(Minghui.org) A married couple in Chifeng City, Inner Mongolia are facing prosecution for their faith in Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999.
Mr. Liu Fuan and his wife, Ms. Hao Ping, were initially arrested on January 10, 2024, while distributing table calendars bearing Falun Gong messages in Xiajiadian Township, Songshan District, Chifeng City. According to an insider, officers from the Xiajiadian Township Police Station spotted a pedestrian flipping through one such calendar and began looking for the “suspects” who gave him the calendar. They soon arrested Mr. Liu and Ms. Hao and raided their home.
While the couple was released on bail that night, they were taken back into custody on February 27, 2024, and are currently held at the Songshan District Detention Center.
This is not the first time that the couple has been targeted for their faith. They were both previously sentenced (with Ms. Hao given 7 years and Mr. Liu 5 years) and suffered huge financial losses during their imprisonment as they were unable to keep running their family business on top of having their personal and business assets confiscated by the authorities.
Below is a recap of how they took up Falun Gong and how they were targeted for their faith over the years.
Taking Up Falun Gong
Mr. Liu and Ms. Hao were well-known business owners among locals. They bred pedigree dogs and raised pigs. They also had a deli that used some secret recipes. They were so successful that the local TV once reported their story and the local bank offered them favorable loan terms.
The busy work, however, took a toll on Ms. Hao’s health. She contracted a terminal disease and no medical treatments helped. Her doctor then recommended that she try Falun Gong. She took up the practice in 1997 and soon made a full recovery. Mr. Hao also joined her in practicing Falun Gong.
The couple credits Falun Gong for turning them into better and kinder people. Ms. Hao has an unmarried brother who has an intellectual disability. She and her husband invited him to live with them and took good care of him. The couple also had an elderly man who had no family live with them for years before they were both sentenced to prison.
Sentenced to Prison in 2002
After the persecution began, the couple was repeatedly targeted. Ms. Hao was arrested at home on January 31, 2001. Mr. Liu escaped arrest because he was out of town. The couple’s then 13-year-old son, his uncle, and the aforementioned elderly man were left to fend for themselves. The police returned many times, often in the middle of the night, to hunt for Mr. Liu.
After Mr. Liu returned from his trip, the police forced him to pay 3,000 yuan and put him on bail. They also promised to release his wife on May 1, 2002.
Ms. Hao was taken to the Hongshan District Detention Center after her arrest. She and six other female practitioners, including Ms. Zhao Yanxia, were brutally force fed around April 16, 2002. Ms. Zhao died about 30 minutes after the force-feeding.
In order to block the news, the guards barred practitioners from having family visits. The police also reneged on their promise to release Ms. Hao on May 1, 2002. On July 19 that year, they deceived Mr. Liu into going to the police station and arrested him when he arrived. They then took him to the same detention center where his wife was detained.
The guards asked Mr. Liu to persuade his wife to stop her hunger strike. Ms. Hao told him about Ms. Zhao’s death. She also wrote to the procuratorate what she witnessed during Ms. Zhao’s force-feeding. Instead of forwarding her letter, the guards tortured her even more. She was later sentenced to seven years for exposing Ms. Zhao’s death. She was transferred to the Inner Mongolia First Women’s Prison on December 25, 2002.
Mr. Liu was later sentenced to five years and taken to the Chifeng City Fourth Prison. His term was up on September 18, 2006, but he was taken straight to a brainwashing center from the prison. His son was told to pay a 2,500 yuan brainwashing fee to get his father released. The teen borrowed the funds from multiple relatives.
When Ms. Hao completed her prison sentence in 2008, the police also attempted to take her to the brainwashing center and extort money from her. She told them that her family had been driven bankrupt as the police had confiscated all their personal and business assets. They then gave up and let her go home.
Difficult Life After Prison Release
When Mr. Liu was finally released, he couldn’t recognize his home. Everything was gone, including their dogs, pigs, household registration, house deed, appliances, and even their secret deli recipes. The courtyard fence and the pig pens collapsed.
His son qualified for a low-income subsidy but was never given anything. The teen also had to drop out of school while his parents were jailed.
The police did not process the couple’s application to replace their household deed and registration until 2013, though they never forgot to harass the couple from time to time, especially around major political meetings or anniversaries related to Falun Gong. The Hongshan District Police Department officers harassed Ms. Hao at home on March 8, 2012, and threatened to throw her into jail again. They gave up after the Hongshan District Procuratorate declined to indict her.
Ms. Hao did nanny jobs for a while but had to quit because she sustained back injuries at work and couldn’t even walk for some time. She and her husband later managed to build a warehouse for rent to make a living. A villager reported them for being Falun Gong practitioners and a village official said to the tipster, “They [the couple] worked hard to build their warehouse. Falun Gong [people] are better than non-Falun Gong!”
Related Reports:
After Being Persecuted for Over 10 Years, Farm Owner in Inner Mongolia Arrested Again
Persecution of Practitioners from Chifeng City, Inner Mongolia
The Women's Jail in Inner Mongolia is a Dark Den Used for the Persecution of Dafa Practitioners
Inner-Mongolian Autonomous Region: Two More Practitioners Die as a Result of Abuse and Torture
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