(Minghui.org) A 72-year-old resident of Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province, was admitted to the Heilongjiang Province Women’s Prison at the end of November 2023 to serve a four-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. Ma Shuhua developed lumps on her neck in the prison and couldn’t eat. She also fainted several times and was diagnosed with thyroid nodules. She had surgery to remove the mass in January 2024 and was taken back to the prison soon afterwards.
Arrest and Sentencing
Ms. Ma’s prison sentencing stemmed from her initial arrest on April 19, 2021. At least 26 other local Falun Gong practitioners were arrested on the same day.
Ms. Ma was released on bail on May 19, 2021 but taken back into custody on June 10 that year. She was soon issued a formal arrest warrant and held at the Harbin City Second Detention Center for an unknown amount of time before being released on bail again.
To avoid being arrested again, Ms. Ma went to Shenzhen City, Guangdong Province, where her son works, but was arrested there on July 19, 2023. The police in Harbin picked her up from Shenzhen and took her back to the Harbin City Second Detention Center.
Her family recently learned of her wrongful conviction and prison transfer, but still does not know when she was tried or sentenced.
This is not the first time that Ms. Ma has been targeted for her faith. She was previously sentenced to 10 years following an arrest in 2002 and spent 9 years of her term in the same Heilongjiang Province Women’s Prison.
Her husband, also a Falun Gong practitioner, was held at a forced labor camp for three years. Because of their belief, the couple’s son was fired from his job as a public servant in Shenzhen City Procuratorate.
Life Renewed Through Practicing Falun Gong
Ms. Ma had a dilation and curettage procedure to remove tissue from her uterus after giving birth to her son at the age 26. The procedure was not done well and she suffered complications, including abdominal pain and bloating, for many years. Her symptoms worsened in 1989 and she had a laparotomy (a surgical incision into the abdominal cavity). Still nothing helped and she lived in pain every day. She also suffered from hereditary ichthyosis (dry, scaly, and peeling skin) and had to wear long-sleeved shirts and pants in the summer.
Her illnesses were not the only thing that made her life miserable. Ms. Ma also had a strained relationship with her mother-in-law, who had a really bad temper and once beat her. Her husband was addicted to smoking and drinking and verbally abused her. She fought with them all the time.
Ms. Ma later further developed cholecystitis (inflammation of the gallbladder). Her face was sallow, and her body ached everywhere. She could no longer work.
Her hopeless life turned around in October 1995 when she came across Falun Gong. All her symptoms disappeared and she could work again. She also learned to be a better person and took the initiative to mend her strained relationship with her mother-in-law. Her husband was in awe of her changes and became a Falun Gong practitioner, too.
Sentenced to 10 Years Following Arrest in 2002
Ms. Ma was arrested on April 24, 2002 and later sentenced to ten years. She was admitted to the Heilongjiang Province Women’s Prison in June 2003.
Ms. Ma once recounted her suffering in a 2015 complaint filed against Jiang Zemin, the former Chinese dictator who ordered the persecution of Falun Gong.
She was subjected to a torture dubbed “The Drill” for 11 days in September 2023. This torture involved forcing her to run laps for long hours every day. While she was running, the guards beat her with tree branches, electric batons, and plastic tubes. When she couldn’t run anymore, the guards instructed six prisoners to run while dragging her on the ground across the drill field. Her shoes were torn and her legs were badly scratched. She was not allowed to sleep after she returned to her cell. If she fell asleep, the guards would prick her eyes and legs with needles. Ms. Ma’s legs festered and her socks stuck to her flesh. Her legs were purple with two large holes. All her toenails fell off.
Ms. Ma was also often forced to sit still on a small stool for a long time, causing excruciating pain to her legs and buttocks. She went on a hunger strike to protest the persecution and was force-fed for 28 days. The guards inserted a plastic tube into her stomach and flushed in formula and salt. The tube stayed in her stomach for a week before being changed.
Ms. Ma refused to wear inmates’ uniform in March 2004 and was handcuffed to a bed corner for several months in a row. She was often not allowed to sleep. For a period of time, the guards even stripped her naked and monitored her from their surveillance cameras.
In 2006, the guards locked Ms. Ma in a room with four other prisoners, forcing her to watch videos slandering Falun Gong. She was allowed to sleep for only two hours a day and this lasted for two months.
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