Today, The Church of Almighty God (CAG) released its 2024 Annual Report on the Chinese Communist Government’s (CCP) Persecution of The Church of Almighty God (CAG). In 2024, at least 19,053 CAG Christians were arrested, 2,175 were sentenced, 9,762 were subjected to torture or forced indoctrination, and 24 were persecuted to death. The number of arrests, heavy sentences, and cases of torture or forced indoctrination has once again set a new record since its first annual report in 2017.

The report reveals that the CCP issued secret directives launching a “Three-Year Tough Battle” to completely eradicate The Church of Almighty God, with 2024 as the first year. Authorities across China utilized data and information from “video surveillance tracking, facial recognition, communication records, and medical visit records,” along with methods such as “satellite positioning and public reporting,” for large-scale investigations, searches and arrests of CAG Christians. Starting in June, nationwide mass arrest operations continued unabated, leading to a 53% surge in arrests from 2023.

Chart 1: Comparison of Arrests From 2019 to 2024

The report states that from June to December, 1,065 CAG members were arrested in Zhejiang Province, accounting for 98% of its yearly total. In Henan Province, 2,365 church members were arrested during the same period, while 2,145 were arrested in Shandong Province in the second half of the year, both making up 88% of their respective annual totals. As a pilot city for the “Three-Year Tough Battle” crackdown, nearly all CAG members in Changzhi City, Shanxi Province, were arrested, with many cases remaining untraceable. In Anhui Province, at least 3,925 arrests were recorded throughout the year, marking the highest number of arrests nationwide for four consecutive years, with an average annual increase of 34.8%.

Arrested CAG Christians were widely subjected to torture. To meet quotas, authorities across the country used brutal “transformation” tactics and violent interrogations, such as hanging by handcuffs, electric shocks, exhausting an eagle (sleep deprivation), starvation, prolonged standing, molestation, and sexual humiliation. Some suffered torture, resulting in permanent disabilities, mental breakdowns, loss of self-care ability, or even suicide by hanging. In Henan, one CAG Christian endured 30 days of violent indoctrination, during which police deprived her of sleep and beat her, breaking her two ribs. In Anhui, a 17-year-old CAG Christian was subjected to seven days and nights of sleep deprivation known as the “Exhausting an Eagle” torture. In October 2024, two CAG Christians in Changchun, Jilin Province, died within four days due to brutal persecution.

The report reveals a sharp increase in the number of harsh sentences for CAG Christians in 2024. A total of 168 individuals were sentenced to seven years or more, marking a 35.5% increase from 124 cases in 2023. The longest sentence recorded was 14 years. Guangdong Province has led the nation in the proportion of sentences of seven years or longer for two consecutive years, with such cases in 2024 accounting for 16% of the total sentences nationwide. This includes six individuals sentenced to 11 years, nine to 10 years, and one fined up to 180,000 RMB. On December 10, 2024, the Laiwu District People’s Court in Jinan, Shandong Province, sentenced 23 CAG Christians in a group trial. Among them, three upper-level church leaders received 12-year sentences and fines of 120,000 RMB each, while a lay believer was sentenced to 10 years with a fine of 100,000 RMB.

Chart 2: Number of Individuals Sentenced to Seven Years or More (2019–2024)

The report specifically highlights another key aspect of the "Three-Year Tough Battle"—the CCP’s transnational crackdown on The Church of Almighty God. The directive calls for “strengthening intelligence collecting,” closely monitoring “the residences and movements” of key overseas church members, carrying out operations to “strike and dismantle” CAG communities outside China, and preventing the church’s growth overseas. The report details the CCP’s recent transnational suppression efforts in Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, and several Western countries. These actions include collecting personal information on CAG believers, harassing and coercing their relatives and friends in mainland China into forcing them to return to China, and deploying agents and overseas operatives to spread negative propaganda, thereby squeezing the living space of Christians abroad—ultimately reaching the evil goal of forcing CAG Christians back to China.

In 1991, Almighty God, Christ of the last days, appeared and began His work, expressing words, which led to the establishment of The Church of Almighty God. The majority of Almighty God’s words have been compiled into the book of The Word Appears in the Flesh, which currently consists of seven volumes and serves as the doctrinal foundation of the Church. As the most severely persecuted house church in China, at least 293 CAG members have been persecuted to death since its establishment. Incomplete statistics indicate that since 2011, nearly 480,000 CAG Christians have been arrested. In 2024, China faced widespread natural and man-made disasters, economic collapse, as well as mounting internal and external crises. However, instead of addressing these crises, the CCP escalated its suppression of religious faith with even greater recklessness. Its atrocities have drawn strong condemnation from foreign governments, religious scholars, and human rights advocates. Multiple international media outlets have also reported on these atrocities.

Due to the CCP’s increasingly brutal persecution of Christians from The Church of Almighty God and its resorts to unscrupulous means to cover up the truth, collecting and verifying persecution data and cases has become extremely difficult. As a result, many instances of persecution remain unknown. This annual report is compiled solely from available persecution data, materials, and CCP’s official documents, serving as critical evidence of the CCP’s persecution of religious faith.