Fears are growing that a prominent Chinese Christian lawyer could be tortured into confessing spying charges. Zhang Kai was seized after defending churches against moves to tear down their crosses. Release International is calling for the lawyer to be set free.

Zhang Kai

Release International is calling for the release of a leading Chinese human rights lawyer, amid growing concern that he could be tortured into making a false confession to spying.

Zhang Kai, a Christian lawyer based in Beijing, has been defending churches in the courts against moves tear down their crosses. A Release partner says officials in Wenzhou are charging him with spying.

According to China Aid, Zhang has been accused of 'gathering a mob to disturb public order and stealing, collecting, purchasing and illegally providing state secrets and intelligence to overseas organisations.'

China Aid fears he may be tortured into producing a false confession.

'It's deeply worrying to see a nation such as China rounding up its lawyers, and claiming it is doing so to uphold the rule of law,' says Paul Robinson, the Chief Executive of UK-based Release International, which supports persecuted Christians around the world.

'Release is adding its voice to the growing numbers calling for the immediate release of Zhang Kai. As a growing world power, China should embrace, rather than oppose, those who stand up for justice and righteousness under the law.'

There is a strong Christian presence in Zhejiang province. The communist authorities there have been demolishing churches and have pulled down some 1200 crosses. International observers believe the clampdown against visible signs of Christianity is intended to slow the rapid growth of the faith in China.

Some estimate there could already be more Christians in China than members of the Communist Party.

'It looks very much like a fear of losing control,' says Paul Robinson, of Release.

'The authorities appear afraid that Chinese Christians could have divided loyalties and that human rights campaigners who mount legal challenges in the courts are undermining the authority of the Communist Party. Neither is the case.'

Since July, China has rounded up and detained some 230 human rights lawyers and activists. And the communist media has mounted a high-profile campaign against them, branding them as corrupt and criminal.

On August 25, Zhang Kai was arrested ahead of a meeting with the US ambassador at-large for religious freedom. Zhang was seized in Wenzhou where he was helping church leaders legally contest orders to tear down crosses from their churches.

The lawyer was charged with 'endangering national security' and 'gathering crowds to disturb the social order'. There's concern that the charge could be ratcheted up to spying, for which the maximum penalty is death.

'It could be rhetoric, or it could be real,' says Paul Robinson of Release. 'It's hard to say. The authorities have denied access to Zhang or any legal representation.'

Zhang's Beijing law firm say his whereabouts, and even the reason for his detention, are uncertain.

The lawyer is being held for six months, or is due to be held, at a secret location in one of China's so-called 'black jails', an unregistered detention centre.

Human rights lawyers who have been interrogated in black jails have later said they were tortured while in custody. Christian lawyer, Gao Zhisheng, was rearrested after making public allegations of sustained and brutal torture.

China Aid has condemned Zhang's arrest. Its president Bob Fu says, 'The enforced disappearance of renowned religious freedom defence lawyer Zhang Kai and his arbitrary detention in jail for six months is absolutely outrageous.

'He did nothing but legally defend [against] hundreds of churches' crosses from being demolished.'

The roundup of lawyers comes ahead of a visit to the United States by China's President Xi Jinping next month. Some observers believe Zhang's arrest, and the strident rhetoric behind it could be aggressive posturing ahead of the visit.

Concerns about the impact of China's faltering economy and potential unrest may also be fuelling political insecurity in Beijing.

Bob Fu, a former Tiananmen Square democracy campaigner, has called on President Obama to condemn China's 'total disregard for basic human rights and religious freedom'.

China's harassment of its human rights lawyers came to light in 2011 after the Arab Spring. In anticipation of a so-called 'Jasmine Revolution' the authorities rounded up and interrogated many lawyers and activists.

But that harassment had already been building for years. In 2011 Zhang Kai told Release International that he had been pursued in his car by three other vehicles. And three years before he had been arrested, beaten and tortured.

In an April 2015 blog on China's social media site, Weibo, Zhang Kai said: 'I believe it is God's calling and a compelling and historic mission for today's Christian lawyers to seek justice and promote reconciliation and the rule of law.'

He said increasing numbers of Christian lawyers were willing to take the pressure and to suffer in order to stand up for what was right.

'In the past year, in the name of the rule of law, pastors have been arrested, churches demolished and believers have lost their jobs, but Christianity is precisely to help the weak become strong so that prisoners can be free.'

Observers believe the reason for the cross removals is to try to reduce the outwards signs of the growing Christian presence in China.

Estimates of the numbers of Christians vary from 67m to 100m, potentially outstripping the membership of the Communist Party, given at 86m. According to the Council for Foreign Relations, China is on course to have the largest Christian population in the world by 2030.

'Will there be more oppression against churches?' asks Zhang Kai. 'I want to answer with words from the Bible. "Tribulation worketh patience; patience character, and character hope." We should thank God for having been born in China in this era.'

Release Chief Executive Paul Robinson says: 'Please pray for Zhang Kai and other courageous Christian human rights lawyers who are being arrested, detained and harassed. Pray they will know God's presence with them. Pray that they will be strengthened in their calling and know that their family around the world is standing with them.'

To watch a recorded interview with Zhang, please click the link.