(Minghui.org) The family of a 73-year-old Daan City, Jilin Province resident learned on January 18, 2023 that their loved one has been transferred to a prison three days ago to serve a ten-month term for her faith in Falun Gong. The authorities refused to provide information about her sentencing or which prison she was taken to.
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Ms. Zhang Fengling was arrested at home on July 15, 2022, by plainclothes officers who deceived her into opening the door by claiming to be conducting a census. Many of her neighbors heard her screaming during the arrest. Her family hasn’t been allowed to see her once since.
Due to abuse that she suffered during her previous incarcerations for her faith, Ms. Zhang often fainted before her latest arrest. Her family is now very worried about her.
Ms. Zhang took up Falun Gong in May 1997. Her severe stomach condition and other ailments soon disappeared. Because she refused to renounce Falun Gong, she has been repeatedly targeted in the past two decades.
Ms. Zhang was first arrested on November 8, 2000 while visiting her sister. She was held at the Baicheng City Detention Center for 103 days and then given two years of forced labor. At the Yinmahe Forced Labor Camp, she was forced to grow vegetables and do other farm work.
On November 10, 2001, the first day she was transferred to the Heizuizi Forced Labor Camp, seven inmates ordered her to write a statement to renounce Falun Gong. They threatened to beat her if she didn’t comply. She suffered a severe heart condition and was released on medical parole on December 10, 2001.
Ms. Zhang was arrested again with her daughter, Ms. Wang Hongyan, on October 9, 2017. She fainted several times at the Zhenlai County Detention Center and was hospitalized. In May 2018, she was sentenced to two years with two years probation, and her daughter was given four years. Both of them were also fined 5,000 yuan each.
Ms. Zhang’s husband was dealt a blow by his wife and daughter’s arrests and soon passed away. Ms. Zhang has been living on her own since she was released in the fall of 2018.
72-year-old Woman Living on Her Own Arrested for Practicing Falun Gong