(Minghui.org) A woman who was incarcerated for 14 years for practicing Falun Gong was finally allowed to see her family in February 2024, for the first time in five years. The Heilongjiang Province Women’s Prison initially denied the visitation request on the grounds that Ms. Jiang Xiaoyan had not renounced Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999. They relented due to her loved ones’ strong protest.
Ms. Jiang’s family noticed that she lost almost all her teeth, but she was unable to tell them what happened as the guards were closely monitoring their conversation. Her loved ones requested to see her again in April 2024 but the prison authorities said they must wait until July 2024 for another visit.
According to insiders, Ms. Jiang, who is about 63 years old and is from Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province, is now held in solitary confinement. She was arrested on November 13, 2011 and sentenced to 14 years on May 28, 2012. She was brutally tortured and her condition became critical. She was released on parole on September 27, 2013, only to be taken back to prison on October 9, 2017. She has just over six years left on her term.
After Ms. Jiang was sentenced to 14 years on May 28, 2012, the Heilongjiang Province Women’s Prison initially refused to admit her due to her serious health condition as a result of the torture she was subjected to at the Harbin City Second Detention Center. Director Hong of the detention center used his connections and pressured the prison to admit Ms. Jiang in August 2012.
In less than one month, the prison issued a critical condition notice. Ms. Jiang was found to have severe amenia and a large tumor in her abdomen. She was released on medical parole on September 27, 2013. An ambulance drove her home, and her family had to carry her inside.
Ms. Jiang gradually recovered after she resumed doing the Falun Gong exercises at home. The local police, who had been monitoring her since her release, discovered she went out of town in early October 2017. They seized her on October 9, 2017, moments after she returned home from visiting her father who lives in a different city. They did not tell her family where they were taking her.
Ms. Jiang’s loved ones managed to find out that she had been taken back to the Heilongjiang Province Women’s Prison to finish her 14-year sentence. They visited her in the prison on November 14, 2017 and noted that she looked extremely pale and had lost a significant amount of weight in just one month. Her hands kept trembling during the 10-minute meeting. An insider later revealed that the guards often instigated the inmates to beat her.
Her family was only allowed to see her a few more times before 2019, when the prison completely revoked her family visitation right.
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