(Minghui.org) A 68-year-old Baoding City, Hebei Province resident was taken to the Hebei Province Women’s Prison on April 6, 2023 to serve a two-year term for her faith in Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.

Two months before Ms. Zheng Baoying’s imprisonment, her husband, who became incapacitated from a stroke years ago and was sent to a senior living center after her arrest, passed away due to lack of care. She wasn’t allowed to attend his funeral.

Ms. Zheng was arrested on October 10, 2022 for talking to people about Falun Gong. She was detained at the Baoding City Detention Center and later sentenced by the Shunping County Court.

Ms. Zheng took up Falun Gong in 2015. For her persistent efforts to raise awareness about the persecution, she was arrested multiple times and had her home ransacked. To hide from the police, she was forced to live away from home with her incapacitated husband.

Ms. Zheng later found a job as a security guard at a company in the outskirts of Baoding. The income was barely enough to make a living. But the police soon located her. At 9 a.m. on June 25, 2019, four plainclothes officers led by Jia Xiaohui, the head of Fuping County Domestic Security Office, harassed Ms. Zheng at her temporary residence and interrogated her for nearly two hours.

The police came again on the afternoon of December 17, 2019. Ms. Zheng happened to be out working and her husband was at home by himself. The police waited until Ms. Zheng came home from work and ordered her to sign a statement to renounce Falun Gong. She refused to comply and the police stayed for another hour before leaving.

Seven officers returned to Ms. Zheng’s home on December 27. They called her son and daughter to come, asking for a short talk with them. When Ms. Zheng’s daughter came, the police handcuffed Ms. Zheng in front of the daughter and pushed her into the police car. She was taken to the Fuping County Police Department and forced to sit in a metal chair. Three officers took turns watching her and didn’t allow her to close her eyes. Upon learning she was taken to the Shunping County Procuratorate the next day, her son and other family members also went there to seek her release. Ms. Zheng was let go in the afternoon.

Before her latest arrest, Ms. Zheng was targeted a few more times for talking to people about Falun Gong’s health benefits during the pandemic.

In addition to the persecution she suffered, her son, who works in the local power bureau, was also constantly harassed. Influenced by her son-in-law who worked for the local court, her daughter didn’t dare to visit her in the prison.