Software Engineer, Fiancee Sentenced to Prison for Developing Application to Break China’s Internet Censorship

Undated file photo of Zhang Yibo (L) and He Binggang (R). Courtesy of Falun Dafa Infocenter

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, along with several others, were arrested on Oct. 9, 2021, for developing and maintaining software that helps people living in China 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.

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.

“His neck issue and partial paralysis, which resulted from torture during [the] previous detention, worsened. He has now completely lost the ability to walk and has become bedridden. He has trouble falling asleep at night and suffers from constant dizziness, headache, and incontinence,” Minghui reported in June 2023.

He, 46, has been imprisoned two times previously.

He is a gifted software engineer, according to Minghui.org, a platform that tracks the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners.

When he was 15 years old he created “Computerized Audible Aids for the Blind.” The invention won the Silver Award of the Sixth National Invention Award and the “Sixth Shanghai Yilida Youth Invention Award.”

He obtained a certificate in computer application software engineering as a senior programmer when he was only 16.

In 1994, He was admitted into Fudan University, and four years later he entered the graduate program.

In 2000, he was detained by police and later given a six-year sentence at Shanghai Tilanqiao Prison.

Fudan University expelled him.

In 2007, He was released and he began his own technological company. But in 2010, he was detained again for his spiritual practice.

According to a June report on Minghui.org, He was tortured when he was imprisoned for the second time, and the beatings caused him to become paralyzed due to severe spinal injuries. He was sentenced to five years in prison in April 2011 despite having been paralyzed.

Zhang was a business manager for a foreign company. The Xuhui Court sentenced her to one and a half years in prison in 2009 for her spiritual practice, according to Minghui.org.

Other Falun Gong Adherents Arrested in 2021 for oGate

The arrest of He and Zhang is part of the Chinese Communist Party’s nationwide suppression targeting Falun Gong practitioners who have participated in the development and support of oGate.

A computer displays a message from the Chinese Great Firewall on the proper use of the Internet at an Internet cafe in Beijing. New web publishing news announced last week will bar foreign companies from publishing most forms of online content. Ng Han Guan, File/AP Photo

On Oct. 9, 2021, the regime arrested Falun Gong adherents who were allegedly involved in the support of the software in several provinces, according to Minghui.org.

In Shijiazhuang city of China’s central Hebei Province, Zhou Li and Wang Bingcheng were arrested by local police. Wang’s mother and another Falun Gong adherent were arrested at the same time.

In Changsha, the capital city of China’s southern Hunan Province, Zhang Bing was arrested by local police while she was at work.

In Faku County, China’s northern Liaoning Province, Guo Xuhong was arrested by local police at around 4 a.m. while she was on her way to work. Ms. Guo’s husband, who is not a Falun Gong practitioner, was taken by police and interrogated.

The Minghui report said additional unnamed Falun Gong adherents who were also arrested in 2021 in other parts of the country for their involvement in oGate.