(Minghui.org) Today's news from China includes incidents of persecution that took place in 17 cities or counties in 5 provinces, where at least 16 practitioners were recently persecuted for their belief.

1. [Tianjin] Mr. Zhou Xiangyang Taken to Prison Hospital Due to Organ Failure
2. [Liaoyang City, Liaoning Province] Mr. Di Shaoqun Tried in Court
3. [Weifang City, Shandong Province] Ms. Zhou Yingmin and Ms. Cao Guilian Arrested
4. [Wuhan City, Hubei Province] Ms. Xia Huanzhen Harassed
5. [Linqing City, Shandong Province] Practitioners Harassed by Police
6. [Zhaoyuan City, Shandong Province] Ms. Duan Shuying Harassed
7. [Zhaoyuan City, Shandong Province] Ms. Wang Meiju’s Son Harassed
8. [Handan City, Hebei Province] Mr. Yue Sheguo Faces Trial
9. [Shanghai] Mr. Zhao Hongbo Illegally Searched
10. [Chengdu City, Sichuan Province] Ms. Qing Liju and Xu Ziqun Arrested
11. [Dongying City, Shandong Province] Wang Hongde Harassed at Work

1. [Tianjin] Mr. Zhou Xiangyang Taken to Prison Hospital Due to Organ Failure

Mr. Zhou Xiangyang was one of 60 cost engineers nationwide and worked in the Industrial and Economic Office of Tianjin Railroad Third Exploration and Design Institute. He became a Falun Gong practitioner in 1996. After 1999 he was repeatedly detained, held in a forced labor camp, and was imprisoned for 10 years. 

He held a two-year-long hunger strike to protest the persecution. Police believed he was dying and let his family take him home. He recovered through practicing Falun Gong but was arrested at home with his wife on March 2, 2015. He was sentenced to seven years in prison. His wife, Ms. Li Shanshan, was sentenced to six years in prison.

He launched a hunger strike again. It had been five years. He was emaciated, could not walk, sat in a wheelchair. When he loudly shouted, “Falun Dafa is good” in several crowded locations, inmate monitors pressed him down, and stuffed his mouth with cloths and steamed buns. Guards sprayed him in the face with pepper spray. He almost suffocated.

It was said that he was recently taken to the prison hospital due to organ failure.

2. [Liaoyang City, Liaoning Province] Mr. Di Shaoqun Tried in Court

Mr. Di Shaoqun was tried in the Hongwei District Court on the afternoon of March 9, 2021.

3. [Weifang City, Shandong Province] Ms. Zhou Yingmin and Ms. Cao Guilian Arrested

Ms. Zhou Yingmin and Ms. Cao Guilian were followed and arrested by officers from the Beiguan Police Station when they were distributing Falun Gong flyers on March 5, 2021. When Ms. Zhou's son returned home after work, he discovered that she was gone, and he began looking for her. He found her in the police station and took her home. Her home was ransacked. Ms. Cao is still being held in the police station and under police custody.

4. [Wuhan City, Hubei Province] Ms. Xia Huanzhen Harassed

Ms. Xiao Huanzhen was recently harassed by clerks from the Hongyan Village committee. They also harassed her two sons and threatened to interfere with her sons’ jobs.

5. [Linqing City, Shandong Province] Practitioners Harassed by Police

Ms. Lu Guilan and Ms. Zhou Enbo were taken to the Guan County Procuratorate for signatures by officer Fan Haitao and others from the Linqing Domestic Security Division on February 20, 2021. Mr. Li Qiwen, a detained practitioner, was ordered to sign a paper by the officers the same day.

Ms. Ma Shaojie was taken to the Shandong Women’s Prison before Chinese New Year.

6. [Zhaoyuan City, Shandong Province] Ms. Duan Shuying Harassed

Ms. Duan Shuying, in her 70s, was harassed at home by seven people from the Qishan Town government, the police station, and the Zougezhuang Village committee on February 5, 2021. Yin Hongshan and Yin Hongwei of the village committee were among the harassers. They tried to force Ms. Duan to sign a guarantee statement to renounce Falun Gong. She refused. The officers seized a picture of the founder of Falun Gong and a New Tang Dynasty TV receiver tuner from her home, and threatened to arrest her.

7. [Zhaoyuan City, Shandong Province] Ms. Wang Meiju’s Son Harassed

Ms. Wang Meiju’s son, who does not practice Falun Gong, was harassed at home by Xialinzhuang Village Communist Party secretary Zhang Shaojun and four people from the Qishan Town government and the police station on the morning of February 5, 2021. They threatened him, and tried to force him to make his mother to sign a guarantee statement renouncing Falun Gong. He refused.

8. [Handan City, Hebei Province] Mr. Yue Sheguo Faces Trial

Mr. Yue Sheguo was arrested for distributing Falun Gong flyers in the Xinzhuangbao Village area on the evening of June 14, 2020. Officers from the Guangfu Town Police Station delivered a Criminal Detention Notice against Mr. Yue on June 17.

Trial judge Ye Junhua and others from the Congtai District Court will try Mr. Yue in the Yongnian District Court on the morning of March 12, 2021.

9. [Shanghai] Mr. Zhao Hongbo Illegally Searched

Mr. Zhao Hongbo boarded a high speed train from the Shanghai South Songjiang Station, and transferred in the Hongqiao Station to Wuhan City on March 2, 2021. Mr. Zhao was questioned and subjected to a bag search and cell phone check while in the security check point in the Shanghai South Songjiang Station and after he boarded at the Hongqiao Station.

Mr. Zhao was questioned and subjected to a body search and bag search while aboard a high speed train from Wuhan to Shanghai on March 6. 

10. [Chengdu City, Sichuan Province] Ms. Qing Liju and Xu Ziqun Arrested

Ms. Qing Liju and Xu Ziqun (gender unknown) of Mengyang Town, Pengzhou City were arrested on the morning of March 9, 2021.

11. [Dongying City, Shandong Province] Wang Hongde Harassed at Work

Shengli Oil Field 610 Office ordered work units to harass practitioners. Zhang Yong of Zhuqi Technical Service Center followed the order and forced workers to watch practitioner Wang Hongde (gender unknown) in turn on March 8, 2021. Wang was forced to watch video slandering Falun Gong and ordered to write statements renouncing Falun Gong.