(Minghui.org) Ms. Hao Jie, 46, and Ms. Wang Yinhuan, 53, were each sentenced to 3.5 years in prison for refusing to renounce Falun Gong. They are appealing their cases to the Urumqi Intermediate Court.
The women were arrested on December 6, 2016 by officers from the Xinshi District Police Department in Urumqi. The Xinshi District Procuratorate submitted their cases to the Xinshi District Court in late August 2017.
Ms. Hao and Ms. Wang appeared in court on November 24, 2017. Their lawyers entered non-guilty pleas for them. Judge Huang Yongqi of the Xinshi District Court convicted them in late March 2018.
This is not the first time that Ms. Hao Jie and Ms. Wang Yinhuan have been targeted for their faith.
Ms. Hao was sentenced to three years in prison in August 2010 by the Karamay Intermediate Court for refusing to renounce her faith in Falun Gong.
Ms. Wang has endured four prior arrests, in 2003, 2008, 2015 and 2016.
She was given 2.5 years of forced labor following a September 2003 arrest for distributing informational materials about Falun Gong.
Ms. Wang was sentenced to 7 years in prison in February 2008 by the Urumqi Intermediate Court for refusing to renounce her faith in Falun Gong.
She was arrested again while boarding a flight on September 15, 2015. Urumqi City 610 Office staff member Zhang and local police officers took her to a brainwashing center where she was held for eight days. She was then transferred to a local detention center and detained for another 15 days.
Ms. Wang was distributing informational materials in a residential community in Urumqi on the evening of June 18, 2016 when she was stopped and detained by security guards. Officers from the Xinshi District Police Department took her into custody and released her on bail later on.
Both Ms. Wang and Ms. Hao remain detained in the Urumqi No. 2 Detention Center.
Parties involved in the persecution of Ms. Hao and Ms. Wang:
Huang Yongqi (黄勇琦), judge, Xinshi District Court: +86-18999901350; +86-991-3666482Zhang Jianjun (张建军), head, 610 Office: +86-13809912399Ma Junshan (马俊山), head, Domestic Security Division of Xinshi District Police Department: +86-13579273702
