Shandong Woman Secretly Arrested, Facing Prosecution for Telling People about Her Faith

(Minghui.org) A 68-year-old Weihai City, Shandong Province resident is facing prosecution for spreading information about Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.

Ms. Zou Huaxiang went missing on April 10, 2023. As her family couldn’t find her two days later, they reported her disappearance to the police, only to be told that she had been arrested at home on April 10. She is currently being held at the Wendeng Detention Center.

The family met with Qin Xiaodong of the Domestic Security Office at the Huancui District Police Station on April 13. Qin handed them Ms. Zou’s detention notice and asked them to hire a lawyer for her, as he planned to seek a prison sentence for her.

Qin said that they took Ms. Zou back into custody because of her earlier arrest on November 24, 2022, when she was handing out calendars with information about Falun Gong at a community market. With the keys snatched from her, the police broke into her residence at noon, and confiscated her printer, computer, cellphone charger, and 14,000 yuan in cash. The police interrogated her and collected a blood sample. They released her on bail later that evening, withholding 11,000 yuan of the confiscated cash as her bail bond.

The remaining 3,000 yuan has not been returned to her, and the police have never provided any information about it.

Two Decades of Persecution for Speaking up for Her Faith

Ms. Zou struggled with poor health since childhood, and her family couldn’t afford medical treatment for her. She often felt helpless and that her life was unfair. In March 1996, she came across Falun Gong. Shortly after she took up the mind-body improvement practice, her ailments disappeared. She strove to live by Falun Gong’s principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, and constantly reflected on how to improve herself.

She said she finally learned how to be considerate of others, and her family became harmonious. She said, “Practicing Falun Gong not only freed me from the suffering of physical ailments, but also saved my soul. I didn’t know the true meaning and value of life until now.”

After the Chinese Communist Party began to persecute Falun Gong in 1999, she felt compelled to let more people know about the practice, so they could benefit from it, instead of being deceived by the hate propaganda spread by the regime. Because of her courageous efforts, she was frequently arrested and detained.

Ms. Zou went to Beijing to appeal for the right to practice Falun Gong on December 30, 1999 and was arrested. She was beaten and tortured in Beijing before being transferred back to Weihai on January 1, 2000 for 15 days of detention.

She was arrested four times between March and August 2000, and detained 15 days each time after the first two arrests, and 30 days each time after the other two arrests. She was also held in a brainwashing center for three days after the second arrest in April 2000. The police extorted a total of 1,400 yuan from her family from all the arrests, as her living expenses at the detention center.

Ms. Zou was given three years at the Zhangqiu Forced Labor Camp in October 2000, where she was shocked with electric batons and forced to stand or sit on a small stool for long hours. The guards also forced her to perform free labor. Her husband visited her every month, each time making between 300 and 400 yuan deposits into her cash accounts for daily necessities. Over her three years of detention, he deposited more than 7,000 yuan in total, but Ms. Zou was never allowed to use the money. When she was released, the guards even claimed that she owed them money.

Ms. Zou was arrested again in September 2009 and detained for over 20 days. She was arrested three more times, on February 15, 2012, May 29, 2015, and December 30, 2018, for talking to people about Falun Gong. She was detained for ten days, three hours, and five days, respectively, after each arrest.

Her next arrest was on February 25, 2020, after being reported for talking to a young person about Falun Gong. The police collected her fingerprints and a blood sample. They also threatened her that she wasn’t allowed to discuss with others about how many people had died during the COVID-19 pandemic. She was released on the same day, but the police came a day later to ransack her home.

Perpetrators’ contact information:

Liu Bin (刘斌), chief of Huancui District Police Station: [phone]Qin Xiaodong (秦晓东), officer in charge of Ms. Zou’s case: [phone], [phone], [phone]Dong Xiaofei (董晓飞), director of Weihai City Police Department: [phone], [phone]Zou Wei (邹伟), secretary of Huancui District Political and Legal Affairs Committee: [phone]Li Haiting (李海廷), deputy secretary of Huancui District Political and Legal Affairs Committee and director of 610 Office: [phone], [phone]

(More perpetrators’ contact information is available in the original Chinese article.)

Related article in Chinese:

山东威海邹华香被囚看守所-恐面临司法迫害