(Minghui.org) A woman in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, was admitted to the Wuhan City Women’s Prison in August 2025 to serve a 1.5-year term because she practices Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999.

Ms. Zhang Lihua, a retired petrochemical plant worker in her 70s, was sentenced on November 24, 2020 but did not start serving time right away because she failed the required physical exam. When she swiped her bus pass to get on the 514 bus line in August 2025, the pass triggered an alarm (likely due to her being on the blacklist of Falun Gong practitioners targeted by the regime). The two bus drivers reported her to thepolice and she was soon arrested. The police took her straight to the prison to start serving time.

Ms. Zhang’s wrongful conviction stemmed from her arrest on August 26, 2019, by officers from the Jinyinhu Police Station. They monitored and shadowed her before making the arrest. They took her to the Beihu Brainwashing Center, where she was force-fed unknown drugs for four months. She almost choked to death during one force-feeding session and accidentally touched a perpetrator during the struggle. He then went into a rage and beat her severely.

Ms. Zhang became extremely weak and had difficulty walking. She was released on bail on December 25, 2019.

While she was still held at the brainwashing center, Ms. Zhang was deposed by officer Zhou Yuan from the Qingshan District Police Department and a staffer from the Hongshan District Procuratorate. They both ordered her to sign her case file and she firmly refused to comply. They nonetheless got her indicted and she stood trial at the Hongshan District Court on November 13, 2020.

Ms. Zhang’s son received a call on the night of November 23, 2020, asking him to inform his mother to report to the court the next day for a sentencing hearing. To avoid being sentenced, Ms. Zhang went into hiding. The court sentenced her to one and a half years in absentia.

Not long after Ms. Zhang returned home on March 8, 2021, officers from the Ganghua Police Station smashed her door and broke in. They took her to the Erzhigou Lockup but she was denied admission after she failed the required physical exam. The police sent her home, only to seize her again on July 21 that year. The lockup refused to accept her.

After the aforementioned bus incident in August 2025, Ms. Zhang was arrested and sent to prison to start her 1.5-year term.

Prior to her latest persecution, Ms. Zhang was arrested a few more times for her faith. She went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong not long after the persecution began in July 1999. She was arrested and severely beaten. After she was taken back to Wuhan, she was held at the Erzhigou Lockup, where she was hung up for five days. Officer Zhang Zhujun from the Qingshan District Police Department arrested her again in 2000 and gave her one year of forced labor.

Ms. Zhang’s home was raided more than ten times over the years. She was forced to live away from home in the summer of 2017, only to be arrested again on August 26, 2019, not long after she returned. Her employer also suspended her pay for 20 years.