(Minghui.org) Ms. Zhou Shumin, an 84-year-old farmer in Rongcheng City, Shandong Province, was arrested for a 12th time for exposing the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) ongoing persecution of Falun Gong.
Ms. Zhou’s latest arrest took place on January 18, 2025, while she was talking to people about Falun Gong at a local fair. The police found her home address from their database of Falun Gong practitioners. Four officers, one local government official, and a woman whose identity was unknown raided her home and confiscated her Falun Gong books, informational materials, music player, DVDs and other valuables. They also forced her children to sign some paperwork on her behalf by threatening to jeopardize their jobs.
It’s not clear where Ms. Zhou is being held. Prior to her latest persecution episode, she was arrested 11 other times for practicing Falun Gong. Below are some of the arrests:
Ms. Zhou went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong in January 2001 and was arrested upon arrival. Liang Jianguang and other officers from the Chengshan Town Police Station took her back to Shandong and interrogated her with torture. They hung her up for more than five hours outdoors in the coldest part of winter. They later forced her to stand for several days straight, during which time they did not give her any food or drink. They also kept her awake and forbade her from moving or talking. She refused to renounce her faith so the police sent her to the Xujia Psychiatric Hospital. She was given toxic drugs and felt like living was worse than death. She was not released until about three weeks later.
After another arrest on September 25, 2002, Ms. Zhou was taken to a hotel for a brainwashing session. She was forced to watch anti-Falun Gong videos and ordered to renounce her faith. She had a mental breakdown at one point.
The Chengshan Town Police Station officers seized Ms. Zhou again on April 22, 2004, when she was distributing Falun Gong informational materials. They raided her home and confiscated all her Falun Gong books and informational materials. She was released hours later.
Multiple practitioners, including Ms. Zhou, had their homes raided in late June 2021.
A male police officer and a female government employee came to Ms. Zhou’s home on November 16, 2023. They promised to take her name off the CCP’s blacklist of targeted practitioners if she agreed to sign statements to renounce Falun Gong; otherwise her children might be implicated because of her faith. She said she was healthy for more than two decades thanks to her practice of Falun Gong. They left without her signature.
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