Chinese Woman Beaten to Death After Distributing Bibles

(ANS) – A 34 year old woman has been beaten to death by police after she was arrested for handing out Bibles in southwest China ’s Guizhou province, ASSIST News Service learned Monday, July 5. The French News Agency (AFP) quoted China’s state run Legal Daily newspaper as saying that police in Guizhou’s Tongzi county arrested Jiang Zongxiu, a farmer, on June 18 on suspicion of “spreading rumors and inciting to disturb social order.” They had planned to detain her for 15 days, the report said, alleging Jiang died in police custody the afternoon she was arrested. Her mother-in-law, Tan Dewei, who was arrested with Jiang but later released, told reporters police kicked Jiang repeatedly during interrogation, AFP reported. Police later informed Jiang’s family she had died of a sudden illness and turned over her body to the family, but relatives saw she was covered with bruises and blood stains, the report alleged. It is at least the second published killing of a Christian by Chinese police in just over a month, although human rights watchdogs believe torture of Christians and dissidents is wide spread in the Communist nation.