(Minghui.org) A Yantai City, Shandong Province, resident was recently sentenced to five years for practicing Falun Gong. She has appealed with the Yantai City Intermediate Court.

Ms. Li Zhen’an, 71, was arrested in a police sweep on May 9, 2024, by officers from the Zhifu District Police Department. Another 16 practitioners in Zhifu District were arrested between May 9 and 10.

Ms. Li was held at the Yantai City Detention Center. She appeared in the Zhifu District Court on February 19, 2025 and was convicted around mid-March.

In addition to Ms. Li, another two elderly women who were arrested on the same day have also been sentenced: Ms. Yang Xingrong, 78, was given 15 months; and Ms. Liu Wenping, 67, was sentenced to one year.

Ms. Li began to practice Falun Gong in 1996. Her many ailments, including fast heart beat, rheumatoid arthritis, anemia, gallstones, and persistent low-grade fever, all disappeared soon after. Her daughter’s condition, which the doctor suspected to be lupus, also went away.

In July 1999, the Chinese communist regime ordered a nationwide persecution campaign aimed at eradicating Falun Gong from China. To speak up for her faith, Ms. Li went to Beijing to appeal on December 10, 2000. She was arrested as soon as she arrived at the Tiananmen Square. She was later taken to the Shengli Police Station in Shunyi District. Officer Zhang Weimin and others took turns interrogating her.

Not wanting to implicate her family, Ms. Li refused to report her name and address. The police handcuffed her to a tree and left her outside overnight. By the time they removed the cuffs the next morning, the cuffs had cut deeply into her flesh. Both of her hands had turned dark and lost feeling. She was transferred to a lockup the next day and released a week later.

Ms. Li was arrested again at home on January 4, 2001, by Liu Bing of the Beidajie Police Station. She was taken to the Yantai City Lockup the next day. While the police told her family that they would only detain her for a week, they didn’t release her until a month later on February 5. She was forced to make craft flowers every day without pay and not allowed to sleep before she finished the daily quota.

When Ms. Li held a hunger strike to protest the persecution, the guards force-fed her. Her nostrils were severely damaged by the feeding tube and her esophagus was bleeding. After that she choked even when drinking water. She became emaciated quickly.

As the police and local residential committee staffers continued to harass Ms. Li on a regular basis, she was forced to live away from home three times between February 2001 and late 2005. When the police were unable to find her, they harassed her husband at work. She was also unable to care for her elderly parents when they fell ill around that time.