(Minghui.org) Ms. Qiu Hualing entered the security checkpoint at Houma Train Station at 2 a.m. on April 23. She was on her way to visit her husband, who has been illegally imprisoned at Jinzhong Prison for practicing Falun Gong.

When she overheard the security officer tell someone, “She's here,” it became clear to her that the police had been monitoring her and were aware of her purchasing the train ticket prior to that day. She was forcibly taken away by officers from Domestic Security Unit of Lingfen Railway Police Department.

The next day, police searched Ms. Qiu’s home and confiscated a computer, a hard drive, a USB stick, MP3 player, cellphones, cash and other personal belongings. Ms. Qiu spent the following month at Linfen Detention Center, where she was tortured. She was released on May 30.

Tortured During Detention

Ms. Qiu Hualing was taken to Linfen City Detention Center on the afternoon of April 24. Upon her arrival, she was handcuffed to the iron bar of a bunk bed (pictured below) for half an hour with her feet barely touching the ground. Then a man came in and released her for questioning. When Ms. Qiu tried to explain the facts about the persecution of Falun Gong and urged him to not to participate in the abuse, he had her hung up again. This time only the tips of her toes touched the ground and for 10 to 20 minutes.

Torture Re-enactment: Hanging

Ms. Qiu was then sent to her cell, and her hands were cuffed in front for seven days. Her right hand thumb still feels numb and uncomfortable as result of the hanging torture and cuffing.

Husband Secretly Sentenced

Ms. Qiu Hualing’s husband, Mr. Zuo Xiaodong, was reported and arrested while distributing Falun Gong informational materials in Quwo County on September 1, 2010. At 5:00 p.m. on the day of his arrest, Liu Xurui from the Quwo County Domestic Security Unit, Wang Jixian with the Houma City Domestic Security Unit deputy head, and five agents broke into Mr. Zuo’s home. They confiscated his computer, printer, Falun Gong books, informational materials, more than 400 yuan in cash, a DVD player, and two MP3 players.

Mr. Zuo’s case was submitted to the court in early December. The family was afraid the court would try him in secret, so they went to inquire about it almost every day. Yet Quwo Court secretly held a trial of Mr. Zuo Xiaodong on March 31, 2011, without notifying his family. Mr. Zuo was sentenced to seven years in prison.

Mr. Zuo's family later questioned judge Yang Linfeng regarding the secret trial at the courthouse. Yang claimed it was in compliance with a little known law. When further pressed, he left without answering. When Ms. Zuo's family spoke with passersby about the incident in front of the courthouse, officer Wang Jixian from Houma Domestic Security Unit and Liu Xurui from Quwo Domestic Security Unit threatened them, saying that they would be taken to a detention center if they continued to speak out.

Mr. Zuo Xiaodong was taken to Jinzhong Prison Unit 15 on June 7, 2011. He was monitored by an inmate named Li Fengzhi. Initially he was not allowed to buy items for daily use from the prison store, and he was otherwise subjected to abuse. Later Mr. Zuo was transferred to Unit 13, where he was not allowed to call home because he refused to write a “guarantee statement.”

Domestic Security Unit of Linfen Railway:Qu Yukui (曲玉奎), +86-13393579538Liu Naiqin (刘乃清), +86-13934689196