(Minghui.org) Ms. Zhao Feiqiong, 41, from Kunming City, was subjected to forced labor once and sentenced to prison twice since 1999, when the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) started the persecution of Falun Gong. Her total accumulative detention is nearly ten years.

Ms. Zhao's most recent illegal arrest occurred on April 9, 2014, when she was taken to the local residential committee after she was reported for distributing truth-clarifying DVDs. She was released later that day, but has been followed by unidentified people since then.

Abuse During Imprisonment

Ms. Zhao has suffered severe abuse, including torture, during the years that she was incarcerated. Just before her release from detention at the end of April 2013, she was injected with unknown drugs. A few days later, she began to experience lethargy, memory loss, dizziness and slowed reactions.

At one point during Ms. Zhao's imprisonment, she was not allowed to take showers for several consecutive months. She was often abused and tortured by the guards and inmates. She was once shocked with electric batons for several hours over two consecutive days. The injuries caused by the electric shocks were still inflamed and painful after she was released.

Torture Illustration: Shocked with Multiple Electric Batons

Ms. Zhao Recounts Fifteen Years of Persecution

Below is Ms. Zhao Feiqiong's first-hand account of the persecution she has suffered over the past fifteen years.

In 1999, the Chinese Communist Paty (CCP) started to persecute Falun Gong. As a practitioner, I knew that Master and Dafa had been wrongly accused. I wanted to tell people that Falun Gong is good.

The CCP's persecution is vicious. I have gone through the darkest years of my life during this last decade. While I was in detention, my family fell apart. My husband couldn't handle the intense pressure and divorced me. My daughter was deeply hurt for not having her mother's love and care during all the years that I was imprisoned. Even after I was released from prison, the police still went to her school to harass her as to my whereabouts. At her young age, she should not have had to bear such fear and worry.

I was imprisoned twice: from 2004 to 2008 and from 2009 to 2013.

2009 - 2013: Sentenced to Prison for the Second Time: Abused and Injected with Poison

I was arrested on the afternoon of May 16, 2009 by police from the Wuhua Domestic Security Division because I distributed Shen Yun Performing Arts DVDs. I was sent to the Xiaonanmen Police Station and handcuffed to a metal pole.

Later that night, I was sent to the Wuhua Detention Center and was detained there for six months. I was forced to do intensive labor, packing elementary school books.

In October 2009, I was sentenced to four years in prison by the Kunming Intermediate Court. On December 2, I was sent to the Yunnan Province No. 2 Women's Prison.

I was detained in the No. 9 Prison Ward. Four inmates were assigned to watch me. I was forced to sit on a small stool every day.

On January 18, 2010, because I called out loudly, “Falun Dafa is good!” the guards handcuffed me and put me in a solitary confinement cell. I managed to get out of the handcuffs and did the meditation exercise. They cuffed me again with both hands behind my back. I was tortured this way for several hours. Finally, they cuffed me again with my hands in front. I had to go to bed with the handcuffs on. The handcuffs were finally removed the next day.

Torture Re-enactment: Handcuffed with Arms Behind One's Back

In the middle of January 2010, during the expansion of the building where the solitary confinement cells were located, I saw many workers working in the construction field. I wanted to let more people know that Falun Gong was wrongfully persecuted. I called out loudly, “Falun Gong is good! The world needs Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance! The CCP Persecutes Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance and good people!” Guards Liang Jie and Kong Yinyin ordered inmate Zhao Xiaolan to beat me. Zhao viciously pushed me against the wall while holding my collar, which caused a big bump on my head.

I was detained in the dark solitary confinement for more than nine months and sent back to the regular cell on September 2.

On April 17, 2011, because I called out “Falun Dafa is good,” guards Tang Yufang and Li Jinhui put me in the confinement cell again. They stripped off my clothes and took my bed covers.

It rained at night and the temperature was very low. I was frozen and my skin turned purple. Guard Li Jinhui deliberately opened the door and window to let the cold wind blow inside. They finally gave me some thin clothes around 11 a.m. the next day. I started a three-day hunger strike to protest the mistreatment. The prison doctor intended to force-feed me.

I was detained in the solitary confinement cell for more than seven months and was sent back to the regular cell on January 5, 2012.

On March 13, 2012, I was once again sent to a solitary compartment. On November 14, 2012, I was transferred to the No. 8 Prison Ward, which was used to detain inmates with infectious diseases such as AIDS, leprosy and tuberculosis. All the guards and inmates put on two or three face masks to protect themselves, but I wasn't given anything to wear.

One month before I was released, I was forcibly injected with some unknown drugs. A few days later I felt lethargic, had memory loss, was dizzy and my reactions were slow and stiff.

Torture Re-enactment: Injected with Drugs

I was released from prison on May 16, 2013. While I was detained, my husband divorced me.

On May 18, 2013, just three days after I was released, I was forcibly taken to Yunfeng Mental Hospital in Xuanwei City. I was detained there for three days. They even went to my ex-husband's home and my daughter's school to harass them in order to find me and send me to a mental hospital.

2004-2005: Sentenced to Prison for the First Time

On August 11, 2004, I was reported to police when I tried to give some truth-clarifying DVDs to two tourists. I was sent to the Shilin County Police Department.

When I refused to tell the police where I got my truth-clarifying materials, Jin Xueliang, head of the Domestic Security Division, slapped my face more than 20 times. I was almost knocked unconscious.

That night I was sent to Shilin Detention Center. I started a hunger strike the next day. On the fourth day, the inmates were instructed to force-feed me. They tied me to a tiger bench and pried my mouth open with tongs first and then with a big aluminum spoon, which cracked my teeth. They dumped rice porridge into my mouth, which almost choking me to death. Someone named Zhao noticed my condition and stopped the inmates in time. I eventually recovered and was able to breathe again.

Torture Re-enactment: Force-feeding

At the beginning of January 2005, I was sentenced to four years in prison by the Kunming Intermediate Court and was sent to the Yunan Province No. 2 Women's Prison in March 2005.

2005-2008: Brutal Tortures in Yunan Province No. 2 Women's Prison

I was detained in the Assembly Prison Ward the first month I was imprisoned. I was forced to sit on a small stool every day. In April, I was sent to a solitary compartment, where I was forced to sit on a bed board from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. every day. I was not allowed to move or talk. My hands had to be on my knees. If I moved, the inmates in charge of watching me would scold, punch or kick me.

I was not allowed to wash my face, brush my teeth or take showers. I was not allowed to use pads during my period. I was not even allowed to wash my underwear, which was covered with blood. I became very smelly.

Torture Re-enactment: Hanging and Electric Shocks

The guards tried to “transform” me, but I was firm in my belief. Several guards handcuffed me to metal rods in an office. Then they used five or six electric batons to shock sensitive places like the back of my neck, my back, my armpits, and heels. They shocked me for two days: two hours on the first day and almost three hours on the second day. My skin was burned and sloughed off piece by piece. The guards who were involved in torturing me were Zeng Jue, Ding Ying, Xie Ling, Ma Lixia, Yang Huan, Zheng Pin, Sun Ningshuang, Zhou Yu, and Yang Yongfen.

Guards Xie Ling even incited inmate Liu Shuqiong to abuse me, saying that if I did not “transform,” Liu could use the stool to beat me to death. In the middle of the night, Liu beat me with a stool. The noise was so loud that the person sleeping in the upper bed was awakened. Only then did Liu stop beating me.

Another day when it was very cold, a guard ordered an inmate to strip off my clothes and forced me to kneel down for the whole day in a solitary confinement cell. It was not until evening that I was allowed to put my clothes back on.

I was transferred to the No. 1 Prison Ward in September. There were two to four inmates arranged to watch me day and night. I was forced to sit on a small stool for long hours. I was not allowed to talk to anyone.

One year later, because I did the Falun Gong exercises, I was sent to the solitary confinement cell again. Two to four inmates were assigned to watch me and prevent me from doing the exercises. They would stop me by yanking on my feet and hands if they saw me doing the exercises. Sometimes, they beat me. Later I was sent back to the cell. I called out “Falun Dafa is good,” and was sent back to solitary confinement again.

I was imprisoned in solitary confinement four times. Once, they stripped off my clothes before they put me in the solitary confinement cell. They even tore off my underwear. I was on my period and I bled all over the floor.

I was released from the No. 2 Women's Prison on August 10, 2008.

2001-2003: Forced Labor

On the evening of November 26, 2001, I noticed that I was being followed when coming out of my home. Two plainclothes officers arrested me near the residential compound.

I was taken to the Xincun Police Station, and my truth-clarifying materials were found. The police said they had been watching me near my shop for more than a month.

I was sent to the Kungang Police Department the next day and was interrogated. That night they sent me to the Kunmin Detention Center. I was forced to squat on the ground all day long to pick hot peppers, beans or chrysalis and I was not allowed to go to bed if I didn't finish the work quota.

One month later, I was sentenced to one year of forced labor and sent to the Yunnan Province Women's Forced Labor Camp. I was forced to do slave labor in the No. 3 Division – embroidery, sewing beads, decorating hats, shoes and banners. Two inmates were ordered to watch me 24 hours a day.

Three months later, I was sent to the field to tend vegetables. When I tried to do the exercises in the cell, the inmates would drag me off the bed and beat me. Ma Limei, head of the division, often came to force me to write a guarantee statement to not practice the exercises.

In September 2002, because I refused to give up Falun Gong, I was transferred to the No. 1 Division. I was forced to sew pants pockets or bags. Sometimes I only had two or three hours sleep at night. I did such high-intensive labor until I was released from the labor camp.

My term in the labor camp was extended 59 days with the excuse that I did the exercises, insubordination, and “admitting wrongdoing.” I finally was released on January 23, 2003.

2000-2001: Harassed and Arrested

On the morning of July 20, 2000, I went to our practice site to do the exercises. Two plainclothes officers arrested me and sent me to the Xincun Police Station. I was interrogated and released later that night.

On October 2, 2000, I was arrested while working at the shop and was taken to the Kungang Police Department.

Police officer Dong Biao claimed I was arrested because I visited a detained practitioner at the No. 2 Forced Labor Camp at the end of September, along with other practitioners. I was sent to the Kunming No. 2 Detention Center. The next day, I was forced to get up around 6 a.m. to do slave labor – picking hot peppers. Everyone had to finish the daily quota, which took one day and night. My fingers were injured and my fingernails were broken from the repetitive work.

One month later, an officer from the Kungang Police Department came to pick me up and told me to report to the police every week and to inform them if I went to another place. During the month that I was detained in the detention center, officers from the Kungang Police Department came several times to interrogate me and ask why I practiced the exercises.

After I came back home, my husband told me he posted bail by giving the police department 5,500 yuan. The police also withheld more than 700 yuan taken from me when I was arrested. They said that if I didn't appeal for Falun Gong and didn't go out to clarify the truth about Falun Gong for one year, the money would be returned. One year later, the money was returned to me. But more than 100 yuan was deducted for “meal costs” in the detention center.

6. Benefited from Practicing Falun Gong

I started practicing Falun Gong in 1996. One morning in 1996, I saw practitioners doing the exercises in a park, and I stopped to watch them. A practitioner came over to introduce Falun Gong to me and said that it was a really good practice. I started to go to the park every morning to do the exercises.

I often had oral ulcers and inflammation of the tonsils before. After I began practicing Falun Gong, the inflammation was soon gone. I followed the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance in my daily life and tried to be a good person. At that time, I had a small shop. I never took advantage of others and always kept my word.

Summary of Key Persecution Facts:
Name : Zhao Feiqiong (赵菲琼) Gender : Female Age : 44 Address : Kunming City Occupation : Unknown Date of Most Recent Arrest : April 9, 2014 Most Recent Place of Detention : Yunnan No.2 Woman's Prison City : Kunming Province : Yunnan Persecution Suffered : Electric shock, sleep deprivation, forced labor, brainwashing, illegal sentencing, forced injection, beatings, imprisonment, solitary confinement, torture, sexual assault, force-feedings, physical restraint, incarcerated in a mental hospital, interrogation, detention, denial of restroom use

Category: Accounts of Persecution