(Minghui.org) Only three months after Mr. Xia Hongmin was released from serving 1.5 years for practicing Falun Gong, the Baoding City, Hebei Province, resident was arrested again.
Around 7:30 a.m. on April 30, 2024, a police van stopped outside of Mr. Xia’s apartment building. Five officers, with some in plainclothes, knocked on his door. After he opened it, the police barged in and flashed a piece of paper in front of him, but without allowing him or his family to read what was written on it. One officer held a camera to videotape Mr. Xia. They said that someone mailed a letter to the police and they suspected it was him, after checking the surveillance videos.
Mr. Xia was held at the police station overnight. His family was notified the next day that he was put on administrative detention. He is currently held at the Laishui County Lockup.
Mr. Xia was previously arrested on July 8, 2022 for talking to people about Falun Gong at a community fair. When his family called the Laishui County Detention Center in May 2023, they were stunned to hear that he had already been transferred to the Jidong Branch of the Hebei Province Prison Administration Bureau on April 18, 2023. There are eight prisons within the Jidong Branch and they are all located in Tangshan City. The detention center refused to say which prison Mr. Xia was taken to.
The family called judge Xie Wenhai of the Zhuozhou City Court, who told them that Mr. Xia was sentenced to 1.5 years on March 31, 2023. Xie said that they didn’t inform the family of his trial or conviction because he didn’t have a lawyer.
His loved ones called the Jidong Branch numerous times but were always given the runaround and told things such as, “There is no such a person named Xia Hongmin on our roster,” “This is an internal secret and we cannot disclose to you where Xia Hongmin is jailed,” and, “If you want to find out where he is, I dare you to bring your ID and come here.”
In mid-January 2024, nearly a week after Mr. Xia’s scheduled release, he still hadn’t returned home. The family went to the Laishui County Detention Center. The guard finally told them that he was held at the Jidong Fifth Prison. They called the prison, but the guard denied he was there. After the family revealed they learned about his incarceration there through the detention center guard, the prison guard then told them to pick up Mr. Xia on January 17.
The police harassed Mr. Xia and demanded to photograph not long after his release.
For the past two decades, Mr. Xia has been repeatedly targeted for upholding his faith. Following an arrest on April 7, 2000, several government officials burned his lips with cigarettes, causing blisters all over his mouth. They also stripped off his clothes and beat him with a leather belt, a wooden stick and a chair leg. In another torture, they forced him to be on his knees, placed a metal rod on his calves and then had three police officers step on it. His screams were heartbreaking to hear.
Related Reports:
Hebei Man Secretly Sentenced to 1.5 Years for Practicing Falun Gong
Hebei Man Faces Prosecution for Raising Awareness about the Persecution of His Faith
Police Threaten To Cut Off Falun Gong Practitioners’ Fingers While Collecting Their Fingerprints
Mr. Xia Hongmin in Laishui County, Hebei Province Arrested Again
Persecution of Practitioner Mr. Xia Hongmin from Laishui County in Hebei Province
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