76-Year-Old Chinese Man Sentenced for 3rd Time for His Faith

Falun Gong practitioners take part in a parade to celebrate World Falun Dafa Day while calling for an end of the persecution in China, in New York City, on May 10, 2024.Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times

Yin Xiangyang, 76, a Falun Gong practitioner from China’s eastern Shandong Province, has been sentenced to 5 1/2 years in prison for his faith amid the escalated persecution by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

The sentencing took place via a virtual court in a closed proceeding after Yin was arrested on March 5, 2025, for telling people about the Falun Gong spiritual discipline at a local market.

This is the third time Yin has been imprisoned for raising public awareness of the CCP’s persecution of Falun Gong.

Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual discipline that includes gentle, slow-moving exercises and teachings based on principles of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance. The practice spread rapidly in China, primarily via word of mouth, after its introduction to the public in 1992. According to official statistics, at least 70 million Chinese nationals were practicing Falun Gong across the country as of 1999.

After having initially promoted Falun Gong for its benefits to health and morals, the CCP turned on it in 1999, starting a nationwide persecution against the spiritual practice, under the personal directive of then-CCP leader Jiang Zemin. Falun Gong practitioners have since been subjected to harassment, stalking, monitoring, random detention and arrests, imprisonment, torture, and even forced live organ harvesting.

Since the persecution began, Falun Gong practitioners have worked against the CCP’s propaganda to raise awareness about its human rights abuses.

Falun Gong practitioners have compared the CCP’s persecution of their faith to Roman Emperor Nero’s persecution of Christians in ancient Rome.

“Those who persecute people of faith will also bring harm to themselves in the end,” an anonymous Falun Gong practitioner wrote on Minghui.org, a clearinghouse for information on the persecution of Falun Gong. “I hope more people come to see this principle and avoid becoming accomplices to the CCP’s persecution.”

Decades of Brutal Torture

Yin is jailed in Shandong Provincial Prison, which is notorious for its brutal torture of Falun Gong practitioners incarcerated there.

File photo of Falun Gong practitioner Yin Xiangyang. Courtesy of Minghui

His latest sentence adds to a history of severe persecution dating back over two decades, during which Yin has suffered relentless physical abuse.

In October 2004, Yin was abducted by local police from Longkou City while he was working at a construction site. He was subjected to a closed-door trial in January 2005 and sentenced to five years in prison, according to an open letter by Yin published on Minghui in 2013.

Yin suffered severe beatings, deprivation of sleep, denial of access to the toilet, forced injection of pepper water, twisting a toothbrush between the fingers, and other unusual methods of torture, such as guards and inmates smearing feces and urine in his mouth.

Torture Re-enactment: “Twisting Toothbrush Between Fingers.” Courtesy of Minghui

In late 2006, Yin was made to squat continuously for 24 hours and was later beaten for refusing food. Sewing needles were jabbed into his skin across his entire body, and the sustained assault left his skin darkened from bruises. His left arm and leg were broken.

Yin was released after serving five years of imprisonment. He was again detained by local police in August 2014 for talking with people about Falun Gong. Minghui reported that he was sentenced to another five years in prison in January 2015.

In addition to the imprisonment terms, from 1999 to 2021, Yin was illegally abducted by police at least 17 times, illegally detained four times for a total of 58 days, sent to a brainwashing facility twice, kept in a labor camp for 10 days, and was incarcerated by local authorities for over half a year, according to Minghui. In 2000, the head of the local police station slapped Yin’s face so hard that it knocked out four of his teeth.

Yin’s persecution extended to his family. His wife, Wu Manping, protested for his treatment in October 2014, and she was sentenced to 3 1/2 years later following the protest. Their son, who does not practice Falun Gong, once attempted suicide under the weight of ongoing police harassment.

Calls to End the Persecution

Wang Zhiyuan, president and spokesperson of the World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong, stated on Thursday that the CCP’s persecution of Falun Gong is “anti-humanity” and “directly undermines human morality.”

Wang noted in an interview on June 19 that the CCP’s persecution has escalated over the years, especially in its transnational repression of the spiritual practice.

Wang called upon Western democracies to take immediate and enforceable actions to hold the CCP accountable, including freezing perpetrators’ personal assets, revoking visas for CCP officials and overseas students involved in the persecution, and banning illegal organ transplant tourism to China.

Sheng Xue, a China expert and Chinese democracy activist based in Toronto, Canada, said that international efforts to stop the persecution have proven to be too weak, as the persecution continues after more than 25 years.

In a recent interview with The Epoch Times, Sheng called on governments to take firm, coordinated action, including publicly opposing the CCP’s religious persecution and its transnational repression. She suggested that international human rights organizations, media, and lawmakers join forces and expose the CCP’s crimes against humanity.

In addition to sanctions such as freezing assets and banning entry for those involved, especially suspects of forced organ harvesting, Sheng said that it is important to allow legal action by victims in democratic countries.

“[Falun Gong practitioners] should be able to bring perpetrators to international courts, such as the International Criminal Court,” she said, adding that the Falun Gong Protection Act, passed by the U.S. House of Representatives in May, serves as a good example for other democratic countries to follow.

Minghui has reported that the CCP has been stepping up its persecution against Falun Gong in China.

In Jinzhou City, China’s northeastern Liaoning Province alone, at least 36 Falun Gong practitioners were taken by police on June 2 and June 3, with the eldest being 88 years old. In Lingyuan City, Liaoning Province, local police arrested six Falun Gong practitioners on May 8 and forced two of them to take a medical examination.

Wang Liying, another Falun Gong practitioner arrested on May 8, is still missing, according to Minghui. She was in exile for nearly a year to avoid being imprisoned for her faith before she was taken away by police in May.

Luo Ya contributed to this report.