(Minghui.org) A prison in Xi'an City, Shaanxi Province refused to grant medical parole to Ms. Xiong Jiyu until she was in critical condition. She died on April 16 while being transported back to her hometown in Chenggu County.

The 53-year-old woman was serving a prison sentence for refusing to renounce her faith in Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline being persecuted by the Chinese communist regime. She was already unable to talk by the time her family was allowed to see her for the first time at Xi'an City Women's Prison.

Her family received a notice on April 3 this year informing them of her critical condition. They rushed to the hospital in Xi'an the next day and learned that she was suffering from a bacteria infection caused by a perforated stomach ulcer.

The prison reluctantly approved the medical parole request upon her family's insistence. Sadly, it was too late – Ms. Xiong died even before she reached her home.

Her family suspects that she had been tortured and mistreated. As they were never able to hear Ms. Xiong recount her own experience, they are calling on insiders to share what they knew about her imprisonment.

Ms. Xiong recovered from her stubborn arthritis shortly after she took up the practice of Falun Gong in 1996. She never shied away from telling people about the unjust persecution, for which she was repeatedly arrested.

Prior to her latest arrest in June 2014, she was given two years of forced labor in 2001.