(Minghui.org) A Chongqing woman has been denied all forms of communication with her family while serving a 3.5-year term for her faith in Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999.
Ms. Xu Xiaoqin was admitted to the Chongqing Women’s Prison on June 7, 2023. According to insiders, the once healthy woman has become extremely weak just five months into her prison admission. Due to the relentless torture and pressure for her to renounce her faith, she developed high blood pressure, and her once dark hair has turned gray.
Three prison guards, including Tang Anzhi, Wang, and Xu, suddenly showed up at Ms. Xu’s home on October 27, 2023. They asked her family to help them persuade her to give up her belief in Falun Gong. Her loved one explained that there was nothing illegal about Ms. Xu exercising her constitutional right to freedom of belief. As such, she should have never been jailed in the first place.
Ms. Xu’s family then requested that she be allowed to write, call, or meet with them in person. The three prison guards denied the requests on the grounds that she had not renounced Falun Gong yet.
Arrest and Sentencing
Ms. Xu’s sentencing stemmed from an arrest on February 27, 2020 while she was buying groceries. The police took her keys and raided her residence. Her Falun Gong books and computer were confiscated. After taking her to the hospital for a physical examination, the police brought her to the police station and restrained her on a tiger bench. They interrogated her, claiming that they saw her distributing Falun Gong materials through surveillance cameras. She was released on bail around next noon.
Ms. Xu was taken back into custody on April 19, 2021 and held at the Yongchuan District Detention Center. The police ransacked her home a day later, seizing her computer and other personal items. The Jiulongpo District Court sentenced her to 3.5 years at an unknown date. The Chongqing Fifth Intermediate Court ruled to uphold her verdict. She was transferred to Division One of the Chongqing Women’s Prison on June 7, 2023.
Past Persecution
Ms. Xu took up Falun Gong in 2010. Prior to her latest sentence, she was previously held in the local brainwashing center four times and sentenced twice to 3 and 1.5 years in 2014 and 2018, respectively. Her husband, Mr. Yao Rongxuan, a retired military officer who also practices Falun Gong, was arrested several times with her. He was sentenced to 5 years in 2017.
Related reports:Chongqing Couple Repeatedly Persecuted for Their Faith—Husband Still Imprisoned
Retired Military Officer Again Tortured to the Brink of Death; Wife Detained for the Third Time
One Judge, Two Trials, Three Citizens Indicted for Their Faith
Impossible to Transform Ms. Xu Xiaoqin in Brainwashing Center
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