(Minghui.org) Mr. Ma Jiang was finally allowed to see his family for the first time since he was admitted to the Shenyang City First Prison in Liaoning Province more than four months ago. During the 20-minute visit on December 11, 2023, his loved ones learned that he had spent the first four months in solitary confinement and is now forced to do hard labor (cutting the ends of sewing threads) without pay from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. every day.
Mr. Ma, a former employee of Dawn Aerospace Engine company in Shenyang City, Liaoning Province, was arrested on July 20, 2022 for his faith in Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999.
He was sentenced to four years at an unknown date. He did not receive a response to his appeal before he was transferred from the Fangjialan Detention Center to the Panjin Prison on July 16, 2023. He was admitted to the Shenyang City First Prison on August 1, 2023.
Nearly Four Months in Solitary Confinement
Mr. Ma spent his first week at the Shenyang City First Prison in a regular cell. Since he refused to renounce Falun Gong and persisted in doing Falun Gong exercises, the guards sent him to solitary confinement the second week. After he was let out two months later, he resumed doing Falun Gong exercises in the regular cell. The guards again put him in solitary confinement and didn’t let him out until December 3, 2023. He is now held in Cell 306 of Ward Two.
During his two episodes of solitary confinement, Mr. Ma was not allowed to brush his teeth or clean himself. He was only given cold water to drink and steamed buns to eat every day. The guards also forced him to sit motionless for 50 minutes straight before allowing him to take a 10-minute break and forcing him to sit again.
Right to Family Visits Becomes a “Privilege”
Mr. Ma’s family made multiple requests to visit him in prison, but was denied on the grounds that he had not renounced Falun Gong as ordered. The prison guards cited an internal policy to keep Falun Gong practitioners’ visitation rights revoked as long as they still held firm to their faith. By law, all inmates are entitled to regular family visits.
Mr. Ma’s loved ones explained to the guards that he should never have been jailed for exercising his constitutional right to freedom of belief. One guard became sympathetic and finally approved of a family visit for December 11, 2023.
The guard said that the visit was an exception to the prison’s internal policy and a privilege granted to Mr. Ma, a Falun Gong practitioner who had not renounced his faith. He warned Mr. Ma’s loved ones to not mention anything related to Falun Gong or the meeting would be ended right away.
The 20-minute visit was monitored by several guards. Mr. Ma’s family sensed he had a lot to say but couldn’t. They suspect that he might have been threatened to not reveal the details of his abuse in prison.
Extend Family Persecuted for Practicing Falun Gong
Mr. Ma took up Falun Gong in 1996 at the recommendation of his father-in-law, Mr. Wu Yu. His wife, Ms. Wu Shuyan, her brother, Mr. Wu Shuming, her daughter Ms. Ma Hongyang and son-in-law Mr. Zhao Wei soon joined in the practice as well.
In the past 24 years of persecution, the extended family were repeatedly targeted for upholding their faith. Ms. Wu died at the age of 47 in 2013, after being tortured in prison, and her father passed away on May 19, 2015, after enduring years of persecution. Mr. Ma was previously given three years in prison in 2015, five months after his brother-in-law Mr. Wu was also sentenced to three years. Mr. Ma’s daughter and son-in-law were both sentenced to one year and four months in 2022.
Related reports:
With Mother Dead and Father in Prison, a Daughter Seeks Justice (Photos)
Ms. Wu Shuyan Dies After Persecution in Liaoning Women’s Prison
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