(Minghui.org) Mr. Zhang Tieshan suddenly coughed up blood and fell into a coma while at work on September 12, 2020. He passed away later in the evening. He was 64 years old.
Mr. Zhang had been struggling with health issues since he was targeted six months ago for his faith in Falun Gong, a mind-body discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Mr. Zhang, a Cangzhou City, Hebei Province resident, was arrested on March 13, 2020 while talking to people about Falun Gong near the Qing County Experimental Elementary School.
Wang Zhenfeng, head of the Qing County Domestic Security Office, took him to the local police station and impounded his electric motorcycle. The police took his home keys and ransacked his place, without his presence, at around noon. His Falun Gong books, the photo of Falun Gong’s founder, a computer, a printer, and 7,000 yuan in cash were confiscated. A list of confiscated items has not been provided to Mr. Zhang’s family so far.
After Mr. Zhang was released on March 14, he remained in a distressed mood. He often cried and rarely talked. Meanwhile, he was unable to eat and sometimes coughed up blood. He quickly lost weight and began to have difficulty walking.
Although he had partially recovered by doing the Falun Gong exercises, he was under enormous mental pressure in late July 2020 again, when Wang refused to return his confiscated belongings and threatened him that “Your case is not over yet. We are not done with it.” Mr. Zhang died two months later.
This wasn’t the first time that Mr. Zhang had been persecuted by Wang.
Wang led a group of officers and arrested Mr. Zhang at around 10:00 p.m. on August 25, 2010, while he was working the night shift in a supermarket owned by another practitioner, Ms. Li Xueming. Mr. Li and three other practitioners, including Ms. Ma Qingling, Mr. Yao Wei, and Ms. Bai Suqin, were also arrested around the same time. The computer that Mr. Li used in his supermarket was confiscated.
The police interrogated Mr. Zhang the next morning. When he refused to provide his personal information, the police ordered a detainee to slap Mr. Zhang in the face dozens of times.
All of the five practitioners were later given labor camp terms. Mr. Zhang held a hunger strike at Cangzhou Forced Labor Camp and was force fed. He was released on medical parole in early February 2011.
