(Minghui.org) Ms. Shi Jinhua, 72, was arrested in Shanghai on June 4, 2010. On October 25, 2010, she was sentenced to four years in prison for mailing letters that clarify the truth about Falun Gong. In prison, to force her into renouncing Falun Gong, the guards tied Ms. Shi's hands behind her back and forced-fed her unknown drugs.

Ms. Shi was in poor health after working hard to bring up her three sons. After she began practicing Falun Gong in 1998, she regained her health and became full of energy. However, over the past 11 years, Ms. Shi has been arrested and detained 14 times. During detention, she has suffered brutal torture and beatings. Her home has been ransacked many times, and many of her personal belongings have been confiscated. Money has been extorted from her several times.

During Ms. Shin's detention in Nanhui Prison from August 24 to September 10, 2011, because she refused to cooperate with guards, they often hit her. She was forced to stand up straight for more than two hours on multiple occasions. Six inmates were assigned to monitor and torture her. On January 31, 2012, she was tied to a death bed and force-fed drugs for two days and nights. When her sons later saw her, she had only three teeth left since many had been knocked out during the torture.

Torture Re-enactment: Death Bed

Below is the appeal letter from Ms. Shi's three sons, which calls for their mother's return.

Appeal Letter from Ms. Shi Jinhua's Three Sons

We are Shi Jinhua's sons. We would like to tell you about our mother's suffering and mistreatment over the past 11 years.

We truly hope that those who have participated in our mother's persecution, without mercy or conscience, because they were pursuing money and career advancement, regain their human nature and bravely claim responsibility for their crimes.

In our memories, our mother is a warm, kind, diligent, and traditional woman. She exhibits filial piety and is responsible. She worked very hard to bring us up, but her health had deteriorated along the way. Therefore, she developed many illnesses.

By late 1998, many people around the country had started to practice Falun Gong, and the media focused on and published many reports on those people. When our mother began practicing Falun Gong, she regained her health. She became energetic and voluntarily organized a practice site. Many acquaintances of hers acknowledged her miraculous changes. She was both happier and grateful for her wellness.

However, things changed dramatically beyond our imagination.

In July of 1999, the state-run media changed their tone about Falun Gong and declared it illegal; people were not allowed to practice it. Ransacking of practitioners' homes as well as arrests and the detention of practitioners regularly took place. My mother could not understand why such a great practice was suddenly banned. We were also puzzled because our mother had come to know the goodness of Falun Gong through the media. Why was Falun Gong being suppressed?

My mother had difficulty understanding the reason for the suppression, but she did not give in to the persecution. She approached government officials and told them that Falun Gong brings no harm. She thought that the government must have simply misunderstood Falun Gong, and thus made the wrong decision. She thought that if the government understood the goodness of Falun Gong through practitioners' sincere hearts, then the misunderstanding would disappear and the persecution would end. However, she was instead persecuted constantly for her appeal.

From mid August of 1999 to July of 2000, our mother was arrested five times. On each instance, she was subjected to a physically brutal search, home ransacking, extortion, beatings, forced kneeling, or public humiliation on the street. Once, when she was forced to kneel down, a policeman stomped on her calves. Another time, her hand was broken. Her body was covered in bruises each time. She even passed out once during the torture. All of this took place during the process of “transformation.”

As her sons, we cannot bear to see her suffering. We have had to beg officials and pay extortion money to get her released. We are physically and mentally tired. To prevent her from being arrested, we brought her to our home to live with us. She was persecuted wherever she went to clarify the truth to people. Her latest arrest was due to her writing letters that clarify the truth to people. The Shanghai Minxang District Court sentenced her to four years in prison. The court did not notify us about the hearing. After we learned of her sentencing, we hired lawyers to appeal, but all of them failed. The Shanghai No. 1 Intermediate Court upheld the first court's decision without opening a court session.

Why were the judges afraid of holding the hearing publicly? Were they afraid that our family would hire defense lawyers? The judges have actually participated in the persecution. That is why they feel guilty and don't dare to open up such cases to family members.

Our mother has suffered in prison for two years. In China, many mothers like ours are suffering similar persecution. Thus, we cannot help but cry out loudly to all legal officials who have participated the persecution:

Please give us back our mother!

Please give us back our thousands of mothers!

Please give us back our families!