(Minghui.org) Ms. Yuan Xueli, of Zunyi City, Guizhou Province, started practicing Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, in 1998. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) launched a nationwide campaign against Falun Gong the following year.
For upholding her faith, Ms. Yuan has been detained multiple times for a total of 15 years and 9 months, including three years in prison from July 2004 to July 2007, three months in a brainwashing center from August to November 2007, two years in a labor camp from May 2008 to May 2010, six months in a brainwashing center from May 2010 to November 2010, and ten years in prison from April 2012 to April 2022.
Ms. Yuan used to be an employee of the Xishui County Guandian Industrial and Commercial Office. Now, after her latest release in April 2022, she is facing tremendous financial hardship, with no family, no house, and no job.
Three-year Prison Sentence
Ms. Yuan was arrested in July 2004 and later sentenced to three years in prison. She was taken to Yang’ai Women’s Prison (later renamed as Guizhou Province No. 1 Women’s Prison). As soon as Ms. Yuan arrived at the prison, she was dragged into a dark room and beaten all night by several inmates instigated to do so by the prison guards.
Torture Reenactment: Violent Beatings
The next morning, Ms. Yuan was slapped in the face by a guard surnamed Tian and passed out. After she came to, she found herself in a confinement room, monitored by the inmates. She was not allowed to leave the room for anything. Eating, using the restroom, and sleeping were all done inside this room.
Three months later, Ms. Yuan was switched to the No. 4 Brigade specifically established for persecuting Falun Gong practitioners. In order to “transform” her, the guards employed various tortures. Ms. Yuan was often beaten and verbally abused. She sometimes was forced to stand up for the entire night.
On one occasion, Ms. Yuan was tied up in bed and beaten. To prevent other inmates from hearing her cries for help, the guards gagged her, causing her teeth to come loose. Eventually, she lost nine teeth by the age of 50.
The guards also forced Ms. Yuan to attend meetings designed to denounce her. The persecution caused her great physical and mental injury.
Persecution in Zunyi City Brainwashing Center
Only one month after being released from prison, Ms Yuan was arrested again and taken to the Zunyi City Brainwashing Center in August 2007 by the 610 Office. She went on a hunger strike to protest the arrest and was force-fed. She was kept in the brainwashing center for three months.
Two-year Labor Camp Term
In May 2008, Ms. Yuan was arrested in Guiyang City, and then taken to Zhongba Labor Camp to serve two years. In the beginning, she was locked in confinement for three days. She was forced to stand for more than ten hours every day and not allowed to sleep. If she failed to stand still or she fell asleep, she would be beaten and kicked by inmates.
Some drug addicts kneed her chest and elbowed her back. They slapped her with shoes and kicked her all over the body.
The inmates also tortured Ms. Yuan mentally. They locked her in a dark room for more than six months. The doors and windows were covered with red cloth. There was only one 15-watt lamp inside the room, which was wrapped in red paper. Because of the persecution, Ms. Yuan, then 44, looked like a woman in her 70s.
Ms. Yuan remained firm in her belief while in the labor camp. She refused to be “transformed.” When her term expired in May 2010, the local 610 Office agents took Ms. Yuan directly to the Lannigou Brainwashing Center, where she was kept for another six months.
When Ms. Yuan walked out of the brainwashing center, she had no place to live and had to wander from place to place. She later found a job as a housemaid to make a living.
Ten Years at Guizhou Province No. 1 Women’s Prison
Ms. Yuan was arrested yet another time in April 2012 and taken to the Yunyan District Detention Center in Guiyang City. She was sentenced to ten years in September 2012 and taken to the Guizhou Province No. 1 Women’s Prison in March 2013.
For the first two years, she was locked in a small room and subjected to intensive brainwashing, including being forced to wear the prison uniform and name tags that indicated she was a criminal. She was often denied restroom use. The inmates forced her to read books that slandered Falun Gong. They also forced her to watch derogatory videos at maximum volume.
After the brainwashing failed to shake her faith, the guards began to force Mr. Yuan to do unpaid labor, while arranging inmates to monitor her around the clock.
Related report:
Ms. Yuan Xueli's Mother Barred from Visiting Daughter in Prison
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Category: Torture of Women
