(Minghui.org) At least seven residents of Wuhan City, Hubei Province, were arrested between late 2023 and mid-2024 for practicing Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999. Their current detention locations remain unknown as the police have not informed their families of their case status.
Family of Three Detained
Mr. Huang Keming (a retired mathematics professor from Wuhan University) and Ms. Peng Ruilin (who is retired from the Hubei Province Maternal-Child Health Center), both 72, were arrested at home at 6 p.m. on December 12, 2023. Around 10 p.m., Ms. Peng was transferred to the Wuchang District Brainwashing Center. Her husband was taken home at 2 a.m. to be present during the police raid and then held at the police station overnight. He was released around 11 a.m. on December 13 after he developed some illness symptoms. The police, however, arrested him again on January 11, 2024.
While the couple’s daughter, Ms. Huang Liyu, was notified of her mother’s transfer to the brainwashing center on December 13, 2023, she was not given any further updates. After her father’s latest arrest, the police also refused to disclose his whereabouts. Ms. Huang made numerous inquiries, but the police never gave her a clear answer. Her family and friends suddenly lost contact with her around April 23, 2024. They suspect that she was arrested by the same Luojiashan Police Station that arrested her parents. It’s unclear where she and her father are being detained. It’s also unknown whether her mother is still held at the brainwashing center.
This is not the first time that the family of three have been targeted for their faith. Ms. Huang went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong on December 25, 2000 and was arrested there. The then-18-year-old Wuhan University freshman was taken back to Hubei Province and served a one-year term at the Hewan Labor Camp.
In terms of the couple, Mr. Huang was sent to the Hubei Province Brainwashing Center in 2004 by his school. He was arrested again on June 1, 2005, while teaching a class. He was taken to the same brainwashing center afterwards. Years later, Ms. Peng was arrested on September 18, 2019, after a colleague reported her for talking to a patient about Falun Gong. She was detained for 15 days.
Twice Given Forced Labor, Ms. Xiao Yingxue Detained Again
Ms. Xiao Yingxue, 54, was arrested outside her apartment building on June 7, 2024, by seven people from the Hanjiadun Police Station and the local street committee. One of the officers was surnamed Ai with a badge number of 028369.
Ms. Xiao was given 15 days of detention at a local lockup. Her family went to pick her up on the 16th day, only to be told that she was transferred to an unknown location.
Prior to her latest persecution, Ms. Xiao was arrested numerous other times in the past and brutally tortured to critical condition on more than one occasion. She was given 18 months of forced labor following an arrest in March 2001. Her employer, Qiaokou Real Estate Group, was forced to fire her in 2003 after being threatened by the authorities. Her husband soon divorced her for fear of being implicated.
After another arrest in June 2010, Ms. Xiao was given one year and three months of forced labor. When her term expired on October 6, 2011, she was taken straight to a brainwashing center.
Ms. Xiao later landed a job as a civil servant at the Qiaokou District Commerce Bureau, but she was fired again because she practices Falun Gong.
Three Other Cases
Ms. Ren Zhimei, 67, was arrested on April 26, 2024, while talking to people about Falun Gong outside an elementary school. She was given 15 days of detention and transferred to a brainwashing center on the 16th day. Her family was not told which brainwashing center she is being held.
Ms. Chen Jing was arrested at home on June 20, 2024, and her family did not know where she was taken.
Ms. Yang Yuzhen was arrested at home on June 25, 2024, by officers from the Hanyang District Police Department. Her family was told that she was given five days of detention but she was not released as the police promised. An insider revealed that she had been transferred to a brainwashing center, but it’s not known where she is being held.
Related Article in Chinese:
Related Reports:
Daughter Likely Arrested for Seeking Updates on Parents in Detention for Practicing Falun Gong
Persecution of Falun Gong Linked to China's Educational System, Including Colleges and Universities
University Students in China Illegally Sent to Forced Labor Camps
Public Servant Ms. Xiao Yingxue Transferred Secretly after Enduring 15 Months in a Forced Labor Camp
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