(Minghui.org) A healthy woman in her 70s developed severe symptoms after three months of incarceration for her faith in Falun Gong. Despite her condition, the authorities still sentenced Ms. Nie Junhua to five years and transferred her to a local prison, where she became a vegetable in one year and was released on medical parole.

Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.

Ms. Nie of Zhengzhou City, Henan Province, was arrested on June 27, 2021. She was taken to the Zhengzhou City No. 3 Detention Center after two days of interrogation. She was subjected to intensive torture for upholding her faith, and her health quickly declined.

On September 26, 2021, two days after she fainted in her cell, the detention center informed her family that she had developed high blood pressure, diabetes, and uterine fibroids, as well as suffering a stroke. Her family questioned the guards on what they had done to her in the past three months that resulted in her condition, as she was perfectly healthy and full of energy when she was arrested.

The Zhongyuan District Court secretly sentenced Ms. Nie to five years with a 20,000-yuan fine in December 2021, even though she had become incapacitated and couldn’t care for herself.

The police took Ms. Nie to the hospital for an operation in January 2022 but didn’t inform her family until February 14. When her family rushed to the hospital, they were devastated to see a dying woman in front of them, who had lost half of her weight (from nearly 160 lbs to only 80 lbs) six months following her arrest.

Shortly after, the judge ordered the police to take Ms. Nie to the Xinxiang Women’s Prison to serve time.

In a few months, Ms. Nie became a vegetable. The prison didn’t release her on medical parole until November 2022. Her family has sought treatment for her at two hospitals, but she hasn’t had any improvement. Her husband is caring for her now.

Prior to her latest ordeal, Ms. Nie was sentenced to two years in 2008 for practicing Falun Gong and released on December 10, 2009.