(Minghui.org)

Name: Wang HuilanChinese Name: 王惠兰Gender: FemaleAge: 61City: NanjingProvince: JiangsuOccupation: N/ADate of Death: December 25, 2022Date of Most Recent Arrest: March 2020Most Recent Place of Detention: A brainwashing center

Having endured two forced labor camp terms, a prison term and repeated harassment and detention for upholding her faith in Falun Gong, a Nanjing City, Jiangsu Province resident passed away on December 25, 2022. She was 61. 

Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.

Ms. Wang used to suffer Sjogren’s Syndrome (an immune system disorder) and had pain in her joints. She lost the ability to work or care for herself. Just as she lost hope in life, she took up Falun Gong and recovered.

Because she went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong after the onset of the persecution, she was blacklisted by the authorities and subjected to long term harassment and detention since. Her parents were traumatized by her persecution and passed away one after another. Her husband was also forced to divorce her to avoid being implicated. 

Labor Camp Torture

After Ms. Wang was taken to the Judong Women’s Forced Labor Camp in April 2007, guard Sun Ping ordered the inmates to beat her and force her to stand or squat for long hours. As a result of the torture, she was covered with bruises, her face and legs were swollen, her chest and abdomen were injured and she had blood in her stool.

On April 23, 2007, the labor camp doctor Chen force fed Ms. Wang unknown drugs. She fell into a delirious state and had difficulty breathing. Yet the inmates continued to beat her, pinch her face and kick her body. She was unable to walk on her own due to the beating. Her mouth and nose were surrounded with stab wounds. 

Sentenced to Prison

Ms. Wang was arrested again in early summer of 2015. The police slapped her in the face and then handcuffed and shackled her. She was chained to an interrogation chair overnight. Because she shouted “Falun Dafa is good” while on the way to the local detention center on the next day, the police taped her mouth. As she failed the physical examination, the detention center refused to accept her and she was thus released.

Ms. Wang was arrested again on August 14, 2015 with four other practitioners, Ms. Ji Jianxia, Ms. Xiong Guizhen, Ms. Zhang Chaomei and Ms. Yue Jinlan. The practitioners’ homes were ransacked and their Falun Gong books, informational materials, printers and computers confiscated. Three days later on August 17, a sixth practitioner, Ms. Pan Hanyu, was also arrested. 

All six practitioners were put on criminal detention and had their arrests approved by the Xuanwu District Procuratorate on September 9, 2015. Shortly after, Ms. Wang and Ms. Yue were released due to their poor health. The other four practitioners remained detained at the Nanjing City Detention Center.

The Xuanwu District Court held a hearing of the cases against the six practitioners on May 31, 2016. Their lawyers entered not guilty pleas for them.

Outside of the courthouse, hundreds of armed officers and plainclothes officers guarded the building, preventing local Falun Gong practitioners from getting close to show their support for the six practitioners on trial. Some practitioners were harassed or arrested at their homes and had their fingerprints and blood samples forcibly taken.

Six months later, on December 7, 2016, the judge convicted the six practitioners: 

Ms. Ji was sentenced to four years and fined 40,000 yuan; Ms. Pan was sentenced to three years and fined 30,000 yuan;Ms. Xiong was sentenced to three years and fined 30,000 yuan; Ms. Zhang was sentenced to three years and fined 30,000 yuan;Ms. Wang was sentenced to one and a half years and fined 10,000 yuan;Ms. Yue was sentenced to one year and three month and fined 10,000 yuan.

The practitioners appealed the verdicts, but the Nanjing City Intermediate Court upheld their original verdicts without informing their lawyers. 

Ms. Ji, Ms. Xiong, Ms. Zhang and Ms. Pan were taken to the Nanjing City Women’s Prison shortly after. Ms. Wang and Ms. Yue, who were released earlier due to their health condition, were also imprisoned in late January 2017, a few days before the Chinese New Year. 

Ms. Wang held a hunger strike to protest the persecution and was in serious condition. Although the prison informed her family that she may die at anytime, they refused to release her. She was in a delirious state when she was eventually released at the end of her term.

Untimely Death

Ms. Wang’s last arrest was in mid-March 2020 when she was studying Falun Gong books at another practitioner’s home. She was held at a brainwashing center for nearly ten days and released after she developed a fever. 

Ms. Wang was forced to live away from home for a few months after Li Jianhua, the head of Xuanwu District 610 Office, harassed her on July 10, 2020.

Ms. Wang became incapacitated and urinary incontinent in the summer of 2021. By November 2021, she became confused and also had fecal incontinence. Her brother sent her to a senior living center. She gradually lost the ability to talk and passed away on December 25, 2022.