03/17/2019 China (International Christian Concern) – Chinese Pastor John Cao has spent more than two years in Yunnan prison for trumped-up charges. A US-based Christian rights group recently filed a submission with the U.N. Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva on behalf of Pastor Cao to call for his release.
American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) raised the case of imprisoned Pastor Cao, who is a U.S. permanent resident, and urged the UNHRC to take action to ensure his immediate release.
The Chinese pastor had built schools and shared the gospel with the Wa ethnic group inside Myanmar for many years. Along with his colleague Jing Ruxia, he was seized by the authorities in China’s Yunnan province on March 5, 2017, as they stepped off of a ferry on a return trip from Myanmar. He was then wrongfully convicted and sentenced to seven years in prison for “organizing illegal border crossing.”
According to ACLJ, they asked that the targeted arrest and continued wrongful imprisonment of Pastor Cao be addressed by the UNHRC. They also urged the UNHRC to work with China to ensure China upholds its obligations as a Charter member of the United Nations and as a signatory to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as well as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
In the coming days, Pastor Cao’s wife will make an oral intervention on his behalf at the UNHRC, a venue for civil society groups to raise human rights concerns during the Council’s regular session.
For interviews with Gina Goh, ICC’s Regional Manager, please contact Olivia Miller, Communications Coordinator: press@persecution.org
