China Aid reports that in 2011, the number of Christians detained for their religious beliefs had soared 131.8% from 2010.
A new government practice last year was targeting churches and individuals who were significantly impacting society, like Beijing’s Shouwang Church and leading legal activists such as constitutional law expert Dr. Fan Yafeng, who has been under house arrest since December 2010, and award-winning human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng, who disappeared into official custody for 20 months before being sent to a remote prison in far western China in December 2011 to serve a three-year sentence.
The report also highlighted the worrying increase in the use of torture against detainees, citing a 33.3% increase over 2010 in the number of cases of abuse of all kinds, including torture.