(Minghui.org) Another 1,850 incidents of Falun Gong practitioners being arrested or harassed for their faith were confirmed in July and August 2022.
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) since 1999. Countless practitioners have been arrested, harassed, sentenced, and tortured for upholding their faith. But due to strict information censorship in China, the incidents can’t always be reported in a timely manner, nor is all the information readily available.
Out of the 1,850 newly reported incidents, 1,043 were arrest cases, including 41 arrests that took place in 2021, with 197 in the first half of 2022 and 805 in July and August 2022. The 807 harassment cases included 29 in 2021, with 133 in the first half of 2022 and 645 in July and August 2022.
The actual arrest and harassment cases that happened in July and August 2022 are certain to be higher than the currently reported figures (805 and 645), as new information comes in with more cases reported and confirmed. Even at the current numbers, July and August have averaged higher numbers of cases (around 402 arrests and 323 harassments) than the previous six months (which recorded an average of 173 arrest cases and 143 harassment cases per month, according to data collected as of August 31, 2022). This is because the authorities arrested the practitioners in attempt to prevent them from speaking out about the persecution ahead of the upcoming 20th National Party Congress of the CCP set for mid-October this year.
The newly reported persecution cases took place across the country in 29 provinces and municipalities. Heilongjiang (394), Shandong (230) and Jilin (227) had the most combined cases of arrests and harassment. Hebei, Sichuan, Liaoning and Beijing also reported triple-digit cases. Seventeen other regions registered double-digit cases and four regions had single-digit cases.
In Chengdu City, Sichuan Province, the Political and Legal Affairs Committee harassed many practitioners in August 2022, ordering them to sign statements, promising “1) not to oppose the Chinese Communist Party and socialism; 2) not to believe in Falun Gong; 3) not to promote Falun Gong.” They attempted to finish working on all practitioners on their blacklist prior to the Party Congress.
In Qingdao City, Shandong Province, a practitioner was detained for 38 days after being arrested at work on July 11. She was frequently interrogated and held at several quarantine centers, including a former German prison still open to visitors. When the visitors asked about the people detained there, the guards said they were reenactment actors.
Another practitioner of Shandong was arrested on June 14 by the internet police in Luoyang City, Henan Province (about 500 miles) for sending information about the persecution of Falun Gong on WeChat, a major social media platform in China.
Since 2019, the Henan Province police have gone across the country and arrested practitioners for spreading information online about the persecution of Falun Gong. Around the same time as Mr. Li Shihai’s arrest, two women (one from Shanghai and another from Wuhan City, Hubei Province) were sentenced to 9.5 and 9 years, respectively, by a Luoyang court for their online activities. Three more practitioners from Hubei, Beijing, and Shandong Province are now awaiting trial.
The targeted practitioners came from all walks of life, including former government employees, professors, company managers, teachers, doctors, engineers and accountants. One hundred and thirty-eight (13.1%) of the arrested practitioners were 60 or older, including 59 in their 60s, 59 in their 70s, 19 in their 80s and a woman aged 98. Sixty (7.4%) of the harassed practitioners were above 60, including 10 in their 60s, 21 in their 70s and 29 in their 80s.
A total of 614 practitioners had their homes ransacked. Forty-eight practitioners had a total of 611,727 yuan in cash confiscated from them, including 373,000 yuan from one practitioner and 102,970 yuan and 2,811 USD from another practitioner. Fourteen elderly practitioners also had their pensions suspended.
The police violence has grown ever more intense in the past two months. A 70-year-old retired human resources director of Zhoukou City Power Company in Henan Province died of suspected torture in custody, one day after he was arrested on July 18. A photography studio owner was tied to a metal chair and tortured for three days. A former college lecturer was sexually assaulted by a torture expert with a “toolbox.”
Young children weren’t spared from the persecution either. A two-year-old boy was interrogated and another nine-year-old girl witnessed the police raid of her home and was also interrogated following her grandmother’s arrest.
Several examples of the various kinds of cases of persecution reported in July and August 2022 are presented below:
Death Case
Henan Man Dies the Day after Being Arrested
Mr. Li Guoxun was the human resources director of Zhoukou City Power Company in Henan Province. He was arrested at home with his wife, Ms. Yu Xiuying, on July 18, 2022. The police accused the couple of distributing Falun Gong materials and took them to the police station to prevent them from “disrupting social stability” prior to the 20th National Congress to be opened on October 18.
The next evening, the police told Ms. Yu that Mr. Li was seriously ill (even though he was already dead). They released her and ordered her to stay at home.
Ms. Yu was devastated to learn of Mr. Li’s death when her son said that the police had called and told him his father had died of a stroke. They said they’d taken him to the local funeral home. Without allowing Ms. Yu or her son to see Mr. Li for the last time, the police had him cremated.
Group Arrests and Harassment Prior to the 20th National Congress
Since July 2022, several group arrests took place in Beijing, Heilongjiang, Liaoning, Hebei and Sichuan. Many police revealed that the order came from above and the goal was to maintain social stability prior to the Party Congress.
In Beijing, a woman in her 70s was arrested on July 5, after being reported for talking to people about Falun Gong. One 610 Office agent snatched Ms. Zhang Xiufen’s key and broke into her home. She sustained fractures to her thoracic spine and ribs, as well as a lumbar vertebral compression fracture after being beaten by the police.
Fourteen Daqing City, Heilongjiang Province residents, including a 98-year-old woman surnamed Li, were arrested on July 12, 2022. Between July 11 and 12, another 20 practitioners in four more cities across Heilongjiang Province were also arrested, per an order from the Heilongjiang 610 Office.
According to the officers who participated in the arrests, they received a name list from the provincial-level officials. The authorities monitored and videotaped the practitioners for nine months. They further enhanced the monitoring of the practitioners’ daily activities one week before the arrests.
On July 13 and 18, two more group arrests of ten and nine practitioners took place in Benxi City, Liaoning Province and Handan City, Hebei Province, respectively.
In Wanyuan City, Sichuan Province, the Political and Legal Affairs Committee (PLAC) launched a new round of brainwashing sessions targeting local Falun Gong practitioners. In this campaign, two officers from different levels of the PLAC were paired up to work on each individual practitioner. The practitioner’s local street committee and some of his or her family members were also ordered to be present to assist in the brainwashing.
In Chengdu City, Sichuan Province, the 610 Office and PLAC organized the local police and residential committee staff members to harass the practitioners.
The officers often came in a group of ten and ordered the practitioners to write statements, promising “1) not to oppose the Chinese Communist Party and socialism; 2) not to believe in Falun Gong; 3) not to promote Falun Gong.”
If the practitioners refused to comply, the officers would forcibly hold their hands and press their fingerprints on the documents. Many practitioners reported bruised arms and hands as a result of the violent force. The officers threatened to retaliate against them if the practitioners reported the harassment to Minghui.org. Some practitioners’ family members were also forced to join the officers to persuade their loved ones.
In some cases, the officers deceived the practitioners to write things good about Falun Gong. Then they photoshopped the documents and moved the practitioners’ signatures to a renouncing statement. Sometimes they showed the doctored statements to other practitioners to shake their will, saying “So-and-so has signed it, why don’t you?”
When an official harassed Ms. Chen Qihua, a farmer in Chengdu on August 2, she said to her, “If you practice Falun Gong, you are an enemy of mine and I will use coercive measures on you on behalf of the government.”
The woman brought the prepared statements and ordered her subordinate to jab Ms. Chen’s armpit. As she struggled, they applied red ink to her fist and pressed the paper against it. Then the official read the content of the statement and announced that she had finished her task.
Harassment Cases
Police Ransack 81-year-old Woman’s Home and Install Three Cameras to Monitor Her
Five police officers in Shulan City, Jilin Province barged into the home of Ms. Chen Yunfang at 7 a.m. on July 26, 2022. As the police began to ransack her home, the 81-year-old woman immediately stood up and hugged tightly the picture of the founder of Falun Gong to prevent the police from taking it away.
The police interrogated Ms. Chen where she got her Falun Gong books and materials. She refused to answer. She also refused to sign the interview record. She asked to know the police officers’ names, but they didn’t answer.
Before the police left, they placed three surveillance cameras in her home. Her daughter-in-law was terrified and was forced to sign her bail release form.
Sichuan Man Arrested for His Faith Forced to Fingerprint a Document
Mr. Zhao Guoyou, of Pengzhou City, Sichuan Province, was arrested at home on August 25, 2022, by several masked officers. They searched his home, after showing a search warrant without a signature.
The police kept Mr. Zhao in a small room after taking him to the police station. A group of people videotaped him and ordered him to sign a statement to renounce Falun Gong. Mr. Zhao asked who they were, but they remained silent.
An officer surnamed Li later came and ordered Mr. Zhao to sign the interrogation record. He claimed that the group of officers came from the “Chengdu City Care Center,” a brainwashing center in disguise under the Political and Legal Affairs Committee (an extra-judiciary agency tasked with overseeing the persecution of Falun Gong). Mr. Zhao refused to sign the paperwork.
After four hours of a standoff, officers grabbed Mr. Zhao by the neck, forced open his fist, pressed his fingerprints on a document, and left. The police then took Mr. Zhao home.
Tricycle Driver Arrested for Her Faith, Found Tracking Device on Her Tricycle
Ms. Jian Yicong, a Deyang City, Sichuan Province resident, was arrested at home on July 19, 2022. The police claimed that she was reported for talking to a student and giving out a flash drive with information about Falun Gong, although Ms. Jian said she never did so. They dragged her to her front yard and showed her a search warrant. When she asked why the warrant didn’t have the police chief’s signature, the police ignored her. They videotaped her home and searched around. Her neighbors heard the commotion and came over to check what was going on, only to be driven away by the police.
Ms. Jian was brought to the Lushanlu Police Station around noon. An officer laughed at her, “I feel so sorry for you. You just finished serving a term, and now you are facing another one.”
As Ms. Jian refused to answer the police’s questions, an officer began to fabricate a deposition, including that she had printed over 100 Falun Gong flyers at home. Around midnight, the police took Ms. Jian home after the doctor found she had a shadow in her chest X-ray and suspected it to be tuberculosis.
The police came back the next day to take Ms. Jian to the hospital for another checkup. She refused to provide a saliva sample as requested. The police became infuriated and threatened to impound her electric tricycle, demolish her house and arrest her daughter and husband.
A few days later, Ms. Jian’s electric tricycle suddenly stopped charging. When she sent it in for repair, the technician found a GPS-enabled camera near the battery. She then remembered that after she gave rides to a few practitioners not long ago, some of them were arrested.
Son Arrested for Protecting Ailing Father
Mr. Ma Ping, a 60-year-old Jilin City, Jilin Province resident, was recovering from a physical ailment at home on July 12, when four officers jumped into his home through a window, claiming to be there to give him a Covid-19 test. His Falun Gong books and computer were confiscated.
The police attempted to arrest Mr. Ma, but were stopped by his son. Seeing that Mr. Ma was very sick, they arrested his son instead and interrogated him at the police station. He refused to answer the questions and was held at the police station until late the next day. During that time, Mr. Ma’s wife was also summoned to the police station to answer some questions.
Young Children Interrogated
Two-year-old Boy Interrogated for Grandmother’s Spiritual Belief
Ms. Wang Yanhua, a 55-year-old native of Hulunbuir City, Inner Mongolia, has been living with her daughter in Sanhe City, Hebei Province, in recent years. Because her ID has been flagged for practicing Falun Gong, she has been subjected to constant harassment while traveling. The police in Hulunbuir even instructed their counterparts in Sanhe to harass Ms. Wang at her daughter’s home. During the harassment, her grandchildren, aged 2 and 3, weren’t spared.
Ms. Wang and her husband boarded a train back to Hulunbuir from Sanhe with their two-year-old grandson on the evening of September 30, 2021. As she swiped her ID while exiting the train station the next morning, four security guards stopped her and took her to a room for a body search.
When Ms. Wang refused to answer their question about whether she still practiced Falun Gong, one officer pulled her two-year-old grandson aside and asked him, “Is your grandma still practicing Falun Gong? Where does she practice it? Where does she keep her Falun Gong stuff?”
The little boy was so scared that he froze and couldn’t utter a word. His face was pale. Only when Ms. Wang threatened to take legal action against the police, did the officers stop terrifying the boy.
Almost a year later, at 8 p.m. on July 4, 2022, two masked officers broke into the home of Ms. Wang’s daughter in Sanhe.
While taking Ms. Wang’s photo, an officer also turned the camera to her three-year-old granddaughter. The little girl was trembling with fear. “Are they good cops? Grandma, didn’t you tell us that the police are protecting us?”
Ms. Wang tried to comfort her, “We should feel sorry for them. They are following the wrong orders.”
The little girl was traumatized after the incident. She cried and later said to anyone she saw, “The police came to our home. I don’t dare to return home now.”
9-year-old Girl Witnesses Police Raid and Interrogated Following Grandmother’s Arrest
Ms. Fan Jinqing’s 9-year-old granddaughter was home alone when a group of police officers opened the door with a key at 9 p.m. on July 26, 2022.
Hours earlier, Ms. Fan, a Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province resident in her 70s, had been arrested at a bus station for talking to a person about the persecution of Falun Gong, unaware that he was a plainclothes officer.
After Ms. Fan was taken to the police station, the police found her address through her bus pass. They snatched her keys and went to raid her home in front of her granddaughter.
The police returned at 11 p.m. They woke up the girl who had gone to bed and claimed that they were taking her to the police station to see her grandmother. The girl went with them. But instead of allowing her to see Ms. Fan, the police took her photo and recorded a video of her. They questioned her, asking whether she also practiced Falun Gong and threatened to expel her from school if she was also a practitioner. The police interrogated the girl until 12 a.m. and then told her older sister to take her home.
Ms. Fan was held at the police station until 8 p.m. on July 28. During those two days, the police only provided her with a very small amount of food and kept her handcuffed behind her back.
Police Violence
Former College Lecturer Sexually Assaulted by a Torture Expert
Ms. Jiang Yongqin, a 53-year-old former university lecturer in Jilin City, Jilin Province, was arrested at home on June 12. After a month of detention, she was brought to a secret facility with her head covered and ears plugged around July 7.
Ms. Jiang Yongqin
Four men handcuffed Ms. Jiang and demanded to know the password to her hard drive. She refused to answer. The police then force-fed wasabi water into her nose and inserted lit cigarettes into her nose. As they were inserting the cigarette, it broke. The police left half of the cigarette in her nasal cavity, which she eventually coughed out.
After the first round of torture, the police then began to sexually assault her. They lifted her shirt. The torture expert then ordered the police to touch her chest.
After the police did it, the expert then used a special massager to stimulate her chest. Next, the expert forced Ms. Jiang to take off her pants. When her pants were halfway down, the police found she was menstruating. The expert claimed that the torture had the best effect during menstruation and ordered the police to continue. Ms. Jiang almost collapsed and was in deep despair. She gave in and was forced to cooperate with the police in the interrogation.
Before the expert left, he threatened that if Ms. Jiang didn’t cooperate with them, he would go through things in his “torture toolbox” every day, which had toothpicks, strange instruments, drug bottles, and electrical wires. He added that he was usually conservative in torturing regular suspects with the “toolbox,” but when it came to Falun Gong practitioners, he was given free rein.
Photography Studio Owner Arrested for His Faith, Interrogated in Metal Chair for Three Days
Mr. Ni Jieming, the owner of a photography studio in Suzhou City, Jiangsu Province, was arrested on June 1, 2022, after he was reported for giving magazines with information about Falun Gong to his clients. The police ransacked both his home and the studio. His Falun Gong books, computers for both personal and business use, as well as many other personal belongings were confiscated.
Mr. Ni was taken to the Huangdai Town Police Station for interrogation at around 11:00 p.m. For the next three days, he was restrained to a metal chair and only unchained when he needed to use the restroom. The authorities took turns interrogating him, without allowing him to sleep for a moment.
Man in His 70s Arrested and Taken to a Brainwashing Center
Since early June 2022, the authorities have been repeatedly harassing Mr. Cheng Xianggou, a Yingcheng City, Hubei Province resident in his 70s. The police broke into his home on June 30 and forced him to come out of the apartment building. They put him in a chokehold to prevent him from talking. Others followed suit and beat him.
Mr. Cheng struggled with all his might, but was still captured minutes later and carried into the police car. His neck and multiple places on his body became swollen and bruised. Several other places were bleeding. He was then taken to the Tian’e Brainwashing Center, leaving his incapacitated wife at home alone. He held a hunger strike to protest the persecution and was released the next day.
Related reports:
Reported in March and April 2022: 767 Falun Gong Practitioners Arrested or Harassed for Their Faith
Reported in Jan/Feb 2022: 782 Falun Gong Practitioners Arrested or Harassed for Their Faith
Reported in 2021: 16,413 Falun Gong Practitioners Arrested and Harassed for Their Faith
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