(Minghui.org) A 63-year-old woman escaped police arrest after she was targeted for her faith in Falun Gong, only to be taken into custody two years later on August 19, 2023.
The ordeal of Ms. Hao Qiufen, of Wu’an City, Hebei Province stemmed from a trip that she and three other local Falun Gong practitioners made to the nearby Dashe Town on June 29, 2021. That night, Ms. Li Lianye drove Ms. Hao, Ms. Guo Junmei, and Ms. Pei Xiuye to Deshe Town to distribute Falun Gong informational materials. Ms. Li parked her car outside the Dashe Town Credit Union.
The next morning, Hao Kuangjun (no relation to Ms. Hao), secretary of Dashe Town, saw that many cars and utility poles in town had Falun Gong posters on them. He called the Xue Village Police Station, which then reported to its supervising agency, the Fengfengkuang District Domestic Security Office in Handan City, Hebei Province.
The domestic security office pored over the Dashe Town Credit Union surveillance videos, as well as home surveillance videos of nearby residents. They identified Ms. Li from her license plate. Through the SkyNet system (a state-run mass surveillance system which already had 200 million CCTV cameras across the country as of 2019), the police further discovered Ms. Li’s home address and found out that she had dropped Ms. Pei off at Jiaozhuang Village and Ms. Hao in her residential complex on June 29, 2021.
About seven officers from the Xue Village Police Station and the Tushan Township Police Station arrested Ms. Li from her home at around 8 p.m. on July 15, 2021. They also impounded her car and confiscated her cell phone, before taking her to the Tushan Township Police Station for interrogation. The Xue Village Police Station officers transferred her to the Handan City No. 3 Detention Center the next day.
Ms. Pei was arrested on the same night by the Fengfengkuang District Domestic Security Office and taken to the Tushan Township Police Station for interrogation. She was released hours later after being fined 2,000 yuan.
Ms. Hao managed to escape police arrest that night and was put on the wanted list.
The Ci County Court tried Ms. Li and Ms. Pei on November 26, 2021 and sentenced Ms. Li to three years with a 3,000-yuan fine on January 4, 2022. It is unclear whether Ms. Pei was sentenced.
Ms. Guo was not targeted, likely because the police never saw her entering or exiting Ms. Li’s car in surveillance videos.
Ms. Hao was arrested on August 19, 2023 after being reported for talking to people about Falun Gong. She is currently held at the Handan City No. 3 Detention Center.
Related Report:
Hebei Woman Sentenced After Being Recorded by Surveillance Cameras Distributing Falun Gong Materials
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