(Minghui.org) It was recently confirmed that two retired workers in Kunming City, Yunnan Province were both sentenced to prison for their faith in Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999.
Ms. Ji Wei, 56, was sentenced to three years, and Ms. Zhou Ying, 64, was given one year. Ms. Ji is still serving time at the Yunnan Province Second Women’s Prison. Ms. Zhou’s term was set to expire in November 2023, but it’s unclear whether she has been released as scheduled or is still jailed in the same prison as Ms. Ji.
Arrests and Secret Sentencing
Ms. Ji and Ms. Zhou were arrested at 4 p.m. on October 3, 2022, while talking to people about Falun Gong at an intersection. Ms. Ji’s arrest came not long after she completed a previous one-year prison term for practicing Falun Gong.
The two arresting officers, one surnamed Sun, were from the Taijiahe Police Station, which also dispatched 14 other officers to raid the two women’s homes, one by one. They confiscated Ms. Ji’s Falun Gong books, music player, and cell phone. It was unclear what belongings were seized from Ms. Zhou’s home.
Ms. Ji and Ms. Zhou were interrogated at the police station and held in its basement overnight. They were wearing only short-sleeved shirts at the time of their arrests but were not given any blankets to keep them warm at night.
The police took them for physical examinations the next morning and both were found to have high blood pressure. Despite this, the police got the Kunming City Women’s Detention Center to admit Ms. Ji, and gave Ms. Zhou 12 days of administrative detention. For some unknown reason, the police changed Ms. Zhou’s administrative detention to house arrest shortly afterwards and turned her over to the Shuguang Police Station, which oversees her neighborhood, at 9 p.m. on October 4, 2022.
While Ms. Zhou was under house arrest, the Shuguang Police Station and the local street committee harassed her in-person and on the phone several times, and ordered her not to go out. They took her back into custody on November 17, 2022. She was quarantined at a hotel for ten days before being taken to the Kunming City Women’s Detention Center.
It was recently learned that the Xishan District Court later sentenced Ms. Ji to a three-year prison term, and Ms. Zhou to one year. They were taken to the Yunnan Province Second Women’s Prison. Ms. Zhou’s term should have expired in November 2023 but it’s unclear whether she is still jailed at the time of this writing.
Ms. Ji is currently being held in a strict management cell in Ward 9 and subjected to various forms of abuse.
Falun Gong Practitioners Abused in Prison
The Yunnan Province Second Women’s Prison established the strict management cell in the second half of 2019 in an attempt to force steadfast Falun Gong practitioners to renounce their faith. According to insiders, there were two tiers of strict management.
Practitioners placed on tier one of strict management were forced to sit on a small bench from 5:40 a.m. to midnight every day and not allowed to brush their teeth or wash their face in the washroom. They could only quickly fetch a half basin of water from the washroom and run back to the cell to clean themselves.
Those on tier two were forced to sit on a small bench from 5:40 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. every day, and were allowed to brush their teeth and wash their face in the washroom.
Both tiers allowed only four restroom breaks each day and one 7-minute shower every week. There was no additional time allotted to wash clothes, which could only be done during the weekly shower time.
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