizations have been working to resettle them in Texas, lobbying for his or her admittance to the U.S. and providing to host them.

The church members have stated they confronted insufferable harassment in China.

Christians in China are legally allowed to worship solely in church buildings affiliated with Communist Party-controlled spiritual teams, however for many years the authorities largely tolerated impartial, unregistered “house churches.” They have tens of thousands and thousands of worshippers, probably outnumbering these within the official teams.

In current years, nonetheless, home church buildings have come below heavy strain, with many distinguished ones shut down. Unlike earlier crackdowns, equivalent to Beijing’s ban on Falun Gong, a religious motion it labels a cult, the authorities have additionally focused some believers not explicitly against the Chinese state.