(Minghui.org) Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Tang Sizhi, 72, from Luohe City, Henan Province was released six months ago after being persecuted in prison for five years.
Ms. Tang was brutally beaten with a steel rod at the police station. She was deprived of sleep, locked in solitary confinement, and subjected to brainwashing while being held in prison.
Her sister in-law, Ms. Zhang Furong was emaciated and incontinent when she was released on November 10, 2010. She died one year later on March 20, 2011.
Below is Ms. Tang's account of her persecution:
I went to Beijing to appeal for the right to practice Falun Gong after the Chinese Communist regime began the persecution of Falun Gong on July 20, 1999. I was illegally arrested.
I have been arrested eight times since then.
The last arrest occurred on the evening of February 24, 2009. The police broke into my home and ransacked it. They confiscated a computer, printer and Falun Gong books, and arrested me and my husband.
I was taken to a empty room. Several plainclothes officers brutally beat me with a steel rod that was thicker than the thumb. I was in excruciating pain. Another officer slapped my face and two of my teeth were knocked out.
I then was unlawfully sentenced to five years in prison. I was forced to do intensive labor work, deprived of sleep, and confined to an isolation cell. I was subjected to brainwashing and forced to watch derogatory videos about Falun Gong.
I started practicing Falun Gong in September 1996. Before practicing I suffered from a number of illnesses, such as leukemia. I tried all kinds of medicine, but with no avail.
A Falun Gong practitioner demonstrated the exercises and gave me a copy of the book Zhuan Falun, the main book of Falun Gong. After practicing for one month I returned to good health. The feeling of being free of illness was beyond description.