An appeals court in central China overturned the death...

An appeals court in central China overturned the death sentences of five leaders of a banned Christian sect and ordered a retrial - an exceptional move in a country that controls religion tightly, a human rights group said.
The supreme court in Hubei province said a lower court's decision in December 2001 to impose the death sentences "was not clear and was not based on enough evidence,'' the Hong Kong-based Information Centre for Human Rights and Democracy said.
The Jingmen City Intermediate Court must retry Gong Shengliang, Li Ying, Xiu Fuming, Hu Yong and Gong Bangkun on Octoner 9, the high court ordered in its September 22 ruling, according to the centre.
Gong established the South China Church in 1991 as a splinter sect of another Christian group, the Total Scope Church, the centre said.
It grew over a decade to 50,000 members spread through some 10 provinces in eastern and central China.
China's Bureau of State Security arrested Gong and the others in April 2001 after labelling the church a cult, part of an ongoing campaign against the outlawed Falun Gong spiritual sect and other groups seen as challenging the Communist Party's political monopoly.
The five were convicted in December 2001 of "using an evil cult to undermine the enforcement of the law,'' the centre said.
The charges against the five are the most serious handed down to the leaders of groups labelled by Beijing as cults since the crackdown began in July 1999.
China allows only government-monitored churches and harasses and imprisons Christians, Buddhists and others who worship outside the official system.