(Minghui.org) Ms. Zhang Xiaohua, a 76-year-old retired librarian from Hubei University, remains detained since early February 2024, for practicing Falun Gong. A young professional she once helped is calling for her release.
This professional currently works at a Fortune 500 company outside of China. When he read of Ms. Zhang’s plight on Minghui.org, he became extremely worried and called for her immediate release. He said his family at one point lived in the same residential compound of Hubei University as Ms. Zhang.
Ms. Zhang was known to neighbors as a kindhearted and upright person. This professional was in high school at the time. He was stressed out while preparing for college entrance exams. Ms. Zhang often advised him to take it easy and do his best. He became better at dealing with stress and later excelled academically. His former high school teachers and classmates all knew what a positive influence Ms. Zhang was on him. He credits Ms. Zhang for making his success possible and teaching him to always remain upbeat.
He was also touched by other stories he read about Ms. Zhang. She was harassed numerous times by local police and the street committee for practicing Falun Gong, yet she held no grudges against her perpetrators. He calls for kindhearted people to help secure her release.
Ms. Zhang, a resident of Wuhan City, Hubei Province, was initially arrested on November 25, 2023, while she and seven other guests were studying the Falun Gong teachings at the home of Ms. Hu Aihong, who is in her 50s. The local community office and property management office workers led more than twenty officers and pried open the door. The police were from multiple agencies, including the Wuchang District 610 Office, the Wuchang District Police Department, the Xujiapeng Police Station, the Yujiatou Police Station, the Yangyuan Police Station, and the Nanhu Police Station.
Without showing a search warrant, the police raided Ms. Hu’s home and confiscated her Falun Gong books, cell phone, cash, and a portrait of Falun Gong’s founder. She and her guests were taken to the police stations in charge of their respective residential areas for interrogation.
Ms. Zhang and five other guests, all seniors, were released the night of their arrests. The Xujiapeng Police Station officers, however, raided her home before the Chinese New Year (February 10, 2024) and took her back into custody. They put her in the Wuhan City Brainwashing Center, where she remains detained to this day.
This is not the first time that Ms. Zhang has been targeted for her faith. She was previously arrested multiple times and held at various brainwashing centers. The Caidian District Court sentenced her to three years (exact time unknown), and she suffered brutal torture at the Hubei Province Women’s Prison (located in Baofeng Road, Wuhan City). She was savagely beaten, force fed, and deprived of sleep. She was also once held in solitary confinement, which was sound proof with no windows. The guards tortured her at will without worrying her screams would be heard by others.