(Minghui.org) A 66-year-old woman from Changsha City, Hunan Province barely survived years in prison for refusing to renounce her faith in Falun Gong. When she was released, she was severely underweight and had a ruptured cornea due to beatings.

Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a health-improving spiritual practice persecuted in China since 1999.

Ms. Yang Tianliu was seized at home in September 2016. She was secretly tried and sentenced to 3 years by Changsha County Court on March 3, 2017. Her family tried to visit her at Changsha 4th Detention Center on June 21, 2017, only to be told that she had been transferred to Changsha Women’s Prison a week before.

Ms. Yang appealed the verdict, but the appeals court never responded to her case.

She was denied family visits and tortured at the prison because she refused to renounce her faith.

Losing Almost Half of Body Weight After 3 Weeks of Starvation

Ms. Yang was transferred to a high-security unit in prison designed to torture Falun Gong practitioners. She was surrounded by 6 prison guards around the clock and wasn’t given food because she refused to say “I am anti-revolutionary.”

The prison guards claimed that she was on a hunger strike and ordered prisoners to force feed her every day. The prisoners held her down and pried her mouth open with a spoon. They fiercely pulled on her breasts. When she shouted out in pain, the prisoners then forced the food down her throat.

While Ms. Yang was being starved, she was also forced to stand still from 6 a.m. to midnight each day. The prisoners didn’t allow her to use the restroom. When she couldn’t hold it any longer and relieved herself in the pants, the prisoners would drag her to the toilet, beat her and jam toilet brushes into her mouth.

The torture lasted three weeks and her weight dropped from 144 lbs to 81 lbs. She was emaciated and rushed to a hospital.

The prisoners also followed her to the hospital. They slapped her in the face and blamed her for ruining their chances to get reduced sentences, as getting a Falun Gong practitioner to renounce his/her faith is often counted as a merit for the prisoners and they are often rewarded with reduced terms.

Force Fed Unknown Drugs and Brainwashed

Because of her terrible physical condition, Ms. Yang was hospitalized for 8 months. During which time she was given a lot of medication and injected with unknown drugs. She became so incoherent that she could only follow simple instructions.

After she was sent back to the prison, the prisoners continued to pressure her to give up her faith. They frequently beat her and forced her to sit still on a small stool until the flesh on her buttocks was ruptured and festered. She had to watch videos slandering Falun Gong every day and was denied toilet use. The abusers went unpunished in prison when she filed complaints.

Rendered Immobile and Eye Ruptured After Relentless Beatings

Five months before Ms. Yang’s scheduled release, she was forced to recite prison rules every day. The inmates would force her to hand copy it for 100 times if she made any mistakes during reciting. Sometimes she had to stay up the entire night to copy the prison rules or other brainwashing materials.

Because she did not respond to the roll call fast enough one night, the prisoners denied her toilet use. When she shouted “I need to use the restroom,” they stuck a dirty rag in her mouth, pinched her mouth until it bled, beat her and repeatedly punched her in the eyes until 3 a.m.

Ms. Yang was swollen all over on the next day because of the injuries. The pain was so intense that she was unable to move or even open her eyes. Her request to see a doctor was also denied. When her daughter later took her to a hospital after she was released, the doctor confirmed that she had a ruptured cornea.

The guards threatened to shock Ms. Yang with electric batons and didn’t allow her to take shower for more than 20 days during the hot summer in July.

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