(Minghui.org) A total of 14 Falun Gong practitioners in Meizhou City, Guangdong Province were arrested for their faith over the course of three days in mid-April 2024. At the time of this writing, two practitioners have been released due to their poor health, eleven practitioners are still held in custody, and the situation of one practitioner isn’t clear.
Around 13 officers from the Meixian District Domestic Security Division and Chengjiang Township Police Station broke into Ms. Zeng Xiuqiong’s home at around 2 p.m. on April 17, 2024 and arrested her and her seven guests, including Ms. Xie Guofang, Ms. Zou Xiufen, Ms. Zeng Xizhen, Ms. Liu Haibo, Ms. Liu Biqing, Ms. He Xinfeng, and Ms. Fan Laiying.
Ms. Zeng Xiuqiong’s Falun Gong books and portrait of Falun Gong’s founder were confiscated. Thousands of yuan banknotes brought by Ms. Xie, which were imprinted with information about Falun Gong to raise awareness about the persecution given the tight censorship, were seized as well. The police also grabbed the home key of each practitioner.
At around the same time, two other practitioners in Meixian District, including Feng and Fen (whose last names weren’t known), were also arrested at their respective homes. It was reported that both practitioners’ cellphones had been monitored for six months prior to their arrests. Officers Lin Li, Deng, Li, Zhong, and Feng of the Meixian District Domestic Security Division were present during the arrests.
Among the ten practitioners, Ms. Liu Biqing and Ms. Fan were released the next afternoon after they were denied admission by the local detention centers. Ms. Zou, Ms. Zeng Xizhen, Ms. Liu Haibo, and Ms. He were held at a lockup in Meizhou City. Ms. Zeng Xiuqiong, Ms. Xie, Feng, and Fen were detained at a detention center in Chengdong Township, Meixian District.
Ms. Yang Lijun returned to her home in Dabu County, Meizhou City on the evening of April 17 and was arrested by officers from the Meizhou City Police Department, Dabu County Domestic Security Division and local police the next morning. The police searched her place and detained her at the Meizhou City Detention Center. She has developed a medical condition while in custody.
Ms. Xie Xiuling of Jiaoling County, Meizhou City was also arrested on the morning of April 18. Her home was ransacked and a portrait of Falun Gong’s founder was taken. It’s not clear where she is currently being detained.
In Xingning City, a county-level city under the jurisdiction of Meizhou City, Mr. Li Zhuozhong and his wife Ms. Liao Yuanqun were arrested by more than ten officers from the Xingning City Domestic Security Division, Longtian Police Station, Heshui Police Station, and Heshui Community Committee on the morning of April 19. The officers spent over three hours searching the couple’s place. Several printers and tens of thousands of yuan in cash were confiscated.
The couple were put in criminal detention at the Meixian District Detention Center. Mr. Li was recently hospitalized due to a medical condition.
The couple were both teachers and have been repeatedly targeted for their faith in the past 25 years.