(Minghui.org) Ms. Meng Qingfang from Dalian City, Liaoning Province, moved to her daughter’s home in Juye County, Shandong Province, a few years ago. Because she talked to people about Falun Gong, she was arrested by the police in Juye on October 5, 2019 and sentenced to 1.5 years. While in custody, she was subjected to various tortures and frequently had her blood drawn.
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) since 1999. Mounting evidence has suggested that the CCP is systemically harvesting vital organs from living Falun Gong practitioners against their will to sustain China’s lucrative organ transplant industry.
Latest Arrest and Repeated Blood Draws in the Detention Center
Ms. Meng, in her 50s, was reported for talking to people about Falun Gong at a pedestrian mall on October 5, 2019 and was arrested by officers from the Juye County Police Department. They confiscated her cellphone, money and her Falun Gong books from her daughter’s home.
As soon as Ms. Meng was taken to the Heze Detention Center, the guards drew a large tube of blood from her. She was detained in cell 36. She held a hunger strike to protest. On the fourth day, she was taken to the medical room, where the nurse drew another large tube of blood and force-fed her.
Afterwards, they force-fed her every day. On the fifth day of the force-feeding, she began to have rapid heartbeat, stomachache and loose bowels. Yet guard Yang Yan came to draw her blood again and refused to explain the reason for the repeated blood draws. Fearing that they were planning to do something to her, Ms. Meng stopped the hunger strike and began to eat. But the guards still force-fed her in the evening and collected her blood sample again. They said they would continue the force-feeding even after she began eating.
They arranged people to watch her. She threw up and they took her back to the medical room to repeat the force-feeding. She saw them empty a bag of white powder into the food. She suspected they were trying to drug her, so she tried to make herself vomit when they weren’t looking. But instead of throwing up the food, she vomited blood.
When guard Yang realized that Ms. Meng was fine the next day, she was angry and tried to force-feed her again. Then another guard came and said the force-feeding was over.
Tortured in Cell 43
Ms. Meng was later transferred to cell 43. As soon she was taken there, guard Song Wenzhi drew another big tube of blood from her, but did not tell her what it was for. Song arranged inmates Li Meng and Zeng Meiling to watch her around the clock, including when she used the restroom, slept or took a shower. They didn’t allow her to talk and forced her to do free labor. She was deprived of sleep if she didn’t follow their orders. The inmates also forced her to stand for long hours each day. Her entire body was in pain. She was also constipated or had blood in her stool. She lost her appetite due to the torture and was force-fed again.
The lawyer that Ms. Meng’s family hired for her visited her twice and tried to persuade her to write a statement to renounce Falun Gong. The guards also urged her to give up her faith. She refused to comply.
A guard decided to release Ms. Meng after one interrogation session. After guard Yang found out about it, she intervened and didn’t allow Ms. Meng to leave.
Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, cell 43 was closed and Ms. Meng was taken back to cell 36. When another guard, Liu Li, took her to the interrogation room to torture her, Ms. Meng said to her in a very loud voice that it was wrong for her to persecute good people. In retaliation, Liu handcuffed and shackled her, starved her and forbade others from talking to her.
Ms. Meng stood trial on December 8, 2020 and was later sentenced to 1.5 years. The judge ordered her to finish serving her term at the detention center. Because she did the Falun Gong exercises to protest the persecution, guard Yang ordered her to do intense labor.
On the day of Ms. Meng’s prison release on April 5, 2021, her son-in-law said he planned to divorce her daughter, as he feared being implicated. Ms. Meng was also devastated to find out that her husband was fired from his job because of her imprisonment.
Previous Persecution
Ms. Meng took up Falun Gong in 2001. In addition to her latest prison sentence, she was arrested two more times, in 2006 and in 2010.
One day in 2006, an employee at Ms. Meng’s shoe shop found a lost wallet. There was a deposit certificate of 40,000 yuan, the owner’s ID, and his business card. The employee offered to split the money with Ms. Meng. She refused and called the owner. Her employee was angry and demanded that Ms. Meng give him 20,000 yuan. She didn’t listen to him. In retaliation, he called the police and told them she practiced Falun Gong. Officers of the Paoya Police Station arrested her and extorted 1,000 yuan before releasing her.
A plainclothes officer pretended to be a customer and visited Ms. Meng’s shoe shop on April 25, 2010. He showed Ms. Meng a Falun Gong booklet and asked if she had more. She gave him a DVD and he left.
Not long after, four officers broke into Ms. Meng’s shop and confiscated the 600 yuan in cash she had and some other personal items. One officer said his name was Song Tianxiang and he would arrest her to claim some monetary rewards. Song took her to the Paoya Police Station and slapped her in the face.
Ms. Meng was taken to the Yaojia Detention Center that evening. Another officer attempted to draw her blood, but she refused to cooperate. Another male officer then ordered a female officer to strip search Ms. Meng. The female officer refused.
Ms. Meng held a hunger strike to protest. The guards then punished the over ten inmates in her cell by prohibiting them from watching TV or buying snacks. The agitated inmates cut Ms. Meng’s hair, tore her clothes, force-fed her and forced her to work. Her face was swollen because they pinched her so much.
The police denied Ms. Meng’s family’s request to visit her. Her mother, in her 70s, worried about her and kept crying. She cried so hard that she lost eyesight in both of her eyes. The family spent over 10,000 yuan to treat her, but there was no improvement. Meanwhile, Ms. Meng’s husband became incapacitated due to the complications of his diabetes and he couldn’t afford the medical treatment. Yet the police still extorted over 20,000 yuan from the family. Also, their daughter, who was in the first grade, was left unattended.
The police later transferred Ms. Meng to the brainwashing center and held her there for nearly two months. With no one to run her shoe shop, her family had to close it.
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