(Minghui.org) A married couple running a machine automation startup in Wuhan City, Hubei Province have been detained for a month for their faith in Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.

Mr. Zhou Yong, an electrical automation engineer, and his wife, Ms. Liu, were arrested and had their home ransacked on September 9, 2020, one month after they were harassed by residential committee staff.

The police claimed that Ms. Liu was reported for putting up flyers about Falun Gong. Ms. Liu is currently detained in a local detention center and Mr. Zhou at a brainwashing center.

The couple’s arrests left their two children, one in high school and the other in middle school, as well as their elderly parents, in a dire situation. As the couple had been assisting their clients in developing new machine automation system, their arrests also caused disruption in their technical support and financial losses to their clients.

Mr. Zhou took up Falun Gong in 1995 and credits the practice with curing his rhinitis. Because he went to Beijing to appeal for the right to practice Falun Gong in 2000, he was arrested and detained for 15 days.