(Minghui.org) Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Li Shuhua, a resident of Xuchang City, Henan Province, was sentenced to three years in prison by Weidu District Court in June 2020. She was taken to Xinxiang Women's Prison in August.
Ms. Li was arrested and taken to Xuchang City Detention Center on January 13, 2020, after she was reported by the son of an octogenarian for talking to him on January 8 about Falun Gong. Her home was also ransacked.
Ms. Li already showed symptoms of hemiplegia when she was detained in the detention center. Currently, she cannot take care of herself. She is in a daze and her life is danger.
We urge the international community to help stop the cruel persecution of Falun Gong practitioners that has been going on for 21 years and help get Ms. Li released for medical care.
Health Improved after Taking Up Falun Gong
Ms. Li is a 60-year-old retired worker. She started to practice Falun Gong in 1996. She used to have neurosis, Meniere's syndrome, dizziness, and palpitation. She could not get along well with her husband, leading her to resent him and suffer from insomnia. Her health thus deteriorated further and she felt desperate. She rarely cared about her elderly mother-in-law.
After she took up Falun Gong, all her diseases disappeared and she became healthy. She came to understand the meaning of life and strove to live by the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance to become a good person. She always helped when other people had difficulties. Her character improved greatly and her family became harmonious.
Two Previous Arrests for Holding Fast to Her Faith
For upholding her faith after the Chinese Communist Party ordered the persecution in July 1999, Ms. Li was arrested two more times and sentenced to a total of seven years.
The first arrest came when Ms. Li handed out materials about Falun Gong on July 13, 2009. After more than one year of detention, she was given three years in prison by the Weidu District Court. She was taken to Xinxiang Women's Prison in August 2010.
Ms. Li was scolded and beaten multiple times because she insisted on doing the Falun Gong exercises and refused to give up her faith. On one occasion, she was locked in a small dark isolation room for two months for shouting out “Falun Dafa is good.”
The prison guards assigned criminal inmates to watch her around the clock. They clasped her hands behind her back and tied her feet with a cloth belt everyday. She could not stand up, but had to sit on the edge of the bed for the whole day. They then forced her to wear a filthy mask for almost two months without changing it or washing it. They disallowed her to wash her underwear and she was only allowed to have a shower once in more than 20 days. They starved her, giving her only a small corn bun and half a bowl of soup with a small portion of a main dish every meal.
Ms. Li was extremely emaciated in the prison. When she was released in July 2012, she only weighed 77 pounds.
Torture
Ms. Li's second arrest occurred on May 5, 2013, when she was talking to people about Falun Gong on the street. Beida Police Station officers arrested her and took her to Xuchang City Detention Center. She was force-fed glucose water repeatedly in the detention center. Sometimes, she was tightly tied to a stretcher and force-fed. Most of the time, she was held down on the ground by inmates when they force-fed her. Ms. Li became very skinny. She was weak and fainted several times.
In April 2014, the Weidu District Court held a trial of Ms. Li without informing her family and sentenced her to four years in prison. She was taken to Xinxiang Women's Prison in June.
During the physical examination on the second day after she arrived, Ms. Li was found to have extremely low blood pressure. The prison immediately took her to Xinxiang Hospital for a physical examination. She was diagnosed with severe anemia and low albumin. She also had a bump as big as a chicken egg in her right armpit. Suspecting it could be cancer, the prison released her on medical parole.
Through practicing Falun Gong, Ms. Li regained her health. But the persecution did not stop. She was taken back to the prison six months later.
Ms. Li remains firm in her belief. She was beaten for insubordination and refusal to answer roll call. She did the Falun Gong exercises at night and shouted “Falun Dafa is good” in the daytime. Thus, she was locked in a small dark isolation room and endured various tortures for 45 days in the cold winter, including freezing, starvation, and being tied up. She had a hard time walking when she was removed from the isolation room.
In October 2016, Ms. Li fell in the workshop and suffered a pubic bone fracture. The prison photographed her in the prison hospital and falsely claimed that she was fine and no treatment was needed. Ms. Li was unable to take care of herself since the incident. She was transferred to a new ward in January 2017.
The new ward was for people soon to be released. It was crowded and no extra bed was available for her. Ms. Li had to sleep on the floor. She was incapacitated and was helped by a fellow practitioner for daily activities. When an upper bunk bed became available, Ms. Li struggled going up and down the bed every day until she was released on May 4, 2017.
Ms. Li went to have examinations done at various hospitals, and the result was that the pubic bone had become necrotic due to failure to treat the fracture in time. She would become bedridden if the replacement was not done. Her family spent nearly 60,000 yuan for the operation.
Persons Responsible for the Persecution:Zhang Chuansheng (张传生), warden, Xinxiang Women's Prison: +86-13735092601Niu Xu (牛旭), captain, No. 6 Team, Xinxiang Women's Prison: +86-13403736357Chen Jianwei (陈建伟), president, Xuchang Criminal Court: +86-374─3399087Yang Xilin (杨希林), chief, Xuchang Detention Center: +86-18637460522
