Mother Arrested for Displaying a Banner, Son Detained for Supporting Her

(Minghui.org) On May 8, 2021, a banner with the words “Celebrate 5.13 World Falun Dafa Day” appeared in the Gudao Area of Shengli Oilfield, Shandong Province. Ms. Wang Ying and Ms. Bai Wenxing, who hung up the banner, were arrested about two months later. The police ransacked their homes. Ms. Wang’s son, Mr. Li Long, who doesn’t practice Falun Gong, was also arrested and detained for supporting his mother’s faith.

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

Detained for Over 24 Hours

At 7 a.m. on July 15, 2021, about 11 police officers broke into Mr. Li’s home without showing any ID or searching warrant. While four of them held him down on the sofa, another two arrested Ms. Wang and took her away.

An officer named Zhang Rui put on gloves to search the apartment. Mr. Li asked him to show a search warrant, and Zhang took out a “Searching Certificate,” which cited Article 87 of Public Security Administration Punishment Law of the People's Republic of China as justification.

Mr. Li said, “As far as I know, Article 87 is only for searching public places. If you want to search a private residence, you must have a search warrant; otherwise, what you are doing is illegal.” Zhang suddenly became furious and ordered three officers to handcuff Mr. Li.

The officers searched every room and videotaped Mr. Li in each, as if he had given permission for the search. They put confiscated items, including two Falun Gong books, a computer, a external hard drive, a MP3 player, a handbag, two cellphones and six flash drives, into a box labeled “evidence box.” They also confiscated Mr. Li’s home key and car key and searched Mr. Li’s car, before taking Mr. Li to Haibin Police Station.

Mr. Li was forced to sit in a metal chair and had his hair sample collected and blood sample drawn. After the interrogation, Mr. Li refused to sign the records, “The content is incomplete and some of my words weren’t included,” he said. But officer Wang Desheng said it didn’t matter if he signed it or not.

Then Mr. Li was brought into a glass room and detained there until the next morning. Wang Desheng attempted to make Mr. Li sign the interrogation records again. When Mr. Li asked for the return of the confiscated personal belongings, the police threatened to detain him if he dared to ask again.

Both Mr. Li and Ms. Wang were soon released.

Detained and Interrogated Again

About one month later on August 25, police officers harassed the mother and the son again. Ma Yuqiang, from Chaoyang Police Station, took Ms. Wang away from her workplace to the police station. Another four officers went to Mr. Li’s workplace at Dongli Electric Company and tried to take him away. His supervisor stopped the police.

Two days later, when Mr. Li was working at a construction site, police officer Ren Anyuan ordered him to go to the police station. Mr. Li asked to know the legal basis. Ren took out a certificate with the official stamp of Chaoyang Police Station, but he refused to allow Mr. Li to take a picture of it.

Mr. Li was brought to Chaoyang Police Station by Ren Anyuan, Song Mingxuan, Ma Yuqiang and Li Hongjun. Song searched his body, confiscated his keys and brought him to an interrogation room. Mr. Li refused to sit in the metal chair since he was not a criminal.

Officer Ren said Mr. Li’s case was an administrative case instead of a criminal case, but he refused to tell him the case number. He said to Mr. Li, “Don’t you know what the date May 13 is? You should know what you did.” Mr. Li’s request to call a police inspector to supervise the interrogation and to call his lawyer were rejected. Song also ignored Mr. Li’s request to show which law he broke.

Once again, when Ms. Li was told to sign the interrogation records, he found out that those were not what he said. He questioned Song for fabricating the transcript. Song responded that he had the right to choose what to record and what not to record. Mr. Li refused to sign it. He was released around midnight.

Firmly Supporting Mother’s Faith in Falun Gong

Since he was young, Mr. Li has been supporting his mother in practicing Falun Gong. Ms. Wang was in her 30s when she began to practice Falun Gong. At the time, she was suffering from multiple diseases, such as severe neurasthenia, and problems with her eyes, stomach, kidneys and intestines. She also had anemia, low blood pressure and rheumatoid arthritis. Tormented by the diseases, she was very weak and could barely do any housework.

Only two months after she started practicing Falun Gong, all of her diseases were gone. She didn’t only regain her health, but also her hopes. After her husband passed away, she was able to raise their son by herself. Having witnessed his mother’s dramatic change, Mr. Li is full of appreciation for Falun Gong.

After the Chinese Communist Party started to persecute Falun Gong in July 1999, Ms. Wang has been repeatedly arrested, detained, and taken to forced labor camps, simply because she appealed for Falun Gong or raised awareness about the persecution. When she was detained, Mr. Li was left alone at home, struggling to care for himself.

Confused about why his mother was persecuted for being a good person, Mr. Li studied many Chinese laws after he grew up and realized that the persecution of Falun Gong didn’t have any legal basis. Since then, no matter how severe the persecution was, Mr. Li has never stepped back and always supports his mother.