(Minghui.org) At least eleven residents of Tai’an City, Shandong Province, were harassed between September and October 2023 for practicing their faith, Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999.
Multiple local police stations were mobilized to persecute the practitioners. They installed surveillance cameras outside their homes and harassed them at home in an attempt to make them renounce Falun Gong. Some practitioners also reported seeing suspicious people standing near their homes, pretending to make phone calls, a tactic used by the police to monitor practitioners. A few practitioners had their family members targeted by the police as well.
At Least 7 Practitioners Harassed in September 2023
The Hongmen Police Station and Taiqian Village Security Office harassed Ms. Xu Hongzhi and her sister, Ms. Xu Hongxia, in September 2023. Around the same time, a female officer from the same police station and a female village official harassed Ms. Yuan Ying. Officers from the Yingsheng Police Station harassed Ms. Zhao Xianglian.
Officers from the Daiyue District Police Station harassed Ms. Fu Yanli multiple times. The Taishan District Police Department and the local street committees harassed Ms. Chang Lijun and Ms. Zhang Min.
Three Practitioners Harassed on October 16
About six officers from the Daimiao Police Station and the Huangshantou Police Station raided the homes of Ms. Ma Junting, 84, Ms. Lu Keqin, 72, and Mr. Li Naixiu (a 91-year-old retired official of Tai’an Transportation School) on the afternoon of October 16, 2023. The police confiscated a portrait of Falun Gong’s founder from Ms. Ma’s and Mr. Li’s homes. They also seized a Falun Gong book from Mr. Li’s home.
Ms. Ma and Ms. Lu retired from the Shandong University of Science and Technology. They were both sentenced to prison for practicing Falun Gong on June 13, 2019. Ms. Lu was sentenced to a 3.5-year prison term with a 30,000 yuan fine, and Ms. Ma was given two years and a 30,000 yuan fine. As Ms. Ma was still on probation for an earlier three-year term, the judge in charge of her case suspended the probation and ordered her to serve a combined five-year term.
The leadership of Shandong University of Science and Technology held a meeting on December 24, 2021 and decided to remove Ms. Ma and Ms. Lu from their retirees’ roster. The university ordered the suspension of all of Ms. Ma’s retirement benefits beginning in January 2022, and demanded that she return the pension she already received between June 2019 and August 2021, as well as the pension funds and health insurance benefits she received between September and December 2021.
For Ms. Lu, in addition to losing her retirement benefits since January 2022, she was also ordered to pay back the pension and health insurance benefits she received between June 2019 and December 2021.
One Practitioner Harassed on October 19
Several officers from the Daizongfang Police Station and five workers from the local street committee knocked on Ms. Hou Qingyuan’s door. She opened the door and saw one officer holding a camcorder. The police barged in and searched everywhere, including her bedroom and her 101-year-old father’s bedroom. The police noted a Falun Gong information brochure on her father’s desk but didn’t seize it when Ms. Hou said that was his.
Ms. Hou kept urging the police to not persecute practitioners. They couldn’t find any other Falun Gong items. One officer said, “She [Ms. Hou] must have hidden her Falun Gong books.” They left.
Related reports:
Financial Persecution of Falun Gong Escalates Inside China's Courts
Shandong Province: Overview of Falun Gong Persecution Cases Reported in 2021
Retirement Benefits Stopped for Two Retired College Professors While They Serve Time for Their Faith
81-year-old Retired Teacher Sentenced to Prison for Her Faith
Six Falun Gong Practitioners in Shandong Province Indicted for Their Faith
Copyright © 2023 Minghui.org. All rights reserved.
