(Minghui.org) Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Deng Ankun and his wife Ms. Zeng Fanggui from Xinjiang Autonomous Region were illegally arrested at Yining City Airport on April 11, 2016. They were on their way to Beijing to visit their son and help take care of their grandson.
Police ransacked the couple's home and held them in the detention center of the 65th Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps in the Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture.
Domestic Security police claimed that they arrested the elderly couple because they were going to Beijing for Falun Gong activities. In addition, the couple had filed criminal complaints against Jiang Zemin, the former leader of the Chinese Communist Party who directed the persecution of Falun Gong.
Husband Previously Sent to Labor Camp, Prison
Mr. Deng Ankun is 76 years old and a retired government officer.
Since Jiang Zemin initiated the persecution of Falun Gong on July 20, 1999, he was detained several times for terms ranging from 15 days to over 5 months.
He was taken to a forced labor camp in 2000 and held for 9 months. In 2007, he was imprisoned for three years and subjected to torture and brainwashing, all for practicing Falun Gong.
Officials extorted over 3,000 yuan from him and suspended his salary for 22 months, starting in October 1999. When he retired in 2001, he was demoted and his pension cut.
Wife Held in Brainwashing Center
Ms. Zeng Fanggui, 69, is a retired teacher. Ms. Zeng Fanggui was fired from her teaching job in 2000 because she wore a Falun Gong badge. She was instead forced to work as a farm laborer.
She was detained multiple times for practicing Falun Gong and taken to a brainwashing center for 45 days.
The couple's home was ransacked four times between 2001 and 2007. They were often harassed and monitored by police.
