(Minghui.org) After 26 years, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) hasn’t let up in persecuting Falun Gong practitioners. In fact, they have ramped up the persecution against elderly practitioners. Minghui.org learned in June 2025 that Mr. Wei Jiuxiang, 82, and his wife Ms. Zhang Yanmiao, 85, from Mengyin County, Shandong Province, had been sentenced to four years in 2024 for practicing Falun Gong. Mr. Wei became blind and incapacitated a few years before he was arrested. The couple’s case is only the tip of an iceberg.
In the CCP’s constitution, lighter sentence should be given to those who are aged 75 and above. However, in the case of Falun Gong practitioners, practitioners as old as 80 years old are thrown into facilities such as the prison, brainwashing centers, or psychiatric hospitals simply for upholding their faith.
Once the elderly practitioners are admitted into these facilities, what awaits them could be endless brainwashing and torture. Some of the commonly used torture methods include beating, deprivation of sleep or sufficient food, injection with toxic drugs, or electric shocks. Due to their advanced age, many of them became malnourished and weak from the long-term physical and mental torture. Many of them died as a result.
Below listed 13 cases of elderly practitioners who either died in custody or shortly after their release from imprisonment.
Deaths in Custody
86-Year-Old Man Dies While Serving 11.5 Years for His Faith in Falun Gong
Mr. Liu Dianyuan, from Chaoyang City, Liaoning Province, was arrested on November 9, 2015, at his sister’s home and taken to the Jianping County Detention Center. He was later sentenced to 11.5 years in 2016 at the age of 78. Despite his extremely poor physical condition, the prison still accepted him. In September 2022, the guards called his family and told them to buy him diapers. His family later found out that Mr. Liu, then 84, was already incapacitated. But the prison refused to release him for medical treatment. His condition continued to decline over the years. He passed away in the prison on February 10, 2024, Chinese New Year’s Day. He was 86.
86-year-old Man Dies Days Before Finishing Wrongful Prison Term for Practicing Falun Gong
Mr. Li Peigao, from Kunming City, Yunnan Province, was arrested on November 26, 2015. The Xishan District Court sentenced him to 4 years on October 8, 2016. He appealed with the Kunming City Intermediate Court, which ruled to uphold his original verdict.
Mr. Li was taken to the Yunnan Province Prison to serve time in January 2019 and denied family visitation since. He died on January 4, 2023, days before he finished serving a four-year term. He was 86.
Retired Professor Dies at 82 While Serving Three Years in Prison for Her Faith in Falun Gong
Ms. An Fuzi, an 82-year-old woman in Yanji City, Jilin Province, died on May 22, 2023, while serving a three-year term. Ms. An was arrested in late August 2021 and sentenced to three years by the Yanji City Court. She was transferred to the Jilin Province Women’s Prison in late September 2021 and denied visits with her family. She died in the prison hospital on May 22, 2023. The prison cremated her body without the presence of any of her family members.
Mr. Han Junde, of Baoding City, Hebei Province, died on April 14, 2022, while serving an eight-year term at the Jidong No. 5 Prison in Hebei Province. He was arrested and sentenced for making gourd crafts carved with Falun Gong’s principles – “Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance.” He developed severe anemia due to the abuse in prison. He became blind in one eye and had to be wheeled around in a wheelchair in the prison. The family applied for medical parole for him, but the Jingxiu District Justice Bureau denied their application, even after the doctor determined that he qualified. He was 77.
71-Year-Old Woman Died in Liaoning Province Women’s Prison
Ms. Wang Yan, 71 and of Shenyang City, Liaoning Province, was arrested on July 20, 22, and later sentenced to four years by Dadong District Court. She was admitted to the Liaoning Province Second Women’s Prison on February 15, 2023 (likely in Division 3) and died there on May 9, 2025.
71-Year-Old Man Tortured to Critical Condition While Jailed for His Faith, Dies in Hospital
Mr. Tang Fenghua, 71, from Chongqing, was arrested at home on April 28, 2021, and taken to Yongchuan Detention Center. He began to vomit blood on September 25, 2021 and was taken to the Chongqing Second Hospital. He was found to have tuberculosis and released on October 9, 2021. He was arrested again (likely late 2021 or early 2022) and sentenced to either 4 or 4.5 years. He was brutally tortured and fell into critical condition at the Yongchuan Prison. He was taken to the Chongqing Second Hospital, only to die there on April 17, 2025.
Death Shortly After Release
Ms. Yu Fangzhuang, born in 1933 and from Nanchang City, Jiangxi Province, was initially arrested on January 25, 2020, and released on bail hours later. She was sentenced to six months in prison on January 18, 2021. Due to her advanced age, the court allowed her to serve time outside of prison.
The police notified Ms. Yu on November 14, 2023, that she needed to have a physical exam. Her son accompanied her to the hospital. A week later on November 21, the police seized her from home and put her in the Jiangxi Province Women’s Prison even though she had already served her six-month term outside the prison per the court order.
While in prison, the inmates assigned to monitor her once shackled her for three days straight. Another time they poured boiling water over her head while she was taking a bath. 91-years-old at the time, the guards made her sleep on the top bunk of a bed. She struggled to climb up and down every day. There was not enough food to go around at mealtimes, and she often had nothing to eat.
After Ms. Yu was released on May 20, 2024, her condition kept worsening. She was often unconscious and gradually lost her ability to recognize people, even her own son. She also had pain all over. She struggled to keep her balance while walking and fell easily. She died early in the morning on February 9, 2025. She was 92.
Guangdong Senior Dies Weeks After Being Released in Critical Condition
Ms. Yao Jingjiao, from Jieyang City, Guangdong Province, was only a month shy of her 85th birthday when she died on November 20, 2024, just weeks after she was released on parole in critical condition.
Ms. Yao Jingjiao before she was incarcerated most recently
Ms. Yao was arrested on June 14, 2020. After she was sentenced to three years and fined 30,000-yuan in November 2022, the Rongcheng District Domestic Security Division took her for a physical exam. She had high blood pressure, but the police still took her to the Jiedong District Detention Center, where she was held until she was transferred to Guangdong Province Women’s Prison in early July 2023. Due to her persistent high blood pressure and declining health, the prison put her in its in-house hospital the day she was admitted.
When Ms. Yao broke her right leg on September 9, 2024, the prison did not notify her family of her condition until mid-September. Her loved ones were told to come to the prison to sign a consent form so she could be operated on. They went but were not allowed to see her. After they signed the form, the prison said the surgery had to be canceled due to Ms. Yao’s weak physical condition.
Early on October 25, 2024, the prison arranged for an ambulance to drive Ms. Yao to the Jieyang City Chinese Medicine Hospital. Her family members, who were waiting at the hospital entrance, were shocked to see an almost unrecognizable Ms. Yao being carried out of the ambulance. She was in a near-vegetative state with her mouth agape. She could move her eyes but she could not speak.
The guard who escorted her said her right leg still had not healed and she had multiple organ failure. He announced that the prison was now formally turning her over to her family and ordered them to sign a waiver releasing the prison from any responsibility should anything happen to Ms. Yao. When they refused to sign, the guard threatened to take her back to prison, so they gave in and signed it. They then rushed her into the hospital.
After days in the ICU, Ms. Yao still showed no signs of improvement. Hospital officials did not want her to die in their care and discharged her that day. Despite her condition, the 610 Office instructed village officials to harass her at home and take photos of her. On November 12, they called her family and ordered them to take a picture of her to submit to the authorities. She died eight days later.
84-Year-Old Man Dies Shortly After Serving Second Prison Term for Practicing Falun Gong
An 84-year-old man in Macheng City, Hubei Province, passed away on January 25, 2025, shortly after he finished serving a second prison term.
Mr. Zhou Xiancheng was arrested at home around 8 p.m. on March 28, 2021. He was taken to the Liuji Brainwashing Center in Wuhan and transferred to the Xinzhou District Detention Center weeks later. Although the detention center initially rejected his admission due to his advanced age, they were forced to take him by the police.
Mr. Zhou was later secretly sentenced to an unknown prison term and taken to the Fanjiatai Prison to serve time. He died shortly after he was released.
83-year-old Man Injected with Toxic Drug While in Prison, Dies 20 Days After Release
Mr. Bai Xingguo (also known as Bai Xinguo), an 83-year-old man of Chengde City, Hebei Province, was injected with a toxic drug six months before his three-year term ended. His health kept deteriorating and he was constantly in a delirious state. When the prison informed his family to pick him up in January 2022, he was already incapacitated and on the verge of death. He passed away 20 days later.
80-Year-Old Woman Dies One Year After Serving a Four-Year Prison Term
Ms. Shi Guizhi, of Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province, was admitted to prison at the age of 74 to serve a four-year term. She and her husband were arrested on January 6, 2018, for spraying the phrase “Falun Dafa is Good” on their courtyard wall. The local court sentenced her to 4 years and her husband to 3.5 years days later. She was taken to the Heilongjiang Prison Women’s Prison and her husband was transferred to the Hulan Prison in Harbin City.
When Ms. Shi’s prison term ended on January 19, 2023, she was carried out by the guards. She became completely mute and remained unresponsive when her family talked to her; her eyes were dull; she had lost feeling in her legs; and she appeared to be nervous and fearful no matter who she saw. It was obvious to her family that she must have suffered brutal torture in the prison. She died on January 23, 2024 after being bedridden for a year. She was 80.
79-Year-Old Woman Dies After Enduring Two Prison Terms and Constant Police Harassment
Ms. Chen Zhilian, from Leshan City, Sichuan Province, went to the Jiuli Town in the nearby Emeishan City on June 8, 2018 for a community fair. Officers from the Jiuli Town Police Station arrested her upon finding two copies of Falun Gong materials on her person. She was tried by the Emeishan City Court on January 22, 2019 and sentenced to 3.5 years with a 10,000-yuan fine on September 25. She was transferred to the Sichuan Province Women’s Prison in early 2020. She had a skull fracture and multiple injuries on her head, after being brutally tortured in prison. The police continued to harass her after her release in end of 2021. She passed away on March 2, 2025. She was 79.
76-Year-Old Jilin Woman Released on Parole Unconscious, Dies Four Days Later
Ms. Fu Lanfen, from Changchun City, Jilin Province, was arrested on February 17, 2023. She was held at the Jiutai District Detention Center for 15 days and later transferred to an unknown facility. She was then sentenced to three years and admitted to the Jilin Province Women’s Prison. The prison notified her family to pick her up on July 31, 2024. Her loved ones arrived to see an unconscious person. They rushed her to the hospital. She never regained consciousness and died on August 4, 2024. She was 76.
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