(Minghui.org) Twenty-four years after the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) began persecuting Falun Gong in 1999, practitioners from 44 countries submitted a new list of perpetrators to their respective governments in advance of Human Rights Day, December 10, 2023, urging them to hold these individuals accountable for the persecution of Falun Gong in China. The practitioners asked their governments to bar the perpetrators and their family members from entry and to freeze their overseas assets.
Among the perpetrators listed was Wang Xingyu, former deputy secretary of the Hubei Provincial Political and Legal Affairs Committee (PLAC).
Perpetrator Information
Full Name of Perpetrator: Wang (last name) Xingyu (first name) (王兴于)Gender: MaleCountry: ChinaDate/year of Birth: December 1965Place of Birth: Huanggang, Hubei Province
Wang Xingyu
Title or Position
Present: vice chairman of the Hubei Provincial Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, deputy secretary-general of the Provincial Party Committee, and director of the Provincial Party Committee General OfficeApril 2017 – April 2022: deputy secretary of the Hubei Provincial PLAC, director of the Provincial Social Management Comprehensive Management CommitteeSeptember 2015 – April 2017: secretary of the Party Leadership Group and director of Hubei Provincial Bureau of Quality and Technical SupervisionDecember 2011 – September 2015: deputy secretary of the Yichang Municipal Party Committee and secretary of the Yichang City PLACNovember 2011 – December 2011: deputy secretary of Yichang Municipal Party Committee
Major Crimes
Hubei Province is one of the provinces where the CCP’s persecution of Falun Gong is most severe. According to data collected by Minghui.org, at least 233 Falun Gong practitioners have been persecuted to death in Hubei Province in the past 25 years, ranking the province seventh in the country.
Since April 2017, when Wang Xingyu became deputy secretary of the Hubei Provincial PLAC and director of the Provincial Committee for Comprehensive Management of Society, he has directed the Hubei Provincial Public Security Bureau and the Justice Department to continue persecuting Falun Gong.
He repeatedly slandered Falun Gong at the province’s political and anti-cult conferences and endorsed the persecution. He also organized propaganda campaigns at various colleges, universities and in the community, inciting hatred and promoting the persecution.
On January 3, 2019, the Wuhan City 610 Office, in conjunction with the Municipal Culture Bureau and the Municipal Education Bureau, held the “2018 Achievement Exhibition in Combating Cults” at the Wuhan Youth Palace. Cartoons, short videos, and cultural programs that slandered Falun Gong were displayed on site. Wang attended the event.
On November 30, 2019, Wang delivered a speech at the third council meeting of the Hubei Provincial Anti-Cult Association, requesting to “fully leverage the influence of ‘International Cult Issues Research Center’ in Wuhan University” and “spread the message abroad.” “We must make greater academic achievements on the topic of combating cults, develop experts in this regard and transform them [Falun Gong practitioners].”
On May 15, 2021, the fourth conference of the Hubei Provincial Anti-Cult Association was held in Wuhan. Wang addressed the meeting, emphasizing the focus to continue to promote and expand the brainwashing of the general public and the persecution of Falun Gong.
In November 2021, the Hubei Provincial Anti-Cult Association called for article submissions, with the theme of “Innovation and Prospects of Anti-Cult Work under the New Development Pattern,” given a directive from the provincial PLAC.
In 2021, the Wuhan City PLAC and the Anti-Cult Association held seminars titled “Advocate Science and Oppose Cults” to defame Falun Gong.
During Wang’s tenure as deputy secretary of Hubei PLAC and director of the Comprehensive Management Office (April 2017 – April 2022), at least nine Falun Gong practitioners, including Ms. Hu Hanjiao, Mr. Chen Wangqiu, Ms. Wei Youxiu, Mr. Liu Jigang, Mr. Li Dayao, Ms. Wan Dayu, Ms. Tang Changjun, Ms. Li Juhua, and Ms. Qin Hanmei, died as a result of the persecution. Many more became injured or disabled due to torture in custody.
Brainwashing Centers in Hubei Province
The core of the persecution of Falun Gong is to force the practitioners to give up their beliefs, a process that the CCP refers to as “educational transformation.” In order to achieve the so-called “transformation rate,” the CCP subjects the practitioners to mental and physical abuse.
Wuhan, the capital of Hubei, is the first city to open a brainwashing center targeting the practitioners and it also has the most brainwashing centers in the country. Severalinfamous brainwashing centers include the Yangyuan Brainwashing Center, Tangxunhu Brainwashing Center, Banqiao Brainwashing Center, Etouwan Brainwashing Center, Chenjiaji Brainwashing Center, Erdaopeng Brainwashing Center, Yusunshan Brainwashing Center, and Taojialing Brainwashing Center. All of them have been introduced to other brainwashing centers in the country as “models of transformation.”
While some brainwashing centers were shut down before 2017, Wang ordered the re-opening of them during his tenure. At least ten brainwashing centers were added in Wuhan since the beginning of 2021. The newly added centers bring the total number of brainwashing centers used to hold and torture local Falun Gong practitioners to 14 across the city of Wuhan. Across the province, at least 27 brainwashing centers were in operation, with at least 123 Falun Gong detained there.
Also in 2021, to carry out the “zero-out” campaign, the Wuhan City PLAC and 610 Office mobilized the police in various districts to arrest local practitioners and place them in brainwashing centers, if they didn’t sign the statements to renounce Falun Gong.
Ms. Li Yuzhen, 72, was arrested at home on June 6, 2021, and taken to the Wangjiahe Brainwashing Center. The guards forced her to watch videos slandering Falun Gong and ordered her to write statements to renounce Falun Gong. She refused to comply and held a hunger strike to protest. The guards took turns watching her and didn’t let her sleep for four days. She was also forced to stand for long periods of time. On the fifth day, the guards force-fed her. She was in great pain and appeared to be near death.
It was reported that at the Yusunshan Brainwashing Center, some practitioners were given nerve stimulants. They became irritated and had headaches and chest pain. Their heart rate and blood pressure went up. They couldn’t remember things and became overly excited as they involuntarily sang, danced, and talked nonsense.
Ms. Wan Dajiu, of the Hanyang District in Wuhan, was released on April 12, 2019, after serving four years for practicing Falun Gong. She was arrested again less than a month later, on May 6, 2019, and taken to the Yusun Mountain Brainwashing Center in the Hanyang District. She fell unconscious and couldn’t take care of herself when she was released months later. She passed away in October 2019. Her family suspects that the authorities had drugged her.
Persecution in 2021
In 2021, eleven practitioners in Hubei were persecuted to death, 38 were sentenced, 123 were detained in brainwashing centers, 321 were arrested, 485 were harassed and 21 were persecuted financially.
Seven Wuhan residents, including Ms. Zhou Yuying, 83, Ms. Liang, 76, Ms. Liu Yunli, 71, Mr. Xu Nanshan, 70, Ms. Tang Lihua, 66, Ms. Yu Shifang, 57, and Ms. Tong Li, around 43, were studying Falun Gong teachings at Ms. Zhou’s home on March 11, 2021, when a police officer suddenly broke in after cutting through Ms. Zhou’s window security bars.
The officer opened the door and let in other officers. The police arrested all of the practitioners present and took them to the police station. The practitioners were interrogated and had their photos, blood samples, fingerprints, and footprints taken. Ms. Zhou and Ms. Liu were taken to the Wuchang District Brainwashing Center.
Ms. Hu Hanjiao, a Hanchuan City, Hubei Province, resident, was arrested on March 15, 2021 after being reported for talking to people about Falun Gong. She was sentenced to four years in late June 2021. During the seven months she was held at the Hanchuan City Detention Center, Ms. Hu held a hunger strike to protest the persecution and was force fed. At 8 p.m. on November 9, 2021, 13 days after she was transferred to the Hubei Province Women’s Prison, a guard called Ms. Hu’s husband and said that she had died from illness at the hospital.
Ms. Hu’s husband and several family members rushed to the prison in Wuhan City the next morning and demanded to see her medical record and her body, but the prison refused. Her husband hired a lawyer to seek justice for Ms. Hu, but the Hanchuan City PLAC pressured him to dismiss the lawyer and forbade him to discuss Ms. Hu’s death with other local Falun Gong practitioners.
Ms. Sun Zerong, a Wuhan City resident, was arrested and held in brainwashing centers many times. She was once on the verge of death from the torture at the Etouwan Brainwashing Center. The non-stop arrests and harassment over the years took a toll on her health. She passed away on January 21, 2021. She was 63 years old. Only a year after her passing, her husband, Mr. Yang Lingfu, also passed away, after serving four years in prison and being subjected to financial persecution.
Persecution in 2020
During the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020, the Hubei Provincial PLAC and 610 Office didn’t slow down the persecution. In that year, 38 practitioners were sentenced, and 20 were tried. At least 573 practitioners were arrested or harassed. Some of their homes were also ransacked. The police in Xiantao City even posted a 1,000-yuan reward for reporting a Falun Gong practitioner.
Ordered by the Huanggang City PLAC, the authorities in Macheng City, Hong’an County, Huangmei County, Xishui County, Qichun County, and Wuxue City dispatched a large number of officers to harass the practitioners at homes and order them to write the statements to give up their belief. Defamatory propaganda was displayed in various neighborhood bulletins or on electric billboards. Locals were encouraged to report practitioners for raising awareness about the persecution.
Ms. Wang Qiong, of Jingzhou City, Hubei Province, was sentenced to two years with a 10,000 yuan fine in October 2019. As a result of torture in the Hubei Province Women’s Prison between January and July 2020, the 59-year-old woman lost about 35 pounds in six months. Two of her ribs were broken and she lost a tooth. Her blood pressure was high and her feet and legs were swollen. She also had difficulty breathing and developed severe liver cysts and gallstones.
Ms. Wei Youxiu in the Qiaokou District in Wuhan was arrested in Zhongshan Park after she ran into a plainclothes officer on June 2, 2018. The police held her in Wuhan No 1. Detention Center for over a year. Someone saw her in the detention center and said she was emaciated and couldn’t walk on her own. The authorities informed Ms. Wei’s family on August 15, 2020, that she had died of leukemia. Her family challenged the authorities, wondering how, since she was perfectly healthy when she was arrested, could she develop leukemia and die in such a short time?
Persecution in 2019
In 2011, the Hubei PLAC and 610 Office used the “World Military Games” in Wuhan as an excuse to intensify the persecution. In 2019, 23 practitioners were sentenced, 353 were arrested, and 176 were harassed. Just in Wuhan, at least 144 practitioners were arrested and 92 harassed. At least 30 were held in brainwashing centers and 59 in detention centers. Four practitioners died as a result of the persecution.
Mr. Wang Xinguo, 67, was arrested in Wuhan on September 5, 2019, and detained for more than a year. He was later transferred to the Wuhan Rehabilitation Hospital. As a result of the torture in custody, he almost went blind in his left eye and lost hearing in both ears. He also developed high blood pressure and heart disease.
A mass arrest of at least 40 practitioners took place on September 23, 2019, shortly before the CCP’s 70th National Day on October 1, and the 7th Military World Games held between October 18-27 in Wuhan.
Several months before the mass arrest, officers from the Duoluokou Market Police Station in Dongxihu District had compiled footage of Falun Gong practitioners recorded on surveillance cameras talking to people or passing out information about Falun Gong in or near Duoluokou Market. The police printed out the practitioners’ photos and taped each of the photos onto a large bag, which was then used to store items confiscated from each of the arrested practitioners.
Mr. Li Dayao, a Jingzhou City, Hubei Province resident, passed away on November 30, 2019, while serving time for his faith in Falun Gong. He was 67. Mr. Li was arrested on September 20, 2017, and sentenced to four years on April 9, 2018.He was held at the Jianli County Detention Center for a year before being sent to Fanjiatai Prison on September 5, 2018. The detention center guards forced him to take high blood pressure medication, even though he didn’t have the condition. His weight dropped from 200 lbs to 150 lbs. At Fanjiatai Prison, Mr. Li was forced to do unpaid labor, even when his hands became numb.
Mr. Li was hospitalized between December 2018 and January 2019. He was found to have a large number of gallstones, but the prison didn’t allow him to have surgery to remove the stones. He was only given some painkillers and antibiotics. Mr. Li’s condition suddenly deteriorated in August 2019. When his family visited him on August 29, he had difficulty talking. His family returned on September 12, to learn that he had already been sent to the Changlin Prison Hospital after having become paralyzed and totally unable to talk. His family wasn’t allowed to see him in the hospital. Their request to have him released on medical parole was denied. His health continued to decline over the subsequent months and he passed away in late November 2019.
Persecution in 2018
In 2018, 49 practitioners in Hubei Province were sentenced, 231 were arrested and 77 harassed.
Mr. Zhou Guoqiang, a former employee of Industrial and Commercial Bank from Chibi City, Hubei Province, was arrested at around 5 p.m. on December 26, 2018, while working in Wuhan in the same province. The police confiscated 80,000 yuan from him while ransacking his home.
Mr. Zhou, in his 50s, was first taken to the Yujiatou Police Station. The police restrained him in a metal chair, interrogated him, and beat him. Then they took him to the hospital for a comprehensive physical. His eyes, heart, kidneys, liver, and lungs were examined. The nurse also took several hundred milliliters of his blood, much more than for a regular physical. She also collected a sample of his bone marrow.
Ms. Wang Qihua, 66, was arrested and taken to Yusunshan brainwashing center on July 13, 2017. She was transferred to the Wuhan No. 1 Detention Center a few days later. She was sentenced to eight years in prison by Xinzhou District Court on May 2, 2018.
Mr. Xu Jianxin was arrested on the afternoon of May 13, 2018, and his home was ransacked. When his family members went to visit him the next morning, they found that Mr. Xu had been severely beaten; his body was covered in injuries and many of his teeth had been knocked out.
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