(Minghui.org) A former police officer in Mudanjiang City has been arrested three times and imprisoned for five years for refusing to give up his faith.

Mr. Dai Qihong is a practitioner of Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted in China since 1999. His most recent arrest took place just a few weeks ago, on September 1, when he went to a local police department to demand the release of an illegally incarcerated practitioner.

The police put him in Mudanjiang Detention Center, where he went on a hunger strike for eight days. His health started to decline, and he was rushed to an emergency room.

Previous Arrest and Incarceration

Mr. Dai was first arrested in March 2008 when he was telling people near Mudanjiang Airport about the persecution of Falun Gong. His trial in January 2009 was merely a formality; shortly after the hearing, he was sentenced to five years in Mudanjiang Prison.

Mr. Dai was transferred to Jiamusi Prison in July, where regular incidents of torture continued. He was brutally beaten in August and shocked with electric batons until his face was disfigured and the flesh in his mouth festered. He was later force-fed.

By the time Mr. Dai was released, his wife had divorced him under pressure, and he no longer had a job.

A few years later, while Mr. Dai was visiting the family of a practitioner who had died as a result of the persecution, 25 officers and local officials broke into the practitioner’s home and took Mr. Dai away. He was detained for 15 days.

Related reports:Mr. Dai Qihong in Critical ConditionDai Qihong, a Good Policeman, Tortured with Electric Batons in Jiamusi PrisonPractitioners Mr. Hou Xicai and Mr. Dai Qihong Sentenced to Imprisonment