25 cult members jailed in NW China

Twenty-five cult members have been given jail terms from 3 and a half years to 8 years for organizing and making use of the cult to undermine the implementation of laws.

All were members of the illegal cult Quannengshen (almighty god), according to a ruling from the Xiji County People's Court in northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region on Thursday.

They were charged with spreading Quannengshen materials in public places, disturbing social order and undermining national laws and regulations.

The cult came into the spotlight when six Quannengshen members beat a woman to death on May 28 at a McDonalds outlet in Zhaoyuan City in the eastern province of Shandong, after she refused to give her telephone number to the suspects, who were allegedly trying to recruit new members for their sect.

Appearing in the 1990s in central China's Henan province, the Quannengshen group claims that Jesus has been resurrected as Yang Xiangbin, wife of the sect's founder Zhao Weishan, also known as Xu Wenshan. The couple fled to the US in September 2000.

The sect has been widely criticized for spreading rumors and coercing people to join up. In late October and early November 1998, numerous robberies and assaults connected with the cult were reported over 12 days in Henan's Tanghe County, with victims' limbs broken and ears cut off.