(Minghui.org) Having served eight years in prison, a 68-year-old Nanyang City, Henan Province resident was recently given another eight years in the latest round of group sentencing against Falun Gong practitioners.
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual and meditation discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Ms. Cao Ailan was targeted in a group arrest of over 160 practitioners in the Nanyang region in late August 2019. The police and Political and Legal Affairs Committee, an extra-judiciary agency tasked with persecuting Falun Gong, had been monitoring the practitioners since April 2019.
In July 2019, police officers and residential committee staffers visited the practitioners at home, collecting information about their IDs and household registration. Most practitioners also had their photos taken.
After one and a half years of detention, Ms. Cao and another 13 practitioners were sentenced to 2-9 years in March 2021. Ms. Cao was also fined 30,000 yuan in addition to her prison term.
Prior to her latest arrest, Ms. Cao had been arrested four more times and sentenced twice.
She was first arrested on July 20, 1999, the day when the communist regime ordered the persecution, and was detained for eight days.
She was arrested again on February 22, 2001 and held at a brainwashing center for 99 days.
Shortly after she was released on May 31, 2001, she was arrested again for distributing Falun Gong materials and sentenced to five years in Xinxiang City Women’s Prison on November 29, 2001.
Ms. Cao’s fourth arrest on April 28, 2008 came four days after her daughter, Ms. Zhang Mingfang, was arrested. This time, she was sentenced to three years at the same Xinxiang Women’s Prison in October 2008.
Related reports:
Nanyang City, Henan Province: 14 Practitioners Targeted in Mass Arrest Sentenced to 2-9 Years
Nanyang City, Henan Province: 32 Falun Gong Practitioners Arrested in Two Days
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Category: Accounts of Persecution
