(Minghui.org) I have been persecuted, and my family was destroyed. Within the past 15 years I have been sent to a forced labor camp for one year, and twice given three-year prison terms because I persisted in my belief in Falun Gong. My husband was very ill and died several days after I was detained in 2008, because there was no one to care for him. My young daughter had to leave home to avoid persecution. This is my story.
My name is Xiang Longqing (向隆晴). I'm 49 years old, and from Honghuatao Town, in Yidu City, Hubei Province. Honghuatao Town Police Station officers broke into my home on July 20, 1999. They took the book Zhuan Falun, along with my other books. They tried to force me to write a statement promising to stop practicing Falun Gong.
I said, “I practice according to the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. Falun Gong helps people to become healthy. What's wrong with that?”
I was detained by Yidu City police twice in 2000, and sent to a forced labor camp for one year.
In 2008, I was telling people about Falun Gong and the persecution in a grocery store, when I was arrested by plainclothes police officers and taken to the Yidu Detention Center. The police used cruel tactics to try to brainwash me. They searched my home, and seized hand-copied versions of Falun Gong books and truth-clarification materials as evidence. I was sentenced to three years in prison.
The officers tried to force my ill husband to report the “crimes" that I had committed. There was no one to care for him after I was detained, and he died several days later. My daughter hadn't finished elementary school yet, and had to leave home to live with someone else, to avoid continued harassment.
Guards from the detention center escorted me to attend my husband's cremation. Three months later I was transferred to the Wuhan Women's Prison, where I was tortured so severely that I was near death, at which time the prison notified my older sister. I was released on bail one month early for medical treatment.
I continued reading the Fa and practicing the Falun Gong exercises at home, and gradually recovered my health. Master saved my life again.
I was distributing information about Falun Gong and the persecution on the evening of June 30, 2011, with another practitioner in Yidu City, when someone reported us and we were arrested. I was taken to the Yidu Detention Center.
Chen Sanxin (陈三新), the chief guard, and Li (李), the detention center director, locked me up with a murderer, who beat me every day.
The guards kicked me when they took me to court. I was unable to walk and my limbs were numb. I wasn't allowed to see any relatives. I was sentenced to three years again and taken to the Wuhan Women's Prison.
I was treated worse in Wuhan Women's Prison than in the detention center. The guards directed a number of inmates to persecute and watch me around the clock. They locked me up on the roof of a four-story building. It was summer, and the temperature was over 40°C (104°F). They tried to brainwash me, and forced me to listen to audios that slandered Falun Gong. After being unable to “transform” me, they set up surveillance and prevented me from sleeping or even sitting down.
One time, inmate Hu Hong (胡红) told me to walk. I walked. Then she said I shouldn't walk. I had a terrible cold and cough at the time, and was incontinent. She charged at me, boxed my ears, and cursed at me. She grabbed me by the hair, and beat, kicked, and trampled me. Guard Yi Nuo (易娜) kicked me as well. My face was battered and I was badly injured. Others finally pulled Hu off of me.
Guard Cai Ping (蔡平) did the roll call after lunch and said that I was lazy. My whole cell block was forced to stand as punishment. Inmates were ordered to pull me out of my bed and make me stand. The prison reduced Hu's sentence and released her early for her participation in persecuting Falun Gong practitioners.
I maintained my firm belief in Falun Gong and Master, and didn't give in no matter how badly I was tortured in prison. I was released in June 2014.
