Mass Arrest in Longkou City, Congresswoman Calls for Release Constituent’s Mother
Dear Reader,
In May, a mass arrest in Longkou City, Shandong Province, resulted in 23 Falun Gong practitioners and their family members being detained in one day, with seven still facing prosecution. Mass arrests like this one, carried out across China, demonstrate the ongoing devotion of significant resources by Chinese security agencies to the campaign against Falun Gong.
In other news:
U.S. Congresswoman Barbara Lee of California called on the State Department to raise the case of a detained Falun Gong practitioner, the mother of her constituent.
A retired kindergarten teacher was sentenced to four years in prison for seeking to reinstate her pension after it was suspended due to her Falun Gong activism.
In August 2023, the Minghui website received 66 reports of Falun Gong practitioners unjustly sentenced to prison terms of up to 8 years.
In celebration of the Mid-Autumn Festival, Falun Gong practitioners from across China and around the globe sent greeting cards to Falun Gong founder, Mr. Li Hongzhi.
In an interview, Ms. Jun Yi recounts the trauma of visiting her father, detained for practicing Falun Gong, when she was only 15 years old.
Lastly, thank you to everyone who participated in the survey we sent out last week. The responses have been helpful and encouraging. If you have not yet taken the survey and would like to participate, click here.
Sincerely,
Levi Browde, Executive Director Falun Dafa Information Center
In a coordinated campaign, on May 9, 2023, security forces across Longkou City, Shandong Province detained 23 people, including 21 Falun Gong practitioners and two family members who do not practice the meditation discipline.
Seven of the individuals are still facing prosecution. Confiscated Falun Gong books and materials with information about the persecution are being used as evidence of their so-called “criminal” activities. Four of the individuals remain in detention, while two are under house arrest and one has been released on bail.
Why does it matter?
Beyond detaining individual practitioners, authorities frequently execute coordinated raids or crackdowns on large groups of Falun Gong practitioners. These are typically targeted at those who gather to study Falun Gong texts together or operate “materials sites” to distribute information that counters the CCP’s false propaganda about Falun Gong and exposes rights abuses. Other mass arrests reported in September took place in cities in Jilin, Heilongjiang, and Hebei.
These coordinated efforts often involve months of monitoring and utilizing video surveillance or forced confessions from detained Falun Gong practitioners to identify targets, and span multiple locations in a single city or province. In this case, over 100 police officers from eight different police stations in Longkou participated in the arrests. Such exhaustive operations demonstrate the ongoing devotion of significant resources by Chinese security agencies to the campaign against Falun Gong.
What else do you need to know?
The families of the four still detained individuals went to the Longkou City Domestic Security Office after they received formal arrest notices on June 14, seeking to have the arrests revoked on the grounds that no actual crimes had been committed. They also requested the names, titles, and identification numbers of the arresting officers, but recieved no reply.
Subsequently, they filed complaints with the Longkou City Procuratorate and the Longkou City Police Department, alleging that the authorities had violated legal procedures during the arrests.
In retaliation, authorities intimidated the families who had filed the complaints. Meanwhile, the prosecutor, Ms. Wang Fei, ignored the complaints and proceeded with the prosecutions, indicting the four detained practitioners on July 26. Their families were not informed of the indictments until nearly a month later, on August 21.
Congresswoman Barbara Lee, a Democrat from California, wrote to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on behalf of her constituent, Ms. Liu Zhitong. Ms. Liu’s mother, Kong Qingping, has been detained in China since October 2022 for possessing Falun Gong books and materials used to counteract the persecution. In the letter, Rep. Lee wrote, “I urge you to ask Ambassador Nicholas Burns to raise this case directly with his PRC counterparts and call for Ms. Kong’s immediate unconditional release.”
The Ganjingzi District Court in Dalian tried Ms. Kong via a virtual hearing on September 22, 2023, but did not announce a verdict. She is now held at the Yaojia Detention Center and is awaiting a second hearing.
“It is well documented that Falun Gong practitioners have been arbitrarily detained and subjected to other human rights abuses,” wrote the congresswoman. “These actions by the People’s Republic of China (PRC) have garnered widespread condemnation from the global community. This case, among others, underscores the importance of raising awareness and unequivocally opposing such transgressions against human rights.”
Ms. Sun Qingju, a 60-year-old retired kindergarten teacher from Helong City, Jilin Province, received a four-and-a-half-year sentence for seeking to reinstate her pension, which was suspended after a previous four-year sentence. The Helong City Social Security Bureau also ordered Ms. Sun to repay the 150,000 yuan (about $20,500 USD) that was paid to her during the sentence. Ms. Sun was arrested and released several times between April and August 2022 for her lawful efforts to seek justice before she was ultimately taken into custody on August 31. She is reportedly held in the city of Changchun, but her exact whereabouts are unknown.
In August 2023, the Minghui website received 66 reports of Falun Gong practitioners sentenced for their faith or peaceful activism to combat the CCP’s persecution. The prison terms ranged from six months to eight years. Among them was Mr. Li Wenming, a 59-year-old man from Lanzhou City, Gansu Province, who has served 19 years in prison since 1999 for his faith and activism related to Falun Gong and was given another five years.
One greeting card reads, “Revered and compassionate Teacher: Happy Mid-Autumn Festival! Respectfully, Young practitioners in Chengdu City September 2023”
The Mid-Autumn Festival, or Moon Festival, is a time for reunions and celebration. In the spirit of the holiday, Falun Gong practitioners across the globe sent greeting cards to Falun Gong’s founder, Mr. Li Hongzhi. The greetings, sent to Minghui.org, came from across China as well as over 50 countries around the world, spanning from Ecuador to Afghanistan, Palau to Slovenia, and many places in between. Some individuals who do not practice Falun Gong, such as relatives of practitioners or rights activists in China, also sent greetings.
23 years ago this month, in October 2000, the Wall Street Journal published an article “Paper Chase,” part of a Pulitzer Prize winning series by Ian Johnson. The piece narrates the struggle of a woman navigating China’s bureaucracy to acquire the death certificate of her mother, Ms. Chen Zixiu. Ms. Chen’s torture to death by local police was documented in Johnson’s first article in the series. While authorities claimed she died of natural causes, her daughter suspected foul play. Ms. Chen was arrested while appealing in Beijing for the right to practice Falun Gong, and witnesses detained with Ms. Chen reported she was tortured.
Jun Yi was 15 when her father was imprisoned shortly after the persecution against Falun Gong started. It was difficult for Jun to see her father when she visited him in detention for the first time. The traditional Chinese man who kept a neat and clean appearance was battered and disheveled, wearing a prison uniform with his head shaved. With pain in his eyes, he recounted beatings and torture from prison guards and inmates.
