Christian’s Desperate Situation In Prison Raises Alarms
A concerning human rights case has emerged involving a 28-year-old Mongolian Christian named Alamus, also known as Alamusha, who is critically ill after facing severe persecution in a high-security prison in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia. ChinaAid, a U.S.-based persecution watchdog, reported that Alamus, originally from the Xilingol League of Inner Mongolia, was unjustly imprisoned on fabricated charges following an altercation at a classmate reunion in 2013. Despite not being involved in the fight, he was charged as the main offender and sentenced to 15 years for intentional injury.
The distressing situation came to light through a video released by Alamus’s aunt, circulated on Chinese social media, alleging that he has been tortured in solitary confinement for nearly two months. His refusal to plead guilty to false charges reportedly led to physical assault, including a perforated eardrum, and harsh conditions such as being shackled, deprived of food, and suffering severe frostbite.
Reports from Bitter Winter provided additional details on the extreme conditions Alamus faced in prison, with minimal daily sustenance and forced to drink water from the urinal to survive. Despite filing complaints, his pleas reportedly went unanswered, leading to further retaliation and torture, raising serious concerns about the treatment of prisoners in China, particularly religious minorities like Christians.
Du Wen, a former inmate and former deputy director of the Legal Counsel Office of Inner Mongolia, described the torture inflicted on Alamus as exceeding what was revealed in the video. Alamus, characterized as an honest, courageous, and spiritually resilient individual who embraced Christianity during imprisonment, faced severe sentencing, possibly influenced by his orphan background and lack of significant connections.
Hohhot Prison, known for housing individuals involved in serious crimes, has been labeled as a place where “all laws have become ineffective,” raising broader concerns about the rule of law in China. This distressing case has garnered international attention, prompting human rights organizations to call for an immediate, fair, and transparent investigation into the allegations of torture and wrongful imprisonment.
Christianity represents a minority religion in Mongolia, constituting only 1.94% of the population, and despite being a minority, an estimated 40,000 Mongolians have converted to various Christian denominations since the early 1990s. The majority of Mongolia’s people groups remain unreached for the Gospel, practicing Lamaistic Buddhism and shamanism as traditional religions.