(Minghui.org) Three residents of Shihezi City, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region who were arrested in November 2020 for their faith in Falun Gong are now confirmed to have been taken to a brainwashing center, although the exact location of the facility remains unclear at the time of writing.
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is an ancient spiritual and meditation discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
The three practitioners include a divorced mother and a married couple.
Mother Arrested, Daughter Harassed
The authorities started harassing Ms. Zhan Ying in early November 2020. She was arrested on November 24 and had her Falun Gong books and other personal belongings confiscated. It’s reported that Ms. Zhan has developed high blood pressure in custody.
The police also harassed Ms. Zhan’s daughter, Ms. Zou Xiaoyu, and pressured her father (who had divorced Ms. Zhan) into forcibly removing her from her residence.
Ms. Zou, who also practices Falun Gong, has likewise been persecuted for her faith. She was arrested and had her home ransacked in 2018. She was first held at the Shihezi No.1 Detention Center and then transferred to a mental hospital before being taken to a brainwashing center. She was often beaten and forced to stand for long hours during her extended detention at the brainwashing center.
Unable to bear the pressure, she inflicted harm on herself several times. She was unable to move and became mute for a period of time. Although she gradually recovered after being released, she would still become mute, shake involuntarily, and feel weakness in her legs when she was distressed.
Couple Arrested, Child Home Alone
The other two practitioners who were recently taken to the brainwashing center are Ms. Wang Xiaoying and her husband Mr. Bao Feng.
Ms. Wang was arrested at home on November 27, 2020. The police ransacked their home and confiscated her cellphone, bank cards, home keys, her child’s tablet and her father-in-law’s pension card.
Two days after Ms. Wang’s arrest, the police called Mr. Bao and told him to go to the police station. He went there at around 3 p.m. When he hadn’t returned home at 9 p.m., his child became worried and went to the police station to look for him, but was stonewalled. With both parents arrested, the child burst into tears and stayed at the police station until 2 a.m. The police had to send the child back and asked the child to pack some clothes for the couple, after disclosing that they had been put under residential surveillance at a designated location.
The couple’s arrests also caused tremendous anxiety to Mr. Bao’s father, who is in his 80s. With no one to take care of him, he moved into a senior center. The couple’s child, on the other hand, stays at home and goes to school alone. The child has often had nightmares about the couple’s arrests and woken up crying.
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