(Minghui.org) Minghui.org recently learned that a 71-year-old resident of Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province, was moved to the Tailai Prison in Qiqihar City in the same province to continue serving a 4.5-year term.

Mr. Gao Ke’s prison sentence stemmed from his arrest on September 14, 2022, for distributing calendars bearing information about Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999. He was released on bail days later, but taken back into custody on June 16, 2023. While being held at the Yaziquan Detention Center in Harbin City, he was watched by two inmates around the clock. They beat him and did not allow him to use the restroom or talk to others without their permission. He went on a hunger strike in protest and was force-fed on the seventh day. He went into shock during the forced feeding and was rushed to a hospital. 

Despite Mr. Gao’s serious condition, the detention center guards checked him out of the hospital four days later. He was incapacitated and needed support to use the restroom.

Mr. Gao was later sentenced to four and a half years and transferred to the Hulan Prison. A few months later, he was moved to the Tailai Prison. His family was not given any updates of his case status until a guard from the Tailai Prison called them to notify them of his admission there. Up to that point, they have not been allowed to visit him even once since his arrest on June 16, 2023. It is unclear whether they have been able to see him in the Tailai Prison. 

Mr. Gao, a retired elementary school teacher, took up Falun Gong at the end of 1996. He soon recovered from his decades-long illnesses, including gallstones, kidney stones, lumbar disc herniation, cystitis, cholecystitis, rheumatism, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and coronary heart disease. He also became a more patient teacher and a kinder person. 

After the persecution began in July 1999, Mr. Gao held firm to his faith and was repeatedly targeted. His latest two arrests (in September 2022 and June 2023) and subsequent prison sentences were preceded by 14 prior arrests (which resulted in five terms of forced labor) for his faith in Falun Gong. He was either denied admission or released ahead of time during each labor camp term because he was either in poor health or had been tortured to critical condition. For details of his persecution, see the related reports below.

Related Reports:

Retired Elementary School Teacher Sentenced to 4.5 Years Following 16th Arrest for His Faith in Falun Gong

Elementary School Teacher Recounts Drug Torture and Electric Shocks at Labor Camps

Mr. Gao Ke Tortured in Changlinzi Forced Labor Camp

Mr. Gao Ke Tortured at Changlinzi Labor Camp in Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province (Photo)