Shandong Woman Faces Prosecution for Practicing Falun Gong

(Minghui.org) Ms. Wang Hongmei, 57, from Yinan County, Shandong Province, is facing prosecution for practicing Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999.

Ms. Wang was arrested on the street on October 24, 2023, after Yan Xiaoyu ([phone]), a plainclothes officer, caught her distributing Falun Gong informational materials. Yan and Guo Jing (captain of the Yinan County Domestic Security Division, [phone]) led more than twenty agents from the Zhuanbu Town Police Station and raided her primary residence and another home she owned that night. A large amount of Falun Gong books and informational materials were confiscated.

The police took Ms. Wang to the Linyi City Lockup and told her son they’d release her after 15 days of administrative detention. However, they did not release her on November 9, 2023 as promised. Instead, they put her in criminal detention and transferred her to the Linyi City Detention Center. Linyi oversees Yinan County.

Ms. Wang’s son has not heard any updates regarding her case since then. A relative of theirs, who once helped Ms. Wang land a temporary job, was arrested twice after Ms. Wang was arrested. The relative was released each time after being briefly detained.

This is not the first time Ms. Wang has been targeted for her faith. She was previously given three years of forced labor and brutally tortured.

Past Persecution

Ms. Wang went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong soon after the persecution began in July 1999. She was arrested and fired from her job at the Yinan County Fertilizer Factory. As a widow, she struggled to raise her young son by herself. Her brother provided some financial support to help her make ends meet. After her son grew older, she did odd jobs here and there.

During a group arrest in December 2008, Ms. Wang had her computer and multiple house appliances seized by the police. She was held at the Linyi City Brainwashing Center for an unknown amount of time before being given three years of forced labor. The labor camp guards subjected her to various forms of torture, including electric shocks and sleep deprivation. Her son, a teenager then, was discriminated and bullied at school.

After Ms. Wang was released, she moved back to her hometown in Zhuanbu Town (which is under the administration of Yinan County). The aforementioned relative helped her find a temporary job.