An elderly Chinese bishop from the underground Roman Catholic Church has been detained by police once more; his location or the reason for his arrest re not known.

The Cardinal Kung Foundation issued a press statement announcing bishop Jia Zhiguo’s arrest in northern China's Hebei province. The 73-year-old priest has been arrested almost a dozen times since January 2004.

Jia has spent almost 20 years in prison. He was ordained a priest in 1980. He was last released from police custody in September 2006, after a 10-month detainment.

The Cardinal Kung Foundation, a US-based Catholic group, said Jia had been harassed for some time. The “strict surveillance” from Chinese authorities had been intensified for the elderly bishop.

He was no longer allowed to administer the Last Rites to dying parishioners, the foundation said.

Foundation president Joseph Kung commented that the continuing lack of religious freedom in China should be an alarm for organizers of the Olympics, as Beijing is meant to host the 2008 Olympic Games.

“I once again urgently call on the (International) Olympic Committee to take note of this arrest of Bishop Jia, together with other serious violations of the human rights in China,” Kung said in the statement.

Kung urged the IOC to cancel the Beijing Olympics “because it is so obvious and transparent that these violations of the human rights in China, as exemplified by the repeated arrest of this peaceful religious prelate, are not in conformity with the principle, spirit and good name of the Olympics.”