(Minghui.org) Ms. Zhao Meihua, a resident of Handan City, Hebei Province, was sentenced to three years in prison for her faith in Falun Gong following her arrest on December 4, 2019. Also known as Falun Dafa, Falun Gong is a mind and body discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since 1999.
Latest Arrest and Prison Sentence
On the evening of December 4, 2019, officers from Fuxing District Criminal Police Squadron and Railway Compound Police Station arrested Ms. Zhao at home and ransacked her place. Also arrested were her son, one relative and a visiting friend, who were soon released. Ms. Zhao was taken to Handan No. 3 Detention Center.
The Ci County Procuratorate of Handan City later approved Ms. Zhao’s arrest. Her family retained a lawyer to defend her. The Ci County Court held a hearing on August 26, 2020. Ms. Zhao attended from the detention center, but she wasn’t allowed to attend the supposedly “virtual” hearing and only answered some questions over the phone.
Ms. Zhao's family recently learned that she had been sentenced to three years in prison. She is still held at Handan Detention Center at the time of writing.
Past Arrests and Torture
After taking up Falun Gong, Ms. Zhao strived to live by the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance to be more truthful and considerate of others. In the past 21 years of persecution, she could not remember how many times she has been arrested, beaten and verbally abused for refusing to renounce her faith.
Shijiazhuang Labor Camp
Ms. Zhao went to Beijing to speak out against the CCP’s persecution of Falun Gong on October 1, 2000. She was arrested by officers from Pengjiazhai Police Station, held at Handan No. 2 Detention Center for a month, and extorted out of 5,000 yuan before being given a term at the Shijiazhuang Labor Camp.
In late January 2001, Ms. Zhao was handcuffed to a storage room window from the early morning until the night when the lights were turned off. She was then tied to the bed all night. The abuse continued for one week. The windows were left open throughout the night during those snowy days.
Ms. Zhao could not remember how many times she was tied and hung up in the air and how long it lasted each time. As a result of the torture, she became mentally disoriented, confused, and in a trance. She was weak and could not take care of herself. On April 5, 2002, she was released on medical parole.
In the fall of 2002, she was arrested again and taken to a brainwashing class for one month. In October 2004, the Ci County committee tried to arrest her again, but she escaped.
Hebei Women's Labor Camp
On June 13, 2010, Ms. Zhao was arrested and taken to Yaozhai Police Station in Yongnian County when she was handing out informational materials about Falun Gong. She was held tightly on the floor and brutally beaten. A police officer also verbally abused her and said, “You can go ahead and file complaints against me. For the torture methods against you Falun Gong that the Minghui website has reported, I’ve used them all.”
Ms. Zhao was taken to Yongnian County Detention Center in the evening. She went on a hunger strike for nine days to protest the arbitrary detention and requested to be released unconditionally. She was shackled for one week.
On July 2, 2010, the police took Ms. Zhao to Hebei Women's Labor Camp to serve a two-year term without the knowledge of her family. Not long after she arrived at the labor camp, the guards forcibly took off her clothes, cut her hair, and put a prison uniform on her. They instigated an inmate to hit her legs with a hard plastic stick, causing her legs to remain black and purple for four months. Ms. Zhao was also handcuffed and forced to sleep on the tile floor.
In February 2011, Ms. Zhao refused to do unpaid labor of sorting vegetables and loading them into the boxes, which the prison sold to outside vendors. She was pushed down on the ground by prison guard Fan Miaolu and then severely beaten by an inmate.
On April 9, Ms. Zhao was pressed down on the floor and beaten by a strong inmate who weighed more than 200 pounds. Prison guard Fan Miaolu then dragged her to an isolation room and shocked her with an electric baton. She was brutally beaten and gagged to avoid making noise.
On July 11, 2011, the prison guards forced Ms. Zhao, who had difficulty walking, to step on a stool and mop the work room door. After she refused to comply, she was brutally beaten by inmates.
In the following few weeks, Ms. Zhao was forced to stand in the restroom during the day and then in her cell at night.
Parties responsible for this persecution case:
Pan Jiqiang, chief, Fuxing District Police Department: +86-13903100180Jiang Jinhe, deputy warden, Handan No. 3 Detention Center: +86-13363053316Wen Jianjun, chief, Ci County Procuratorate: +86-18803202528Yan Lixin, president, Ci County Court: +86-13903201661
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