(Minghui.org)
Name: Wang HaiqianChinese Name: 王海乾Gender: MaleAge: 60City: Dazhu CountyProvince: SichuanOccupation: Middle school teacherDate of Death: November 20, 2023Date of Most Recent Arrest: July 27, 2019Most Recent Place of Detention: Jiazhou Prison
A 60-year-old resident of Dazhu County, Sichuan Province was denied medical parole while fighting metastatic cancer in a prison hospital. Mr. Wang Haiqian, however, was discharged hours later when the prison hospital noted that he was on the verge of death. He passed away weeks later, on November 20, 2023.
Mr. Wang, a former middle school teacher, was arrested on July 27, 2019 for his faith in Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party. He was sentenced to 7.5 years with a 50,000-yuan fine on December 29, 2020 and admitted to the Jiazhou Prison on August 5, 2021 after his appeal was rejected. He was brutally tortured in prison and his health quickly declined. He was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2022 and taken to a prison hospital on March 8, 2023.
Mr. Wang’s family was required to seek approval from numerous government agencies before he could be released on medical parole. They spent the next few months traveling back and forth between four different locations, including Leshan City (where the prison is located), Chengdu City (where the Sichuan Province Prison Administration Bureau and the prison hospital are located), Dazhu County (where his home is located), and Dazhou City (which oversees Dazhu County).
The relevant government agencies in those four places gave the family the run-around and used various excuses to not process the parole request. On October 10, 2023, the Sichuan Province Prison Administration Bureau finally gave a firm answer, saying that no Falun Gong practitioners would be allowed medical parole and that their bodies would be sent back home should they die in custody.
Hours later, however, at 1 a.m. on October 11, 2023, Mr. Wang was taken to the Dazhu County Judicial Bureau by an ambulance. His family was then summoned there to pick him up. They were forced to sign a consent form to cover all his medical expenses during his seven-month-long stay at the prison hospital and a waiver to relieve the hospital of any liability should he die. There was no medical parole form to sign though, as his discharge from the hospital was not deemed “release on parole” since the Sichuan Province Prison Administration Bureau had rejected the parole request.
Mr. Wang was extremely weak and unable to walk. His son carried him on his back and took him home. During his final weeks, Mr. Wang was ordered to report to the Dazhu County Judicial Bureau every day and had to seek permission from the bureau whenever he needed to go out for doctor’s appointments. He died in the Dazhu County Chinese Medicine Hospital on November 20, 2023.
The afternoon before Mr. Wang’s funeral, the Dazhu County Political and Legal Affairs Committee (an extra-judicial agency tasked with overseeing the persecution of Falun Gong) and vice captain Liao Zhibo of the Dazhu County Domestic Security Office spent more than one hour threatening Mr. Wang’s family to not disclose his persecution to the outside world. They forced his son to sign an agreement to not invite other local Falun Gong practitioners to attend the funeral and to not share with them any information about him.
On the day of the funeral, many officers were seen guarding the scene and ready to arrest any practitioner who dared to get near.
Despite the authorities’ attempt to block the news of Mr. Wang’s passing, some practitioners managed to gather information about his ordeal and submit his persecution facts to Minghui.org.
Cancer Stricken After Brutal Torture
The Jiazhou Prison in Sichuan Province was created by merging the former Wumaping Forced Labor Camp and Shawan Prison. The prison is notorious for persecuting Falun Gong practitioners incarcerated for upholding their faith.
After Mr. Wang was admitted to the prison on August 5, 2021, he was forced to squat every day for half a month, during which time he was not allowed to sleep or use the restroom. He was given very little food to eat and must finish the meal in seconds, which meant he was often unable to even finish the meager amount of food. This torture is prevalent in prisons in Sichuan Province.
Four inmates were assigned to watch him around the clock. The goal was to break his will and make him sign various statements to renounce and denounce Falun Gong.
At one point, Mr. Wang was held in Ward Ten, which was used to hold steadfast practitioners. Dubbed “a prison within a prison,” practitioners are subjected to even more cruel torture here, including wearing straitjacket, force feeding with chili water, putting a cotton hat or a metal helmet on practitioners’ heads over the summer, having them stand under the scorching sun, and placing them in solitary confinement.
According to insiders, Ward Ten had the highest percentage of inmates who had died of torture in prison.
Mr. Wang started to have blood in his stool in 2022 and was diagnosed with colon cancer. On March 8, 2023, he was taken to the Jintang Prison Hospital in Chengdu City. The hospital contacted his family, urging them to seek medical parole for him as they did not have the facility to perform surgery on him.
Parole Request Not Processed for Seven Months
His wife, also a Falun Gong practitioner, contacted the Dazhu County Domestic Security Office. The aforementioned vice captain Liao directed her to the Dazhu County 610 Office and the Dazhu County Political and Legal Affairs Committee, which sent her back to the domestic security office. Liao then said he could only grant medical parole on the condition that Mr. Wang’s name not appear anywhere on Minghui.org, even after he died. It was apparent that Liao did not expect Mr. Wang to survive.
Mr. Wang’s wife said that she could only promise to not submit her husband’s persecution facts to Minghui.org herself, but she could not stop other local Falun Gong practitioners from doing so. Liao then demanded that she talk other practitioners out of trying to expose her husband’s persecution and that she work to persuade two specific practitioners (surnamed Wang and Ma) to renounce Falun Gong.
Liao kept making more demands and eventually said that approval from the Dazhu County Judicial Bureau would be required. Mr. Wang’s wife contacted parole officer Leng Wenli of the bureau. Leng initially rejected her parole request, but later said that she must seek approval from the Dazhu County Political and Legal Affairs Committee, the Dazhu County Domestic Security Office, the Dazhou City Political and Legal Affairs Committee, the Dazhou City Domestic Security Office, the Dazhou City Judicial Bureau, the Sichuan Province Prison Administration Bureau (located in Chengdu City), the Jiazhou Prison (located in Leshan City) and a few other agencies.
Those government agencies, however, gave Mr. Wang’s wife the run-around and used various excuses to not process her parole request.
While Mr. Wang’s wife was traveling back and forth between different cities to seek his medical parole, the prison hospital called her to say that his cancer had metastasized. The hospital called many more times and asked her to be mentally prepared for the worst as he was in critical condition several times.
According to insiders, the Jiazhou Prison refused to address Mr. Wang’s parole request because they feared that he would expose the torture in prison after he was released. The Sichuan Province Prison Administration Bureau kept delaying processing of his parole request because they feared that he’d soon recover from Falun Gong and demonstrate the extraordinary healing power of Falun Gong. The Dazhu County Political and Legal Affairs Committee and the Dazhu County Domestic Security Office had the same concern and also feared that Mr. Wang would organize Falun Gong activities again if he recovered (he was a volunteer organizer before the persecution began). The Dazhou City Political and Legal Affairs Committee and the Dazhou City Domestic Security Office did not want to greenlight the parole request because they feared Mr. Wang might move in with his son, who works in Dazhou, should he be released.
In order to lessen the concern of the Dazhou City Political and Legal Affairs Committee and the Dazhou City Domestic Security Office, Mr. Wang’s son transferred his household registration book from Dazhou City to Dazhu County. The younger man thought that this way, even if his father moved in with him, only Dazhu County would be responsible for monitoring his father. The authorities, however, still refused to approve Mr. Wang’s medical parole.
Parole Denied and Discharged from Prison Hospital Hours Later
The Sichuan Province Prison Administration Bureau finally notified Mr. Wang’s family on October 10, 2023 that it has decided to reject the parole request on grounds that no Falun Gong practitioners would be granted parole. The Bureau also stated that if Mr. Wang died in custody, his body would simply be sent back home.
The family vowed to file complaints against the Bureau and all other agencies. The Jiazhou Prison then promised to talk to the Bureau again. However, things took a drastic turn hours later, with the prison hospital sending Mr. Wang back to Dazhu County at 1 a.m. on October 11, 2023. His family was ordered to cover all his medical expenses incurred during his seven-month stay at the prison hospital. Mr. Wang had long lost his job for upholding his faith. His family had to borrow money to pay for his 5,000-yuan court fine and now continued medical treatments. They were heartbroken to lose him on November 20, 2023. Falun Gong restored Mr. Wang’s health, yet the relentless persecution claimed his life.
Taking up Falun Gong
Mr. Wang became a Chinese language teacher at the Zhubei Middle School in Dazhou County after graduating from Dazhu Normal University in 1983. He was a very talented and hard-working teacher, and his students always performed above grade level. In his 30s, Mr. Wang was promoted to an academic rank that most other teachers would not be able to achieve until at a much older age.
The long-term hard work, however, took a toll on Mr. Wang’s health. He suffered from sinusitis, superficial gastritis, stomach pain, dizziness and headaches. He contracted hepatitis B in 1994 and his condition kept worsening. He had swelling and pain in the liver area. He could not sleep on his right side, and felt weak all over. A medical expert told him that hepatitis was almost impossible to cure.
Mr. Wang’s wife began to practice Falun Gong in 1996 and felt very good about it. She urged him to give it a try as well. Mr. Wang joined her in August that year. Before long, his hepatitis symptoms disappeared. He also gradually recovered from his other illnesses. In the meantime, he became a better person by following Falun Gong’s principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. He later volunteered to serve as a coordinator for local Falun Gong practitioners.
After the persecution began in 1999, Mr. Wang was given two years of forced labor and thrice held in brainwashing centers prior to his 7.5-year prison sentence. He was also fired from his job for upholding his faith.
Two Years of Forced Labor
On the evening of July 20, 1999, the day the persecution started, Mr. Wang was arrested at home by officers Zhao Jiansheng and Qiutao from the Dazhu County Domestic Security Office. They held him at the Dazhu County Second Detention Center for two days. After he was released, the police still ordered him to write a statement to renounce Falun Gong and turn it in to their office. The police also arrested hundreds of local practitioners, held them in the village government, and ordered each of them to write a statement to renounce Falun Gong. If they didn’t write it, they would be detained.
In November 1999, Mr. Wang went to Beijing to appeal for the right to practice Falun Gong, only to be arrested and taken back to Dazhu County by Liu Dewan (a security guard at the Dazhu County Education Bureau) and Lu Yuexue from the Dzhu County Domestic Security Office. They took him to the Chuandong Prison, where he was placed in solitary confinement and forced to sit on a cold stone stool and “reflect on his mistake” all day long. He was given very little food during the time.
Mr. Wang was transferred to the Dazhu County Detention Center in January 2000. On the second day, the guards tied him and other practitioners up, hung a big poster board on each of their necks, pushed them onto a truck and then took them around town for a humiliation parade.
Mr. Wang was given a two-year term at the Dayan Forced Labor Camp in Ziyang City in April 2000. He was forced to do a variety of unpaid labor, including picking cotton; making straw ropes, firecrackers, and light bulbs; growing vegetables, and raising fish. Even in the freezing winter, he was forced to stand in the fish tank wearing shorts to remove dead fish. When he was released in September 2001, he had systematic edema and was in a delirious state.
Continued Harassment, Surveillance and Detention in Brainwashing Centers
The police continued to monitor Mr. Wang’s daily life and constantly harassed him after he was released. One time, officers Chen Guixiang, Zhao Jiansheng, Wen Li, and Qiu Tao broke in at midnight and searched his place.
Mr. Wang was once recorded by a surveillance camera while talking to a Falun Gong practitioner in a park. The next day, the police arrested and interrogated him. A similar incident happened another time when he met a practitioner, who had served time in the same labor camp with him, in a park. As they were talking, the police came. They searched and interrogated him.
Mr. Wang was visiting a practitioner who had just been released from prison on August 22, 2004, when chief Li Congzheng of the Beicheng Police Station led a group of police officers and broke in. They kept him detained for a month, during which time officer Chen Yilong interrogated him once.
Thrice Held in Brainwashing Centers
Around November 2004, Mr. Wang was taken to a brainwashing center and held there until January 2005, when the brainwashing center was disbanded. The local education bureau and his school were involved in his arrest.
He was arrested again around September 2007 and held in a different brainwashing center until January 2008.
As he was walking down the street on November 24, 2010, a police officer grabbed his hair, dragged him down some stairs and took him to a third brainwashing center. He wasn’t released until the school’s winter break started.
Related reports:
Police Keep Deceased Falun Gong Practitioner’s Family from Paying Their Respects
Sichuan Teacher Imprisoned for His Faith
Six Sichuan Residents Sentenced to Prison for Practicing Falun Gong
Six Sichuan Residents Tried for Their Faith
Dazhu County, Sichuan Province: 26 Falun Gong Practitioners Arrested in One Day, 5 Remain in Custody
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