(Minghui.org) A Huangshi City, Hubei Province resident was recently sentenced to four years in prison for not renouncing his faith in Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
One day before Mr. Ke Changyan was transferred to Shayang Prison, his family visited him at Xiongjiabian Detention Center on May 28, 2019 – the first time they were allowed to see him since his arrest on January 16, 2018. They were devastated to see him reduced to just skin and bones after nearly 16 months of detention.
Mr. Ke was tried by Daye City Court on November 15, 2018. He testified in his own defense and denied all the allegations against him. It is unclear when he was sentenced, and his family didn't learn of the conviction until they were allowed to see him before his prison transfer.
Repeatedly Persecuted for His Faith
Prior to his latest prison sentence, Mr. Ke has been repeatedly arrested and served two terms of forced labor for a total of four years. He was subjected to various forms of torture and force-fed with unknown drugs, after which he suffered from frequent dizziness, memory loss, and mental disorder.
The guards often drew blood from him but never provided any explanation for it. Mr. Ke suspected that it was related to the state-sanctioned forced organ harvesting schemes against Falun Gong practitioners.
First Labor Camp Term
Mr. Ke was first arrested in January 2001. He was held at Daye No.2 Detention Center for 15 days before being transferred to a brainwashing center and detained for another 7 days. He was forced to watch propaganda videos attacking Falun Gong and verbally abused, as the authorities attempted to force him to renounce his faith.
He was arrested again in February 2001 and detained for another 15 days. The police ransacked his home and confiscated his Falun Gong-related materials.
Mr. Ke went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong on September 28, 2001. He was arrested for a third time and given two years of forced labor. Before he was sent to Shizishan Drug Rehabilitation Center to serve time, he was kept at two detention facilities, where he was deprived of sleep, force-fed, beaten and verbally abused.
At the drug rehab center, the inmates were instructed by the guards to beat him, but he wasn't allowed to file a complaint against the abuses.
He was forced to do manual labor, including processing tin foil and picking peanuts. When he suffered a heat stroke after working in the field in the 100°F heat, the guards instructed the inmates to throw him into a pool.
Second Labor Camp Term
A dozen police cars came to the village that Mr. Ke lived in on December 10, 2007, and surrounded his home. Several officers kicked open his door and forcibly cuffed his hands behind his back. His family members were injured while trying to stop the officers from arresting him.
The police burned his beard while he was kept at Daye No.2 Detention Center. He was later taken to Shayang Forced Labor Camp to serve his second two-year term.
Because he refused to renounce Falun Gong, he was deprived of sleep, tortured on a tiger bench and also forced to watch propaganda videos demonizing Falun Gong. His head once became swollen as a result of beatings. The inmates pricked his back with needles and left injuries all over his body.
In addition to physical torture, he was forced to make cigarette lighters and neon lights and to sew flowers.
The authorities extended his term for five days as he refused to write statements to defame Falun Gong.
