(Minghui.org)
Chinese Name: 胡汉姣Gender: FemaleAge: 53City: HanchuanProvince: HubeiOccupation: N/ADate of Death: November 9, 2021Date of Most Recent Arrest: March 15, 2021Most Recent Place of Detention: Hubei Province Women’s Prison
A Hanchuan City, Hubei Province resident passed away 13 days after being admitted to prison to serve a four-year term for practicing Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Ms. Hu Hanjiao was arrested on March 15, 2021 after being reported for talking to people about Falun Gong. She was given a physical examination in the afternoon and put on criminal detention by the Hanchuan City Domestic Security Office several days later.
Ms. Hu appeared in the Xiaochang County Court on June 16, 2021. Her lawyer entered a not guilty plea for her. She was sentenced to four years in late June.
During the seven months she was held at the Hanchuan City Detention Center, Ms. Hu held a hunger strike to protest the persecution and was force fed.
At 8 p.m. on November 9, 2021, 13 days after she was transferred to the Hubei Province Women’s Prison, a guard called Ms. Hu’s husband and said that she had died from a disease at the hospital.
Ms. Hu’s husband and several family members rushed to the prison in Wuhan City the next morning and demanded to see her medical record and her body, but the prison refused. Her husband hired a lawyer to seek justice for Ms. Hu upon returning home in the evening.
The next day, the Hanchuan City Political and Legal Affairs Committee (PLAC), an extra-judiciary agency tasked with overseeing the persecution of Falun Gong, pressured her husband to dismiss the lawyer and forbade him to discuss Ms. Hu’s death with other local Falun Gong practitioners.
Prior to her latest arrest and sentencing, Ms. Hu was repeatedly targeted for her faith.
She was first arrested on September 13, 1999 when she went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong. She was held at the Hanchuan City No. 1 Detention Center until January 9, 2000, after she paid a 3,000-yuan bail bond and 1,800 yuan in living expenses. Her mother-in-law, Ms. Tang Jiaoying, who went to Beijing with her, was also detained for a month and forced to pay a 3,000-yuan bond.
On February 24, 2000, the police went to Ms. Hu’s home to harass her. As she wasn’t home when they arrived, they accused her of “colluding with other practitioners.” They ransacked her home and confiscated Falun Gong books, informational materials and a tape player. They detained Ms. Hu for 15 days on charges of “violating the social order” and forced her to pay 450 yuan in living costs.
In 2001, Ms. Hu was given one year at the Shayang Forced Labor Camp by Liu Jixiang, head of the Hanchuan Domestic Security Office.
Shortly after she was released, Liu and Xie Zhenxing of the Hanchuan 610 Office arrested her again in October 2003 and took her to the Tangxunhu Brainwashing Center. Her family was forced to pay 6,000 yuan.
Ms. Hu was arrested one more time on August 2, 2007 after being reported for distributing informational materials about Falun Gong. The police took her to the Hanchuan No. 2 Detention Center the next day, harassed her family, and confiscated the Falun Gong books from her home.
Liu of the Domestic Security Office later gave Ms. Hu another three-year term at the Hubei Province Women’s Forced Labor Camp. When she was transferred to the labor camp on August 27, 2007, her face was bruised and her body was covered with wounds. The guards didn’t allow her family to visit her, but accepted the clothes they sent her. Ms. Hu was once deprived of sleep for two months. She was released on August 3, 2008, two years ahead of time.
Ms. Hu was arrested again on July 21, 2019 after being reported for talking to people on the street. She was held at the Hanchuan District Lockup for 15 days and harassed at home after being released.
Five Hubei Residents Sentenced to Prison for Raising Awareness about the Persecution of Falun Gong