(Minghui.org) Mr. Fan Zhigang and his wife Ms. Su Shuang of Huludao City, Liaoning Province were arrested and had their home raided on April 15, 2020, for refusing to give up their faith in Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since 1999.
Over the past 20 years, the couple has been repeatedly harassed and detained for the same reason. Their family has also been unjustly implicated.
Mr. Fan and Ms. Su are now the being held in Huludao City Detention Center. The police have already submitted their cases to the Longgang District Procuratorate.
Mr. Fan’s 78-year-old mother, Ms. He Fengyun, wrote an open letter to the authorities seeking the immediate release of her son and daughter-in-law.
Below is her letter.
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My name is He Fengyun. I have four sons and we all get along well, but I rely on my third son, Fan Zhigang, the most. He has always helped me shop for groceries, cook, and clean the house.
Zhigang and his wife Su Shuang both practice Falun Gong. Because they choose to uphold their faith and live by the principles Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance, they have been persecuted again and again over the past two decades.
In 2001, my son was on the police “Wanted” list for distributing materials about Falun Gong. He was forced to live away from home to avoid arrest. Both he and Shuang were later fired from the local zinc factory where they worked.
While he was away, the police harassed me and asked me where my son was. When I refused to tell them, they tapped into my landline and monitored my calls. They also harassed my relatives in other cities to try to find my son.
At that time, my grandson was only seven years old. Shuang did odd jobs to make enough to support the family and it was a really tough time for us.
In 2003, Shuang’s mother was diagnosed with brain cancer. It was too risky for her to be operated on, so Shuang suggest that she practice Falun Gong. Not long after that, she was reported and arrested.
Finding out that it was Shuang who got her mother to practice Falun Gong, the police released her mother and arrested Shuang. A month later, Shuang was sent to Masanjia Forced Labor Camp for a year and a half. By that time, Zhigang was still on the run to avoid the persecution. I had to help take care of my grandson during that time.
My father, who was 86 back then, was terribly upset by what had happened to Zhigang and Shuang. He fell ill the day after Shuang was arrested and passed away just days later.
As an award-winning middle school teacher, my husband had followed the Chinese Communist Party closely all his life. He couldn’t understand why people would be persecuted for simply trying to be a good person. He was angered, confused, and distressed.
My father had come to live with my husband and me when he was 72, and he had a very good relationship with my husband. His death was hard on my husband. Forty days after my father’s passing, my husband also died, at the age of 67.
After Shuang was released in 2005 (her term was extended for six months after the guards found part of a Falun Gong lecture in her possession), our family finally had a break from the persecution, and those two worked hard to get our family back on track.
Three years later, just prior to the Beijing Olympics, they were arrested again on the way to work. The police ransacked their home and took Zhigang to the detention center. He held a hunger strike to protest and was released in 35 days.
By the time he returned home, he was just skin and bones. My heart broke to see that. But he resumed practicing Falun Gong and soon regained his health.
Now Zhigang and Shuang have been arrested again. I heard the prosecutor has approved their arrests and they are now facing prosecution.
Zhigang and Shuang have suffered too much all these years. They didn’t do anything wrong by upholding their faith. I hope whoever sees this letter can help me rescue them. I urge the authorities to release them immediately.
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