(Minghui.org) A Baoji City, Shaanxi Province resident has been held in a psychiatric hospital for over three weeks for her faith in Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
The police first went to Ms. Zhang Caixia’s home to harass her on August 25, 2021. As she wasn’t home at the time, they arrested her the next day at the Weibin Hospital, where she worked.
Ms. Zhang was first held at a hotel after her arrest and then transferred to Wangjiaya Rehabilitation Center, which is in fact the municipal mental hospital. Since the persecution began, the hospital has been used as one of the local facilities to detain Falun Gong practitioners for their faith.
Ms. Wang’s family didn’t know about her detention location until they went to the local police station to inquire about her case on September 7. When they went to the psychiatric hospital to visit her, the guards didn’t allow them to see her in person, but only through a video chat. It was reported that the Baoji City Political and Legal Affairs Committee ordered her arrest and would not approve her release unless she wrote a statement renouncing Falun Gong.
When her husband returned to the police station on September 13 to demand her release, the police also ordered him to write a statement to renounce his shared faith in Falun Gong and threatened to arrest him.
Ms. Zhang’s arrest came when her daughter, Ms. Wang Juxiang, a mother of two young children, was still serving a four-year term for practicing Falun Gong. Ms. Zhang’s family is calling on the international community to pay attention to their cases.
Since the onset of the persecution, both Ms. Zhang and Ms. Wang have been repeatedly targeted for their faith.
A mass arrest of local practitioners took place shortly after the Baoji City 610 Office openly slandered Falun Gong on TV on October 26, 2005. At least 30 practitioners, including Ms. Zhang, Ms. Wang, Ms. Nie Daimin, Ms. Sha Yulian, and Ms. Li Lianyu, were taken to brainwashing sessions hosted in local guest houses.
A group of officers from the Baopinglu Police Station broke into Ms. Zhang’s home on July 8, 2009. With a search warrant that had no official seal, they confiscated her Falun Gong books, a TV, a media box, a DVD, and a speaker. The police also ordered Ms. Zhang to sign a statement to renounce Falun Gong, but she refused to comply. Her daughter, Ms. Wang, was arrested after her.
Ms. Wang was arrested again with her father on November 21, 2018. Although her father was released after two weeks of detention, Ms. Wang remained in custody and was later convicted.
Ms. Zhang was arrested not long after the arrests of her husband and daughter. She was held at the Lingyun Hotel and forced to sit in a metal chair for two weeks. She was then transferred to the Baoji City No. 2 Detention Center and detained there for another ten days. She developed high blood pressure while in custody and was released on bail around January 20, 2019.
Related Report:
Four Shaanxi Residents, Including 81-Year-Old, Sentenced to Prison for Their Faith
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