Belated News: 70-year-old Man Dies After Serving Eight Years for His Faith
(Minghui.org)
Name: Wu ZuqiangChinese Name: 吴祖强Gender: MaleAge: 70City: GaozhouProvince: GuangdongOccupation: Retired farm employeeDate of Death: July 1, 2019Date of Most Recent Arrest: October 25, 2010Most Recent Place of Detention: Yangjiang Prison
Mr. Wu Zuqiang
A Gaozhou City, Guangdong Province resident was imprisoned twice for a total of eleven years for upholding his faith in Falun Gong. Mr. Wu Zuqiang was extremely weak when he was last released in October 2017. His health continued to decline as the police kept coming to harass him. He passed away in July 2019. He was 70.
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Mr. Wu used to work at the Shengli Farm. He took up Falun Gong in 1997 and credited the practice for helping him quit smoking. His son, Mr. Wu Xianjin, was also drawn to Falun Gong’s teaching and took up the practice.
Because father and son wouldn’t renounce Falun Gong in the face of the persecution, they endured many arrests, detention and torture over the past two decades of suppression.
Mr. Wu and his son went to Beijing in January 2000 to appeal for the right to practice Falun Gong and were arrested. Both were given 15 days of administrative detention. His son was also expelled from Shantou University where he was studying.
Father and son returned to Beijing to appeal in March 2000. They held banners on Tiananmen Square and were arrested again. They were each sentenced to three years by the Gaozhou City Court, after being taken back to Gaozhou City.
While serving time at Sihui Prison, they were subjected to constant brainwashing, monitored by the inmates around the clock, and deprived of sleep. They were released on September 18, 2002.
Mr. Wu found a job as a security personnel at a private company in 2005. He was arrested in May 2005 after being reported by his manager for talking to people about Falun Gong. He was held at the Maoming City Brainwashing Center.
Mr. Wu’s last arrest was on October 25, 2010 while walking on the street. Several police cars surrounded his home. His computer, printer, Falun Gong materials, a motorcycle and many other personal items were confiscated. The 26,000 yuan in cash he kept at home was taken. His son, who happened to be home, was also arrested. While the younger Mr. Wu was later given one year of forced labor, Mr. Wu was sentenced to eight years by the Gaozhou City Court.
After Mr. Wu was taken to the Yangjiang Prison in October 2011, he was deprived of sleep and forced to watch videos or read books smearing Falun Gong. When his family visited him, the guards closely monitored their conversation and forbade him from telling them about the torture he experienced in prison.
By the time Mr. Wu was released on October 21, 2017, the once healthy and strong man had aged significantly. He struggled with constant fatigue, high blood pressure, digestion problems and shortness of breath. The authorities kept harassing him, threatening to suspend his pension if he talked to people about Falun Gong again. He lived in fear and was unable to recover his health.
Mr. Wu began to suffer a low-grade fever and lost his appetite in mid-June 2019. He began to have pain in his feet, and the color of his face turned sallow two days later. When his son called him on the morning of July 1, 2019, he was already dead. When his family dressed him, they found that the skin on his abdomen was very yellow. They suspected that he died from acute liver failure, which was likely to have developed due to torture in prison.
Related reports:
Gaozhou Father and Son Sentenced and Sent to Forced Labor Camp
Wu Zuqiang and His Son Wu Xianjin from Gaozhou, Guangdong Province Have Been Detained
Mr. Wu Zuqiang and His Son from Gaozhou City, Guangdong Province Arrested Again