(Minghui.org) Three Falun Gong practitioners were illegally arrested by the Ma'anshan City police when they distributed informational materials about Falun Gong and the persecution around 10 a.m. on November 22, 2013.

Ms. Yang Yuping, 66, and Ms. Tao Chunfang, 62, are currently detained in the Ma'anshan Detention Center. The third practitioner managed to escape.

Ms. Yang was previously sentenced to three years of forced labor. In addition, she was also arrested on October 10, 2013. At the time, police ransacked her home and confiscated her computer, taking her into custody. After Ms. Yang showed symptoms of hypertension at the police station, however, she was released.

The persecution of Falun Gong in Ma'anshan City has been severe since 1999, when the communist regime first launched the oppressive campaign to “eradicate Falun Gong” across China. Just before the forced labor camp system was dismantled in 2013, two practitioners in their 70s, Wang Degen and Hu Chun'an, were sentenced to three years in prison. Hu Chun'an suffered severe torture.