(Minghui.org) Ms. Du Xiuju taught at Lianyungang Technical School. She has been illegally arrested and sent to a brainwashing center, forced labor camp, and prison for exercising her freedom of belief in practicing Falun Gong.
Ms. Du Xiuju started practicing Falun Gong in 1997 and became healthy in body and mind. She worked hard and won an “Excellent Teacher” award both in her school and citywide.
Not long after the persecution of Falun Gong began, in December 1999 Zhou Yongxu, the former head of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) at the school, set up a brainwashing "class" and detained Ms. Du there despite the fact that there was an elderly person at her home who needed to be looked after.
After ten days, Zhou told the police to arrest her because she would not give up her belief.
Sent to Labor Camp
October 2, 2000, Ms. Du was arrested and detained at Xinnan Police Station for several days.
On October 18, she was arrested again and detained for 42 days.
On December 6, Ms. Du was arrested from her school and sentenced to one year in Goudong Women's Forced Labor Camp.
Labor camp guard Dongmei Jiang told the prisoners to sexually assault Ms. Du. She bled for more than a month after the torture.
Torture reenactment: Kicking lower abdomen 
Torture re-enactment: Beating
The prisoners sat on Ms. Du. They hit her lower abdomen and pulled out her pubic hair. They stepped on her spine and her lower abdomen until she lost control of her bladder and bowels. Afterwards her abdomen was black and blue and she could not walk.
Brainwashing
In early 2004, Ms. Du's home was ransacked several times by the Xinpu District police. Her Falun Gong books, computer, VCDs, and other personal items were taken away.
On April 12 that year, Ms. Du was arrested in class. She was forced to stand for five days and nights. When she became sleepy and began closing her eyes, the police threw cold water on her face.
Police officer Kong Jie burned Ms. Du using a hot lamp and tortured her by other means to try to force her to give them information about other practitioners.
Kong Jie then took her back to her school and subjected her to brainwashing for two weeks. The 610 Office told the school that if Ms. Du did not give up her belief, all the staff's bonuses would be taken away.
On August 18, 2004, Kong Jie arrested Ms. Du again at home and ransacked her home. She was detained for more than 5 months in Lianyungang Detention Center.
Ms. Du was sentenced to 3 years in Nanjing Women's Prison on January 26, 2005.
The sentence was issued on November 11, 2004, but her family did not receive the notice until May 2005. The sentence was not announced in court.
When Ms. Du was in prison, the head of the Xinpu 610 Office, Xue Shang, told the head guard Gu Shaohua, “Du Xiuju cannot be released if she does not give up her belief in Falun Gong. If we beat her to death, it will be counted as suicide.”
Torture re-enactment: Electric Shock 
Torture re-enactment: Electric Shock
Gu Shaohua shocked the sensitive places on Ms. Du's body with an electric baton. There are still several black scars on Ms. Du's shoulder.
Torture re-enactment: Standing for a long time
Gu Shaohua tortured Ms. Du non-stop for a month. She had to stand from 4 a.m. until midnight. During the 4 hours she was allowed to sleep, the guards woke up her up once an hour. Ms. Du's legs and feet were so swollen that she could not put on her shoes.
Detained in Brainwashing Center after Serving Full Term
Ms. Du's prison term ended on August 17, 2007, but instead of being released, she was taken to Taizhou Brainwashing Center.
When Ms. Du's younger sister went to pick her up, she was detained for three more days.
Ms. Du was released after being tortured for three months. She was very weak.
In March 2008, when Ms. Du went back to her school, the principal told her she had been fired as per the 610 Office's instruction.
Four-Year Prison Sentence
In April 2008, Ms. Du Xiuju clarified the truth at a tourist site in Huaguoshan. She was arrested and detained at Lianyungang Brainwashing Center. She was tortured brutally and deprived of sleep for 10 days and nights.
Ms. Du was then sentenced to 4 years at Nantong Women's Prison.
The guards used a variety of methods to try to force practitioners to give up their belief. Ms. Du was not allowed to eat for three days. She also had to work and carry heavy loads. If she could not finish the work, she was not allowed to sleep. Her blood pressure increased after a few days and she had symptoms of severe vertigo.
One night after they finished work at 10 p.m., Ms. Du was brought into the office and subjected to brainwashing until 1 a.m.
She became very weak because of the continued abuse. She had a tumor 9cm in diameter. The prison refused to treat her. She was only given three months' medical parole.
On December 27, 2009, Ms. Du was taken back to the prison. She was released in December 2010.
Summary of Key Persecution Facts:
Name : Du Xiuju (杜秀菊) Gender : Female Age : 53 Address : Unknown Occupation : Physics Teacher, Technical School of Lianyungang City Date of Most Recent Arrest : December 27, 2009 Most Recent Place of Detention : Nantong Women's Prison (南通女子监狱) City : Nantong Province : Jiangsu Persecution Suffered : Electric shock, sleep deprivation, forced labor, brainwashing, illegal sentencing, forced injections/drug administration, beatings, hung up, imprisonment, solitary confinement, torture, rape, sexual assault, force-feedings, extortion, fired from workplace, physical restraint, mental hospital, home ransacked, interrogation, detention, denial of restroom use, denied mail, denied visitation, damaging force-feeding
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