(Minghui.org)
Name: Li QiaolianChinese Name: 李巧莲Gender: FemaleAge: 70City: BaiyinProvince: GansuOccupation: N/ADate of Death: September 12, 2025Date of Most Recent Arrest: January 14, 2022Most Recent Place of Detention: Gansu Province Women’s Prison
A 70-year-old woman in Baiyin City, Gansu Province, died on September 12, 2025, while serving a 3.5-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. Li Qiaolian was arrested on January 14, 2022 and convicted around September 2023. She was admitted to the Gansu Province Women’s Prison (also known as Lanzhou Women’s Prison), where she’d already served two prior terms totaling 11 years, also for practicing Falun Gong. The guards subjected her to various types of abuse, including around-the-clock monitoring and electric shocks.
Ms. Li started vomiting blood in mid-April 2025 and was soon diagnosed with late-stage lung cancer that had spread to her spine. The prison hospital recommended chemotherapy, which she declined. Her family applied for medical parole, but were denied on the grounds that Ms. Li refused to renounce Falun Gong.
The prison also only allowed Ms. Li’s husband and daughter to see her. All other family members were ordered to secure documentation from their local police stations or community officers demonstrating their relationship with her.
Ms. Li’s family received a call from the prison on August 29, 2025 saying she had fallen into a coma. As the prison was closed to the public over the next two days (Saturday and Sunday), her husband, daughter and three sisters rushed to the prison hospital on Monday (September 1, 2025). Only the former two were allowed to see her.
The family returned to the prison on September 8 and were given the runaround between various departments in their request for another visit with Ms. Li. They were finally allowed to see her on the afternoon of September 11. She opened her eyes but quickly closed them when her sisters called her name. Prison staff video-recorded the whole visit.
Ms. Li’s sisters requested medical parole again and a team captain said they’d process the request as soon as the prison hospital issued a critical condition notice. They said they couldn’t do anything at that time, because the prison hospital had only issued a serious condition designation.
Ms. Li’s family went to the prison hospital again on September 12 hoping to talk to the attending physician about her medical condition. The receptionist said they had to secure an approval from either the prison office or the hospital’s medical office.
Her family spoke to two men and one woman at the medical office. They pleaded with them to issue a critical condition notice, since Ms. Li was already in a coma. The female staffer said, “Li Qiaolian still practices Falun Gong and refused to comply with her treatment. She is not in critical condition yet. As long as she still has signs of life, we can’t issue a critical condition notice!”
Ms. Li’s husband asked, “Are you saying only when she dies she’ll be considered to be in critical condition?”
The woman admitted that’d be the case. She added, “We knew her time is numbered and she might not live to her term expiration. There is nothing personal here. It’s a decision based on her medical situation. You should talk to the prison instead!”
Later that day (September 12), just past 5 p.m., Ms. Li’s husband received a call from the prison telling him that his wife had died.