(Minghui.org) A Xianning City, Hubei Province resident has been detained for over three years for his faith in Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Mr. Xiang Debin, in his 50s, was arrested on June 22, 2017 while on his way to work. He was first held at a brainwashing center and then transferred to Xian’an District Detention Center on August 29, 2017.
The Xian’an District Court held a hearing on December 27, 2018, but hasn’t announced the verdict yet. Mr. Xiang is still detained at Xian’an District Detention Center at the time of writing.
In the past 21 years, Mr. Xiang has been arrested multiple times and also served 1.5 years in a labor camp.
He was first arrested along with a dozen other practitioners in September 1999 and held at Xianning City No.2 Detention Center for nearly a month. The authorities were trying to prevent him from going to Beijing to appeal for the right to practice Falun Gong. He was forced to pay 300 yuan of living expense and 500 yuan in bail bond, which the police never returned. Those who refused to pay the 500 yuan were directly put on criminal detention and transferred to another facility.
Mr. Xiang was arrested again in 2001 after being reported for talking to people about Falun Gong. After spending three months at Maoershan Detention Center, he was given 1.5 years at Shizishan Drug Rehabilitation Center. He was forced to work long hours of unpaid labor, including making tinfoil products or assembling electronic components.
Although the authorities gave up the plan to send Mr. Xiang and several other practitioners to a brainwashing center in April 2004, they arrested him on March 19, 2007 and sent him to Tangxunhu Brainwashing Center for further persecution.
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