80-Year-Old Man Detained 18 Months for His Faith

An 80-year-old man in Wanyuan City, Sichuan Province has been detained and denied communication with others for more a year and a half for practicing Falun Gong. His family has tried to visit him multiple times, but in each case were denied.

Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is an ancient spiritual and meditation practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) since 1999.

According to Minghui.org, Mr. Xiao Dafu was arrested at his home on October 16, 2018. He then suffered long hours of interrogation at the hands of police seven times, and had his computer and Falun Gong related materials confiscated.

In an attempt to force the elderly man to renounce his faith, the police pressured his three children to dissociate themselves from him. This is an often used tactic by the CCP during its political campaigns, like the Cultural Revolution which forced students to turn against their teachers. Despite the police demands, Mr. Xiao did not comply by renouncing his faith.

Minghui.org also reported that Mr. Xiao was secretly tried by Dazhou City Court on June 20, 2019. The judge hasn’t announced a verdict yet.

One month before his latest arrest, five officers went to his home on September 5, 2018 and checked every room in his house. While Mr. Xiao wasn’t home, the police threatened and sexually assaulted his wife Ms. Liu Jixiu and daughter-in-law, leaving both of them traumatized and terrified. The police returned three days later, but Mr. Xiao’s family refused to open the door for them.

Past Persecution

Mr. Xiao took up Falun Gong in 1997. In the past 20 years, he has been repeatedly detained and had his home ransacked for not renouncing his faith.

During the Chinese New Year in 2002, upon finding that the police were attempting to arrest him, Mr. Xiao was forced to live away from home. Afterwards, he was put on the police wanted list.

He was arrested at a bus station in Chengdu City, about 350 miles away, in late September, 2002. After being held in Pi County Detention Center for a few months, he was transferred to Xinhua Forced Labor Camp to serve a two-year term.

The labor camp guards tortured him with sleep deprivation, disallowing use of the restroom, as well as forcing him to sit on a small stool for long hours without moving. He was under enormous mental and physical distress as a result of the abuse.

Mr. Xiao was then arrested again on January 20, 2016, and was detained at Fuxing Detention Center for more than a month. His computer, printer and Falun Gong books were also confiscated.

The original version of this article was published on Minghui.org:
http://en.minghui.org/html/articles/2020/4/10/183980.html