(Minghui.org) On February 25, 2012, Ms. Ma Zhichai, a lab technician in Shandong Province, was arrested and transferred to her hometown of Jiyuan City, Henan Province. The secretary of the Jiyuan City Political and Legal Committee illegally sentenced her to 5 years in prison. Ms. Ma was taken to Xinxiang Women's Prison, but the prison refused to accept her. She was then held in the detention center and tortured. She suffered organ failure and was eventually put in the intensive care unit of the hospital. Despite her serious condition, armed guards remain outside her door and her family is not allowed to see her.

Ma Zhichai Ms. Ma, 42, was born in Jiyuan City. She worked as a lab technician at Jidier LLC in Gaotang County, Shandong Province. She originally left her hometown to work because she was often harassed by the Public Safety Ministry and the Jiyuan City 610 Office.

Arrested and Sentenced to Prison Again

On February 25, 2012, while Ms. Ma was at work, police from the Public Safety Ministry of Liaocheng City, Gaotang County, arrested her and took her personal laptop and cash, valued at 20,000 yuan. That same day, 11 other Falun Gong practitioners were arrested. Ms. Ma was falsely charged and sentenced to five years’ imprisonment by Zhao Nianbo, the Political and Legal Committee secretary of Jiyuan City. The Women’s Prison of Xinxiang City refused to admit her, so the police took her back to the Jiyuan City Detention Center, where she was tortured. Her health quickly deteriorated. 

By May 2012, Ms. Ma had been abused so severely in the detention center that she could no longer swallow food, and anything consumed was quickly regurgitated. In mid-May, she was sent to the Jiyuan City People’s Hospital for emergency treatment. The detention center called her husband and relatives, telling them to go visit her. The detention center urged the family to follow the hospital's procedure for medical parole. At the end of May, Ms. Ma Zhichai was transferred to intensive care. She had tubes in both her stomach and lungs. If her family wanted to visit her, they had to get permission from the detention center. Even though she was disabled and unable to get out of bed, the police did not allow her family to visit her. At the end of June 2012, she was so emaciated that she was unrecognizable. Daily infusions were all that kept her alive. Her lungs were extremely compromised. She was no longer able to move. Nevertheless, three armed policemen took turns guarding her. The armed guards were dispatched to bring whatever the doctors and nurses needed, which often reached the cost of 150,000 yuan. Since she arrived in the intensive care unit, her family has not been able to visit her. When they come, they are turned down, because the hospital insists they need the approval of the detention center. Her family worries that Ma Zhichai is in critical condition and are appealing the international society and human rights organizations to help. They have asked that Ms. Ma be released and allowed to get proper medical care.

Ms. Ma Previously Arrested and Tortured  

On April 7, 2004, Ms. Ma Zhichai was working in the Xinghua Machinery Factory of Jiyuan City. The authorities searched for and arrested her. On April 8, 2004, she was sent to the detention center. She went on a hunger strike for eight days and was tortured beyond imagination. She was force-fed brutally almost every day. The police beat her so barbarically that she had bruises up and down her legs and could not walk. She had severe headaches, blood in her urine, and gynecological problems that caused her great suffering. She was not released until she was near death.

Torture re-enactment: Force-feeding On September 11, 2010, she was once again arrested and sent to the Jiyuan City Detention Center, this time for four months. She refused to “transform,” refused to wear the prison uniform, and protested the persecution by going on a long hunger strike. She was put in handcuffs and leg irons. The police called on the head of prisoners, Liu Hongjin, and also two female and four male prisoners to assist them. They force-fed Ma Zhichai by forcing her mouth open and inserting a steel tube down her throat three times a day. Her cheeks and tongue were injured. Several days later, the police called Liu Hongjin again to force her to consume a full bowel of batter. They deliberately let it cool down and solidify, then added some water. Every time they called in the prisoners for feeding, the timid prisoners got scared and cried. As time went on, they used more and more brutal means to force-feed the prisoners. In the freezing winter with the temperature at zero, the police fed Ms. Ma cold water. They were intentionally as brutal as possible. Because her stomach had been damaged and no longer functioned, she threw up everything immediately. Eventually, she started to vomit blook. She could no longer take in any food or water and so there was no longer anything to excrete either.

During those three months in the detention center, Ms. Ma lost more than 22 pounds, Political and Legal Committee secretary Zhao Nianbo and vice head of the police station Wang Lixin would not agree to release her, even though she had been tortured so horribly that she was no longer recognizable. She was so thin and weak that she could not stand upright. Afraid that she might die, they eventually let her family sign the “release on bail” letter and take her home. Contact information and photographs of those involved in persecuting Ms. Ma:

Wang Lixin, vice head of Jiyuan City Police Station: +86-391-6693389, +86-391-6291876, +86-13949690888(Cell)
Zhao Nianbo, Jiyuan City Political and Legal Committee secretary: +86-391-6633611(Office), +86-391-6633610(Office)
Hu, Court of Jiyuan City (responsible for sentencing Ms. Ma): +86-13838906969(Cell)