(Minghui.org) A 78-year-old woman in Nantong City, Jiangsu Province, was arrested on August 27, 2025 because she practices Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999.
The arresting officers from the Tongzhou District Domestic Security Office took Ms. Yan Ling to the Nantong City Detention Center and she is still held there.
This is not the first time that Ms. Yan, a retired factory worker, has been targeted for her faith, which she took up in February 1998 and credits for freeing her from the suffering of rheumatoid arthritis, heart disease, gastroenteritis, and hepatitis. Prior to her latest persecution, she was held at brainwashing centers multiple times and served one forced labor term of sixteen months and two prison terms.
Ms. Yan was arrested and held in brainwashing centers every year between 2001 and 2004. After she was arrested in 2003, she was beaten, forced to stand, deprived of sleep, and starved when she refused to renounce Falun Gong. Several officers slapped her face and grabbed her hair to slam her head against the wall. That night they put a black hood over her head and handcuffed her before taking her to a brainwashing center located in a hotel. They hung her up by her wrists with her feet off the ground for an entire day.
Ms. Yan was given one year of forced labor in late 2004. The authorities extended her term by four months when she refused to renounce Falun Gong. She was deprived of sleep, forced to stand for days or sit on a small stool without moving. The guards also locked her in solitary confinement and refused to allow her to use the restroom. They once gave her IV injections of toxic drugs.
Ms. Yan was arrested again in October 2007 and held in a brainwashing center for 50 days. The police tied her up and hung her up for more than six hours until the rope broke. She threw up as a result. In April 2014 and February 2015, she was arrested and detained for 12 and 15 days, respectively, for talking to people about Falun Gong.
Ms. Yan was arrested on August 28, 2015 and released on bail one month later. She was arrested again on May 26, 2016 and later sentenced to two years in prison.
The guards at the Nantong Women’s Prison tortured Ms. Yan in various ways. They instructed inmates to tape her mouth and tie up her hands. She almost suffocated due to the abuse. Her salary was suspended by the authorities during her prison term.
After another arrest on July 15, 2020, Ms. Yan was secretly sentenced to an unknown term. She served time at the Jiangsu Province Women’s Prison. She was subjected to various forms of torture, including electric shocks, beatings, solitary confinement and being exposed to the elements. The guards also attempted to force her to take diabetes drugs even though she did not have the medical condition. When she refused, they mixed the drug into her food. They also rationed her food on the grounds that diabetes patients must watch their food intake. Three inmates were assigned to watch her around the clock and they controlled how much sleep she could have.
73-year-old Jiangsu Woman Arrested for Practicing Falun Gong