(Minghui.org) A 73-year-old woman has been detained incommunicado since her arrest on September 8, 2020, for her faith in Falun Gong, a spiritual and meditation practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
This is the 13th time that Ms. Zhou Shanhui, a resident in Pengzhou City, Sichuan Province, has been arrested for her faith, which she has been practicing since January 2001 and credits for curing her stomach condition, rheumatoid arthritis, and frozen shoulder.
Arrested for Appealing for Falun Gong
Ms. Zhou went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong on February 20, 2000, and was arrested. She was sent back to Pengzhou and detained for 15 days.
On April 1, 2000, she returned to Beijing to appeal and was arrested again. During the nine-day detention in Beijing, she was beaten and locked to a post. An officer kicked her and her head was injured and bled after hitting a post.
Ms. Zhou was given another 15 days of detention and fined 10,000 yuan after she was taken back to Pengzhou. The authorities later sent her to a mental hospital and held her there for over seven months. One officer dragged her on the ground and slammed her against a metal door after finding a Falun Gong book on her. She lost consciousness from the torture.
One and a Half Years of Forced Labor
Ms. Zhou was arrested again in early 2003. At the county government, the officers beat her, kicked her on the back and stepped on her feet and calves. She had injuries and bruises all over her body.
The police soon gave her a 1.5-year term at Nanmusi Forced Labor Camp. There, she was often tied up with thin ropes in excruciating positions, locked in solitary confinement and denied sleep. Some inmates once handcuffed her and dragged her around on the ground by the handcuffs, causing severe injuries again.
Force Feeding in the Detention Center
Ms. Zhou was arrested for the fourth time on May 24, 2008. The police ransacked her home and forcibly took her photo. As she resisted, one officer hit her head so hard with a broom that the handle was broken. She had a headache for several days.
Ms. Zhou started a hunger strike to protest the persecution after she was sent to the Pengzhou Detention Center on the same day. The guards tied her to a chair and force-fed her on the second day. They used a thin metal wire to tie up her hands. The wire cut deep into her wrists. Seeing that she almost collapsed from the pain one hour later, the guards replaced the metal wire with cloth.
Ms. Zhou was locked to the chair and force-fed for seven days. She was then transferred to another detention facility and held there for four days. Two officers beat and kicked her.
Drug Administration in Xinjin Brainwashing Center
Ms. Zhou was transferred to the Xinjin Brainwashing Center on July 3, 2008. The inmates assigned to monitor her once stuffed her mouth with their soiled sanitary napkins, when she shouted “Falun Dafa is good.” The inmates also pried open Ms. Zhou’s mouth and force-fed her with soapy water. Her mouth was injured as a result.
To increase Ms. Zhou’s suffering, the inmates often poured water onto her clothes, bed and comforter.
On September 9, 2008, the inmates force-fed her with toxic drugs after she held a hunger strike to protest the persecution. Ms. Zhou said the water tasted savory. She soon had extreme pain all over her body. She rolled all over her bed and was unable to sleep at night.
When the guards sent her to the hospital the next day, her lungs and gallbladder had already been damaged. The brainwashing center immediately decided to release her.
Ms. Zhou was unable to eat upon returning home. She was almost paralyzed and unable to move her neck. Her memory was reduced greatly and she couldn’t take care of herself.
She gradually recovered after she resumed practicing Falun Gong for a while.
Forced to Live Away from Home
Ms. Zhou was stopped by the police on her way back home on June 16, 2009. The police beat her and attempted to arrest her. While she escaped the arrest, she was forced to live away from home to hide from the police.
More Arrests
Ms. Zhou was arrested again on May 7, 2015, while distributing informational materials about Falun Gong and detained 15 days.
Only weeks later, she was arrested one more time on June 26, 2015, after being reported for talking to people about Falun Gong. She was also detained for 15 days.
The police harassed and arrested her on September 5, 2017.
She was arrested again on June 22, 2018, for talking to people about Falun Gong and detained 10 days. She was arrested twice, first on October 23 and then on October 26, in the same year, and was released soon both times.
She was sent to the detention center following her other arrest on April 10, 2019, and released on the same day after she was arrested on November 14, 2019.
Related reports:
Ms. Zhou Shanhui's Life in Danger from Torture at the Xinjin Brainwashing Center
