(Minghui.org) Four Falun Gong practitioners in Ningcheng County, Inner Mongolia who were sentenced for their faith face continued persecution in the form of being deprived of their hard-earned pension benefits. One woman was threatened with pension suspension and had to return the benefits she received during her prison term. The other three practitioners saw their pension suspended outright.

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

Ms. Chen Jingyu served three years between 2014 and 2017 at the Chifeng Prison. In 2018, the Ningcheng County Social Security Office ordered her to pay back the 140,000 yuan she had received during her prison term, or else they would suspend her pension. She was forced to make the payment.

Ms. Wu Xiurong, a 69-year-old retired elementary school teacher, served four years at the Hohhot Women’s Prison between December 19, 2014 and December 19, 2018. As she refused to renounce her faith, the prison authorities called the police and told them to suspend her pension.

In May 2017, following the order from the police, the Ningcheng County Education Bureau stopped Ms. Wu’s retirement benefits, which to this day still have not been reinstated.

Ms. Zhang Xiangyun also served four years between 2014 and 2018 at the Inner Mongolia Women’s Prison. The Ningcheng County Social Security Office has suspended her pension since August 2018.

Ms. Yang Xiuyun, a retired employee of the Rural Commercial Bank, was sentenced to 3.5 years in the Inner Mongolia Women’s Prison on September 9, 2010. The Inner Mongolia Social Security Office suddenly stopped her pension payments in February 2021.