(Minghui.org) A retired woman in the Hedong District of Tianjin was admitted to the Tianjin City Women’s Prison on May 23, 2023, after she lost her appeal in protest of a three-year prison sentence for her faith in Falun Gong.
Ms. Li Lanmin, 61, was arrested at home at around 8 a.m. on October 30, 2021, by agents from the Hedong District Domestic Security Office and the Zhongshanmen Police Station. They said they received a tip that materials exposing the Chinese Communist Party’s persecution of Falun Gong had been found in a certain residential area. The police pored over the surveillance videos and determined that Ms. Li had distributed those materials.
The Hedong District Court sentenced Ms. Li to three years around December 25, 2022. Details about her trial remain unclear. She filed an appeal with the Tianjin City Intermediate Court on December 31, 2022. The higher court ruled in April 2023 to uphold the original verdict.
Ms. Li was transferred to the Tianjin City Women’s Prison on May 23, 2023, and her family visited her for the first time on June 26.
This is not the first time that Ms. Li has been targeted for her faith. She was previously arrested on August 2, 2006, by agents from the Shanghang Road Police Station and the Hedong District Police Department. The police ransacked her home and later gave her two years of forced labor at Banqiao Women’s Labor Camp.
Ms. Li was arrested again on September 2, 2019, by seven people from the Beichen District Domestic Security Office, the Hedong District Police Department, and the Zhongshanmen Police Station. Her home was raided and she was detained for 15 days.