78-year-old Woman Still Harassed After Serving Third Prison Term for Her Faith

(Minghui.org) A 78-year-old widow is facing frequent harassment by the local police and residential committee, after finishing serving a 3.5-year term for her faith in Falun Gong.

Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.

Ms. Pei Shanzhen, a retired middle school teacher in Shanghai, was sentenced to 3.5 years in late 2018 for distributing informational materials about Falun Gong. Her sentencing dealt a heavy blow to her husband, Mr. Shi Jinquan. He passed away on September 18, 2020. He was 84 years old.

After Ms. Pei was released on June 26, 2022, the authorities first held her at a quarantine facility and then took her to her son’s home on July 3.

Since then, the police in charge of her previous residence and their counterparts in charge of her son’s current residence kept coming to harass her and her son. They attempted to take their photos and order Ms. Pei to sign certain documents.

The latest harassment took place on September 28, when two officers knocked on the door and demanded to take Ms. Pei’s photo, by claiming that they were collecting information to combat fraud. Her son refused to let them in.

Prior Persecution

Since the Chinese communist regime began to persecute Falun Gong in 1999, Ms. Pei has been repeatedly targeted for her faith. She has served a labor camp term and three prison terms, for a total of 14 years.

She was first arrested in June 2000 for going to Beijing to appeal for the right to practice Falun Gong. She was held at the Jing’an District Detention Center for seven days after she was taken back to Shanghai.

Ms. Pei was arrested again on July 13, 2000, after being recorded by surveillance camera distributing Falun Gong materials in a subdivision. She was put on criminal detention and stood trial in November 2000. She was later released without being sentenced.

For giving out a Falun Gong lecture audiotape, Ms. Pei was arrested one more time in March 2001 and held at the Jing’an District Detention Center. The guards handcuffed her to a metal rail and stuffed her mouth with a towel. She almost suffocated. The guards force fed her after she held a hunger strike to protest the persecution. She was injured and vomited blood. She was later given two years at the Shanghai Women’s Forced Labor Camp.

Ms. Pei was followed while distributing Falun Gong materials in a neighborhood in March 2005 and arrested again. She was sentenced to four years by the Jing’an District Court three months later on June 23. She vowed to appeal the verdict. The presiding judge, Rui Zhimin, shouted at her, “We only listen to the central Communist Party government.”

Ms. Pei mailed letters to clarify the facts about Falun Gong to her neighbors on June 14, 2012 and was arrested the fifth time. She was sentenced to four and a half years at the Qingpu Women’s Prison and released on December 13, 2016.

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73-Year-Old Retired Teacher from Shanghai Tortured

After Lengthy Prison Sentence, Former School Teacher Faces More Harassment