Two Women on Hunger Strike for 20 Days and Counting to Protest Arbitrary Arrests

(Minghui.org) Two Shijiazhuang City, Hebei Province, women have been on hunger strike since their arrests in early May 2022 for practicing Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.

Ms. Kou Lirong was first arrested at work on May 9. The police accused her of hanging up a banner about Falun Gong days earlier. They ransacked her home but didn’t find anything that they could use to charge her. Another practitioner, Ms. Ma Yinhuan, who lives in the same neighborhood, was arrested that evening. Her home was ransacked as well.

Both practitioners refused to answer the police’s questions while in custody. They started a hunger strike shortly after their arrests and are still not eating.

They were transferred to a hospital under the administration of the Shijiazhuang City Supervision Center around May 15. They were also put in criminal detention around the same time. The authorities are planning to take them to the Shijiazhuang City No. 2 Detention Center after 21 days of quarantine.

Both women’s families have been going to the police station every day to demand their release. Their lawyers have also contacted the police for their release. The officers in charge of their case claim that they can’t make that decision, implying that their superiors are involved.

Perpetrators’ contact information:
Cheng Zhenying (程振英), officer, Huanghedadao Police Station: [phone]Guo Yihong (郭义红), officer, Huanghedadao Police Station: [phone], [phone]Wei Bingcun (魏丙存), officer, Huanghedadao Police Station: [phone]Xing Wei (邢伟), president of the High-tech Industrial Development Zone Procuratorate: [phone]

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

Related report:

Two Women Detained for Their Faith, in Serious Condition after Days of Hunger Strike