(Minghui.org) A Ma’anshan City, Anhui Province resident was taken to Anhui Women’s Prison on February 26, 2021 to serve a 3.5-year term for practicing Falun Gong, which she credits for curing her breast cancer, depression, and severe nasal allergy. Ms. Shang Qin has since been forced to take unknown medications and is also denied family visits.

Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual and meditation discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.

A dozen plainclothes officers showed up in Ms. Shang’s daughter’s store on April 25, 2020, and arrested her. Her daughter was also arrested when she tried to stop the police from taking her mother away. One of the officers videotaped the entire process. 

At the Huoli Police Station, Ms. Shang tried to tell the police why the persecution of Falun Gong was wrong. The police refused to listen and said they had planned to arrest her and her daughter a long time ago. They had also sent out officers to monitor Ms. Shang’s daily activities.

The following day, Ms. Shang was transferred to a detention center near the Huanshan District Police Department and her daughter was released. Before releasing her daughter, the police warned her not to report their arrest to the Minghui website, or they would arrest her again. 

Traumatized by the arrest and police violence, Ms. Shang’s daughter lost sleep for two weeks. Her home was turned upside down and she found out that all her mother’s Falun Gong books and photos of Falun Gong’s founder disappeared. Her store was also ransacked and her computers were gone. 

Ms. Shang’s arrest was approved by the Huashan District Procuratorate on May 28, 2020. A prosecutor once ordered her to write statements to renounce Falun Gong in exchange for a lighter sentence. She refused to do so, as she believed that she didn’t do anything wrong in practicing Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance, and telling others about these principles. 

The Huashan District Court sentenced Ms. Shang to 3.5 years with a 20,000-yuan fine on November 16, 2020. She appealed, but the Ma’anshan City Intermediate Court upheld the original verdict.

Ms. Shang was transferred to Anhui Women’s Prison on February 26, 2021. As she developed hypertension due to the abuses in the detention center, the prison is using that as an excuse to force her to take unknown drugs.

Prior to her latest arrest, Ms. Shang was once arrested on May 4, 2017 for distributing Falun Gong fliers. After seven months of detention, during which time she was handcuffed and shackled, the Huashan District Court gave her 1.5 years with a 5,000-yuan fine on December 29, 2017. 

Perpetrators involved in Ms. Shang Qin’s persecution:Yang Ming (杨鸣) from Huashan District Court in Ma’anshan City, Anhui ProvinceYe Yi (叶毅), chief judge of Ma’anshan City Intermediate Court +86-555-2370024 Xie Biao (谢彪), judge of Ma’anshan City Intermediate CourtLin Jianmin (林建敏), judge of Ma’anshan City Intermediate CourtLiu Siqi (刘思淇), Clerk at Ma’anshan City Intermediate Court