(Minghui.org) A Chuxiong City, Yunnan Province, resident was recently sentenced to two years in prison. This is the second time that Ms. Xu Lijuan has been sentenced for refusing to give up her faith in Falun Gong.

Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is an ancient spiritual and meditation discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime.

Ms. Xu, 57, used to work at the Chuxiong City Bureau of Statistics. She began to practice Falun Gong in 1997 and credits the practice for curing her many ailments.

After the persecution started, Ms. Xu decided to go to Beijing, about 1,300 miles away, to appeal for the right to practice Falun Gong, only to be arrested halfway, in Changsha City, Hunan Province, on January 27, 2000. She was held at the Changsha Detention Center for three days before being sent back to Chuxiong and detained for over a month.

Ms. Xu was arrested again in February 2002 and held in a brainwashing center for nine days.

A dozen officers broke into her home around 11 p.m. on July 13, 2002, and ransacked it. She was arrested and taken to the Chuxiong City Detention Center the next day.

Ms. Xu was sentenced to three years by the Chuxiong City Court on October 9, 2002. In Yunnan Province No.2 Prison, she was monitored by the inmates around the clock, including when she used the restroom. The inmates pointed a big flashlight at her face every ten minutes at night and didn’t let her sleep.

In February 2003, Ms. Xu was placed in a strict-management ward for intensified brainwashing. She was ordered to work 16 hours every day, making police uniform and other clothes, without pay. The prison authorities also denied her family visits for a year.

Ms. Xu was also held in solitary confinement and forced to sit on a small stool without moving for over ten hours at a time. The inmates frequently would not let her take a shower, use the restroom, talk to anyone, or even drink water.

Ms. Xu was arrested again on November 8, 2019, and had her home ransacked. The police submitted her case to the Dayao County Procuratorate on May 23, 2020. She was later sentenced to two years by the Dayao County Court via a video conference.