1 August 2018 – Lord Alton of Liverpool shows support in the UK Parliament to the complaints recently filed with the United Nations by FOB's president Alessandro Amicarelli in his capacity as human rights attorney on behalf of victims of religious persecution in China.
Dear Chancellor Merkel:
We are NGOs active in the field of religious liberty, and write about the urgent situation of a Chinese refugee, Ms. Zhao, cur ently detained at the Aufsichtsund Dienstleistungsdirektion Landeseinrichtung für Asylbegehrende und Ausreisepflichtige in Ingelheim, after she resisted forcible deportation to China on July 9.
We urge you to consider that, should Ms. Zhao be returned to China, she would certainly be arrested and might be subject to torture or “disappear” while in custody.
The President of the European Federation for Freedom of Belief (FOB) Attorney Alessandro (Alex) Amicarelli, participated to the opening event held at the American Senate that marked the beginning of the Religious Freedom Week organized by Secretary of State Mr Michael Pompeo in Washington. Together with CESNUR* director Prof. Massimo Introvigne and and Mrs Rosita Šorytė, Lithuanian diplomat and President of ORLIR**, Mr.
The religious freedom In China – if we dare to call it so – is granted only to some “State Churches” that are approved by the totalitarian Communist Party government. All the other religious communities are not admitted. Since 1995 the government issued and routinely update a list of so called Xie Jiao (literally that are considered illegal. The Chinese Criminal Code article # 300 foresees a jail penalty of 3 to 7 tears “or more” for the sole active membership to a religious movement included in the Xie Jiao list.
Bitter Winter, the magazine specialising on Religious Liberty and Human Rights in China, has interviewed our Chairman regarding the situation of religious freedom in China with a specific focus on the cases of arbitrary detention of the members of The Church of Almighty God (CAG) heavily persecuted in China.
Last 28th of June at Brussels in the premises of the prestigious Solvay Library at the European Parliament the Faith and Freedom Summit 2018 was successfully held.
Speakers and participants from several countries attended a packed one-day conference that covered the many aspects of the protection of freedom of religion and belief in Europe and its challenges in the modern society.
An Open Letter to President Trump to Save Demei Zou
Nine non-governmental organizations appeal to the President of the United States, Donald Trump, to intervene in the case of Demei Zou, an asylum seeker of a Chinese Christian new religious movement, The Church of Almighty God, who is detained in Detroit, Michigan and faces deportation to China.
Dear President Trump:
The European Political group Alliance of Conservatives and Reformists in Europe (ACRE) has organised Faith and Freedom Summit 2018 that will be held at the prestigious premises of Solvay Library in Brussels on the 28th of June.
The event is co-organised by ACRE in partnership with other associations, two of which are also associate members of FOB, specifically CAP-LC and All Faiths Network.
On May 14, 2018, a new online news magazine has been launched at the International Book Fair of Torino, in Italy, Bitter Winter. The name refers both to the difficult situation of religious liberty in China and to a theme in classical Chinese painting.
On last 18 April in the Uttarakhand State, Northern India, a new law was approved whereby "forced or fraudulent conversions" can be punished with imprisonment from one to five years, without bailing chance. Moreover, one would need to get a governmental allowance for a religious conversion to be accepted.
A "forced or fraudulent conversions" is the charge versus the Christians on the part of the Hindu extremists who represent the nationalist government.