Older Woman Dies After Six Weeks in a Brainwashing Center for Her Faith in Falun Gong

(Minghui.org) 

Name: Li XiumeiChinese Name: 李秀梅Gender: FemaleAge: around 72City: WuhanProvince: HubeiOccupation: N/ADate of Death: October 8, 2022Date of Most Recent Arrest: February 18, 2022Most Recent Place of Detention: Huangpi District Brainwashing Center

Ms. Li Xiumei was taken to a brainwashing center twice in two months between late 2021 and early 2022 and held there for a total of more than six weeks. She was targeted for her faith in Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) since July 1999. She passed away on October 8, 2022, less than seven months after she was last released.

Ms. Li, around 72, was a resident of Huangpi District, Wuhan City, Hubei Province. She lost both of her parents while a very young child. The hardships of life took a toll on her health, but she became healthy and happy after she took up Falun Gong in the 1990s. 

Subjected to Years of Persecution

After the persecution began in July 1999, Ms. Liu felt compelled to debunk the CCP’s lies against Falun Gong and let the public know that Falun Gong is a good practice. Her simple act of raising awareness of the persecution was met with harassment, arrests, and imprisonment.

On November 10, 2005, her employer, Factory 288 in Huangpi District, deceived Ms. Li into going to the Duoluokou Brainwashing Center in Qiaokou District, Wuhan. During her 24 days of detention there, she was forced to watch videos smearing Falun Gong and Falun Gong’s founder every day. 

Ms. Li was distributing informational materials about Falun Gong on the morning of July 26, 2014 when someone reported her to the police. The arresting officer had intended to send her to a detention center but let her go after she was found to have high blood pressure.

Ms. Li went to Jiahai Industrial Park on June 14, 2019 to distribute informational materials about Falun Gong. A patrol officer arrested her and took her to Dongxihu Lockup, where she was held for 13 days before being transferred to the Wuhan City First Detention Center.

Ms. Li was sentenced to one and a half years after 15 months at the detention center, during which time her family was not allowed to visit her. As the local prison refused to admit her due to her high blood pressure, the court ordered Ms. Li to serve time at Ankang Hospital.

The police kept harassing Ms. Li at home after she was released. They also had Gong Lianghan, a former Falun Gong practitioner who had given up the practice under pressure, “work” on her in an attempt to make her write statements to renounce Falun Gong. 

Most Recent Arrests and Detentions in Brainwashing Center

A bus pulled over outside Ms. Li’s home a bit past 7 p.m. on December 18, 2021. About seven plainclothes agents jumped out and arrested her. They drove her straight to the Huangpi District Brainwashing Center (known to the outside as Huangpi District Care Home), a three-story building in a rural area with no other houses in sight. 

By the time Ms. Li was released in January 2022, she had become extremely weak and unable to straighten her back. She also suffered palpitations and shortness of breath when she walked.

On the evening of February 18, 2022, five male officers and two female officers knocked on Ms. Li’s door. A male officer claimed that Ms. Li was involved in a “major case” and must be taken into custody. He asked her to pack her medications. She said she was too weak to walk and the officer said he could carry her on his back. As she refused to go with them, they dragged her to their vehicle.

Ms. Li tried to call her son but the police snatched her phone away. Her son warned the police that his mother was suffering from poor health and that they would bear responsibility if anything happened to her. 

It was later learned that Xiao Yiping, director of the local street committee, was also involved in the arrest.

Ms. Li was again taken to the Huangpi District Brainwashing Center. She was put in a second-floor room fitted with its own bathroom and three beds. Ms. Li was ordered to use the middle bed, while the three monitors assigned to watch her around the clock took turns resting on the two other beds at night. 

Ms. Li had to eat all her meals in the room. She had no privacy and every move of hers, including using the restroom and washing herself, was watched by the three monitors. 

There were surveillance cameras everywhere. Male guards were posted outside the room and in the hallway. 

Ms. Li was taken downstairs every morning and afternoon to watch videos smearing Falun Gong and study slanderous materials written by Yu Changqing, a former Falun Gong practitioner who had given up the practice under pressure. Another former practitioner, Suo Hanhua, was also called in to “work on” Ms. Li. They later ordered her to write various statements to criticize and sever ties with Falun Gong.

Xiao Yiping and Xie Qiong, director and deputy director of the local street committee, picked Ms. Li up from the brainwashing center and took her home on March 21, 2022. She never recovered from the trauma of the two brainwashing center detentions, and passed away at 8 a.m. on October 8, 2022.