(Minghui.org) A 66-year-old woman has been held in the Jinzhou City Detention Center since late April 2019 after being arrested for distributing materials containing information about Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
This is the fourth time that Ms. Zhou Yuzhen has been arrested for her faith in Falun Gong. The Jinzhou City, Liaoning Province resident previously served 1.5 years in a forced labor camp and 4 years in prison for speaking out for Falun Gong.
Ms. Zhou Yuzhen heard about Falun Gong while being detained in 2001 for getting into an altercation with someone. She was impressed with the calmness and kindness exuded by several Falun Gong practitioners who were detained there for not renouncing their faith.
After being released, Ms. Zhou found a Falun Gong book and started the practice herself. Because of her courageous efforts in raising awareness about the persecution, she was arrested, sentenced to prison, and tortured.
She was strip-searched, repeatedly forced fed, and savagely beaten while being held at the Masanjia Forced Labor Camp between June 2004 and January 2006.
She was emaciated and on the verge of death when she was released. She was forced to live away from home in order to avoid further persecution.
Ms. Zhou was arrested again on July 23, 2013 with two other practitioners, Ms. Qu Wei and Ms. Wang Yanqiu, while distributing materials about Falun Gong. Both Ms. Qu and Ms. Wang were tortured to death by the authorities in 2014 and 2017, at the ages of 57 and 56, respectively.
Ms. Zhou was sentenced to a four year prison term by the Guta District Court in January 2014 and served time in the Liaoning Province Women's Prison.
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