(Clearwisdom.net) Ms. Zhang Guiqin from Qiqihar City, Heilongjiang Province, started practicing Falun Gong in 1995. She had suffered from many health problems such as gastritis and varicose veins before her practice of Falun Gong, but they all disappeared after she began practicing. As a result of the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) brutal persecution of practitioners, Ms. Zhang was subjected to numerous detentions, abuse, and torture. She died as a result of persecution at Heping Factory Hospital on December 4, 2006.

 Ms. Zhang Guiqin before her death

In April 2001, officers from the Xingongdi Police Station and the head of the neighborhood committee broke into Ms. Zhang's home in the middle of the night. They took her to the Tiefeng Criminal Police Team, where they tortured her by pouring soapy water into her eyes. Two of them used extreme force to bend her backwards over a bench. They finally handcuffed her behind her back and hung her up. Ms. Zhang was taken to the Qiqihar Detention Center several days later.

The abuse and mistreatment Ms. Zhang was subjected to in the detention center caused her to lose all feeling in her hands. She could no longer use them and was unable to take care of herself. A month later, she was sent to Qiqihar City's Shuanghe Forced Labor Camp to be held for a year.

Ms. Zhang was often placed in solitary confinement. In January 2002, guards locked her up in an unheated, empty room in only lightweight clothes. Ms. Zhang was made to sit on a metal chair with her hands cuffed and feet shackled for seven days. She was released from the labor camp in May 2002.

After returning home, officers from the Xingongdi Police Station harassed her everyday by making phone calls to her, threatening to send her to a brainwashing session.

In April 2006, Ms. Zhang went to her aunt's home and was illegally arrested by officers from the Tongdong Road Police Station who were staked out outside. The police tortured her and then took her to Qiqihar City's No.1 Detention Center.

Ms. Zhang shouted "Falun Dafa is good!" when officers from the Qiqihar City 610 Office, city police department, and the Tiefeng Police Department inspected the detention center. A guard picked up a mop and repeatedly rubbed it hard across Ms. Zhang's mouth, causing it to bleed profusely.

Ms. Zhang held a hunger strike in October 2006 to protest the illegal detention. When she was in critical condition on November 8, 2006, she was taken to the Heping Factory Hospital in shackles. Ms. Zhang was in a coma and lost control of her bowels and bladder. She had difficulty breathing and vomited a lot of blood.

Ms. Zhang died at about 1:00 a.m. on December 4, 2006, in the hospital.