Bookstore Owner in China
Due to Appear in Court
Police place Shi
Weihan’s family, lawyer
under constant
surveillance.
By Sarah Page
DUBLIN,
Christian
bookstore owner Shi
Weihan, detained in a
Chinese prison without
his medication for
diabetes, is due in
court Thursday (June 19)
to face as yet
unspecified charges.
As Shi’s health
deteriorates, friends
say his wife and two
daughters are suffering
extreme emotional
distress as they are
forbidden to visit or
pass on the much-needed
medication.
Police initially
arrested Shi on November
28, 2007, charging him
with “illegal business
practices,” but
officials ordered his
release on January 4,
citing insufficient
evidence. Shi was
arrested again on March
19 and police have held
him virtually
incommunicado, denying
all but one visit from
his lawyer, and refusing
family visits.
Shi’s store, located
near the Olympic
Village, operated
legally and sold only
books for which he had
obtained government
permission. Under his
Holy Spirit Trading Co.,
Shi printed Bibles and
Christian literature
without authorization
for distribution to
local house churches,
according to Asia Times
Online.
Last January, his wife
Zhang Jing told the news
service that Shi was
concerned about
publishing the
unauthorized books but
felt the risk was worth
taking because churches
needed them.
Family, Lawyer Under
Surveillance
According to Compass
sources, police have
placed Shi’s wife and
their two daughters
under constant
surveillance, following
Zhang even when she
takes the girls to
school.
Zhang has asked several
times for permission to
visit her 37-year-old
husband and to pass on
medication and changes
of clothes, but police
have refused; she is now
suffering from
depression. Her
daughters cry often and
are sometimes afraid to
go to school because of
taunts from other
children.
Police are also
monitoring the movements
of Shi’s lawyer, sources
said, to ensure that he
makes no contact with
foreign human rights
groups. Officers have
justified the
surveillance by telling
the lawyer that they are
“protecting” him to
ensure that his work is
not interrupted.
After Shi’s lawyer
visited him on April 23,
prison guards moved him
from the Beijing
Municipal Detention
Center to an unknown
location. When
questioned, officials at
the Beijing detention
center would only say
that Shi was no longer
there.
There is some
speculation that
officials have charged
Shi with distributing
illegal publications,
but sources said this is
unlikely as materials
confiscated from his
Christian bookstore were
all returned and the
store was allowed to
re-open.
Shi’s friends, both
local and foreign,
insist that he is an
honest citizen with an
“infectious” love for
China.
A foreign businessman
who worked with Shi and
considered him a friend
told Compass that Shi
was grateful to the
Chinese government for
granting permission to
openly publish and sell
Christian literature.
The government may have
mistaken Shi for a
religious zealot, the
source said, but “Shi
believes Christians
should work toward a
more fair and harmonious
society in China.”
Provided by
Compass Direct News
