(Minghui.org) Having lost her mother and sister to the persecution of their shared faith in Falun Gong, a Beijing resident was recently sentenced to three years by the Fangshan District Court.
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual and meditation discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Armed police broke into Ms. Xu Xiufen’s home on April 19, 2019. As she wasn’t home, they went to her workplace and arrested her. They then brought her back home and raided her place. They confiscated two boxes of her personal items.
In late April, Ms. Xu’s father went to the local police station to request her release, but to no avail. Ms. Xu’s arrest was approved on May 30, 2019.
Ms. Xu held a hunger strike to protest the persecution at Fangshan Detention Center and was force-fed. The guards also handcuffed and shackled her. She later developed symptoms of diabetes, but the guards refused to provide medical treatment to her and continued to torture her.
It’s not clear when she was sentenced and whether she has been admitted to prison.
Ms. Xu took up Falun Gong in 1997. After the communist regime began the persecution in 1999, she was repeatedly targeted for refusing to renounce her faith.
She was arrested on October 18, 1999, and March 16, 2003, and detained 15 days both times. Following her first arrest, she was given one year of forced labor on August 31, 2000. She was arrested again on April 9, 2008, and given two and a half years at Tumuji Forced Labor Camp in Inner Mongolia.
Ms. Xue was arrested one more time on October 26, 2014, and sentenced to two years by the Fangshan District Court on November 26, 2015, with a 4,000-yuan fine.
The persecution also targeted other members of her family. Her mother was repeatedly harassed and verbally abused. She died in a hospital in 2001, and her body was forcibly cremated by the hospital. More details about her death remain to be investigated.
Ms. Xu’s younger sister, Ms. Xu Xiuhong, was sentenced to five years after her arrest in 2001. She was force-fed unknown drugs in custody. After that, she had significant hair loss, vaginal bleeding, and was in low spirits. She also developed a severe heart problem after being released. In 2016, she was arrested again and detained for three months. The guards again force-fed her unknown drugs. After she was released, she was constantly in fear and had anxiety attacks. She passed away on April 2, 2017, at the age of 40.
After Ms. Xu Xiufen’s arrest in 2014, her father was dealt a heavy blow and his health quickly declined. He experienced high blood pressure and had a stroke. He was hospitalized several times and stayed in an intensive care unit for a period of time.