(Minghui.org) A 71-year-old man in Yongchuan District, Chongqing became critically ill about ten days after he was admitted to the Yongchuan Prison on April 27, 2023, to serve a 2.5-year term for his faith in Falun Gong. Mr. Dai Xianming’s wife was repeatedly denied visits with him.
Mr. Dai was arrested on January 5, 2022, for practicing Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999. He was later sentenced to 2.5 years at an unknown date. His wife, Ms. Xu Keqin, was kept in the dark about his prosecution and didn’t learn about his sentencing until May 2023 when the prison called her.
The caller asked if Mr. Dai had any pre-existing conditions. Ms. Xu said her husband had been healthy since he took up Falun Gong more than twenty years ago. The caller revealed that Mr. Dai had been sentenced to 2.5 years and was admitted to the Yongchuan Prison (located in Chenshi Town, Yongchuan District) on April 27, 2023.
Ms. Xu went to the prison the next day but was turned away. She was told that no family visits were allowed when Mr. Dai was kept in Division Ten (the strict management division designated to hold steadfast Falun Gong practitioners). A local government official named Wang Long called her in the afternoon saying that Mr. Dai was not behaving in the prison. She wondered where Wang learned of such information, and he said it was from the local judicial bureau (which oversees the prison).
On May 22, 2023, Ms. Xu received a letter from the prison. It was not written by Mr. Dai. The letter said that Mr. Dai suffered from high blood sugar but had recovered after a hospital stay. The letter then asked Ms. Xu to wire 2,000 yuan to the prison so her husband could purchase daily necessities and supplements.
Ms. Xu became worried about her husband’s health. She went to the prison again and showed the letter to a guard. The guard threatened to punish whoever wrote the letter. Ms. Xu said that Mr. Dai’s pension had been suspended for practicing Falun Gong and that she did not have money to make a deposit into his commissary account. She asked to see her husband but was rejected.
A few days later, Ms. Xu returned to the prison but was still denied visits. A guard asked her to wait for a phone notice from the prison. Someone called later but the decision was still “no visits with Mr. Dai.”
Ms. Xu received a letter from Mr. Dai on July 7. He wrote, “I almost died in just ten days of prison admission. I was hospitalized for more than ten days. After I was taken back to Division Ten, I have been taking medications and receiving IV injections.”
Mr. Dai called Ms. Xu on the night of September 14 and told her Fridays were the prison’s weekly visitation days. Ms. Xu then went to the prison on September 22 (Friday). The visitors’ center said they couldn’t find her on the list of approved visitors. She said that she had tried numerous times to see her husband and was always denied. She insisted that she must be allowed to see him that day. The receptionist then gave her the phone number of Division Ten.
A guard surnamed Li answered the phone but refused to reveal his first name. He said he was not a supervisor and could not address her concern. He then passed the phone to his supervisor, a man surnamed Yuan. Yuan said Ms. Xu should understand why she was not allowed to see her husband [she is also a Falun Gong practitioner and on the police’s blacklist]. Yuan listened to her talking about Falun Gong for a bit but still denied her request to see her husband.
Mr. Dai called Ms. Xu about one week later asking her to visit him. She went again but was not allowed to see him.
In late October, Mr. Dai called home again and Ms. Xu made another trip to the prison trying to visit him. This time, she brought her household registration book and marriage certificate to the prison to prove that she was Mr. Dai’s wife and they lived together in the same household. The guards had previously used various excuses to deny her visits (such as she did not have proof she was Mr. Dai’s wife). They still turned her away this time.
As a matter of fact, Ms. Xu has not seen her husband since his arrest on January 5, 2022. While Mr. Dai was still held at the Yongchuan District Detention Center before his prison transfer, the police didn’t allow Ms. Xu to visit him. The police also refused to reveal their names to her, fearing that she might report their persecution of Mr. Dai to the Minghui.org website.
Past Persecution
Before Mr. Dai took up Falun Gong, he suffered severe bronchitis and rheumatism. Only a month after practicing Falun Gong, he completely recovered and felt that his life was renewed. Witnessing his changes, Ms. Xu also began to practice Falun Gong and her many ailments disappeared as well.
The couple has been arrested and incarcerated many times since the onset of the persecution in 1999. Mr. Dai was arrested four times between 2000 and 2003. He was forced to live away from home to hide from the police, only to be arrested on March 13, 2005, and sentenced to 4.5 years in Yongchuan Prison. He was arrested again while attending his father’s funeral in April 2011 and given one year in the Xishanping Forced Labor Camp. His next arrest was on July 2, 2016, and he was sentenced to 14 months in prison shortly after.
Ms. Xu has also been repeatedly arrested and held in brainwashing centers. After arresting her in 2006, the police beat her until she lost consciousness. They then stomped on her toes. After she came to, they dragged her downstairs by her feet. As her head kept hitting the stairs, she fainted again. The beatings lasted a few days, and her body was covered with injuries. Her hands and feet became severely swollen, and she lost five teeth as well.
Related reports:
Chongqing Man Sentenced to 2.5 Years for His Faith in Falun Gong
Mr. Dai Xianming's Life During the Last Ten Years of Persecution
Copyright © 2023 Minghui.org. All rights reserved.
