Church leader's wife buried alive after trying to stop church demolition

A house church leader and his wife were buried alive after attempting to stop the demolition of their church in the province of Henan in China.

Beitou church leader Li Jiangong, together with his wife Ding Cuimei, stood in front of the bulldozer in order to prevent it from destroying the church facility. However, someone from the demolition team ordered the others to bury them alive, saying, "I will be responsible for their lives."

The bulldozer pushed the couple into a pit and covered them with dirt. Li was able to claw his way through the soil, but his wife died from suffocation, according to Christian international human rights organization China Aid.

The demolition was reportedly being conducted to give way to a local developer that was interested in the church property. However, similar incidents have happened in other parts of China because of the government's "three rectifications, one demoliton" program, according to International Christian Concern. The program has resulted in the forced removal of the cross in more than 2,000 churches.

China Aid President Bob Fu condemned the actions of the demolition crew that buried Li and Ding alive.

"This case is a serious violation of the rights to life, religious freedom and rule of law," Fu said. The Chinese authorities should immediately hold those murderers accountable and take concrete measures to protect the religious freedom of this house church's members."

Jeff King, president of International Christian Concern, said it was saddened by what happened to the Beitou church.

"The death of Ding Cuimei has added to the storyline of how the Chinese government does not hold life to be precious. Rather than stopping, they decided to literally bulldoze human beings as they stood their ground to protect a house of worship ... We stand with China Aid and call on the Chinese government to bring those responsible to justice and to stop its oppressive pursuit of whitewashing Christianity from its shores," King said in a statement.