(Minghui.org) When Mr. Ji Xiaodong was released from serving seven years in prison on November 24, 2020, he was emaciated and struggled with severe after effects of cerebral thrombosis induced from being tortured in prison.
The Chifeng City, Inner Mongolia resident was even more devastated to find himself homeless. Not only did his brother refuse to accept him, but he also drove out their mother in her late 70s, saying that he had been taking care of her for the past several years and it’s now Mr. Ji’s turn.
The mother and son almost ended up living on the street, if it weren’t for the help of Mr. Ji’s friends, who chipped in for them to move into a temporary housing location that did not have heat.
Mr. Ji went with a friend to the community to apply for low income subsidy, only to be told that “Falun Gong practitioners are not allowed to apply for the low income subsidy. Even if the application is approved, you must write a statement to renounce Falun Gong.” Mr. Ji refused to write such a statement and was denied the subsidy.
Since the Chinese communist regime began to persecute Falun Gong in 1999, countless Falun Gong practitioners, including Mr. Ji, have been jailed, tortured and deprived of basic survival conditions for upholding their faith.
Mr. Ji, a 52-year-old former civil servant with the Taxation Bureau of Aohan County, Chifeng City, was given two years of forced labor in 1999, sentenced to five years in 2001 and seven years in 2014 for his faith. He lost his job in the persecution, and his wife also divorced him, fearful of being implicated.
Mr. Ji went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong in July 1999 and was arrested at Tiananmen Square. He was escorted back to Aohan on July 25, handcuffed. On July 31, he was released after being extorted 200 yuan.
Mr. Ji went to Beijing to appeal again on October 1, 1999. He was arrested and detained in the Xicheng District Detention Center in Beijing, before being escorted back to Aohan. Wang Fenglai, head of Chifeng City Taxation Bureau, fired him on October 6.
Mr. Ji was later taken to a forced labor camp. His wife divorced him while he was serving his two-year term. When he was released on July 23, 2001, he had to stay at a fellow practitioner’s home. One night when he and a fellow practitioner went out to put up information about the persecution, he was again arrested and sentenced to five years in prison.
Mr. Ji was subjected to constant abuse in Chifeng City Prison. The inmates forced him to squat down with both his hands held behind his head for five days. Over 10 inmates took turns watching him, not allowing him to stand up or sleep. Mr. Ji’s legs and feet were swollen and his socks were stuck to his feet. Guard Liu Gang hit his hands and head with a belt.
Mr. Ji was arrested again in 2014 and sentenced to seven years in Chifeng City Prison in April by Songshan District Court. While he was receiving treatment after suffering cerebral thrombosis in August 2005 due to the torture, he was given the clothes of an inmate carrying syphilis and he was infected. Later he was transferred to Hohhot Infectious Disease Prison for further persecution.
Mr. Ji went on a hunger strike to protest the persecution on October 12, 2016. The prison guards asked his family to persuade him to eat. Mr. Ji said to his family over the phone, “I am not guilty for practicing Falun Gong. The hunger strike is to protest the persecution. I will not eat until I am acquitted.” The guard next to him took over the phone, “If you cannot persuade him to eat, we’ll force-feed him. We have many ways to deal with him.”
Mr. Ji’s term was extended by half a year because he refused to give up practicing Falun Gong. He was very thin and had to walk with crutches when he was released on November 24, 2020.
Related article:Civil Servant Ji Xiaodong Tortured While Unjustly Imprisoned for Five Years