The Crimes of Du Hangwei, Deputy Minister of China’s Ministry of Public Security

(Minghui.org) Sanctioning human rights abusers has become a focus among democratic countries as a way to combat egregious human rights atrocities around the globe. After the U.S. passed the Magnitsky Act in 2016, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the 27-member European Union enacted similar laws. Australia and Japan are working on the same.

In accordance with these laws, which impose sanctions on known human rights abusers, Falun Gong practitioners have compiled lists of perpetrators involved in the persecution of Falun Gong in China. Every year, they submit several lists to democratic governments, urging them to sanction the named perpetrators.

Starting on July 14, 2021, Falun Gong practitioners in more than 30 countries have been submitting the latest list of perpetrators involved in the persecution of Falun Gong to their respective governments. Practitioners are calling for sanctions against these human rights abusers, which includes denying them entry into their countries and freezing their overseas assets.

One name on this year's list is Du Hangwei.

Perpetrator Information

Full Name of Perpetrator: Du (last name) Hangwei (first name) (Chinese: 杜航伟)

Gender: MaleCountry: ChinaDate/Year of Birth: April 1962Place of Birth: Lingbao, Henan Province

Title or Position:

March 2010 – January 2013: Deputy Director of the Public Security Department of Shaanxi Province, Secretary of the Political and Legal Affairs Commission of the Xi’an Municipal Party Committee, Director and Secretary of the Party Committee of the Xi’an Municipal Public Security Bureau.

February 2013 – December 2014: Assistant to the Governor of Shaanxi Province, member of the Shaanxi Provincial Government Party Leadership Group, Secretary of the Party Committee, Director of the Shaanxi Provincial Public Security Department, and member of the Political and Legal Affairs Commission of the Shaanxi Provincial Party Committee.

December 2014 – April 2015: Deputy Governor of Shaanxi Province, member of the Shaanxi Provincial Government Party Leadership Group, Secretary of the Party Committee and Director of the Shaanxi Provincial Public Security Department, and member of the Political and Legal Affairs Commission of the Shaanxi Provincial Party Committee.

April 2015 – July 2017: Deputy Governor of Shaanxi Province, member of the Shaanxi Provincial Government Party Leadership Group, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee and Director of the Shaanxi Provincial Public Security Department, and member of the Political and Legal Affairs Commission of the Shaanxi Provincial Party Committee.

July 2017 – January 2018: Deputy Governor of Shaanxi Province and Secretary of the Political and Legal Affairs Committee of the Shaanxi Provincial Party Committee.

January 2018 – Present: Deputy Minister of China’s Ministry of Public Security and a member of the Communist Party Committee of China’s Ministry of Public Security.

Main Crimes

A. During Du Hangwei’s Tenure in Shaanxi Province

Du Hangwei took office in Shaanxi Province in 2010 and was promoted quickly over the years. During his tenure in Shaanxi Province, he closely followed Jiang Zemin’s and Zhou Yongkang’s policies to persecute Falun Gong, and personally led the persecution in Shaanxi. His main crimes are as follows:

1. According to available statistics from Minghui.org, at least 28 Falun Gong practitioners were arrested in Xi’an City during Du Hangwei’s three-year tenure as Deputy Secretary and Secretary of the Political and Legal Affairs Commission of the Xi’an Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Municipal Committee and Director of the Xi’an Municipal Public Security Bureau. At least 295 Falun Gong practitioners in Shaanxi Province were arrested during his five years as Deputy Secretary and Secretary of the Political and Legal Affairs Commission of the Shaanxi CCP Provincial Committee and Director of the Shaanxi Provincial Public Security Department. Over the course of eight years, 99 of the 323 arrested Falun Gong practitioners were sentenced, 12 were sent to forced labor camps, 32 detained in brainwashing centers, and at least 123 were harassed and their homes were ransacked. 

Mr. Wu Songgang, an engineer, was arrested in August 2011 and detained in a brainwashing center in Xuanpingyuan, Xi’an. On September 10, 2011, Mr. Wu was beaten to death. He was in his 50s.

Mr. Zhao Wenbiao, a resident of Shenmu Town, was arrested on July 23, 2013, and sent to the Shenmu Huashan Detention Center where he was detained for more than 20 days. As a result of the severe injuries he sustained there, the detention center asked his family to take him home. However, police and 610 Office personnel continued to harass him at his home. In June 2014, Mr. Zhao passed away.

2. Starting in mid-2015, Du Hangwei planned and directed the public security, procuratorate, judicial, and judicial systems of Shaanxi Province to retaliate against Falun Gong practitioners who filed lawsuits against former CCP head Jiang Zemin for starting the persecution of Falun Gong. Falun Gong practitioners in various cities in Shaanxi Province were arrested, with many arrested in groups.

From January 8 to 14, 2016, 12 Falun Gong practitioners were arrested together in Yan’an City. Just ten days later, in late February 2016, 12 more practitioners were arrested in Baoji City. On March 22, 2017, the Xi’an Public Security Bureau detained over 50 Falun Gong practitioners in one raid. Zhang Huilan from Baoji City died as a result of this round of persecution.

3. In the three years spanning 2015 to 2017, Du Hangwei, who served as Deputy Secretary and Secretary of the Political and Legal Affairs Commission of the Shaanxi CCP Committee, Director of the Shaanxi Provincial Department of Public Security, and Deputy Governor of Shaanxi Province, directed the procuratorate offices of various cities, districts, and counties to frame and prosecute Falun Gong practitioners who were arrested by the police. At his order, without exception, the courts rejected the Falun Gong practitioners’ appeals against their wrongful prison terms and upheld all original verdicts. Among the 234 Falun Gong practitioners arrested, 69 were subjected to prosecution.

Ms. Li Meihua, a Falun Gong practitioner with a disability, was arrested for talking to people about Falun Gong in Zhashui County. Without regard to her disability, the Zhashui County Procuratorate and Shangluo City Intermediate Court deprived her of the right to be represented by a lawyer and sentenced her to three-and-a-half years in prison. She was tortured in the prison and denied medical parole. 

Ms. Ma Jie was arrested five times, sent to a forced labor camp for two years, and sentenced to four years in prison. Her husband, Mr. Dawei Wang, also a Falun Gong practitioner, was tortured to death by police from the Hu County Public Security Bureau. On the afternoon of May 10, 2016, Ms. Ma was arrested again. She was sentenced to four years in prison on December 13, 2016.

4. On June 15, 2017, Du Hangwei, then-Secretary of the Political and Legal Affairs Commission of the Shaanxi Provincial CCP Committee, presided over a 610 Office meeting on the persecution of Falun Gong in Shaanxi Province. At the meeting, he called for closely following Jiang Zemin’s persecution policy and intensifying it. This meeting was broadcast live on the Internet and TV, further inciting public misunderstanding and hatred against Falun Gong.

5. Du Hangwei’s tenure as Deputy Secretary and Secretary of the Political and Legal Affairs Commission of Shaanxi was the period when Falun Gong practitioners were persecuted most severely in the Shaanxi Women’s Prison and the Second Shaanxi Prison (Weinan Prison).

Falun Gong practitioners in these prisons were subjected to such inhumane treatment that many died soon after returning home. As one example, in 2016, to force Mr. Gao Shiyuan from Yanchuan County, Yan’an City to renounce Falun Gong, Weinan Prison guards brutally tortured him until he was frail and on the verge of death. Soon after he was released, he passed away in April 2018. In April 2016, Ms. Xiong Jiyu of Chenggu County, Hanzhong City was released from the Shaanxi Women’s Prison on the verge of death due to torture. She died on her way home.

There are countless examples of Falun Gong practitioners in Shaanxi who have been subjected to heinous crimes during the eight years that Du Hangwei held positions of power. As one of the CCP officials in Shaanxi Province leading and directing the persecution of Falun Gong, Du bears primary responsibility and must be held accountable for the brutal persecution of Falun Gong carried out by the Shaanxi Procuratorate and Justice Department.

B. During Du Hangwei’s Tenure at the China Ministry of Public Security

After Du Hangwei was appointed Deputy Minister of Public Security in 2018, he implemented Jiang’s persecution policy of “bankrupt them financially, ruin their reputations, and destroy them physically” on a nationwide scale. In 2019, under the pretext of protecting the “70th National Day Celebration,” the CCP instructed police throughout China to visit and harass Falun Gong practitioners at their homes and workplaces. 

In Jilin Province, the Siping City Public Security Bureau took on the task of harassing Falun Gong practitioners as a “political task” and an opportunity to earn a “reward for meritorious deeds.” The Siping police officers who participated in arresting Falun Gong practitioners scored ten points for each Falun Gong practitioner arrested, while arrests of other criminal suspects would only bring them one point. In this way, the authorities encouraged the police to persecute law-abiding Falun Gong practitioners who abide by the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance. 

According to statistics from Minghui.org, under Du Hangwei’s command as Deputy Minister of Public Security, nearly 10,000 Falun Gong practitioners across the country were targeted in 2019, including 6,109 who were arrested, 3,582 harassed, 383 sent to brainwashing centers, and 3,124 who had their homes ransacked.

The 2019 Annual Report of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom states that “96 Falun Gong practitioners were persecuted to death by the CCP authorities for their beliefs in 2019. On the morning of January 11, 2019, an 82-year-old Falun Gong practitioner from Zhaoyuan City, Shandong Province named Ms. Guo Zhenxiang was arrested for distributing leaflets at the bus station. At around 10 am, the authorities notified her family of Ms. Guo Zhenxiang’s death. The police said she developed symptoms after being caught at the police station and was then taken to the local hospital.”

In 2020, the Political and Legal Affairs Commission of the CCP’s Central Committee, the 610 Office, and the Ministry of Public Security launched the “Zero Out Campaign” against Falun Gong practitioners nationwide, forcing them to renounce their faith. In order to carry out the campaign, the Political and Legal Affairs Committees, community authorities, and police at all levels across the country were mobilized. 

Using various tactics labeled under catchy slogans such as “tackle the tough,” “send out warmth,” “knock on every door,” “accepting ‘transformation,’” “blacklisting,” “dismissal,” “acknowledging investigation,” etc., officials went to the homes of Falun Gong practitioners to “transform” them (i.e., to force them to give up their belief) and force them to sign a so-called “Guarantee Letter” (similar to a “Guarantee Statement”), “Repentance Letter,” and “Reveal Letter.” Du Hangwei is one of the CCP officials leading and directing this latest campaign of persecution against Falun Gong practitioners throughout China. He has attended and spoken at numerous meetings of the Ministry of Public Security to implement and carry out the operation.

According to available statistics, at least 88 Falun Gong practitioners were tortured to death in 2020, 622 were sentenced, and 15,235 were arrested and harassed. Among those targeted, 1,188 were Falun Gong practitioners over 65 years old, 17 were over 90 years old, and the oldest was 94 years old.

Ms. Han Yuqin, a Falun Gong practitioner from Hebei Province, was arrested at home at 5 a.m. on June 18, 2020. She was taken to the police station. After she arrived, she was forced to sit on a metal chair. At 6 p.m., her family members received a call from the police saying that she was dead. When Ms. Han Yuqin’s family members saw her body in the hospital, her hair was disheveled and there was blood in her nose. She was 68.

Ms. Wang Shukun, a medical doctor in Heilongjiang Province, was detained by police at the end of June 2020. The police tried to make her denounce Falun Gong and give up the practice. They also tried to make her confess that her husband, Mr. Yu Xiaopeng, also practiced Falun Gong (her husband did not practice Falun Gong). Ms. Wang refused. The police beat her so badly that she was severely bruised and her kneecaps were fractured. She was soaked in sweat due to the pain. After a few hours, she was released. On the evening of July 1, 2020, Wang Shukun developed symptoms of cerebral hemorrhage, dizziness, and nausea. She died early the next day. She was 66.

Ms. Sun Ning, a retired teacher from Jiamusi City in Heilongjiang Province, was harassed and intimidated by local community authorities and the police numerous times starting in late November 2020. They threatened her and tried to coerce her to write denouncements abandoning her faith in Falun Gong. Ms. Sun Ning suffered from the tremendous mental pressure and passed away on December 5, 2020. She was 82.

Ms. Li Cai’e, of Shaanxi Province, had a happy family before the persecution. Her two sons, Mr. Yuan Guangwu and Mr. Yuan Huiwu, and her daughters-in-law and grandchildren all practiced Falun Gong. They were subjected to persecution for years and had to flee their homes to avoid the police. The police harassed, intimidated, and threatened Ms. Li non-stop. She passed away on November 29, 2020, at the age of 75. On December 18, 2020, Ms. Li's second son, Mr. Yuan Huiwu, was sentenced to three years in prison. On February 3, 2021, her eldest daughter-in-law, Ms. Zhang Cuicui, died as a result of impoverishment; she had been forced into homelessness in order to avoid persecution at home.

During his tenure, Du Hangwei blatantly violated China’s constitution (which guarantees freedom of belief), trampled on the rule of law, abused his power, persecuted Falun Dafa practitioners, and is directly responsible for serious crimes committed against law-abiding Chinese citizens. He must be held accountable for his actions.