(Minghui.org) An 84-year-old resident of Jieyang City, Guangdong Province, was admitted to Jiedong District Detention Center in early June 2023 for her faith in Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Ms. Yao Jingjiao was seized at a private home on June 14, 2020, while reading Falun Gong books together with nine other local residents. Four of them have been sentenced and given heavy fines at the time of writing, including Ms. Yao.
Ms. Yao was released on bail one day after her arrest but faced constant harassment from the police and local street committee. Her bail conditions were renewed twice, in June 2021 and June 2022. She was tried in the Jiedong District Court in August 2022 and was sentenced to three years with a 30,000-yuan fine in November of that year. She was taken back into custody around June 5, 2023, and admitted to prison.
Past Persecution
Ms. Yao used to suffer from a frozen shoulder, stomach problems, and kidney diseases. She once had a severe nosebleed and was hospitalized. She spent a fortune on her medical treatments, but nothing helped much. She also had a strained relationship with her daughter-in-law, and the two often quarreled over trivial matters.
After Falun Gong spread to her village in November 1998, Ms. Yao, then 58, decided to give it try. Her symptoms soon disappeared and she was full of energy. She strove to live by Falun Gong’s principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance and started getting along with her daughter-in-law. Her family business also boomed.
Ms. Yao’s happy life was shattered when the persecution began in July 1999. The police harassed her, sometimes in the middle of the night, whenever a politically sensitive date was coming.
After a local practitioner was arrested in November 2001 while putting up Falun Gong informational materials, Ms. Yao was implicated and had her home raided. Agents from Yuhu Police Department confiscated her Falun Gong books and exercise music tapes. She was held at Jieyang Shelter for 15 days.
The police seized Ms. Yao from home in November 2002 and held her in Jieyang Shelter for 15 days. She was given burnt and rancid food to eat and had to take cold showers despite the cold weather. She was also forced to pay more than 200 yuan as a fine.
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Two Women, 83 and 80, Sentenced to Prison for Reading Falun Gong Books Together
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