(Minghui.org) A 59-year-old woman in Chengdu City, Sichuan Province, has been forced to live away from home to avoid being harassed for her faith in Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
The harassment of Ms. Zhong Fangqiong started on September 26, 2022, at her brother’s home in Yunlong Town, Jianyang City, Sichuan Province, where she was temporarily staying (it’s not clear if she had her own residence). Over 20 police officers and government and village officials raided her brother’s home and confiscated a Falun Gong book and the mat Ms. Zhong used to do the Falun Gong meditation.
A female government official ordered Ms. Zhong to sign a statement to renounce Falun Gong. When she refused to comply, two male officers spread ink on the back of her hand and used it to stamp the statement they had prepared.
The female official ordered local officers to keep a close eye on Ms. Zhong. She also instructed them to install a surveillance camera near the front door of Ms. Zhong’s brother’s home.
For the next few days, the village officials came back several times to take photos of Ms. Zhong. After the surveillance camera was installed, village secretary Zhang Hu ordered her to stand on the front step facing the camera every morning, noon, and evening so he could send the footage to his superiors in Chengdu (which has jurisdiction over Jianyang City).
Between October 14 and 22, 2022, secretary Zhang, three Yucha Community officers (Zhang Haocheng, Zhang Jingcheng, and Hu Jianguo), as well as 610 Office officials Yan Jun and Zhang Shuwen went almost every day to harass Ms. Zhong.
The harassment continued in 2023. On April 26, 2023, over ten officers from the local government, police station, and community office in Yunlong Town harassed Ms. Zhong at her brother’s home again.
Zhang Hu and Hu Jianguo called Ms. Zhong’s brother on June 2, 4, and 13, 2023, ordering him to evict Ms. Zhong and have her move to her son’s home in another town. Hu called Ms. Zhong’s son on June 15 and 16 and demanded to meet with him. Liu Jia, director of the Yunlong Town 610 Office, also contacted her son and said they needed to have a virtual meeting with her every day (it’s not clear if she moved to her son’s place).
To avoid being arrested, Ms. Zhong decided that she couldn’t stay with her brother or her son and is now displaced, hiding from the authorities.
Past Persecution
Ms. Zhong, a professional in the transportation industry, used to have congenital angioma (abnormal growth of blood vessels) and severe cerebral ischemia. Both conditions disappeared two months after she took up Falun Gong on March 5, 1999.
Because she refused to renounce Falun Gong after the persecution began, Ms. Zhong has been detained many times and sentenced twice for a total of 11 years.
First Prison Sentence of Seven Years
Ms. Zhong and over 30 other practitioners were arrested between August and September 2007. She was interrogated with torture for ten days. The police put a 100-watt bulb in front of her, deprived her of sleep, wiped mustard on her eyes and nose, and beat her. She passed out from the beating.
Ms. Zhong and eight other practitioners, as well as two practitioners’ family members, were sentenced to prison by the Wuhou Court on October 27, 2008. She was given seven years. All 11 people appealed the verdicts, but the Chengdu City Intermediate Court ruled to uphold their sentences after barring their lawyers from representing them.
Ms. Zhong was taken to the Yangmahe Women’s Prison in Jianyang City on March 4, 2009. Because she refused to renounce Falun Gong, the guards held her in isolation in December 2009, took her clothes, and gave her an inmate’s uniform, which was very thin. All the buttons had been removed as well. She was given a pair of plastic slippers and a thin comforter. There was no bed in the solitary confinement cell and she had to sleep on the cold concrete floor. In the morning, she was given a bowl of cold porridge and a steamed bun. The portions for lunch and dinner were very small. She often shivered from the cold. Her hands shook so badly when she was eating that the spoon kept banging the bowl.
After freezing her in the winter, the guards tortured her with the heat of summer. Between August 8 and September 25, 2010, Ms. Zhong was forced to stand outdoors from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., especially when it was 104°F. She wasn’t allowed to use the restroom during the time, take a shower at night, or wash her clothes. Her roommates were unable to bear the smell and verbally abused her.
Second Prison Sentence of Four Years
Ms. Zhong was arrested again on October 26, 2016, by Taoxi Road Police Station officers. Her arrest was approved by the Chenghua District Procuratorate in December 2016. The Chenghua District Court sentenced her to four years with a 5,000-yuan fine on June 6, 2018. She was transferred to the Chengdu City Women’s Prison on November 7, 2018.
Because she remained firm in her faith, she was again brutally tortured. For six months, the guards didn’t give her anything to eat with, so she had to eat with her hands. For ten days, she was only given a quarter of the regular food portion. She wasn’t allowed to buy daily necessities. She had to pick up used toilet paper from the trash bin to wipe herself. Her use of restroom was also strictly restricted. She was once denied restroom use for two days.
Ms. Zhong wasn’t allowed to get the food herself—the inmates had to deliver it to her. She wasn’t given a napkin, so she had to use her hands or clothes. Not allowed to wash her hands or take showers, she soon started to smell. The only times she was allowed to wash herself and do laundry were on public holidays, but the guards refused to give her any laundry detergent.
Every day after she got up at 6 a.m., she was forced to sit on a three-inch tall, five-inch wide plastic stool, until 10 p.m. She had to keep her hands on her thighs, and her fingertips could not go beyond her kneecaps. Her back and neck had to remain straight. She had to keep looking ahead and wasn’t allowed to close her eyes. After only one day of sitting, her buttocks had six big blisters. When she sat down the next day, the pain was excruciating. After a prolonged period of sitting, her buttocks festered. When the blood and pus dried, her pants stuck to her. The pain was unbearable when she took them off before she was allowed to go to sleep.
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