(Minghui.org) A few days after a police officer deceived Ms. Li Qiyao’s son into sending her home from his residence in another province, the 72-year-old woman was taken into custody to serve time for her faith in Falun Gong.
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Ms. Li Qiyao, a resident of Huangshi City, Hubei Province, had been staying with her son’s family in Jiangsu Province and helping care for her grandson in the past two years. An officer from Gang District Domestic Security Office in Huangshi called her son in early October 2022 and asked him to take her back to sign some paperwork. The officer promised that they wouldn’t put her in prison this time, but would just place her under residential surveillance. He also threatened to go to Jiangsu to arrest her if her son didn’t comply.
Having believed in the police, Ms. Li’s son took her back to Huangshi, only to have her arrested a few days later. Ms. Li was first held at the Fenglieshan Detention Center and then transferred to the Hubei Province Women’s Prison. It’s not clear whether she ever went through a court trial or how long her prison term is.
Ms. Li’s latest ordeal stemmed from her earlier arrest on August 20, 2021. Unaware of her arrest, a local Falun Gong practitioner went to visit her later that day. As no one opened the door and she also saw plainclothes officers nearby, she suspected that Ms. Li had been arrested.
With Ms. Li’s son and daughter-in-law living in Jiangsu, the practitioner contacted her other relative who lives close by. The relative came a few days later and opened her door. He was shocked to see that her home was in a mess and her Falun Gong books and materials were all gone. Ms. Li’s neighbor told him that more than ten officers broke into her home in the early morning on August 20, 2021, and raided her place.
It was later confirmed that Ms. Li was first held in a brainwashing center located in a hotel and then transferred to the Huangshi City No.1 Detention Center, as she refused to sign the statement to renounce Falun Gong.
Ms. Li weighed about 132 lbs before her arrest. But when she was released on December 25, 2021, she had lost nearly half of her weight, at about 77 lbs. Her son invited her to live with his family, only to have her arrested again two years later.
Prior to her latest ordeal, Ms. Li previously served time in a labor camp and prison for practicing Falun Gong.
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