China sentences 14 �Almighty God� members to jail

AFP, BEIJING: A total of 14 members of a Chinese religious cult have been jailed for up to three years, state media said yesterday, the latest sentences after two members were executed this year for killing a woman.
Nine members of the banned Quannengshen group were convicted of “undermining the implementation of laws by making use of cult organisations”, the official Xinhua news agency said, citing prosecutors in the central province of Hubei. The sentences ranged from 18 months to three years, the agency quoted local authorities as saying on Sunday. It added that on Saturday a court in the northeastern province of Liaoning sentenced five cult members to prison terms of two or three years. The agency said the punishments were for “spreading cult propaganda”.
Followers of Quannengshen, whose name can be translated as Church of Almighty God, believe that Jesus has been reincarnated as a Chinese woman—the wife of the cult’s founder.
The organisation appeared in the 1990s and the founder and his wife fled to the United States in 2000, Xinhua said.

China sentences 14 �Almighty God� members to jail

AFP, BEIJING: A total of 14 members of a Chinese religious cult have been jailed for up to three years, state media said yesterday, the latest sentences after two members were executed this year for killing a woman. Nine members of the banned Quannengshen group were convicted of undermining the implementation of laws by making use of cult organisations, the official Xinhua news agency said, citing prosecutors in the central province of Hubei. The sentences ranged from 18 months to three years, the agency quoted local authorities as saying on Sunday. It added that on Saturday a court in the northeastern province of Liaoning sentenced five cult members to prison terms of two or three years. The agency said the punishments were for spreading cult propaganda. Followers of Quannengshen, whose name can be translated as Church of Almighty God, believe that Jesus has been reincarnated as a Chinese womanthe wife of the cults founder. The organisation appeared in the 1990s and the founder and his wife fled to the United States in 2000, Xinhua said.