(Minghui.org) Four Chengde City, Hebei Province residents were sentenced to prison by the Shuangqiao District Court on January 19, 2023 for practicing Falun Gong, a mind-body discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.

Ms. Han Liping, 71, was given five years and fined 5,000 yuan. Ms. Bai Shuqin, 69, and Ms. Liu Yan, in her 50s, each received one year and two months and a 4,000-yuan fine. Mr. Ma Xingnai, 77, was sentenced to six months.

The four practitioners were arrested on July 21, 2022. Their families were notified of the approval of their arrests on August 19, 2022.

Mr. Ma was released on January 21, 2023 after serving six months (since his arrest). Both Ms. Han and Ms. Bai appealed the verdicts. They are likely still held at the Chengde City Detention Center. Ms. Liu’s situation isn’t clear.

Prior to their latest sentencing, both Ms. Han and Ms. Bai have been targeted repeatedly for their faith in the past two decades.

Ms. Han, a retired employee of a boiler factory, was given a two-year term at Gaoyang Forced Labor Camp in May 2001. She almost died from electric shocks. She was so weak when she was released, she couldn’t do any manual work for two years.

Ms. Han was arrested again on January 30, 2008 for installing a satellite dish to receive overseas uncensored TV programs. She was sentenced to four years by the Xinglong County Court on November 4, 2008. At Luquan City Women’s Prison, she was subjected to constant beatings and her teeth were knocked out by the guards.

In addition to the incarceration and torture, her pension was also suspended by the local social security office since August 2020.

Ms. Bai, on the other hand, was arrested in 2000 for going to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong. She was given two years at the Gaoyang Forced Labor Camp. The guards refused to allow her to see her husband for the last time when he suddenly died of illness. Her son, who had been forced to drop out of school, handled his father’s funeral on his own.

Ms. Bai was arrested again on April 24, 2009 and had her home ransacked. She was first held at the Chengde Detention Center and later taken to the Hebei Province Women’s Prison to serve a prison term.