(Minghui.org) Today's news from China includes incidents of persecution that took place in 21 cities or counties in 12 provinces, where at least 50 practitioners were recently persecuted for their belief.
Ms. Zhang Lixin and her husband Mr. Bai Yufu, who have been displaced, were arrested on December 2, 2019, by officers from the Chengnan Police Station in Zhangwu County, Fuxin City, Liaoning Province.
According to a report on March 23, 2020, the couple were tried in the Zhangwu County Court. Ms. Zhang was sentenced to four years in prison and Mr. Bai to six years.
It was recently reported that Ms. Zhang was severely abused in the Xindi Detention Center in Fuxin City and suffered a cerebral hemorrhage. She was taken to the Fuxin City Hospital for emergency treatment. She has been hospitalized for over a month, unable to move or speak. She was watched by two detention center guards, and her family could only visit her for 15 minutes a day.
Ms. Zhang’s daughter took leave from work and traveled with her four-year-old son to Fuxin City from Daqing City. She asked the detention center and prison authorities to release her father so he could take care of her mother.
Ms. Gao Xufeng from Lishiyuan Village, Zhengji Township, was arrested by officers from the Huaiyang County Domestic Security Division as the Chinese Communist Party was preparing to host the Olympic Games in the summer of 2008. She was sentenced to four years in prison and held in the Xinxiang Women’s Prison.
Ms. Gao was doing odd jobs in a village in Zhengji Township. She was reported to the police for distributing Falun Gong materials on June 23, 2020. Officers, led by Cheng Weifeng, head of the Domestic Security Division, arrested her. They also ransacked her home but did not find anything they wanted. She was sentenced to three years in prison and taken to the Xinxiang Women’s Prison again.
Ms. Xu Yunfeng was a train attendant. She lived in the Dashiba Sub-district. She was arrested in May 2002 for living by the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance and because she was a kind person. She was taken to the Dizhi Brainwashing Center in Shuangbei Village, Jingkou Town. She was tortured and passed away on April 29, 2003.
The people running the brainwashing center were selected from the Chongqing City Political and Legal Affairs Committee, the 610 Office, and various prisons in Chongqing. They were selected because they were particularly brutal and vicious.
Ms. Yang Yanyun, 56, clarified the truth to a college student from Hubei Province who worked in the same store with her in early May 2021. She gave him a remedy to avoid the plague and gave him a U disc. The store owner reported Ms. Yang to the police on June 9. She was arrested by two officers from the Xingqing Road Police Station. She was detained for 10 days by the Beilin Police Department and the police station.
Her detention ended on June 21. When Ms. Yang went to the store to pick up her wages, the owner collaborated with the police officers, who arrested her again.
On June 22, Ms. Yang was taken to the Beilin District Detention Center, which refused to admit her given her severe illness. She was released.
Ms. Meng Xiuzhen from the Xicheng District was reported to the police for distributing Epidemic Status Weekly on February 27, 2020. Plainclothes officers from the Xicheng District Police Department and officers from the Tianningsi Police Station went to Ms. Meng’s home, ransacked the place, and arrested her on May 11. She was released on bail the following day because she had a fever.
Two plainclothes officers and two officers from the Baizhifang Police Station went to Ms. Meng’s home on May 3, 2021. One of the plainclothes officers repeatedly asked her whether she still practiced Falun Gong and wanted to enter her home to take a look, which she refused to allow them to do.
The Xicheng District Procuratorate called Ms. Meng on May 12. They notified her that her case had been turned over the procuratorate and told her to go there for questioning. Ms. Meng refused to go. She then mailed a complaint to the Xicheng District Procuratorate, the First Branch of the Beijing Municipal Procuratorate, the State Bureau of Letters and Calls, and the Discipline Inspection and Supervision Bureau of the Beijing Municipal Police Department.
On July 21, the political commissar from the Tianningsi Police Station called Ms. Meng and said that the case was not yet settled and that the procuratorate and the court would give an explanation in due time.
Ms. Gou Sulian from the Xinjin District was caught distributing Falun Gong materials on surveillance cameras. She was arrested and her home was ransacked by six officers from the Shaqu Police Station in Dayi County around 10:30 a.m. on July 13, 2021. Three practitioners who were in her home at that time, including Miao Jiaming and Feng Xiufang (genders are unknown), were also arrested and taken to the police station.
The homes of practitioners Miao and Feng were ransacked that afternoon. The officers could not find anything useful in Feng’s home. A few days later, they found Feng’s family and threatened them to make them hand over Falun Gong items.
The four practitioners were held in the police station. That night, Ms. Gou developed serious illness symptoms, and the officers notified her family to take her to the local hospital for emergency treatment. Except for Ms. Gou who was hospitalized, the other three practitioners have been held in the police station. Their family members were not allowed to visit them.
Ms. Huang Jingru was arrested at her rented home around July 10, 2021.
Ms. Xu Zhenying, 74, was reported to the police by a supermarket cashier for using paper bills with Falun Gong facts printed on them. Her home was ransacked. She is being held in the Zaohua Detention Center. She was sentenced to two years in prison by the Huanggu Court. She appealed to the Shenyang Intermediate Court in June 2021.
Ms. Lin Ping from the Xinchengzi District was arrested on the afternoon of July 20, 2021, for distributing Falun Gong materials.
Seven or eight people, including officers from the Boshui Street Police Station and Party secretary Li Bingming of the residential community management office, went to Ms. Zhu Mingrong’s rented home and harassed her four days in a row in May 2021. The officers went to her home again in June.
Party secretary Li told Ms. Zhu to go to the community management office on July 9. Xu Xin, a member of the Political and Legal Affairs Committee, and Zhou, a member of the community management office, wanted to have a “talk” with her. She refused to meet.
On July 11, Party secretary Li and others went to Ms. Zhu’s home and confiscated all her Falun Gong books, printed materials, and video materials. They told her that if she wanted to get the items back, she had to go to the office.
Three officers from the Xicheng Police Station, Binzhou Town, Bin County, went to Ms. Xu Feng’s home around 10 a.m. on July 16, 2021. They asked her if she still practiced Falun Gong and photographed her. They attempted to confiscate photos of the founder of Falun Gong but did not succeed. They asked for her daughter-in-law’s phone number.
On June 19, Ms. Ju Wenyan of the Hulan District was heading home from Suihua City by train. Several railway police officers started to check passengers' national ID cards in the waiting room of the Suihua Railway Station, apparently looking for Ms. Ju. They found her and took her to the police office. They asked her if she still practiced Falun Gong. They then forcibly searched her bag. When they found no Falun Gong materials, they let her go.
According to local residents, on the evening of June 18, 2021, Rongchang District police broke into Mr. He Zubin’s home and arrested him and his wife Ms. Lu Li. The whereabouts of the couple is still unknown. Their two children are frightened and are alone at home.
Ms. Zhang Aidong was arrested on her way home by officers from the Zhujiang Police Station in mid-June 2021. Her home was ransacked. She was detained for five days but was released after paying a deposit of 5,000 yuan.
Officers from the Haibin Domestic Security Division arrested 70-year-old Ms. Bai Xingwen, Ms. Bai’s two daughters, Ms. Wang Ying, Ms. Wang’s son, and Ms. Yang Yongzhen around 6 a.m. on July 15, 2021. Ms. Bai was taken to the Hekou District Detention Center, and the other five practitioners have returned home.
Mr. Yang Xin from Chengfa Township was arrested on June 21, 2021. He was detained for five days.
Three officers from the Heping Road Police Station went to the home of Xu Lixin (gender unknown) on the afternoon of July 21, 2021. They asked Xu if he or she still practiced Falun Gong. An officer took pictures with his cell phone. They threatened, “If you don’t tell us, we will look for and talk to your family.”
Mr. Li Huorong was arrested and his home was ransacked by officers from the Yuncheng Police Department and the Hekou Police Station for distributing Falun Gong materials in May 2020. He was officially arrested. He was tried by the Yunfu City Court in the Yun’an District Court on July 24, 2021.
Officers from the Lubei Police Station called Ms. Yang Qiaoling’s daughter around 9 a.m. on July 20, 2021. They told her, “Have your mother come to the police station to sign paperwork to guarantee that she will not practice Falun Gong. If she does, the job prospects and school enrollment of the younger generations in your family will not be adversely affected.”
Zhang Ke (gender unknown), who is disabled, was arrested around July 1, 2021.
Five or six officers from the Criminal Police Division of Wafangdian City Police Department arrested Ms. Liu Yunfeng on June 29, 2021. They confiscated her cell phone. The police department has placed her under house arrest and monitor her daily activities. The officers also threatened Ms. Liu’s family that if she clarified the truth to anyone anytime in the next six months, she would be taken to prison.
At the same time, three other practitioners including Sun Bin (gender unknown) were arrested and held in the Wafangdian City Prison.
Mr. Liu Haiquan was arrested by Liu Ning, head of the Domestic Security Division, on April 13, 2021. He was first held in the brainwashing center located in the former Maoershan Detention Center and then taken to the Xian’an District Detention Center. He is now being held in the Jiayu County Detention Center, which is in a different jurisdiction. It has been over three months since his arrest, and his family has not yet received an arrest warrant.
Zhu Ronghua (gender unknown) from the Haidian District was arrested by domestic security officers on June 6, 2021, for talking to people about Falun Gong. Zhu’s current whereabouts are unknown.
Ms. Wang Guangzhen, 63, and Ms. Liu Zengxiang, 79, were intercepted by several officers from the Bijia Police Station around 9 a.m. on July 16, 2021. The officers said that the two practitioners were reported for distributing Falun Gong materials the day before. The two were taken to the police station for interrogation.
Officer Wu Wei and several other officers ransacked their homes and confiscated their Falun Gong books. Ms. Wang was detained for 12 days and Ms. Liu for four days. The officers were worried about what would happen to Ms. Liu given her age, so they released her to avoid being held responsible.
Hu Jie (gender unknown), Ms. Qian Ruifang, Ms. Xin Guimin, Ms. Zhu Guiying, and others in Jinan City Truck Company dormitory section established a Fa study group.
Since filing criminal complaints against Jiang Zemin, former head of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the group has been frequently harassed around anniversaries that the CCP considers “sensitive.”
At 7:30 a.m. on April 19, 2021, the Dangjiazhuang Police Station in Shizhong District dispatched a large number of police officers to search the homes of the three practitioners in the dormitory section. They confiscated photos of Falun Gong’s founder, Zhuan Falun, Hong Yin V, Master’s recent writings and congratulations, handwritten copies of Falun Gong teachings, weekly publications, and desktop calendars. They also took pictures and made recordings.
At Ms. Qian’s home, the officers forced open the closet and took all of Master Li’s writings and weekly magazines. The officers took Ms. Qian and another practitioner to the police station and told them not to practice anymore. The officers pressured them to sign paperwork, saying that the harassment would stop if they did.
The officers also harassed coordinator Ms. Xin, who was ill and unable to get out of bed. On April 19 and 20, she was forced to fingerprint paperwork.
Officers from the Qixian Police Station in the Shizhong District also harassed Ms. Zhu at 7:30 a.m. on April 19, 2021, and pressured her to sign paperwork, which she refused to do. She was held in custody for a day and released.
Since May 13, 2021, officers from the Sunji Sub-district Police Station harassed Falun Gong practitioners in villages within the sub-district.
They went to the home of Ms. Sun Meifang, in her 60s, but no one was there. According to neighbors, the officers went there several times.
Two officers went to Ms. Sun’s home again on the morning of June 17. Ms. Sun was at home. They confiscated two copies of Zhuan Falun. An officer photographed her. She wanted to get the two books back, but the officers refused to give them to her.
Two officers knocked on the door of Ms. Liu Fengying’s home on July 6. Ms. Liu, in her 70s, was not at home. They asked her husband, who was retired from the Shouguang Transportation Company, to sign a piece of paper with Ms. Liu’s name printed on it. They told her husband not to let Ms. Liu go out to clarify the truth.
Mr. Zhang Yonggui, Ms. Zhu Aiying, Ms. Zhang Shulian, and Ms. Sun Qiugui were also harassed.
Ms. Sun Meiling from Huying Village was harassed several times by officers and village officials as part of the “zero-out” campaign.
The Ganjingzi District Court notified Ms. Zhang Cui’s lawyer in recent days that she would be tried at 8:40 a.m. on July 29, 2021.
Since June 2021, Ms. Zhang’s pension has been suspended. Her family called the Social Security Department and was told that her name was on the list provided by provincial officials. They also said that Ms. Zhang had to return all the pension payments she’d received since her arrest in September 2020. Her husband, who is certified as “first-degree disabled,” has been in a nursing home since she was arrested.