Name: Zhu Yifang (祝艺芳)
Gender: Female
Age: 47
Address: Unknown
Occupation: Former official of Guangyuan City's Liaison
Office in Chengdu City, Sichuan Province
Date of Most Recent Arrest: July 5, 2009
Most Recent Place of Detention: Chengdu City Women's Prison
(成都女子监狱)
City: Chengdu
Province: Sichuan
Persecution Suffered: Sleep deprivation, illegal sentencing,
forced injections/drug administration, hung up, imprisonment,
solitary confinement, torture, physical restraint
(Clearwisdom.net) Ms. Zhu Yifang has been arrested many times since the persecution of Falun Gong began. Li Chongxi, deputy secretary general of Sichuan Provincial Chinese Communist Party Committee, signed orders to persecute Ms. Zhu as a key member of Falun Gong in Sichuan. Under direct supervision from the Sichuan provincial 610 Office, Guangyuan 610 Office and Chengdu 610 Office, Ms. Zhu has been the subject of systematic maltreatment. During detention in Guangyuan Detention Center, she was tied to the four corners of a metal bed with her limbs spread out. On October 8, 2006, officials from Wangcang County Court in Guangyuan sentenced her to seven years in Chengdu Women's Prison.
Ms. Zhu told the authorities in the prison that as a practitioner of Truthfulness-Benevolence-Forbearance, she was not guilty of any crime. As she did not violate any laws and was not a criminal, she refused to wear the prison uniform. The prison guards ordered inmates to strip her down to her underwear, and then they locked her in solitary confinement. She was forbidden from talking to anyone and was not allowed family visits.
When her son, nicknamed Quanwazi, went to the prison to see his mother, the prison authorities denied him access. Desperate to see his mother, he shouted “Mom” outside the prison walls. Hearing her son's voice, Ms. Zhu rushed to the iron bars in the window and shouted, “I'm in here!” The inmates assigned to watch her rushed into her cell, threw her to the ground and gagged her. For the next family visit, her son and nephew came together. When they were again denied access, they stayed in an orchard near the prison and shouted “Quanwazi” and “Mom.” Hearing their voices, Ms. Zhu rushed to the window and waved to them. The inmates pushed her to the ground again.
Near New Year's Day of 2009, Zhao Hongmei, a policewoman in charge of the detained practitioners, tried to force Ms. Zhu to write a guarantee statement in return for a family visit. Ms. Zhu refused. On the visitation day, her son and nephew went to the prison. The prison guards ordered four inmates to hold Ms. Zhu down while they put an inmate's uniform on her, and then took her downstairs to see her son and nephew.
Upon seeing her son and nephew, Ms. Zhu burst into tears. When the guard was not paying attention, Ms. Zhu quickly lifted her uniform so that her son could see her injuries from the torture she had received. She also managed to tell them details about her suffering in the prison.
Because she was in solitary confinement with little sunlight, was given non-nutritious food and experienced excruciating physical and mental torture, her body was swollen and she couldn't walk without assistance. Her abdomen was filled with fluid and a hump had developed on her back. She was taken to the police hospital, where four male inmates tied her limbs to the corners of the bed. Her abdomen and knees were also bound. Every day the nurse would infuse unknown drugs into her through an intravenous drip. As a result, she suffered vascular pains and had a bloated stomach. At first, two small bottles of drugs were injected. It was then increased to two large bottles. Eventually, eight vials of the drug were administered every day. She was also injected daily with an unknown drug, which was later increased to two syringes daily, causing ulcers to form on her buttocks. This abuse went on for over five months in the hospital. Over 100 needle holes are still visible on her buttocks.
Her younger sister and son came to visit her in the hospital in June 2009. Ms. Zhu was wearing a padded cotton jacket and was holding up her pants because she had no belt. It had been only six months since their last visit, but even her son could barely recognize her. Only after the guard confirmed that it was her, did her son call to her. Ms. Zhu's sister noticed that she was dirty and smelly. When they asked her why she was like this, she told them that she had not been allowed to take a shower for six months.
