(Minghui.org) A 74-year-old man and father of a U.S. resident is being tortured and denied family visits while imprisoned for not renouncing his faith in Falun Gong.
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Mr. Feng Jiwu, a resident of Wuhan City, Hubei Province, was arrested on September 27, 2016 while attending the trial of two other Falun Gong practitioners.
He appeared in Hanyang District Court on March 29, 2017. None of his family members were allowed to attend his hearing. The authorities tied him up with a rope around his neck to prevent him from shouting out “Falun Dafa is good” during the hearing.
The judge sentenced Mr. Feng to 4.5 years in prison on April 17, 2017, but they waited until May 3, past the appeal deadline, to inform his family of the verdict.
Mr. Feng has now been imprisoned for two years at Fanjiatai Prison in Hubei Province. The guards frequently beat him because he has refused to renounce Falun Gong.
Mr. Feng was transferred from the 9th ward to the strict management ward on March 6, 2018, and has been forced to stand or squat for long hours, as the authorities attempted to force him to give up Falun Gong.
He was later sent to solitary confinement several times for talking to people about Falun Gong or doing the Falun Gong exercises.
It was reported that Mr. Feng fell asleep due to fatigue while doing slave labor during the past few months, for which the prison guards beat and pepper-sprayed him.
He was denied visits when his daughter, a U.S. resident, returned to China to see him in March 2019. When his family asked why he was being mistreated, the prison guards said they could use electric batons and pepper spray on inmates who refused to follow the prison rules.
Mr. Feng's family recently found out that the local social security office had suspended his pension payment, likely due to an earlier notice that Falun Gong practitioners imprisoned for their faith are denied pension benefits.
Related reports:
Wuhan Police Chief's Ongoing Involvement in Persecuting Falun Gong Practitioners
Lawyer Barred from Citing Statutory Provisions to Defend Client Tried for Her Faith
Hubei Man Sentenced to Prison, Family Not Informed of Verdict Until Past Appeal Deadline
