(Minghui.org) A woman in her 60s has been held incommunicado for weeks after she was arrested for practicing Falun Gong, an ancient spiritual and meditation discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since 1999. Her daughter, who was arrested along with her, was traumatized by the police.
Ms. Shang Qin, of Maanshan City, Anhui Province, was at her daughter’s shop on April 25, 2020, when a dozen plainclothes officers broke in and arrested her. The police also arrested Ms. Shang’s daughter when she tried to prevent them from taking her mother away. The younger woman’s hands were handcuffed behind her back, and she and her mother were taken to the Huoli Police Station.
The police put Ms. Shang in criminal detention the following day and transferred her to a detention facility. Her family has since received no updates about her. One officer claimed that they had been planning to arrest Ms. Shang for some time, and had been monitoring her prior to the arrest.
When Ms. Shang’s daughter was released on April 26, the police threatened her not to disclose her mother’s persecution to the Minghui website, or they would arrest her again.
After she returned to the home she shared with her mother, she realized that the police had searched the place and confiscated her mother’s Falun Gong books. The daughter’s shop had also been ransacked and two of her computers and one printer were missing.
The younger woman was so traumatized by the arrest that she was unable to sleep for two weeks. She has been living in fear and exhibiting symptoms of panic attacks. She hasn't been able to work normally since her release.
Prior to her latest arrest, Ms. Shang had been sentenced to a 1.5-year prison term on December 29, 2017 after she was reported for distributing informational materials about Falun Gong, which she credits for curing her breast cancer and depression.