(Minghui.org) Mr. Ding Qian from Yinchuan City, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, has been detained for more than two months for his faith, Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) since July 1999.
Mr. Ding Qian (also known as Ding Fadong) developed high blood pressure in detention, and his bail application was denied. His lawyer submitted a second bail application on July 24, 2023, and is still awaiting a decision at the time of this report.
Officers Li and Feng from the Wenhua Street Police Station in the Xingqing District, Yinchuan City, called Mr. Ding separately on the morning of May 24, 2023. They ordered him to report to their police station. Mr. Ding texted his family at 11 a.m. and said he was going to the police station.
As soon as he stepped out of his apartment building, a man asked him if he was Ding Qian. He said yes and seven plainclothes agents came out of nowhere and cuffed his hands behind his back.
They searched him and found his key. They then went inside his home and ransacked it. Mr. Ding kept urging them to not persecute Falun Gong practitioners and also warned them that what they were doing was illegal: Searching a private home without showing any police IDs or a search warrant. The police also did not produce a list of the items they confiscated or home raid records as required by law.
The officers took Mr. Ding to the Wenhua Street Police Station. He learned from their conversation that they, including captain Wang Hao, were actually from the Qingtongxia City Domestic Security Office. They interrogated him for hours before taking him to the Qingtongxia City Hospital for a physical examination.
Qingtongxia City is about 30 miles away from Yinchuan City and under the administration of Wuzhong City.
Mr. Ding was found to have a blood pressure reading of 194/149 mmHg (the normal range is 120/80). Despite his high blood pressure, captain Wang still got the Wuzhong City Detention Center to admit him. The guards there only gave him one steamed bun to eat every day.
When Mr. Ding’s family realized he did not return home on May 24 they went to the Wenhua Street Police Station the next day to ask where he was. The police denied ever contacting him. His family insisted on seeing the surveillance videos. The police eventually relented and the videos showed Mr. Ding being escorted inside the police station with his hands cuffed behind his back. Only then did the police chief admit that Mr. Ding had been taken away by officers from the Qingtongxia City Domestic Security Office.
Mr. Ding’s family went to the Qingtongxia City Domestic Security Office and was told by a security guard that he had violated Article 300 of the Criminal Law, which stipulates anyone using a cult organization to undermine law enforcement must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. His family members argued that no law in China has ever criminalized Falun Gong or labeled it a cult. The guard told them to go to the Wuzhong City Detention Center.
The detention center refused to confirm that Mr. Ding was there, much less allow them to visit him.
On June 7, Mr. Ding’s son received a call from the Qingtongxia City Domestic Security Office saying his father’s arrest had been formally approved.
About three days later, officers from the Xingqing District Domestic Security Office in Yinchuan City interrogated Mr. Ding’s son for three hours at the Wenhua Street Police Station.
Mr. Ding’s family hired a lawyer, who visited him at the detention center on June 15. The lawyer learned that he was still suffering from severe hypertension. The next day, his family and the lawyer visited officer Wang at the Qingtongxia City Domestic Security Office and submitted a request to have Mr. Ding released on bail.
When they checked with Wang a few days later, he said he had already rejected the bail request because 194/149 mmHg was a normal blood pressure reading.
On July 24, Mr. Ding’s family and the lawyer returned to the detention center. The lawyer was allowed to see him, but not his family. Mr. Ding was still very weak. That afternoon, the lawyer and his family submitted another request to have him released on bail. They have not received a response.
Mr. Ding used to teach music at a middle school in Qingtongxia City. He was an excellent keyboard player and his composition won an award at a national competition. He began to practice Falun Gong in 1998 and soon recovered from his illnesses that plagued him for more than two decades.
After the persecution began one year later, he served four forced labor terms between 1999 and 2013 and was repeatedly tortured. He was released from his last labor camp term in May 2013, only to be arrested again on September 15 of that year. He was sentenced to three years and was brutally tortured at the Yinchuan Prison.
Related Reports:
Two Ningxia Province Practitioners Remain Illegally Detained
Award-winning Music Teacher Mr. Ding Fadong and His Friend Mr. You Haijun Illegally Tried
Mr. You Haijun and Mr. Ding Fadong from Ningxia Arrested
Evidence Presented During Trial Against Mr. Ding Qian and Mr. You Haijun Was Fabricated
Award-Winning Music Teacher Arrested Again after Being Held in a Forced Labor Camp Four Times
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