(Minghui.org) A young mother in Miyun District, Beijing was recently sentenced to one year in prison for raising awareness of the Chinese Communist Party’s persecution of her faith, Falun Gong.

Ms. Gao Yu was talking to a man about the persecution of Falun Gong at a bus station in early 2023 when a woman named Liu Ling spotted her and videotaped her conversation with the man. Liu then reported her to the police.

Two officers from the Xibinhe Police Station broke into Ms. Gao’s home a bit past 5 p.m. on February 6, 2023. They took her and her four-year-old daughter, Ranran, to the police station. Later that night, the police called Ms. Gao’s husband in to pick up the little girl. With his wife detained, the young father had to turn to his mother, in her 60s, to help care for his daughter. Already the main caregiver for her husband with poor vision, the grandmother struggled to look after her granddaughter. 

Ms. Gao went on a hunger strike for three days to protest the arbitrary detention. The police promised to release her if she signed a statement to renounce Falun Gong. She held firm to her faith and the police submitted her case to the Miyun District Procuratorate.

The Miyun District Court held a hearing on July 20, 2023 and sentenced Ms. Gao to one year in prison at the end of the session.

It is unknown where Ms. Gao is currently held.