(Minghui.org) An 80-year-old man in Wanyuan City, Sichuan Province has been held incommunicado for more than one and a half years for practicing Falun Gong. His family tried to visit him multiple times, but was denied each time.
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is an ancient spiritual and meditation that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since 1999.
Mr. Xiao Dafu was arrested at home on October 16, 2018. His computer and Falun Gong related materials were confiscated.
It was reported that Mr. Xiao was interrogated seven times. The police also attempted to pressure his three children to dissociate themselves from him, in order to force the elderly man to renounce his faith. Mr. Xiao refused to comply.
According to a source, Mr. Xiao was secretly tried by Dazhou City Court on June 20, 2019 and the judge hasn’t announced a verdict yet.
One month before his latest arrest, five officers went to his home on September 5, 2018 and checked every room in his house. While Mr. Xiao wasn’t home, the police threatened and sexually assaulted his wife Ms. Liu Jixiu and daughter-in-law, leaving both of them traumatized and terrified. The police returned three days later, but Mr. Xiao’s family refused to open the door for them.
Past Persecution
Mr. Xiao took up Falun Gong in 1997. In the past 20 years, he has been repeatedly detained and had his home ransacked for not renouncing his faith.
During the Chinese New Year in 2002, upon finding that the police were attempting to arrest him, Mr. Xiao was forced to live away from home and soon put on the wanted list.
He was arrested at a bus station in Chengdu City, about 350 miles away, in late September 2002. He was held in Pi County Detention Center for a few months before being transferred to Xinhua Forced Labor Camp to serve a two-year term.
The labor camp guards tortured him by depriving him of sleep, not allowing him to use the restroom, as well as forcing him to sit on a small stool for long hours without moving. He was under enormous mental and physical distress as a result of the abuses.
Mr. Xiao was arrested one more time on January 20, 2016. His computer, printer and Falun Gong books were confiscated. He was detained at Fuxing Detention Center for more than a month.
Related report:Police Demand Children of 79-year-old Man Dissociate Themselves from Him in Order to Target His Faith
