(Minghui.org) A Yanji City, Jilin Province resident was sentenced to seven years in late July 2020, seven months after she was arrested for practicing Falun Gong, a mind-body discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.

According to Ms. Fan Minglan’s family, they lost contact with her after January 10, 2020 and it was confirmed ten days later that she had been arrested. Her family was informed in late July that Ms. Fan had been sentenced, but details, including her current whereabouts, remain unknown. 

Ms. Fan Minglan took up Falun Gong in June 1997. After the communist regime ordered the persecution of Falun Gong in 1999, she was arrested several times and was tortured in custody.

Ms. Fan was first arrested at Tiananmen Square in Beijing in October 2000, when she went there to appeal for the right to practice Falun Gong. She was beaten by the police, held in solitary confinement for four days and then detained at the Yanji Detention Center for a month. 

In late 2000, Ms. Fan was given three years at Heizuizi Forced Labor Camp, where she was ordered to work 20 hours a day without pay. The guards shocked her with electric batons when she was unable to finish the daily work quota. She became very weak due to the abuse and was released on medical parole after serving four months.

Ms. Fan was arrested again on February 15, 2011. The police took turns interrogating her for two days and didn’t allow her to sleep. They slapped her in the face, hit her with a slipper, pulled her hair, kicked her back, and handcuffed her wrists behind her back and pulled her arms up. 

Ms. Fan was transferred to the Helong Detention Center two days later. She was soon released on bail due to a severe heart condition, only to be arrested again and sent to a brainwashing center in March. By the time she was released on April 23, 2011, her right leg had become disabled as a result of torture.

Ms. Fan was arrested and detained for two weeks on October 15, 2014. She was released on bail after her blood pressure became dangerously high. 

She was arrested one more time on June 11, 2018 for talking to people about Falun Gong and she was harassed by the authorities on March 7, 2019. 

Related report:

Ms. Fan Minglan Describes Torture by Police and Guards