(Minghui.org) A 45-year-old Beijing woman was sentenced to a three-year prison term for her faith in Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999. The authorities have refused to disclose her detention location.
Ms. Xiu Yanpeng was arrested on March 1, 2023 after a delivery worker reported her for talking to him about Falun Gong. She stood trial on July 27 and was sentenced to three years. Because she was deemed unfit for prison detention, she was held at a police hospital after her wrongful conviction.
Her husband, Mr. Gao Xiaofei, who works at Beijing Normal University, went to the police hospital to visit her on February 20, 2024 and was told that she had been transferred to the Shandong Province Women’s Prison located in the capital city of Jinan.
Ms. Xiu is a native of Penglai City, Shandong Province. Her husband traveled more than 250 miles to Jinan on February 23 but was told there was no inmate named Xiu Yanpeng there. He did not know which agency, the police hospital or the prison, was lying about his wife’s whereabouts. He asked around but received no answer from the authorities.
This is not the first time that Ms. Xiu has been targeted for her faith. She took up Falun Gong in March 1999 while still a college student. After the persecution began four months later, she held firm to her faith and was previously arrested three times while living with her mother in Shandong Province. She was sentenced to four years following one of the arrests.
Arrested in 2003
Ms. Xiu and her mother were arrested at home on June 2, 2003 and taken to the Penglai City Detention Center. She was handcuffed and shackled because she tried to stop the police from raiding her home during the arrest. During her first three days of detention, she was not given anything to eat or drink. On the fourth day, the police started taking turns interrogating her. The marathon interrogation lasted three days.
The police did not remove the handcuffs and shackles from Ms. Xiu until the seventh day of her detention. They transferred her to the Penglai City Brainwashing Center on June 17, 2023 and she was released after an unknown amount of time.
Arrested Again in 2006, When One-Month Pregnant
Qu Yitao from the local 610 Office led two men and one woman, all in plainclothes, to scale the fence of Ms. Xiu’s mother’s yard and break in on June 2, 2006. They raided her mother’s home and arrested her. She was one month pregnant at the time. It was unclear how long she was detained that time.
Arrested a Third Time in 2008 and Sentenced to Four Years
Three plainclothes officers broke in Ms. Xiu’s mother’s home at around 8 a.m. on May 15, 2008. One of them snatched her 1-year-old daughter from her arms, a second officer seized her, and a third officer grabbed her mother. Four or five other officers then showed up and dragged her out the door. The officer holding her daughter handed the baby to her mother. The infant cried so hard that her hair became wet.
The rest of the officers raided the home and confiscated Ms. Xiu’s laptop computer, printer, Falun Gong books and informational materials, and MP3 audio players. The police delivered a formal arrest warrant against her to her mother three days later. She was sentenced to four years at an unknown date and served time at the Shandong Province Women’s Prison.
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