(Minghui.org)
Name: Ma TongxinChinese Name: 马同欣Gender: FemaleAge: 80City: ShijiazhuangProvince: HebeiOccupation: N/ADate of Death: June 2, 2025Date of Most Recent Arrest: January 10, 2022Most Recent Place of Detention: Shijiazhuang City Second Detention Center
An 80-year-old woman in Shijiazhuang City, Hebei Province, passed away on June 2, 2025, a year and a half after she finished serving a prison term for her faith in Falun Gong.
Ms. Ma Tongxin was arrested at home early on January 11, 2022, in a police sweep. At least 16 other Falun Gong practitioners were also seized from their homes at around the same time. The police put black hoods over their heads and took them to a hotel. Handcuffed and restrained in metal chairs, the practitioners were interrogated in separate rooms. They were not allowed to sleep and had the black hoods put back on their heads after each interrogation session.
Ms. Ma was interrogated for 12 days. When she was taken to the Shijiazhuang City Second Detention Center on January 25, 2022, she was found to have a tumor. The guards initially refused to admit her, but relented after being pressured by the police.
On May 5, 2022, the Jinzhou City Police Department submitted Ms. Ma and seven other practitioners’ cases to the Jinzhou City Procuratorate, which forwarded the cases to the Jinzhou City Court on June 2, 2022. The court scheduled several hearings, but canceled the sessions due to pandemic restrictions.
The eight practitioners appeared in court on April 4, 2023 and were sentenced to up to five years on June 9, 2023. Ms. Ma was given one year and ten months with a 15,000-yuan fine. She served time at the Shijiazhuang City Second Detention Center.
Three months before the end of Ms. Ma’s term, she developed serious medical conditions and kept having blood in her stool. However, the detention center refused to release her on medical parole and insisted that she finish serving the full term. She struggled to recover upon returning home on November 16, 2023 and passed away on June 2, 2025.
Ms. Ma took up Falun Gong in 1997. Shortly after the Chinese Communist Party ordered the persecution in 1999, she was arrested and taken to the Shenze County Legal Education Center, a brainwashing center in disguise. She was detained for 26 days, during which time she was ordered to write a statement to renounce Falun Gong and fined 1,270 yuan.
The township government scaled the fence and broke into Ms. Ma’s home on December 31, 2000. As she refused to sign statements to renounce Falun Gong, they arrested her and took her to another brainwashing center. The guards beat her for two hours until she lost consciousness. She was then transferred to the Shenze County Detention Center for eleven months and five days. She became very weak and vomited blood due to the abuse. Only then did the guards release her.
Related Reports:
Woman Detained in Secret Location After Police Show up in Her Bedroom at Midnight
Seven Targeted in a Midnight Police Sweep Detained for Nearly Two Months
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