Man Dies At 53 After Years of Incarceration and Constant Harassment for His Faith

(Minghui.org)

Name: Ning TieqiaoChinese Name: 宁铁桥Gender: MaleAge: 53City: ShaodongProvince: HunanOccupation: Motorcycle taxi driverDate of Death: June 7, 2022Date of Most Recent Arrest: March 13, 2004Most Recent Place of Detention: Changde Prison

A Shaodong County, Hunan Province resident passed away on June 7, 2022, after enduring two decades of persecution for his faith in Falun Gong. He was 53.

Mr. Ning Tieqiao was born into a poor family. He lost his mother at a young age. In his teens, he left his hometown and began to work to support himself. In 1997, at the age of 28, he took up Falun Gong while working as a motorcycle taxi driver in Shenyang City, Liaoning Province. Many of his ailments, including stomach problem, soon disappeared.

On October 1, 2000, one year after the communist regime ordered the persecution of Falun Gong in July 1999, Mr. Ning went to Beijing to appeal for the right to practice Falun Gong and was arrested at Tiananmen Square. He was taken back to his hometown and held at the Shaodong lockup for 15 days, during which time he was almost beaten to death by the inmates.

Mr. Ning returned to Shenyang after he was released. The police in Shaodong tracked him down and arrested him again. After a brief detention at the Shaoyang City Detention Center, he was confined to one year of forced labor and taken to the Xinkaipu Forced Labor Camp in Hunan Province on February 7, 2002. His father in his 70s was unable to visit him due to his advanced age. He mailed 100 yuan to Mr. Ning for him to buy daily necessities, but it was spent by the inmate assigned to monitor him. Mr. Ning developed some medical conditions in the labor camp and often had trouble sleeping at night. He was released on January 31, 2003.

Mr. Ning was arrested again on March 13, 2004, when he was distributing informational materials about Falun Gong with two other practitioners, Ms. Yang Yuman and Mr. Hu Chougai, in Wang’anping Village, Chenxi County, Hunan Province. Both Mr. Ning and Mr. Hu were beaten by the officials at Wang’anping Village government. The officials later reported them to the Shaodong County Domestic Security Office under the police department. The police then came with an agents of the 610 Office and transferred the three practitioners to the county lockup.

During the few days of detention, police officers Yu Qingchang and Xie Kaiji took turns interrogating the practitioners. Mr. Ning was hung up by the wrists to the upper door frame, with his toes barely touching the ground. The police kept him hanging up for hours and also beat him. Officer Yu also clipped Ms. Yang’s lower lip, chained the clip to his handcuffs and then hung him up to the window frame for one hour. He had dark circles around his eyes and he suffered urinary incontinence as a result of the torture.

While Ms. Yang and Mr. Hu were handed forced labor camp terms, Mr. Ning was taken to the Shaodong County Detention Center on March 18. Mr. Ning stood trial on September 8, 2004. He testified in his own defense. He said that he used to have many bad habits, such as gambling, smoking and drinking. But he quit all of them after learning Falun Gong and had since followed its principles to become a better person. He argued that he never broke any law or harmed anyone by distributing informational materials about Falun Gong.

Mr. Ning was later sentenced to four years. After one year at the Chenxi County Detention, he was taken to a transitory detention facility in the spring 2005. The guards attempted to shave his head. They beat him as he refused to comply. They later beat him again after finding Falun Gong lectures in his luggage.

Two months later, he was taken to the Chenzhou Prison. Every Falun Gong practitioner detained there was monitored by two inmates specially selected by the guards. They were held in rooms on the fifth floor, with the windows kept shut. As Mr. Ning refused to wear the inmate uniform, the guards ordered the inmates to beat him and forced the uniform onto him.

Mr. Ning remained firm in Falun Gong after several rounds of brainwashing. As punishment, the guards began to order him to do unpaid free labor. They continued to have inmates monitor them. They once took his photos and used them in a propaganda poster which claimed that he had given up Falun Gong.

The police continued to harass Mr. Ning after he was released in March 2008. He later lived away from home to avoid police detection and subsequent harassment.

Prior to the Beijing Olympics in August 2008, the police forced his father, who was almost 80, to look for him everywhere. Mr. Ning didn’t dare to return home, even when his father passed away.

The police ransacked Mr. Ning’s residence in Shaodong in early November and November 23, 2018. Two other practitioners, Ms. Li Feiyan and Mr. Peng Wenbin, who happened to be at his home when the police came on November 23, were also arrested. Mr. Ning was taken to the local hospital on November 21, after he developed some medical conditions.

The long-term persecution took a toll on Mr. Ning’s health. He had brain bleeding in late March 2022 while at work and was taken to the hospital for resuscitation. He was unable to talk or walk after being discharged on April 14. Even though he was incapacitated, the authorities still came to harass him. His condition further deteriorated and he passed away on June 7.