(Minghui.org) 2,054 incidents of Falun Gong practitioners being arrested or harassed for their faith were reported in September and October 2022.

Out of the 2,054 newly-reported incidents, 659 were arrests, including 34 cases that took place in 2021, 248 between January and August 2022, and 377 in September and October 2022. The 1,395 harassment cases included 8 in 2021, 310 from January to August 2022, and 1,077 between September and October 2022.

The newly-confirmed cases brought the total number of arrests and harassments reported in the first ten months of the year to 3,127 and 3,462, respectively. Due to strict information censorship in China, these incidents often are not reported in a timely manner, nor is further information readily available.

The Chinese Communist Party’s 20th Party Congress was held between October 16 and 22, 2022. The number of arrests and incidents of harassment of Falun Gong practitioners began to escalate months before, beginning in July. Compared to the combined 564 arrest and harassment cases in June, the total recorded cases in July (1,039) almost doubled. Between July and October, a total of 2,202 harassment cases were confirmed, which was 1.74 times the number of 1,260 incidents reported in the first half of the year.

 

Among the newly-confirmed cases of persecution in September and October 2022, six provinces registered triple-digit cases, including Hebei (441), Shandong (295), Sichuan (188), Heilongjiang (184), Jilin (139), and Hubei (139). Eighteen other provinces or municipalities had cases in the double-digits and three regions had single-digit cases. The location of one harassment case wasn’t known.

A total of 211 of the targeted practitioners were 60 or older at the time their cases were confirmed, including 62 in their 60s, 101 in their 70s, 44 in their 80s, and 4 in their 90s. Many of the practitioners were professionals, including government agency directors, professors, doctors, an engineer, and an interior designer.