(Minghui.org) A 68-year-old resident of Tancheng County, Shandong Province was secretly sentenced to prison for his faith in Falun Gong.

Mr. Wen Dehuai was arrested at home on July 2, 2021, after the police broke into his home by scaling the fence around his yard. He was held at the Tancheng County Detention Center. He held a hunger strike to protest the persecution and was tortured for five months. Mr. Wen was later sentenced to an unknown term and has been taken to the Shandong Prison located in the capital city of Jinan.

Since the Chinese communist regime began to persecute Falun Gong, an ancient spiritual discipline, in July 1999, Mr. Wen, a widowed farmer, has been repeatedly arrested and incarcerated.

He was previously arrested on January 22, 2007 and given an unknown term at the Shandong Province No. 2 Men’s Forced Labor Camp (also known as Wangcun Forced Labor Camp). Because he refused to renounce Falun Gong, the guards forced him to stand facing the wall for two months and starved him. He held a hunger strike to protest the persecution and was on the verge of death 70 days later. After receiving IV drips at the hospital for over 20 days, he was released, after being forced to pay 6,000 yuan to the labor camp. 

Mr. Wen was arrested again on July 15, 2008 by Liu Yuhong, the head of Tancheng County 610 Office, an extralegal agency created specifically to persecute Falun Gong. He was held at the Linyi Brainwashing Center for 66 days.

After he was released, Mr. Wen went to nearby Xinyi City, Jiangsu Province (about 30 miles away) for work. While working at a government official’s home, the official was impressed by his kindness and work ethic. He then explained that it was Falun Gong that enabled him to become a better person. The official reported Mr. Wen, and agents from the Xinyi City 610 Office began to harass him in early 2009. 

Mr. Wen was arrested on March 2, 2009 and held at the Tancheng County Detention Center. He was taken to the Shandong Province No. 2 Men’s Forced Labor Camp in early April 2009. He was once hung up by the wrists for two days and handcuffed to the water pipe in the restroom for 45 days, when he refused to renounce Falun Gong or do the forced labor.

Torture illustration: hanging up

Related report:

Elderly Farmer from Shandong Province Arrested at Home Again