(Minghui.org) A 75-year-old Pingliang City, Gansu Province, resident, was subjected to brutal torture while serving a 6.5-year prison term for her faith in Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Ms. Li Xiuzhen was arrested on November 18, 2019, together with another practitioner, Ms. Tan Xiuhua, for urging local government officials not to participate in the persecution. The authorities raided both practitioners’ homes and confiscated their computers, printers, and other personal items, which filled up two vans.
The police accused Ms. Li of being a spy because they “found” a radio transmitter at her home. In China, there’s usually no channel for individuals to purchase any transmitters. Ms. Li suspected that the police planted the transmitter at her home to frame her. She was never given a list of confiscated items to review and sign off as required by law. The fabricated evidence was later used by the local court to sentence her to six and a half years. Ms. Tan received three years.
While serving time at the Gansu Province Women’s Prison (located in the capital city of Lanzhou), Ms. Li was subjected to long-term physical torture, including beatings, being forced to squat for long hours, and denied restroom use. In addition to the physical torture, she has also been under tremendous pressure to uphold her faith.
As of 2022, there were 500 people detained at the Gansu Province Women’s Prison and the seventh division is specifically used to detain and torture Falun Gong practitioners.
This isn’t the first time that Ms. Li, a fried dough vendor well-known among locals, has been targeted for her faith, which she credits for helping her to recover from many diseases.
She went to Beijing around December 2000 to appeal for the right to practice Falun Gong and was arrested at Tiananmen Square. She was beaten, held at the Tiananmen Square Police Station for a few days, and then escorted back.
She and her husband were manning their fried dough booth on January 15, 2001, when the police suddenly showed up and arrested Ms. Li. They handcuffed her hands, which were covered with flour, from behind. She was first taken to the Wangcun Police Station and then transferred to the Jingchuan County Detention Center, where she was held for three months.
Ms. Li was arrested again in 2015 for filing a criminal complaint against Jiang Zemin, the former head of the Chinese communist regime who ordered the persecution. The police continued to harass her and also began to surveil her daily life after she was released.
Related Report:
Two Gansu Women Arrested for Urging Local Officials to Quit the Chinese Communist Party
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