(Minghui.org) A retired teacher in Changchun City, Jilin Province was arrested and detained for a week for her faith in Falun Gong, a spiritual and meditation discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999. Ms. Wang Guofen’s 87-year-old mother-in-law was also harassed and intimidated by police.
A group of officers knocked on Ms. Wang’s door at around 6 p.m. on November 16, 2020. But Ms. Wang refused to open the door.
At 6 a.m. on the next morning, five officers came in two police cars. One officer knocked on Ms. Wang’s door again, pretending to be conducting a census. Not knowing this was a trick, Ms. Wang’s mother-in-law opened the door, only to have five officers rushing in.
Without showing their IDs, the officers asked Ms. Wang whether she still practiced Falun Gong. She didn’t directly answer them but instead tried to explain that practicing Falun Gong was within her right to freedom of belief and didn’t violate the law.
The officers refused to listen and continued to search her home. Three of her Falun Gong books, a laptop, a cellphone, a radio and her ID were confiscated. Her home was in a mess, and her clothes were taken out from the closet and thrown on the ground.
When Ms. Wang’s mother-in-law said to the police that no one would cook for her if they arrested Ms. Wang, one officer threatened her and blamed her for using her age as an excuse.
Four officers carried Ms. Wang from her home on the fourth floor into the police car. Still in pajamas, she wasn’t allowed to change clothes.
Ms. Wang was then taken to the Gongnong Police Station and locked in a room. One officer was assigned to monitor her. In the afternoon, the police brought her to the hospital for a physical examination before sending her to the police department and forcibly taking her photos and fingerprints.
When Ms. Wang’s mother-in-law went to the police station to deliver clothes for her, the police told her that if she wanted her daughter-in-law to be released soon, she should sign a statement to renounce Falun Gong for her, or they wouldn’t release her. It’s not clear whether the elderly woman was forced into cooperating.
Ms. Wang was then taken to the Weizigou Detention Center and detained there for seven days. She has been released at the time of writing. She said the police never showed her any legal notices or told her to sign any forms.
Just two months before the arrest, Ms. Wang received harassing phone calls from the Communist Party secretary of her residential committee.
