76-year-old Woman Detained for One Week and Counting for Her Faith

(Minghui.org) A 76-year-old woman has been detained for over a week since being arrested at home on December 23, 2021 for her faith in Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.

Ms. Yuan Wenge was arrested by police chief Cai Huolei and two others from the Baizhuangxiang Police Station. The police returned to her home at 6 p.m. and ordered her husband to sign her detention notice. She has been held at the Shijiazhuang City No. 2 Detention Center since.

This is the second time that Ms. Yuan has been arrested within a year. Her previous arrest was on December 4, 2020 while talking to people about Falun Gong at a community fair. After she was rejected admission by the detention center due to her high blood pressure, the police released her on bail. It’s not clear whether her latest arrest was related to the earlier incident.

Ms. Yuan, a farmer, began to practice Falun Gong in 1998. She has been detained several times since the onset of the persecution, held in a brainwashing center once, and extorted of a total of 1,900 yuan. She was also harassed and had her Falun Gong books confiscated.

Ms. Yuan was first arrested in July 1999 when she went to Beijing to appeal for the right to practice Falun Gong. She was held in a basement covered with water and feces, and starved for two days. The police extorted 200 yuan from her before releasing her. They extorted another 500 yuan from her after deceiving her into going to the police station in October 1999.

Ms. Yuan’s next arrest was on July 20, 2000. She was detained for 20 days and extorted of 200 yuan. After she was released, she returned to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong, only to be arrested again and held at the Shenze County Detention Center for 1.5 years, during which time she was frequently beaten and verbally abused. She was forced to go through a month-long brainwashing session at the Shijiangzhuang Forced Labor Camp before being released. She also paid a 1,000 yuan fine.

Four officers, including three in plainclothes, harassed Ms. Yuan at home on August 20, 2019. They ransacked her home and confiscated her Falun Gong books and related materials. She tried to stop them, but to no avail. When she went to the police station on the next day to seek the return of her books, the receptionist claimed that since so many officers worked at the police station, there was no way for them to know who took her books.

Perpetrators’ contact information:
Wang Jianfeng (王建峰), secretary of Shenze County Government: [phone], [phone]Cai Huolei (蔡货雷), head of Baizhuangxiang Police Station: [phone]Wang Yangfeng (王养峰), head of Shijiazhuang City No. 2 Detention Center: [phone]

(More perpetrators’ contact information is available in the original Chinese article.)