(Minghui.org) A 54-year-old salon owner in Neijiang City, Sichuan Province, has been detained for more than a year because he practices Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999.
Mr. Wang Liangsheng was seized from his salon on the afternoon of October 30, 2024. The over 20 arresting officers from the Dongxing District Police Department also seized his wife, Ms. Lai Zongping, who also practices Falun Gong. Two other local practitioners, including Ms. Zhuo Xiaoqiong and Ms. Li (first name unknown) were arrested at their respective homes around the same time.
According to insiders, the police monitored the practitioners for a long time before making the arrests. The three female practitioners were released, but Mr. Wang is still held at the Neijiang City Detention Center.
Past Persecution
Mr. Wang took up Falun Gong in the spring of 1999 and soon recovered from Hepatitis B and chronic nosebleeds. After the persecution began that July, he and his wife held firm to their faith and were repeatedly targeted.
In April 2006, several Shengli Town Government employees led six officers from the Shengli Town Police Station to break into the couple’s salon. Their target, Ms. Lai, was not in. The police attempted to carry Mr. Wang into their cruiser but failed.
Before the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics (August 8-24), more than ten agents from the Shengli Town Government, the Shengli Town Police Station, the Xilin Police Station, the local 610 Office and the domestic security office, broke into the couple’s home and arrested Ms. Lai. They held her at the Xiejiaba Brainwashing Center for more than 40 days before releasing her.
Mr. Wang brought his young daughter to the brainwashing center every day to seek his wife’s release. The police threatened to arrest him and put his daughter in an orphanage.
On August 26, 2010, more than ten agents broke into Mr. Wang’s home again. He asked the police to step outside to the yard so his daughter wouldn’t be traumatized. They ignored him. Two officers grabbed his arms, and a third put him in a chokehold, forcing him to the ground. Ms. Lai heard the commotion and came out of her room. She was immediately seized by four officers. They yanked her down several flights of stairs and dragged her across the ground for more than 20 yards.
Ms. Lai yelled for help, and the onlookers condemned the police for persecuting law-abiding citizens. The police relented and did not arrest Ms. Lai and her husband.
The couple spotted SWAT officers and plainclothes officers staked outside their home afterward. The police were still there ten days later. To avoid being arrested, the couple went into hiding.
Officers from the Tuojiang Township Police Station officers arrested the couple on March 11, 2012, after spotting them distributing Falun Gong materials in their jurisdiction. The couple was held at the Sanyuanjing Drug Rehabilitation Center for 17 days. Ms. Lai was released afterward but Mr. Wang was taken to the Xinhua Labor Camp to serve a ten-month term.
The labor camp guards instructed two inmates to monitor Mr. Wang. They only allowed him to use the restroom three times a day and forced him to do the following for 16 hours a day without pay:
- Prepping television AV connectors for soldering;- Assembling electrical switches (over ten small parts, 700-800 per day, no tools were allowed);- Gluing wine packaging boxes (the glue had a pungent smell);- Making paper shopping bags;- Cleaning electromagnetic switch coils;- Assembling wire leads.
Despite the intensive hard labor, Mr. Wang and other inmates were given very poor food to eat. Even the guards said it was like pig feed.
Mr. Wang was released on January 21, 2013, but faced constant surveillance by the police.
The Gaoxin District Police Department harassed Mr. Wang and his wife multiple times in May 2020. Officer Liu Xiande took photos of the couple’s salon on May 6. Another group of officers came the next day and forced Ms. Lai to provide fingerprints of all ten fingers, palm prints, palm side prints, and palm base prints. They also drew her blood against her will. Five officers came on May 9 and ordered Mr. Wang to press his fingerprints and give a blood sample. He said that the request was illegal and refused to comply. The police threatened to take him into custody.
The couple distributed Falun Gong materials on the evening of July 7, 2022, and they were reported to the police. They were arrested at home the next day and they were detained for 15 days.
The police went to the couple’s salon around July 20, 2023, to photograph them. They returned around 9 p.m. and took more photos.
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