Reported by Bitter Winter: Falun Gong Professor of Mathematics Persecuted for 23 Years

Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a Buddhist based spiritual practice with the three main tenets of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance. In July 1999, the practice was banned by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and practitioners are currently subject to brutal persecution.

Ms. Wang Jiafang was born in 1964 in Xiangfan city, Hubei province, and became associate professor at the Mathematics Department of Guangzhou University. Later, she lost her job for practicing Falun Gong.

In November 2000, Wang was caught distributing Falun Gong leaflets in Guangzhou and was detained. The Guangzhou Intermediate Court sentenced her to two years in a labor camp, where she was tortured. Her husband, a CCP cadre and military man, was subject to external pressure and later divorced her.

In April 2001, Wang was released from jail but subsequently sent to a specialized “re-eduation” facility to be “deprogrammed”. She remained there until February 2004. After returning from the facility, she was fired by her university.

In October 2004, she was again arrested and was sent to a different “re-education” facility in Guangzhou for further “deprogramming”, which were also unsuccessful.

Wang was detained again in September 2007 and sentenced to nine years in jail. She was released in October 2016.

Just one year after her release, Wang was again arrested on October 27, 2017. On August 24, 2018, she was sentenced to three and a half years in prison, and was released on April 26, 2021.

On September 10, 2021, she was subject to detention as the police ascertained she was still a practitioner of Falun Gong. A formal arrest followed on September 25.

In July 2022, Wang was sentenced to a jail term of four years by the Liwan District Court of Guangzhou city. Wang’s imprisonment was appealed, however her family has been informed that the appeal was rejected and she will remain in jail until September 9, 2025.

Based on a Bitter Winter article.