(Minghui.org) It was learned recently that Ms. Yang Aihua died in late 2012 or early 2013, one year after she was released from a local brainwashing center.

The Shouguang City resident was targeted because she refused to renounce Falun Gong, a mind-body practice based on the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance.

Ms. Yang credited Falun Gong for returning her to health and enabling her to enjoy life.

She used to suffer from a myriad of illnesses, including a stubborn skin disease that left her entire body covered with rashes. There were 28 kinds of food she had to avoid in order to not trigger the symptoms. Nothing seemed to help her condition, and she became irritated that her body was failing her. She was quick to lose her temper and bickered with people all the time.

Ms. Yang's symptoms disappeared after she began practicing Falun Gong in 1996. A healthy body uplifted her spirits and she was thrilled to be able to enjoy food again without any worries. She told everyone that Falun Gong gave her a second life.

Ms. Yang never wavered in her faith when the Chinese communist regime launched a nationwide campaign against Falun Gong in July 1999. She went to Beijing three times to appeal for Falun Gong.

On her third trip to Beijing, official Ma Chunlan of her local government ordered Ms. Yang detained at the local family planning bureau. Ms. Yang was deprived of sleep for several consecutive days. She was also beaten and verbally abused. She was released 40 days later, after her family was forced to pay 5,000 yuan. Ma sent people to harass Ms. Yang at home. The only TV and DVD her family had were confiscated.

Agents from the Shouguang Police Department showed up at Ms. Yang’s home on October 24, 2009. She managed to escape.

Around November 2011, she was visiting a neighbor when the police broke in and arrested her. She was sent to a local brainwashing center, an extra-judicial facility used to hold Falun Gong practitioners.

Ms. Yang was restrained to a chair with her hands cuffed and feet shackled the entire time that she was held at the brainwashing center. She became weaker and weaker. Her family were not allowed to pick her up until they paid a 40,000-yuan extortion fee.

Ms. Yang Aihua died approximately one year after she left the brainwashing facility. The exact dates of her release and death remain to be investigated.