WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) urged Secretary of State Clinton to press Chinese leaders on the lack of religious freedom in China after Christians in that country were arrested on Easter Sunday while they met to pray.  Wicker and eight other Senators sent a letter to the Vice President and Secretary of State ahead of their meetings with Chinese officials this week.

“The Easter Sunday crackdown on Christians by the Chinese government is deeply troubling,” Wicker said. “Religious freedom remains an important human right, and we must stand with those who seek to practice their faith in peaceful ways.  I will continue to work to bring light to areas where people of faith are persecuted.”

In part, the letter stated, “The State Department’s recent Human Rights Country Report on China notes the current human rights situation in China is characterized by Beijing’s increasingly arbitrary controls on civil society and disregard for the rule of law.  We are troubled to learn that extrajudicial measures such as house arrest, forced disappearance, arbitrary detention, and “re-education camps” are now widely applied to religious leaders, civil society representatives, human rights activists, and the Chinese lawyers who seek to defend them.”

Wicker was joined by Senators Kyl, Inhofe, Graham, Collins, Chambliss, Lieberman, Cornyn, and Cardin.  A copy of the letter is attached.

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