(Minghui.org) A 71-year-old woman from Wuhan City, Hubei Province, was sent to prison to serve a three-year term for practicing Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Ms. Xiong Fenglian was arrested at home on May 13, 2024 by officers from the Baofeng Road Police Station. As she lives on her own, her family didn’t know about her arrest until several days later, when the police called them. The police said they arrested her after seeing her on surveillance cameras distributing Falun Gong materials at a farmers’ market. Minghui.org recently confirmed her prison sentence and admission by the Hubei Province Women’s Prison, but details about her indictment, trial and sentencing aren’t clear.
Ms. Xiong, born in June 1954, is a native of Huangshi City, Hubei Province. She moved to Wuhan years ago with her children. Before taking up Falun Gong, she had a severe heart condition, migraines, constipation, and rheumatism. Shortly after she began to practice Falun Gong in 1997, she became healthy. She also became more upbeat and considerate.
After the persecution started in 1999 Ms. Xiong has been repeatedly targeted for upholding her faith.
She was arrested on the early morning of June 5, 2003. After over 20 days at the Huangshi City Detention Center, she was transferred to the Shayang Forced Labor Camp to serve a one-year term. To force her to renounce Falun Gong, the guards deprived her of sleep and forced her to watch TV programs smearing Falun Gong. Inmates were arranged to watch her and they hit her on the eyes as soon as she closed them.
The guards also ordered Ms. Xiong to kneel down because she refused to handcopy a statement to renounce Falun Gong. Two inmates pressed her against the ground and stomped on her for two hours. A guard threatened to extend her term by three to six months the next day.
In addition to the physical and mental torment, Ms. Xiong was also forced to work for 16 hours or even longer, without pay. The work she did included assembling lights, installing speakers in cell phones, growing and harvesting peanuts, harvesting cotton, removing weeds, and digging sunchokes in snow-covered fields. Without any hand protection, her hands often lost feeling due to exposure to low temperatures in the winter. Even then she still wasn’t allowed to rest. When she couldn’t finish the daily quota the guards subjected her to further torture. Sometimes she was forced to stand under the scorching sun in the summer or sit on a small stool for hours.
When Ms. Xiong refused to do hard labor the guards slapped her face, handcuffed her behind her back and then chained the handcuffs to the shackles she was wearing. She couldn’t eat, sleep, or use the restroom.
Shortly after Ms. Xiong was released in 2004, a community director attempted to take her to a brainwashing center. After she escaped, they blocked her front door and put a lock on her water meter, which directly cut off the water supply to her apartment. When she was forced to live away from home the police were often staked out near her apartment and waited for her.
Ms. Xiong was arrested again in early January 2009 for putting up two posters about Falun Gong. After a few days at the Chengyue Police Station, she was taken to the Huangshi City First Detention Center. Seeking heavier prosecution against her, the police submitted additional posters in the prosecution evidence that weren’t put up by her. She was later sentenced to three years by the Xisaishan District Court. She appealed to the Huangshi City Intermediate Court, which changed her term to probation. She was released in November 2009.
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