(Minghui.org)
Name: Hu HuomeiChinese Name: 胡火妹Gender: FemaleAge: 50City: NanchangProvince: JiangxiOccupation: CustodianDate of Death: August 3, 2023Date of Most Recent Arrest: April 10, 2018Most Recent Place of Detention: Nanchang City First Detention Center
Ms. Hu Huomei
A 50-year-old woman in Nanchang City, Jiangxi Province died on August 3, 2023, after enduring years of persecution for her faith in Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999.
Ms. Hu Huomei took up Falun Gong in February 1999 and soon recovered from her hereditary high blood pressure. She also improved her relationship with her husband, and their once almost broken family became harmonious again.
After the persecution began months later, Ms. Hu held firm to her faith and was repeatedly targeted in the next two plus decades. She was twice given forced labor and twice sentenced to prison, spending a total of seven and a half years in incarceration.
Ms. Hu’s death came less than four years after she was released from her second prison term in October 2019. The police and the neighborhood committee kept harassing her at home in her final years, especially around sensitive days such as key political meetings and Falun Gong related anniversaries. They also forcibly took her pictures at home many times, to serve as proof they had made sure she stayed home and didn’t go out to raise awareness of the persecution.
Years of persecution have impoverished Ms. Hu’s family. Having witnessed his mother’s arrests and persecution over the years, her son, in his 20s, developed depression and cannot work normally. His sister, who is attending college, struggled to pay for tuition.
The pressure from the authorities and the hardship of life took a toll on Ms. Hu’s health, which had been declining since the onset of the persecution. Her vision gradually became blurry, and she became emaciated. She felt fatigued all the time. She couldn’t walk steadily and often fell. She was totally bedridden in her final months.
Ms. Hu fell into critical condition on July 21, 2023 and was rushed to the hospital. Her condition improved somewhat after a few days at the intensive care unit (ICU), but her family had to get her discharged on August 3, when they ran out of funds to cover her medical expenses [in China, patients are often required to pre-pay their medical bills].
Ms. Hu died five minutes after she was taken home. She weighed only a bit over 90 pounds. Her family tried to close her eyes but just couldn’t. To her loved ones, those eyes were silently telling her story of being persecuted for her faith.
15 Days of Detention Following Arrest in 2000
Ms. Hu went to Beijing in September 2000 to appeal for Falun Gong. She was arrested as soon as she arrived at the State Council’s Appeals Office. The police took her to a police department and managed to find out her name. She was then moved to the Jiangxi Province Government’s Liaison Office in Beijing. The staff member there asked her to take the train home herself.
The day after she returned home, the local Chaoyang Police Station officers seized her and gave her 15 days of detention for “disturbing social order.” After she was released from the Nanchang City Second Detention Center, the police frequently harassed her at home and threatened her family to keep an eye on her and not allow her to go to Beijing again.
Three Years of Forced Labor After Arrest in 2001
Ms. Hu went to Beijing again in January 2001 and was arrested on Tiananmen Square. She was taken to a police station in nearby Baoding City, Hebei Province. Because she refused to reveal her name, the police slapped her in the face and shocked her on the arms with an electric baton. It was below freezing at the time, and the police stripped her to her undergarments and kept her hanging from a metal cloth line outside for more than three hours, before letting her down and handcuffing her to a post in an outdoor parking lot until dawn.
The police took her to a train station the next morning and put her on a train going from Beijing to Nanchang. She got off at the first stop and returned to Tiananmen Square. She was again arrested and taken to the Chaoyang District Detention Center in Beijing, where she was interrogated every day. The guards also often poured ice cold water into her clothes. The water froze and stuck to her jacket.
One month later, Nanchang police picked her up from Beijing and escorted her back. She was taken straight to the Nanchang City Second Detention Center. Not long afterwards, she was transferred to the Nanchang City Labor Camp to serve a three-year term.
Ms. Hu was kept alone in a room and monitored by drug addicts around the clock. They forced her to watch videos slandering Falun Gong all the time. Three months later, she buckled under pressure and wrote statements to renounce Falun Gong against her will. She was then released.
From 2001 to 2004, the Chaoyang Police Station twice raided her home and also ordered her to report to them monthly since she was released from the labor camp ahead of time. During those three years, the police also once took her to a brainwashing session and held her there for more than ten days.
One Year of Forced Labor After Arrest in 2008
Ms. Hu took a custodian job at the local police hospital in May 2008. She talked to a patient about Falun Gong but was reported. The Daishan Police Station officers soon arrived to arrest her.
Ms. Hu managed to escape from the police station, only to be recaptured. The police punched her in the head, causing severe internal injuries and dizziness. She then had a relapse of her hereditary high blood pressure, which had been cured after she took up Falun Gong.
The police raided her home and confiscated her Falun Gong books while she was in detention. They later took her to the Nanchang City First Detention Center. After one month there, Ms. Hu was transferred to the Jiangxi Province Women’s Labor Camp to serve a one-year term.
Ms. Hu was forced to read and watch materials slandering Falun Gong, kept in solitary confinement, and forced to do hard labor without pay for long hours.
Sentenced to 4.5 Years After Arrest in 2011
Ms. Hu was arrested in September 2011 while distributing Falun Gong informational materials in Nanchang County. The police took her to the Nanchang County Detention Center, where her hands and feet were shackled together for 24 hours. She went on a hunger strike in protest and the guards removed her shackles. Days later, the police raided her home and confiscated her computer, printer, CD burner, and Falun Gong books.
Ms. Hu was issued a formal arrest warrant on October 24, 2011 and appeared in the Nanchang County Court on April 23, 2012.
She was later sentenced to four and a half years. As soon as she was admitted to the Jiangxi Province Women’s Prison, she was forced to read and watch materials slandering Falun Gong. The guards also coerced her into reading teachings of various other religions in an attempt to make her renounce Falun Gong.
During her prison term, Ms. Hu was also forced to do hard labor without pay for more than ten hours every day.
Ms. Hu’s health declined significantly after the few years of incarceration. She suffered from blurred vision, high blood pressure, severe anemia, non-stop vaginal bleeding and other gynecological diseases. After she was released, she learned that her son had become withdrawn and her daughter had been crying for her all the time when she was not with them.
Sentenced to 1.5 Years After Arrest in 2018
Ms. Hu was arrested on April 10, 2018, while reading Falun Gong teachings at another practitioner’s home. The arresting officers, including captain Zhao Chujin, were from the Qingshanhu District Domestic Security Office. They interrogated her and later submitted her case to the Xihu District Procuratorate. The Xihu District Court sentenced Ms. Hu to one and a half years with a 5,000-yuan fine without holding a hearing or notifying her family.
Ms. Hu served time at the Nanchang City First Detention Center. She was often left sleeping on the concrete floor and not given enough food. She was released in October 2019.
Related Reports:
Five Jiangxi Province Residents Detained Beyond Legally-Permissible Term for Their Faith
Ms. Hu Huomei from Nanchang, Jiangxi Province Facing an Illegal Trial
Four-and-a-Half-Year Sentence for Falun Gong Practitioner Ms. Hu Huomei
Seven Falun Gong Practitioners Held in Nanchang County Detention Center, Jiangxi Province
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