(Minghui.org) Since the Chinese Communist Party launched the persecution of Falun Gong in July 1999, many practitioners have been arrested and detained in prisons and detention centers. Some were also persecuted to death for not renouncing their faith.
According to information collected by Minghui.org, at least 31 Falun Gong practitioners are being held in prisons and detention centers in Wuhan City, the capital of Hubei Province. The whereabouts of some who have been sentenced remain unknown due to the strict information censorship in China.
Below are snapshots of a few cases:
Ms. Nan Tianju of the Huangpi District was arrested in April 2023 and sentenced to two years. She is in Wuhan City First Detention Center.
Ms. Zhou Hongyan, 51, was arrested on March 27, 2023, after being reported for distributing Falun Gong informational materials in an apartment complex. She was later sentenced to three years and nine months. This is the second time that Ms. Zhou has been sentenced for her faith. She was previously arrested on November 6, 2016, and sentenced to three and a half years on September 5, 2017.
Ms. Qin Xiujuan, 69, was arrested at her son’s home by officers of the Sanjintan Police Station on February 3, 2023. The police claimed that she had been reported for putting up Falun Gong posters in a subway station days prior on January 30. She was detained at Wuhan City First Detention Center. Minghui.org confirmed in early April 2024 that she was sentenced to three years and four months with a 4,000-yuan fine. This is the second time that Ms. Qin was sentenced to prison for her faith. She was previously given three and a half years by the Qingshan District Court in Wuhan in 2012.
Ms. Zhang Xia was arrested at her home in Wuhan on February 28, 2021, by officers from Luoyang City, Henan Province, for posting information about the persecution online. The Jianxi District Court in Luoyang sentenced her to nine years with a 30,000-yuan fine on June 21, 2022. She is currently in Henan Provincial Women’s Prison.
Ms. Luo Yuanying and Ms. Huang Hongwei were arrested on February 22, 2021, after being reported for talking to people about Falun Gong. The Hanyang District Court held two joint hearings in 2022, on May 31 and June 17, before sentencing Ms. Luo to seven years and Ms. Huang to three and a half years on August 8. Ms. Luo was fined 7,000 yuan while Ms. Huang was fined 4,000 yuan. They appealed the verdicts but the Wuhan City Intermediate Court ruled to uphold both practitioners’ verdicts on November 28. They were transferred from Wuhan City First Detention Center to the Hubei Province Women’s Prison shortly after.
Ms. Tu Kuijin, 67, of the Jiangxia District was arrested in January 2021 after she was caught on camera distributing Falun Gong materials. Her husband, who is not a practitioner, was also arrested. He was released later. Ms. Tu was sentenced to four years in prison.
Mr. Jin Weifeng of the Wuchang District was arrested on December 16, 2020, and detained for nearly a year. It was learned in October 2022 that he had been sentenced to three years in prison. He was taken to Fanjiatai Prison on May 16, 2022.
Ms. Liu Jianqun from the Zhuankou Economic Development Zone was arrested on September 9, 2020, and held in the Wuhan City First Detention Center. She was sentenced to seven and a half years in December 2021.
Ms. Zhou Xiuhua, 75, was arrested at home on July 15, 2020, and sentenced to six years with a 7,000-yuan fine in December 2021. The Wuhan City Intermediate Court ruled to uphold her original verdict on March 14, 2022.
Mr. Liao Hui was arrested on March 16, 2020, after being reported for distributing Falun Gong materials. The Wuchang District Court sentenced him to two years with a 2,000 fine on December 30, 2021. He was taken to the Wuchang District Detention Center on August 4, 2023.
Ms. Liu Zhenli, in her 40s, used to work in a textile factory. She was arrested outside of her apartment when she returned from grocery shopping on October 15, 2019. She was sentenced to six years in December 2020 after being detained for more than a year. She is now in Hubei Province Women’s Prison.
Mr. Zhou Guoqiang, a 59-year-old former employee of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, was arrested on December 26, 2018. The police interrogated him in the Yujiatou Police Station. Mr. Zhou appeared in the Wuchang District Court on December 24, 2020, and was sentenced to eight and a half years in prison with a 3,000-yuan fine on January 25, 2021. His appeal was rejected by the higher court. Mr. Zhou was later transferred to Fanjiatai Prison. His thumbs were severely injured when he was tortured, and two of his teeth fell out when the guards tried to pry his mouth open (possibly for force-feeding).
Mr. Liu Shehong and his wife Ms. Zhao Xiujuan from Jingzhou City were arrested on September 4, 2019. Mr. Liu was sentenced to seven and a half years and Ms. Zhao was sentenced to seven years. Mr. Liu was taken to Fanjiatai Prison.
In 2022, someone who had been released from prison told Mr. Liu’s family that he had been tortured badly inside. His leg became lame and he had trouble walking after seven or eight people beat him. He was transferred to a training team to do high intensity labor and continued to be beaten. He was also forced to watch videos slandering Falun Gong.
Four Wuhan City, Hubei Province, residents were seized from an apartment on April 19, 2018, during a gathering. The police ransacked the place and confiscated their Falun Gong books and materials, a computer, a printer, and other personal belongings. They appeared in the Hongshan District Court on May 9, 2019. and were later sentenced to prison. Mr. Hong Weisheng was sentenced to ten years with a 50,000-yuan fine; Ms. Hou Mila and her sister Ms. Hou Aila each got eight years and 40,000 yuan-fines; and Ms. Rao Xiaoping was given seven years and fined 30,000 yuan. The practitioners all appealed with the Wuhan City Intermediate Court but the verdicts were upheld.
Mr. Hong was taken to Fanjitai Prison in Shayang County, Ms. Hou Mila to Hubei Province Women’s Prison, and Ms. Hou Aila and Ms. Rao to Hankou Prison.
Ms. Tong Julan, an 84-year-old schoolteacher from the Xinzhou District of Wuhan City, had been under police surveillance since September 2017 after the police went to her house and took photos of her. She was arrested at home on February 28, 2018, and held in the Wuhan City First Women’s Detention Center for about five months. She was sentenced to seven years years in prison in late December 2018 and taken to Hubei Province Women’s Prison where she remains. She suffered a medical condition due to the torture in prison.
Ms. Wang Qihua, 72, of the Xinzhou District in Wuhan City was at home on July 13, 2017, when the police arrested her and took her to Yusunshan Brainwashing Center in the Caidian District. The brainwashing center moved her to Wuhan City First Women’s Detention Center a few days later. Ms. Wang appeared in the Xinzhou District Court on May 2, 2018, and judge Zhou Jie sentenced her to eight years. She is being held in Hubei Province Women’s Prison.
Ms. Feng Yunqing of Wuhan City was arrested on May 22, 2017, and sentenced to seven and a half years in September 2018. Her appeal with the Wuhan Intermediate Court was rejected two months later, and she is currently serving time in Hubei Province Women’s Prison. The prison officials have forbidden Ms. Feng’s family from visiting her, saying that it would be allowed only after she writes statements to renounce her belief.
Ms. Zhu Ya, 60, from the Huangpi District in Wuhan City was handicapped before she started to practice Falun Gong. She had to use her left hand to move her left leg forward. After practicing Falun Gong, her atrophied legs recovered and she could walk normally. On April 25, 2017, she was arrested at home and secretly sentenced to eight years by the Huangpi District Court on July 17, 2018. She was fined 20,000 yuan. She was taken to Hubei Province Women’s Prison on September 12, 2018.
Because Ms. Zhu refused to renounce her faith, she was locked in solitary confinement for a long time. During her first year in prison, the back of her right hand was broken due to the abuse, but she was not allowed to tell her family when they visited her. The police told her to say she broke her hand herself. She was denied the right to meet and communicate with her family for a long time. For more than two years, her family could not visit her or get any news about her. They hired a lawyer to visit on their behalf but the prison denied the request. When they finally saw her in a video call, they learned that she had never received a single cent from them even though they mailed 500 yuan to her every month. She told her family that her leg was broken again. The guard standing behind her heard and shouted, “I told you not to say that!”
Ms. Qi Ling, 66, was reported for talking to people about Falun Gong in her neighborhood on the evening of June 5, 2024. She has been held at the Wuhan City No. 1 Detention Center since then. This is not the first time that Ms. Qi was targeted for her faith. She was previously given a one-year forced labor camp term and a 3.5-year prison term.
Mr. Xi Guoxiu, 60, from the Hanyang District was arrested on October 24, 2023, and taken to Wuhan City First Detention Center. In January 2024, her case was submitted to the Hanyang District Procuratorate, which forwarded it to the Hanyang District Court on April 11.
Mr. Zhang Lirong of Wuhan City was arrested on June 13, 2023. He was placed on administrative detention for more than 24 hours on June 15. After being held for 14 days, he was formally arrested on June 28. During this period, he was held in Wuhan City First Detention Center.
Ms. Zhu Huimin, a retired chemistry teacher from the Wuhan City First Business School, was arrested at home on April 19, 2023. Her home was ransacked. The Hanyang District Procuratorate issued a formal arrest warrant for her at the end of May 2023. She is now in the Wuhan City First Detention Center. This is not the first time that Ms. Zhu has been targeted for her faith. She previously served two forced labor terms totaling two years (2002-2003 and 2008-2009)
Ms. Huang Qiaoyun of Wuhan City was arrested in April 2023 and later released on bail. She was informed later that her case has been submitted to the procuratorate. She is being held in the Wuhan City First Detention Center.
Ms. Xie Yuanxia and Ms. Yu Huanzhi were arrested at their respective homes on the night of March 4, 2023, after being reported for distributing Falun Gong materials earlier that day. They were detained for nearly a year before they appeared in court on December 13, 2023. They are currently held at Wuhan City First Detention Center.
Ms. Guo Yuehong was arrested on July 13, 2022, after distributing Falun Gong materials at a defense industry factory in Hanyang District on May 14. She has since been held in a detention center.
Over the past 25 years, at least 309 practitioners in Wuhan City were sentenced and taken to various prisons, where they were deprived of sleep, starved, not allowed to use the restroom, beaten, handcuffed, held in solitary confinement, injected with unknown drugs, and force-fed. Numberous practitioners were tortured to death as a result. Below are a few select cases:
Mr. Liu Shuisheng of the Jianghan District was arrested on March 10, 2003, when he was displaced. The Dongxihu District Court sentenced him to eight years in December 2003 for printing informational materials about Falun Gong in his temporary residence. He was first held in Qinduankou Prison and then transferred to Fanjiatai Prison on March 20, 2007. Due to the beatings and drug administration in the prison and the brainwashing center, Mr. Liu’s hair was completely gray when he was finally allowed to return home. His teeth were loose and he had difficulty walking or doing anything. While he struggled with poor health over the years, he was dealt another hard blow in 2019 when the authorities suspended his pension. He passed away in early 2023.
Ms. Tang Changjun was arrested on April 12, 2019, and later sentenced to three and a half years in Hankou Prison. When she was released on October 12, 2022, she was unable to walk, had slurred speech, and was emaciated. Even so, the local street committee twice harassed her at home, trying to force her to renounce her faith. She died on December 17, 2022, 66 days after she was released. She was 74.
Mr. Yang Lingfu of the Qiaokou District was arrested on September 24, 2013, and sentenced to four years in Fanjiatai Prison on April 15, 2014. The Wuhan Social Security Bureau suspended his pension in October 2021. The bureau claimed that according to a new policy, Mr. Yang shouldn’t be entitled to any retirement benefits while serving the four-year term and he was ordered to pay back the 61,000 yuan he received during his prison term. Meanwhile, although he had over 40 years of service at his workplace and he’d made contributions to his retirement account for 34 years, the bureau claimed that they only honored 17 years of his service and whenever he would start to receive pension again, the monthly payment would be adjusted from 2,700 yuan to 1,200 yuan. Devastated by the financial persecution, his health started to decline and he passed away a year later in 2022.
Ms. Qin Hanmei of Wuhan City was arrested on July 22, 2014, and sentenced to five years in prison. She was tortured until she almost died. After she was released on medical parole, the authorities continued to harass her, which eventually led to her death on November 12, 2020. She was 55.
Ms. Wei Youxiu was arrested on June 2, 2018, in Zhongshan Park. She was detained at the Wuhan City First Detention Center and denied visitation rights for a long period of time. It’s reported that the persecution turned her into a mere skeleton and she had to be helped to walk. Her family received a notice on August 15, 2020, that 72-year-old woman had died from leukemia. While the authorities refused to provide further information, her family suspected that she was tortured to death.
Mr. Kang Youyuan of Wuhan City was sentenced to three years on August 15, 2014. He was taken to Hongshan Prison on October 28, 2014, and later transferred to Fanjiatai Prison. After his release, he did not recover from the abuse in prison and passed away on January 22, 2019.
Ms. Cui Hai of Wuhan City was arrested on October 19, 2012, and sentenced to five years in prison. She died on January 1, 2018, 19 days after she was released. She was 69.
Ms. Yu Zaorong, a 70-year-old farmer from Wuhan City, was arrested on March 11, 2012. She was sentenced to three years in prison and held at the Hubei Province Women’s Prison. She was rushed to Hanyang Hospital on March 28, 2013, for a heart attack. She was released on medical parole shortly after. Because of the physical and mental abuses, she passed away on January 3, 2015.
Ms. Xiao Aixiu of Wuhan City died just 10 days after her release from a local detention center. The self-employed woman had hallucinations, and her skin was a strange color during her final days. Her family suspected that she was poisoned while she was being held in Wuhan City First Detention Center after her arrest in September 2014.
Mr. Liu Yunchao from Wuhan City was sentenced to three years. He was held in Fanjiatai Prison where he was brutally beaten and injected with unknown drugs. He passed away at 7 p.m. on July 7, 2012. He was 56 years old. Before his death, he was nearly blind, unable to speak, and paralyzed from the waist down. His legs, hands, and back were dark blue.
Early in the morning on June 22, 2007, Ms. Pang Lijyuan, a retired doctor from the Hanyang District of Wuhan, was arrested and later sentenced to three years in prison. She was detained in Hubei Province Women’s Prison. During her detention, she was brutally tortured and injected with an unknown psychotropic drug. Almost three years later when her term ended, her family carried her home on a stretcher. Over the next six months, her condition deteriorated and at 7:30 p.m. on December 9, 2010, she passed away at the age of 67.
Mr. Zhu Zhijun, 73, lived in the Hanyang District in Wuhan City. He was arrested and sentenced to four years in Qinduankou Prison, where he was mentally and physically harmed. Even after he returned home, local agents kept monitoring and harassing him. He passed away on May 1, 2009.
Mr. Xu Guanglin, 33, of the Caidian District worked at Zhuru Hospital. He was arrested in March 2000 and went on a hunger strike in the detention center. He was force-fed, damaging his nostrils, esophagus, and stomach. In September 2000, he was sentenced to three years and held in the male division in Baofeng Road Prison. Directed by the guards, the inmates beat him and did not allow him to sleep. He was forced to stand and hung up. His legs were tied to his body and he was stuffed under the bed. A few inmates then stood on the bed and stomped on it. He almost suffocated. He once went on a hunger strike for 19 days. He became weak and developed several ailments. He did not recover after being released in 2002. He died on May 1, 2005.
Mr. Chen Rongyao of the Qiaokou District was arrested on January 6, 2002. He was admitted to the Etouwan First Detention Center, where he was severely tortured. He died in the hospital on May 15, 2002. He was 65.