(Minghui.org) A 71-year-old woman in Lanzhou City, Gansu Province, was recently admitted to the Gansu Province Women’s Prison to serve a four-year term for her faith in Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999.
Ms. Wang Haiyan, born in 1955, was arrested on March 8, 2024, while visiting her mother in Baiyin City, Gansu Province, about 50 miles away from Lanzhou. During her stay there, she talked to people about Falun Gong and was shadowed by a person who later reported her to the police.
The Jingyuan County Police Department put Ms. Wang in the Baiyin District Detention Center in Baiyin City (which oversees Jingyuan County) and dispatched officers to Lanzhou to arrest her son, Mr. Zhang Xianglong, 43, and raid their respective homes.
Upon confirming that Mr. Zhang did not practice Falun Gong, the police released him on bail hours later that day (March 8, 2024). His aunt, Ms. Wang Meiyan, 63, who happened to be visiting his grandmother on the same day as his mother, was also arrested but released on bail hours later.
Ms. Wang Meiyan identifies with Falun Gong’s principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance. But it’s unclear whether she is also a practitioner like her sister, Ms. Wang Haiyan.
Prosecutor Zhang Jing (+86-15193028171) of the Baiyin District Procuratorate indicted the two sisters and Mr. Zhang around September 2024. The three family members appeared in the Baiyin District Court first on November 6, 2014, and then on January 7, 2025.
By law, a defendant should have their handcuffs and shackles removed during court hearings unless they are violent. Ms. Wang Haiyan, however, was handcuffed during her first hearing despite her lawyer’s request to have the cuffs removed. During the second hearing, she was seen handcuffed and shackled. Her hands were initially cuffed in front of her, but during recess and lunch break, the bailiff cuffed her hands behind her back.
Judge Yang Hua (+86-943-8269532, +86-13893058109) sentenced Ms. Wang to four years around September 2025. She filed an appeal with the Baiyin City Intermediate Court, which ruled against her in December 2025. She was then admitted to the Gansu Province Women’s Prison.
It is unclear whether Ms. Wang’s son and sister were also sentenced.
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