Belated News: Shandong Man Dies One Year After Serving Time for His Faith

It was recently confirmed by Minghui.org that a Junan County, Shandong Province resident passed away on September 2, 2018, about one year after he was released from a three-year term for practising Falun Gong, a spiritual and meditation discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.

Mr. Wang Xianxue developed high blood pressure and Hepatitis B while serving time at Shandong Province Prison. It’s not clear whether he was abused in the prison.

Mr. Wang’s condition continued to deteriorate after he was released. He had whole body oedema in his final days. He was in his 70s.

Because of upholding his faith in Falun Gong, Mr. Wang was repeatedly arrested, incarcerated, and had his home ransacked in the past 20 years.

The local police and 610 Office broke into Mr. Wang’s home on August 11, 2005, when no one was around. They turned everything upside down and confiscated his Falun Gong books.

Mr. Wang was arrested in September 2007. The police ransacked his home again. While he managed to escape from the local police station, he was forced to live away from home to avoid the persecution.

Mr. Wang was arrested again on March 3, 2009 after being reported for talking to people about Falun Gong. The police searched his home and took away most of his valuables, including 400 yuan that he hid in the bed.

Mr. Wang was given one and a half years of forced labour after 15 days of detention. The local labour camp refused to admit him due to his poor health. The police held him at the local detention centre for another two weeks and extorted 360 yuan from him, before releasing him.

Mr. Wang was last arrested in June 2014. The police detained him at Junan Detention Centre and didn’t allow his family to visit him. His family didn't make an effort to seek his release because they worried the police would arrest his son, who once wrote a guarantee statement to say that the police could arrest him if Mr. Wang was found practising Falun Gong again.

Mr. Wang appeared in Junan County Court on October 31, 2014. The court didn’t inform his family of his hearing. The judge announced his verdict weeks later.