(Minghui.org) A woman in her 60s has been subjected to numerous tribulations and unspeakable tortures because she refused to give up her faith in Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline and meditation practice persecuted in China since July 1999.
In the past 25 years, Ms. Duan Xueqin, of Bairin Left Banner, Chifeng City, Inner Mongolia, has been arrested and detained eight times, and incarcerated in Inner Mongolia Women’s First Prison and Tumuji Forced Labor Camp for 12.5 years. The authorities tortured her and injured her tailbone, which caused her to become paralyzed from the waist down.
Her family was not spared from the persecution. Her younger daughter was arrested and detained for two weeks when she was 15 for speaking up for her mother. The young girl was later threatened at gun point and developed a heart problem.
The police also arrested and beat Ms. Duan’s son when they couldn’t find her. Her husband, who didn’t practice Falun Gong, was arrested and detained as well. Due to tremendous fear and pressure, he didn’t even allow Ms. Duan to come home for Chinese New Year in 2003 when she returned from living away for months to hide from the police.
Disfigured from Torture in Forced Labor Camp
Before Ms. Duan took up Falun Gong, she suffered inflammation of the intestines, gall bladder, stomach, liver, and a heart disease. She struggled with pain and was eventually bedridden. After she learned Falun Gong in 1998, all the ailments disappeared in a month. She no longer needed medical attention, and began to work and take care of her family.
Her life made an 180 degree turn after Jiang Zemin, former Chinese leader, launched the persecution of Falun Gong in July 1999. For doing the Falun Gong exercises in the park, she was arrested on January 28, 2000 and detained for 15 days.
She was arrested again on January 5, 2001, by officers from Bairin Left Banner Domestic Security Office and detained in Bairin Left Banner Detention Center. The police released her on medical bail after she became very weak from going on a hunger strike. The police extorted 1,600 yuan from her.
Three police officers ransacked Ms. Duan’s home on June 13, 2001, after she and her husband left for grocery shopping. They confiscated all of her Falun Gong books. One officer slapped her then 15-year-old daughter in the face for saying that Falun Gong was good and had cured her mother’s ailments.
Three days later on June 16, the officers broke into her home again and arrested Ms. Duan and her daughter. Her daughter was detained for 15 days and she was given three years of forced labor.
Because of the tortures Ms. Duan suffered in Tumuji Forced Labor Camp, she developed a severe stomach problem. The labor camp officials released her shortly after her admission. She was so emaciated that her family and neighbors could barely recognize her.
By resuming regular practice of the Falun Gong exercises and studying the teachings, Ms. Duan gradually recovered, but faced frequent harassment by the local police and township government officials.
Forced to Become Destitute After Non-stop Harassment
After Ms. Duan’s older daughter gave birth in September 2002, she went over to care for her. When the police found she wasn’t home, they harassed her younger daughter, then 16, and threatened her with a gun. She was so terrified that she developed a heart problem. The police also arrested Ms. Duan’s husband and detained him for two days. The police then went to her elder daughter’s home and took Ms. Duan home so that they could monitor her.
The police from Bairin Left Banner Domestic Security Office returned to Ms. Duan’s home on October 14, 2002, and attempted to take her to a brainwashing center. She managed to escape. The police returned around midnight, arrested her son, took him to the police station and slapped him dozens of times.
Ms. Duan was forced to live away from home for the next few months to hide from the police. When she returned on January 29, 2003, three days before the Chinese New Year’s eve, her husband was under so much pressure that he asked her to leave. She became destitute and went to the nearby Chifeng City. She survived by begging for food.
Nearly Died of Torture in Detention Center
On February 11, 2003, Ms. Duan was arrested by officers from the Chifeng Domestic Security Office. She was detained in the Chifeng City Detention Center, interrogated and tortured.
The officers beat her and injured her shoulder and leg because she refused to give her name and address. To protest the persecution, she went on a hunger strike, and was force-fed every day. Several inmates pried her mouth open and cracked her teeth in the process. A guard once fed her a bag of salt, which injured her stomach and caused her to cough up blood. An inmate nearly fractured her leg by throwing her on her bed after a force-feeding session.
After 18 days of torture, she was on the verge of death, and her family was notified to take her home.
Before Ms. Duan could recover, officers from Chifeng City Police Department took her to Hongshan District Detention Center. A guard ordered male inmates to force-feed her right away, even though she was still vomiting blood. The next day the guard shocked her with an electric baton because she refused to eat. The guards later took her to a hospital, where they inserted a feeding tube down her throat into her stomach repeatedly and force fed her. She vomited a lot of blood each time.
Torture reenactment: A practitioner is tied to a Death Bed with his limbs stretched to the fullest extent and tied to the four corners.
After she was taken back to the detention center, the guards restrained her on a Death Bed for two weeks. During this time she was not allowed to get up to use the restroom. The inmate spit on her, and stripped her naked to humiliate her. They smashed her breast and arms to intensify the torture.
After being taken off the Death Bed, her muscles were stiff and she was unable to walk, nor was she able to use the restroom. She had to kneel on the ground, yet she was too weak to have a bowel movement. She was emaciated and on the verge of death. The guards rushed her to a hospital, where she was diagnosed with stomach hemorrhaging. Not wanting to shoulder the responsibility of her death, they released her.
The agents from Bairin Left Banner 610 Office and the local officials of Sifangcheng Township frequently harassed her at home between the years of 2003 and 2005.
First Prison Sentence of Four Years
The police arrested Ms. Duan again on October 17, 2005 while she was attending her father-in-law’s funeral. They put her in Daban Detention Center, where she was brutally beaten. The authorities later transferred her to Inner Mongolia First Women’s Prison to serve a four-year term.
Paralyzed After Serving Second Prison Term of 5.5 Years
She was arrested again in late 2012 and sentenced to five and a half years in Inner Mongolia First Women’s Prison.
To force her to renounce Falun Gong, the guards deprived her of sleep and tried to brainwash her. When she tried to clarify the truth to the guards and the inmates, they beat her in an isolated room. Her family was not allowed to visit her in prison because she refused to cooperate with the guards.
As a result of the tortures, her tailbone was injured, which eventually led her to become paralyzed from waste down, and she could no longer care for herself. She was released in January 2018, and lived with her son in Daban Town, Bairin Left Banner.
Third Prison Sentence for Distributing Falun Gong Literature
In less than a year after Ms. Duan’s release, four officers from Bairin Right Banner Police Department arrested her on December 6, 2018 for distributing Falun Gong literature. They took her keys and ransacked her home, confiscating her Falun Gong books, photos and literature. The materials were later used in court as evidence of her practicing Falun Gong.
After being taken to Bairin Right Banner Detention Center, Ms. Duan refused to have her photo taken. Three guards took turns shocking her with electric batons. A prison doctor held her by her ears and had her photographed. She was beaten and handcuffed behind her back because she did the Falun Gong exercises and refused to put on the prison uniform. The torture led her to develop high blood pressure and rapid heartbeat. She refused to take the unknown drugs the guards gave her, and the guards beat her in retaliation.
Because of her injured tailbone, she had a hard time sitting up. Every week the guards searched her twice by stripping her and flipping her over as she was laying down.
The police in Bairin Right Banner submitted Ms. Duan’s case to the Bairin Right Banner Procuratorate one week after her arrest. The prosecutor forwarded her case to the Chifeng City Procuratorate weeks later, which indicted her after another week.
Ms. Duan stood trial at the Bairin Right Banner Court in early 2019 and was sentenced to three years in Inner Mongolia First Women’s Prison again and fined 5,000 yuan in May 2019.
Tortured to Near Death in Prison
Because Ms. Duan refused to renounce her faith, she was put under strict management in the prison. She was not allowed to purchase daily necessities, and the superintendent ordered Liu Hong, a drug dealer, to torture her by all means.
Liu beat her and twisted her arm because she refused to wear a name tag. One time Liu put unknown drugs in her water and had four other inmates pour the water into her nostrils. Because she persistently refused to take the drug, Liu choked her, and wrenched her neck by pulling her hair back forcibly, causing her to pass out.
Knowing that her tailbone was injured and could not sit up, Liu still refused to let her lay down. When she crawled into the superintendent’s office to explain her situation, the superintendent instead accused her of beating Liu.
One day Liu covered Ms. Duan’s head with her shirt while other inmates held her down on her bed. Liu jammed her elbow on Ms. Duan’s breast and punched her head and face repeatedly. Her face and mouth were covered in blood. When she struggled to crawl out of the room, Liu dragged her back and forth on the ground.
Ms. Duan’s health degenerated quickly. She could no longer crawl, and became bedridden.
After she was released, she had two major surgeries and nearly died. The police and local officials in Bairin Right Banner continued to harass her and her family and videotaped them on the streets for no reason.
Related Report:
Arrested and Tortured Repeatedly, Inner Mongolia Woman Sentenced Again
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