68-year-old Woman Detained for Four Months and Counting for Her Faith

(Minghui.org) A 68-year-old Lanzhou City, Gansu Province, resident has been detained since November 18, 2021, for her faith in Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.

The police claimed that the detention of Ms. Zhou Yuezhen was a follow-up on her earlier arrest on May 11, 2020, for distributing QR codes linking to uncensored websites about the persecution of Falun Gong.

After she was released on bail back in 2020, Ms. Zhou lived away from home to avoid the persecution. The police had attempted to arrest her upon finding out that she returned home in September 2021, but relented due to local outbreaks of the coronavirus. As soon as the infection cases were cleared, the police arrested her on November 18. The police once said to her family that she might be sentenced towards the end of the year.

Ms. Zhou is still being held at the Lanzhou City No. 1 Detention Center at the time of writing. It’s not clear whether she has been sentenced or is facing trial.

Past Persecution

Prior to her latest persecution, Ms. Zhou was repeatedly arrested and detained for speaking up for Falun Gong. She was sentenced to five years following an arrest in April 2008 and constantly subjected to violent beatings and verbal abuse in Gansu Province Women’s Prison. Her family, though not practicing Falun Gong themselves, also lived in fear, and was under tremendous mental distress. She missed her daughter’s milestone of giving birth. Her 83-year-old father became bedridden while she was serving time, and soon passed away.

Targeted for Appealing for the Right to Practice Falun Gong

When the Chinese Communist Party announced the start of the campaign to persecute Falun Gong on July 20, 1999, Ms. Zhou went to Beijing to appeal the decision. She was arrested as soon as she got off the train in Beijing, and taken to the Fengtai Stadium southwest of the city. It was over 40°C (104°F), and, en route to the stadium, the police intentionally turned up the heat in the vehicle to “bake” Ms. Zhou and other arrested practitioners, all the while using fans to cool themselves off.

Many Falun Gong practitioners had already been taken to the stadium by the time Ms. Zhou arrived, including young women holding babies in their arms. The police patrolled the area with guns and batons, while verbally abusing the practitioners.

As the police kept bringing practitioners to the stadium, it was soon packed full. The police collected the practitioners’ names and addresses, and informed officials from various provinces to take them away.

At the Gansu provincial office in Beijing, Ms. Zhou filled out an appeal form, and the officials promised that they would forward it to the appeals office. But as soon as she got onto the train back to Gansu, she was monitored by the police all the way back home.

Shortly after she returned home, Fang Shuangcun, Pei Guilin, and Guo Jianwei of the local 610 Office, an extralegal agency specifically created to persecute Falun Gong, broke in and confiscated her Falun Gong books, and lecture and exercise tapes. Knowing that Ms. Zhou’s daughter had just finished the college entrance exam and was still awaiting the result, they threatened that Ms. Zhou’s practicing Falun Gong would affect her daughter being admitted to college. With tears in her eyes, Ms. Zhou’s daughter said she hated her mother.

The officers also tried to find fault with Ms. Zhou by asking her husband whether she did anything at home besides the Falun Gong exercises. Her husband replied that she did all the household chores. After Ms. Zhou was arrested, her husband fell ill due to the mental distress.

The authorities then brought Ms. Zhou’s father to the police station and attempted to make him persuade her to renounce Falun Gong. When she refused to give in, her father slapped her in the face and threatened to disown her.

No matter how the police threatened or verbally abused Ms. Zhou, she remained firm in her faith and tried to clarify the facts about Falun Gong. She was released in the evening.

The authorities subsequently kept coming to harass her. Reporters from local TV and radio stations also came and interviewed her. Not realizing it was a trap to slander Falun Gong, she did the interviews and talked about how she benefitted from the practice, only to find that her own words weren’t used, but her footage was shown on the news in a segment smearing Falun Gong.

Pressured by the police and 610 Office, Ms. Zhou was demoted at work and sent to work at the workshop. Her supervisors and her husband were ordered to monitor her around the clock, including when she left and returned home, and keep track of how often she went to visit her parents, to make sure that she would not go to Beijing again, otherwise their own salaries would be deducted.

Ms. Zhou’s workplace arranged for her to retire in 2000. She went to Beijing again on December 29 that year. At Tiananmen Square, a group of officers surrounded her, pushed her to the ground, beat her, and shocked her with electric batons. One of her front teeth was knocked out. Blood was all over her face and bruises covered her body. She was taken to Mentougou Detention Center and released nine days later after she held a hunger strike.

Another Arrest for Talking to People about Falun Gong

Ms. Zhou was arrested again on April 5, 2003 for talking to people about Falun Gong, after being followed by police. The police ransacked her home and took away all her Falun Gong books, a computer, printer, and other office supplies such as a stapler and a paper cutter. Officer Pei Guilin extorted 3,000 yuan from her husband without giving a receipt.

The police handcuffed Ms. Zhou to a large post in the police station. She was having her menstrual period, but they didn’t allow her to use the restroom.

For five days, they handcuffed her from 7 a.m. to 12 p.m. to the post and then to the heating pipes at night, with her feet barely touching the ground. Her feet were swollen and painful for a long time.

She was later taken to the Qinzhou District Detention Center and held there for 3.5 months. She was released on July 24, 2003.

Sentenced to Five Years

Ms. Zhou was arrested one more time while walking with her sister outside of her apartment one day in April 2008. Six officers ransacked her home in the evening and confiscated her satellite dish, used to receive uncensored TV programs, and a printer. Her husband was extorted of 1,000 yuan by the police. The police interrogated her for nine days, before taking her to the local detention center.

Ms. Zhou was indicted by the Qinzhou District Procuratorate on September 10, 2008 and sentenced to five years by the Qinzhou District Court on December 25. She appealed the verdict with the Tianshui City Intermediate Court, which ruled to uphold her original sentence on February 19, 2009. She was taken to the Gansu Province Women’s Prison four days later.

Tortured in Prison

In order to force Falun Gong practitioners to renounce their faith, the Gansu Province Women’s Prison established a specific “Anti-cult” ward in 2006. The authorities selected death-row prisoners, or those serving life terms, to torture the practitioners, with term reduction as an incentive. While the inmates often fought with each other, they always worked well together in persecuting the practitioners, including verbally abusing them and using extreme torture against them.

Every practitioner who was taken to the ward was first subjected to savage beatings that rendered them unable to move. The inmates then deprived them of sleep for several days, by forcing them to either stand or sit without moving.

One inmate assigned to monitor Ms. Zhou was Li Yan, in her 30s. She often beat Ms. Zhou with other inmates, including Meng Haihong and Yan Feng. Meng frequently kicked Ms. Zhou’s lower body, causing enormous pain to her. When Ms. Zhou’s family visited her and brought daily necessities to her, the inmates took away valuable items.

In addition to the constant beatings and verbal abuse, the inmates also ordered Ms. Zhou to do their laundry by hand, especially in the winter. They often said to her, “We have the government backing us. You can go ahead and file complaints against us. You should be thankful we didn’t torture you to death.”

A typical day for Ms. Zhou in the prison included watching slanderous videos against Falun Gong in the morning and then writing thought reports in the afternoon.

At one time, while Li Yan was bringing Ms. Zhou back to the cell, she beat and kicked her all the way there. As soon as they entered the cell, the inmates surrounded Ms. Zhou. They beat her and force-fed her unknown drugs. This was repeated for a few days.

The inmates took turns sleeping at night, but Ms. Zhou was forced to stand overnight and not allowed to close her eyes, or she would be beaten.

Li also ordered her to recite the prison rules before each meal. If she made any mistakes, Li slapped her in the face, leaving deep red marks on her.

Ms. Zhou’s face was often bruised from the beatings, but the guards always turned a blind eye to her injuries.

Related report:

Elderly Woman Faces Prosecution for Distributing Information on How to Access Uncensored Information