Dr. Meng's family has been told she is ill, but are denied visitation rights.

Dr. Meng Yuhua's Situation Unknown after Being Sentenced to 13 Years in Prison

Name: Meng Yuhua 
Gender: Female
Address: Kangping County, Shenyang City
Occupation: Physician
Most recent place of detention: Liaoning Province Women's Prison 
City: Shenyang
Province:Liaoning
Persecution Suffered: Forced labor, beatings, hung by handcuffs, imprisonment

In February 2010, a few days before before the Chinese New Year, Ms. Meng Yuhua's mother, mother-in-law, and child took a taxi more than 100 miles to the Liaoning Province Women's Prison to visit her. After their arrival, a section chief from Ward 9 Wu rudely refused to let them see her, and told them it was because she had not "behaved."

Ms. Meng Yuhua

Ms. Meng's mother, mother-in-law, and child all cried and said, "Chinese New Year is coming. We just want to see her. It's OK if we don't get to talk to her. Or you can let her talk to us by phone so we can hear her. Then we won't need to worry about her." But Wu held firm. The guard would not let them speak with the prison director, either.

They later went to the Prison Management Bureau but were told that Falun Gong cases were directly handled by the 610 Office, and they could not interfere. Ms. Meng's family is worried about her.

Ms. Meng was a physician in Kangping County, Liaoning Province. In 2001, Taochang Police Station in Dadong District, Shenyang City arrested her because she hung up Falun Gong banners. The police brutally beat her. Her husband went into shock after hearing the news and became very depressed. Not long after, when he was driving at night, he was in a car accident and died. Ms. Meng was later sentenced to four years in prison. In 2002, before the Chinese New Year, because of the persecution that she endured in prison, she was near death, so she was released.

However, shortly after her release, the 610 Offices in Kangping County and Shenyang City arrested her again. She was then sentenced to 13 years in prison and sent to the Liaoning Province Women's Prison.

A couple of years after her second sentencing, her father-in-law had a stroke and passed away. Her son lives with her mother-in-law. The two of them live on her mother-in-law's pension of 300 yuan per month and just barely get by.

Since her arrest, Ms. Meng's family has only been allowed to see her once a year. On August 24, 2009, an official from the Liaoning Province Women's Prison called her parents and told them that Ms. Meng was severely ill and they could come visit her. On August 26, her parents went to the prison and saw her through a glass window. Ms. Meng looked very gaunt. The prison guard told her parents that Ms. Meng had a severe potassium deficiency and her condition was critical. They also mentioned that they would not be responsible for her death, since she refused to cooperate with their treatment and she had not signed the agreement. When her parents asked if she could be released on medical parole, one guard told them that it was absolutely impossible since she refused to renounce Falun Gong. They also told her parents that the prison could not support her and she had to do forced labor.