(Minghui.org) Over the past 21 years of the Chinese communist regime’s persecution of Falun Gong, tens of thousands of practitioners have been arrested, detained, imprisoned, subjected to brainwashing, harassed, and intimidated.
In 2020, the Chinese Communist Party's Political and Legal Affairs Committee and the Ministry of Public Security ordered a new “zero-out” harassment campaign, trying to force every Falun Gong practitioner on the government’s blacklist to renounce their faith.
In the Huaihua metropolitan area in Hunan Province alone, at least 25 Falun Gong practitioners were harassed in the second half of the year.
Below are details on 21 of those practitioners. What has happened with the remaining four practitioners remains to be investigated.
Ms. Lei Huamei: Three Arrests Within Two Months
Ms. Lei Huamei was arrested on September 27 on her way home from work, after a plainclothes officer saw her giving out a booklet about the persecution of Falun Gong. She was taken to the Chengzhong Police Station and handcuffed behind her back. The police searched her bag, interrogated her, and put her in solitary confinement. The police used her house keys to go ransack her residence. She was released at around 11:00 p.m. that night.
After Ms. Lei refused to report to the police station the next day as she was ordered, five officers arrested her at the store where she worked and claimed that she had to go to the police station to get her Falun Gong books they’d confiscated the day before. She was dragged into the police car. Ms. Lei was held in the police station until around 5:00 p.m.
She was arrested at work again around November 13, 2020. She is now being held in Huaihua City Detention Center and her arrest has been approved.
Arrests and Harassment in November 2020
Four police officers broke into the home of Ms. He Xiuyun on November 12, 2020, and took her to Yingfeng Police Station. She was taken to the Huaihua Red Cross for a blood test at noon the next day and then to the local detention center. She was released after 37 days of detention.
Ms. Yin Aisheng, a retired teacher, and Ms. Xie Xiuzhen from Hongjiang City in the Huaihua area were taken from their homes to a brainwashing center in Huaihua in mid-November 2020. Both were released later that same day.
Ms. Zheng Xiping, a Falun Gong practitioner in Chenxi County, was harassed by village officials at her store for three consecutive days, November 10 to 12, 2020. They tried to force her to renounce her belief but she firmly refused.
Five Falun Gong practitioners in Jingzhou County were harassed in early November 2020. They were Ms. Yang Xiurong, Ms. Hou Meixiu, Ms. Wang Yi, Ms. Tan Meihua, and Ms. Li Yunpei. Ms. Yang’s daughter, Ms. Hou’s husband, and Ms. Wang’s daughter were forced to sign statements to renounce Falun Gong for them. Ms. Tan and Ms. Li had their photos taken by the police.
Ms. Yi Xianmei is a teacher in Tongwan Township, Hongjiang City. Following orders from Tongwan Township officials in mid-November 2020, her school principal harassed her and her family.
Other Harassment Cases
Six Falun Gong practitioners—Wu Ligeng, Yang Lanying, Yang Dongqing, Zhang Boxing, Mao Yanping, and Shu Qiuyu—from Xupu County were harassed between September and November 2020. They were ordered to renounce their faith and their family members were forced to sign the renouncing statements for them. The police threatened to sentence them to prison if they did not comply.
Government officials went to the school where Ms. Ren Huijun works on October 20 and October 28, 2020, to harass her. They threatened to fire her in order to force her to give up her faith. Prior to the latest harassment, Ms. Ren was detained in a brainwashing center once in 2001 and harassed multiple times over the years.
Zhong Liancong and Ms. Zeng Xiaoying from the Chengbei District have been harassed several times recently.
Mr. Zhang Shiliang, a retiree from Xinfeng County, escaped harassment on July 28, 2020. The 610 Office agent and his former supervisor told his wife that he had to go to his former workplace to write the guarantee statement to renounce Falun Gong.
