Two people, who were detained by Shanghai State Security Police in October 2021 for developing software that circumvents the Great Firewall, received six- and five-year prison sentences on June 12, 2023.
He Binggang and his fiancée Zhang Yibo, together with several others, were arrested on Oct. 9, 2021, for developing and maintaining software that helps people living in China to access overseas internet platforms, according to the Falun Dafa Infocenter.
The Chinese regime set up Great Firewall (GFW), or Golden Shield Project, in 1998, which is managed by the regime’s Ministry of Public Security to monitor and censor what can and cannot be seen in China through an online network.
He and Zhang are Falun Gong adherents, a spiritual practice that has been persecuted inside China since 1999 and has been the subject of intense political propaganda.
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual improvement practice based on principles of truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance, with five slow-moving, gentle exercises that have significant physical benefits. The practice has been very popular in China, with an estimated 70 million to 100 million practitioners in the country before the Chinese communist regime began to persecute the belief and its followers in July 1999.
He and Zhang had developed software called oGate that allows Chinese people to freely access websites and information available outside of China but which are blocked by the GFW and otherwise unavailable inside China.
A group of Chinese non-IT activists, including lawyers and journalists, launched BanGFW on March 8, 2023.
Persecuted for Belief: Reports
He and Zhang have been subjected to long-term persecution by the Chinese regime for their belief in Falun Gong.
According to Minghui.org, the police denied He’s lawyer from visiting him at Shanghai’s Changning District Detention Center. On March 10, 2022, his lawyer was allowed to talk to him on the phone at the detention center, but without seeing him in person.
He’s physical condition is very poor because of repeated torture by the Chinese regime.
By Freda Wu and Sophia Lam
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