China - October 2025

From 10 to 11 October, Chinese authorities arrested over 30 staff members and pastors linked to the unregistered Protestant house-church network Zion Church across several cities. Many of those arrested were charged with ‘illegal use of information networks’ under a law that carries a three-year prison sentence. This represents the largest crackdown on underground churches in China since 2018 and is part of the government's campaign to ‘sinicize’ religion. Since 2018, Xi Jinping’s government has tightened regulations governing religious groups to assert ideological control. The arrests followed the implementation of a new online code of conduct for religious personnel in September, which prohibits the distribution of religious content among unlicensed groups, such as sermons, online. While legally justified under Chinese laws, rights experts describe the increasing arrests as arbitrary, stemming from mandatory state registrations that are viewed as excessive and restrictive. 

Sources: BBC News,Human Rights Watch, Deutsche Welle, South China Morning Post, CHRD