(Minghui.org) Ms. Duan Xueqin from Inner Mongolia, who has been detained and tortured repeatedly ever since the persecution of Falun Gong began in 1999, was recently sentenced to another three years in prison. She has filed an appeal with the intermediate court.
Ms. Duan, around 70 years old, lives with her son's family in Bairin Right Banner, Chifeng City, Inner Mongolia. She was arrested while distributing information about Falun Gong on December 6, 2018, 11 months after her last release from prison. The police then ransacked her home and confiscated her notebook computer and Falun Gong books. Three weeks later, the Bairin Right Banner Procuratorate indicted her.
Ms. Duan has been detained and tortured, including with electric shocks, in the Bairin Right Banner Detention Center since her arrest. She has become very weak as a result. She was in a wheelchair at her trial in early May in the Bairin Right Banner Court. She was sentenced to three years in prison shortly after the trial.
Forced into Homelessness Due to Unrelenting Harassment
Ms. Duan began practicing Falun Gong in 1998 when she was bedridden. Two months later, all of the ailments that had tormented her for a long time disappeared. After the persecution of Falun Gong began in 1999, she refused to renounce her faith. Instead, she actively told people the truth about Falun Gong.
Ms. Duan was first arrested on March 2, 2000, when she was doing the Falun Gong exercises in the park. She was detained for 15 days.
She was arrested again on January 5, 2001, and released after she held a hunger strike and became weak. She had 1,500 yuan extorted from her.
On June 13, 2001, the local police ransacked her home when she and her husband were not there. One officer slapped her younger daughter, 15 years old at the time, for telling the police that Falun Gong was good and had cured her mother.
When Ms. Duan returned three days later, the police arrested her and her daughter. Her daughter was released 15 days later and Ms. Duan was given three years of forced labor. She developed a severe stomach problem in the labor camp. The labor camp officials released her when she became emaciated.
However, the local police and township government officials often went to her home to harass her.
She was away visiting her elder daughter in September 2002 when the police went to her home, so they arrested her husband and detained him for two days. They also threatened her younger daughter with a gun. She was so scared that she developed a heart problem. The police went to her elder daughter's home and escorted Ms. Duan back home so that they could monitor her.
The police returned to her home on October 14, 2002, and attempted to take her away to a brainwashing session. She managed to escape. The police returned late that night and arrested her son because Ms. Duan still had not returned. They took him to the police station and beat him. When she came home on January 29, 2003, her husband had to ask her to leave, because they were unable to bear the pressure.
Ms. Duan became homeless and went to Chifeng City.
Prison Terms and Torture
Shortly after Ms. Duan arrived in Chifeng City, officers from the Chifeng Domestic Security Division arrested her on February 17, 2003. She was detained in the Chifeng City Detention Center where she was interrogated and tortured. She was later sentenced to four years in prison.
To protest the illegal persecution, Ms. Duan went on a hunger strike. She was force-fed every day by seven to eight inmates. When she was near death, her family was notified to take her home.
A month later, before Ms. Duan had recovered, she was taken back to the Chifeng Hoshan District Detention Center. The police ordered the inmates to force-feed her right away, even though she was still vomiting blood. She was restrained on a death bed torture device, where she was force-fed and not allowed to get up to use the restroom. She was tortured and humiliated on the death bed for two weeks.
Ms. Duan was unable to walk after being released from the death bed, nor was she able to squat to use the restroom. She was emaciated and very weak. She was diagnosed with stomach bleeding and was released again.
The police arrested her again on October 17, 2005 and took her to the Inner Mongolia First Women's Prison to continue her prison term. She was tortured mentally and physically in prison. She was released on December 10, 2006.
Ms. Duan was arrested in Baotou City, Inner Mongolia in late 2012, and was detained in the Baotou City Detention Center, where she was tortured. The guards beat her so badly that they fractured her tailbone. She was unable to sit. They stripped off her clothes and tied her to the death bed. Due to the long-term torture, she became bedridden and was unable to take care of herself.
She was sentenced to a five-year prison term around June 2015. Even though she had to be carried into the Inner Mongolia Women's Prison to be admitted, she was repeatedly tortured until her release in January 2018.
