(Minghui.org) Minghui.org recently learned that a 75-year-old resident of Guiyang City, Guizhou Province was sentenced to three years and fined 10,000 yuan in February 2023 for her faith in Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999.
Ms. Yao Qiuyuan, 75, was arrested at an unknown time after she was seen on surveillance cameras distributing Falun Gong informational materials. The Nanming District Court convicted her in February 2023 and she is now serving time at the Guizhou Province First Women’s Prison (also known as Yang’ai Women’s Prison).
This is not the first time that Ms. Yao has been targeted for her faith. She was previously arrested multiple times and served a three-year forced labor term.
Ms. Yao was summoned to the Sanqiao Police Station one autumn day in 2001 because someone reported her for putting up Falun Gong posters. She was taken to the Baihuashan Lockup that night and held there for 15 days. The guards also forced her to pay more than 200 yuan for her living expenses there.
The Sanqiao Police Station officers arrested Ms. Yao in mid-April 2002 after receiving a tip that she talked to people about Falun Gong. She was held at the Baihuashan Lockup for 15 days. Only two days after her release, the police took her back into custody and gave her three years of forced labor.
While serving time at the Zhongba Women’s Labor Camp, Ms. Yao was forced to watch and read anti-Falun Gong materials and ordered to renounce her faith. The guards did not allow her to sleep for three nights straight. They also forced her to stand for long periods of time and barred her from using the restroom or taking showers from time to time. She had scabies all over her body, which were itchy beyond words. Her blood pressure shot up and her head felt extremely heavy.
Ms. Yao was not released right away when her term was up. Instead, she was held for about an additional weak before being released. The local police and street committee kept harassing her after she returned home. In 2014, officer Han and a plainclothes agent harassed her at home and forcibly collected her blood sample without explaining why.
In June 2014, Ms. Yao was talking to people about Falun Gong at a park when she was arrested by the police. The Sanqiao Police Station officers raided her home and confiscated her calendars bearing Falun Gong information.
An officer showed up at her door in May 2015. She was not in and he took pictures of her front door.
Ms. Yao and Ms. Tang Wenzhen (then 78 and also a Falun Gong practitioner) were talking to a few drivers about Falun Gong at a bus station at around 9:30 a.m. on April 16, 2016, when four patrol officers spotted them. The police took them to the Binyang Police Station and searched them and their bags. The two women were also forced to have their pictures taken and blood drawn.
After a few hours of interrogation, more than ten officers put the two women in an unmarked van and drove to Ms. Tang’s home first. After raiding her place, they went to raid Ms. Yao’s home. The police did not issue a list of confiscated items, but the two practitioners both had their Falun Gong books, informational materials, DVD, MP3 player, and other valuables seized.
At 11:50 p.m. that night, the police took the two women to a hospital for physical examinations, including blood draw, urine test, blood pressure measurement, EKG, and X-ray. It was already after 1 a.m. when the checkup was done. Two hours later, the police drove Ms. Yao to a faraway place to have her blood pressure measured again. She and Ms. Tang were not released until 6 a.m. next day.
In late April 2016, officer Han Liping from the Shengquan Police Station installed a surveillance camera facing Ms. Yao’s front door. Han also led agents to harass Ms. Yao at home multiple times.
On May 6, 2016, officer Qin Jingtao from the Shengquan Police Station led another agent to harass Ms. Yao and videotape her and her home. Qin returned five days later to raid her home without a search warrant. He did not issue a list of confiscated items as required by law.
Officer Han came on February 13, 2017, but Ms. Yao didn’t let her in because she failed to produce a search warrant. Han returned with a search warrant on February 28 that year and confiscated Ms. Yao’s Falun Gong books.
Han showed up again on April 6, 2017 and questioned if Ms. Yao had any Falun Gong informational materials at home. Five days later officer Qin descended upon her home. She demanded to see a search warrant. Qin asked a subordinate to go back to the police station to fetch one. That officer returned with a different documentation, but Qin still ordered his subordinates to raid Ms. Yao’s home. They confiscated her Falun Gong books and her complaint against former Chinese dictator Jiang Zemin for launching the persecution.
After the raid, Qin arranged people to shadow Ms. Yao. At the end of April 2017, he replaced the existing surveillance camera facing her door with a new one.
Officer Han and two others harassed Ms. Yao at home on August 18, 2017 and warned her not to go out to distribute Falun Gong informational materials.
Related Report:
Copyright © 1999-2025 Minghui.org. All rights reserved.
