Ms. Guo, 64, has been repeatedly arrested for practicing Falun Gong. Most recently, she was sentenced to a seven year prison term for handing out flyers. She remains in the Harbin Women's Prison at this time.

Ms. Guo Fenglan in Critical Condition Due to Abuse at Harbin Women's Prison

Ms. Guo Fenglan, 64, lives in Shuangcheng City. Due to more than three years of persecution while "illegally imprisoned" at Harbin City Women's Prison, her body has become extremely weak and emaciated. Medical examiners stated that she has a brain blood vessel blockage, hypertension and high blood pressure, with a upper index of 200 and a lower index of 180. Despite her condition, prison administrators have still not released her. Recently Ms. Guo has suffered a relapse of edema, causing her belly to become overstretched. She cannot eat and her stools are dry. If she is not released in time, it is very possible that her struggles to have a bowel movement could cause her death. Despite this, the warden and instructor of Harbin Women's Prison still force Ms. Guo Fenglan to sit as usual in a fixed posture for extended periods of time every day.

Ms. Guo Fenglan had got many kinds of diseases. She had edema of her abdomen, which caused breathing difficulties, and bowel movements became very difficult. It also caused problems with the circulation in her upper and lower body. Three or four of her colleagues had died from this type of disease. Ms. Guo began to practice Falun Gong in late 1997. The first day she went to the exercise site to practice, she had to be supported by others and had to take several breaks during her walk of less than one kilometer to the practice site. While she was learning the exercises, however, a miracle happened. She felt relaxed, her breathing became smooth, and she felt her belly also relax. On her way back home after practice, she did not take a break or need any support, but instead she walked briskly.  Witnessing the wonders, her family and neighbors praised Falun Gong. Therefore, her family members also started to practice Falun Gong one after another.

In 1999, Jiang Zemin and the Chinese Communist Party began to persecute Falun Gong. Ms. Guo Fenglan went to Beijing to appeal, asking for justice for Falun Gong. She unremittingly explained to people the facts about Falun Gong being persecuted in many ways, and was therefore listed as a key subject for persecution by the police, including Zhang Guofu and Jin Wanzhi in Shuangcheng City. In late 2001 the police broke into Ms. Guo's home, illegally arrested her, her son, daughter-in-law, granddaughter, and grandson (all are practitioners) and confiscated her family's property. Later that evening her daughter-in-law and grandson were released, but Ms. Guo Fenglan and her son were sentenced to forced labor. Because of Ms. Guo's health condition, the police were unable to take her to a forced labor camp, and she was released after her body became covered with scabies. After she went home, the police and Chinese Communist Party officials harassed her unceasingly, and she was forced to leave her home and go from place to place to avoid further persecution.

In October 2004, Ms. Guo Fenglan and practitioner Ms. Huang Yanzhen were distributing Falun Gong materials to train passengers and clarifying the truth about the persecution against Falun Gong. They were reported to authorities and again illegally arrested. The Chinese Communist Party sentenced these two women, in their sixties, to seven years imprisonment and have held them at the Harbin Women's Prison until now. Ms. Huang Yanzhen was just released because she appears to be in critical condition, but Ms. Guo Fenglan is still imprisoned.