(Minghui.org) A 60-year-old Ning’an City, Heilongjiang Province resident is appealing a 3.5-year prison term for her faith in Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Ms. Shang Xiufang, a laboratory technician at Ning’an Center for Disease Control, was arrested on May 9, 2024 during a police sweep by officers from the Ning’an City Domestic Security Division. She was detained in the Ning’an City Detention Center and later sentenced to prison by the Hailin City Court. Judge Pan Yuancheng of the Ning’an City Intermediate Court has been assigned to her appeal.
In the past 26 years of persecution, Ms. Shang has been repeatedly arrested and incarcerated for upholding her faith. She previously served two labor camp terms and a prison term totaling five years and eight months. She endured relentless torture and barely survived.
One-Year Labor Camp Term for Appealing for Falun Gong
Ms. Shang was first arrested on July 21, 1999, the day after the persecution started. She was detained at the Ning’an City Detention Center for 13 days.
Ms. Shang went to Beijing to appeal for the right to practice Falun Gong on February 14, 2000 and was arrested there. She was taken back and held at the Ning’an City Detention Center. Because she refused to renounce Falun Gong, she was forced to wear shackles weighing 24 kg (53 lbs) for a month and was shocked with electric batons.
In June 2000, Ms. Shang was given a one-year labor camp term and transferred to the Mudanjiang Forced Labor Camp. A guard surnamed Ling and two doctors pried open her mouth with a screwdriver and then placed a rusted mouth-opener into her mouth. They next force-fed her corn meal mixed with excessive salt through a rubber tube. She almost suffocated.
Because Ms. Shang did the Falun Gong exercises at the labor camp, guard Zhang Xiaoguang forced her to stand in the hallway, taped her mouth and squeezed cold water into her nose. She felt as if her respiratory system was loaded with concrete and she couldn’t help but cry.
For two months at the labor camp, Ms. Shang was beaten, verbally abused, had cold water poured over her and was shocked with electric batons every day. Guard Liu Xiufen once shocked her with an electric baton for so long that her legs were severely burnt.
Ms. Shang started a hunger strike to protest in late July 2000. She was taken back to the Ning’an City Detention Center four days later. Guard Li Wenying hit her on the back with a long PVC pipe as she was walking into the cell. She was unable to walk afterwards and felt that her body was disjointed. She finished serving the term at the detention center and was released in May 2001.
Sentenced to Three Years
Ms. Shang was arrested again on April 21, 2002, by officers from the Ning’an City First Police Station. The police put her in a chokehold, beat her with a wood stick, burned her with cigarettes and poured cold water over her.
After she was taken to the Ning’an City Detention Center days later, she refused to wear the inmates’ vest and was forced to wear shackles and handcuffs connected with a 40 cm (16 inches) chain. She was unable to stand up or straighten her back, but had to keep her body bent over all the time. The guards didn’t remove the torture instrument until 20 days later. She had to rely on others’ help to use the restroom and eat meals during that time.
Torture illustration: shackles and handcuffed chained together
The Ning’an City Court sentenced Ms. Shang to three years on August 19, 2002. Presiding judge Ge Yupu signed her verdict. She was admitted to the Heilongjiang Province Women’s Prison on December 3, 2002.
At the newly admitted division, over 80 inmates were held in a big room and had only one restroom to use. The leaking roof was covered with a tarp and Ms. Shang could hear the sound of dripping water at night. In the morning, she and others had to remove the water from the tarp.
Ms. Shang was watched by two inmates around the clock and was not allowed to talk to anyone. She was forced to sit on a small stool for over 15 hours a day. In the morning, she had to get a pass before she could use the restroom for urination only. If she needed to pass stool, she had to wait until after 9 a.m. and get another pass for that.
A month later, Ms. Shang was assigned to the Eighth Division and monitored by four inmates. She still wasn’t allowed to talk to anyone. Because she refused to renounce Falun Gong, the guards didn’t assign her a bed, but forced her to sleep on the edges of two beds that were placed next to each other. She had to ask for the inmates’ permission before she could use the restroom. The guards also barred her from buying daily necessities or being visited by her family. Her husband went to the prison several times, but wasn’t allowed to see her.
Between August and early September 2003, Ms. Shang was forced to sit on a small stool again, from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. and even from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. every day. She wasn’t allowed to move or talk and was only given two restroom breaks each day. She developed big blisters on her buttocks from the extended sitting.
On September 5, 2003, the guards ordered Ms. Shang to start working. As she and other practitioners refused to comply, the guards forced them to run laps while beating them. Ms. Shang was also shocked with electric batons on her ears and whipped with tree branches on her back. After a short pause after lunch, the running continued in the afternoon. No water was provided throughout the day.
In the early evening, the practitioners were taken back to their cells, where they were allowed to drink some water and use the restroom. Then the guards tied them up, with their hands behind their backs, and forced them to sit on the damp concrete floor. The inmates fed them some dinner. At night, they weren’t allowed to sleep. As soon as they closed their eyes, the inmates beat them with bamboo sticks. Many practitioners’ faces became bruised and disfigured as a result.
In the morning, the inmates untied the practitioners’ feet, but not their hands, and then took them to the restroom. After they came back, they tied up the practitioners again and left them sitting on the concrete floor, waiting for the guards to come and take them to the training ground again.
After a few days, even the inmates were exhausted. If they saw someone close their eyes, they would start to beat Ms. Shang, as she sat the closest to the inmates.
Due to severe sleep deprivation, some practitioners fell into a delirious state. Ms. Wang Shuling was heard saying “There is rice on the ground and I want to sleep.” Inmate Zhao Yan came over; she pointed to the wall and asked Ms. Wang what it was. She said it was sky. Zhao then pointed at herself and asked Ms. Wang if she recognized her. She said no. Zhao next asked her if she wanted to sleep and the answer was yes. Zhao took out a statement to renounce Falun Gong and had Ms. Wang sign her name on it. Then she was allowed to go to sleep.
Ms. An Ling was so exhausted that she couldn’t keep running. The prison doctor pricked her soles with long needles. Inmates Wang Fengchun and Yang Ping also pricked other practitioners’ insteps with needles.
The marathon torture lasted a total of eleven days. During the time, Ms. Shang and another practitioner, Ms. Jia Shuying, tried to stop inmates Zhu Yuhong and Li Guihong from beating practitioner Ms. Ni Shuzhen. Li kicked Ms. Shang in the throat and she fainted as a result.
Shortly after the torture session ended, Ms. Shang’s toenails fell off the big toe on each foot. She also developed scabies all over her body, which were itchy beyond words and often kept her awake at night.
In February 2004, because Ms. Shang refused to wear the inmate’s uniform, guard Zhang Chunhua and inmates Zhao Yanhua, Song Libo and Zhu Yuhong stripped off her clothes and forced the inmates’ uniform on her. They then twisted one of her hands behind her back to be cuffed with another hand pulled over her shoulder from the front. This torture in itself was unbearable enough, but the guards added a chain to the handcuffs and had it pass through the crossbar of the top bunk of a bed. Her feet could barely touch the ground. She soon fainted due to the pain. After she came to, the torture continued. The guards later kept her handcuffed like that for one night.
Torture illustration: handcuffed behind one’s back
In December 2004, the inmates forced the Falun Gong practitioners to sit on the concrete floor in the hallway overnight and opened the window to freeze them. The torture lasted 20 days and the practitioners still had to work without pay during the day.
In addition to the above-mentioned torture, Ms. Shang also had her pants removed and was then beaten with a wood block or slippers on the buttocks.
She was released in April 2005.
Second Labor Camp Term
Ms. Shang contacted Yan Hecheng, the head of the Ning’an City 610 Office, in November 2011 and urged him not to persecute Falun Gong practitioners. In retaliation, Yan ordered the Mudanjiang City and Ning’an City Domestic Security Division to arrest her at work on November 28, 2011. She was held at the Mudanjiang City Detention Center, yet the police refused to reveal her whereabouts to her family. Her family frequented the police station and 610 Office to look for her, but to no avail.
Ms. Shang was transferred to the Heilongjiang Province Women’s Forced Labor Camp in January 2013 to serve a 20-month term. She was held in isolation and monitored around the clock. There was no clock or watch in the room. She wasn’t allowed to go to the cafeteria to have meals and was forced to sit on a small plastic stool with no padding all day long. The guards came in the morning, afternoon and evening, ordering her to renounce Falun Gong. She was under tremendous mental pressure.
After one month of such strict management, Ms. Shang was ordered by guard Lu Boya and inmate Ba Lihua again to give up her belief. They grabbed her hand and attempted to force her to fingerprint a prepared statement to renounce Falun Gong. She struggled with all her might and her hand was injured and became swollen. Due to the persecution, she felt tightness in her chest, her hair turned gray and all of her teeth became loose. Her front teeth later fell out. She was released on August 2, 2013.
Related Report:
Ning’an City, Heilongjiang Province: 18 Falun Gong Practitioners Arrested in One Day
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Category: Torture of Women
