Hebei Woman Targeted in Police Sweep Dies Hours after Arrest

A 68-year-old woman died the same day she was arrested for practising Falun Gong, a mind-body discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.

Ms. Han Yuqin was taken away from her home around 5 a.m. on June 18, 2020, during a group arrest in Fengrun District, Tangshan City, Hebei Province. Her family noted that she could not stop crying when they visited her at the Duanminglu Police Station later that day. Ms. Han was sent to the hospital in the afternoon for emergency treatment and was pronounced dead around 4 p.m. Although the police offered to settle the case with her family privately, her loved ones have vowed to seek justice for her.

Another Falun Gong practitioner, Ms. Yue Weifang, was arrested at approximately the same time. She passed out after being intimated by the police. Her son sent her to the hospital, where she remains in intensive care.

36 Arrested in One Day
According to sources, the police in Fengrun District began to knock on Falun Gong practitioners’ doors at 4 a.m. on June 18. Most of the practitioners had their homes ransacked and their Falun Gong books and related materials confiscated.

When some practitioners refused to open the door, the police kicked the doors in. Some officers hired locksmiths to open the practitioners' doors. Several practitioners tried to barricade their doors from inside with metal bars. If no one was at home, the police put seals on the doors.

Some police officers stayed outside practitioners’ homes for hours in a standoff. But after Ms. Han passed away, those who stayed at the practitioners’ homes all left and several practitioners were released.

Thirty-six practitioners were arrested on June 18. It’s said that the police had intended to arrest 50.

One day before the group arrest, several practitioners received phone calls from their residential committees and were ordered to sign statements to renounce Falun Gong. They remained steadfast to their belief and refused to comply.