Name: Cong Peilan (叢培蘭)
Gender: Female
Age: Approximately 50 years old
Address: Xilutian, Yuanbaoshan District, Chifeng, Inner Mongolia
Date of Most Recent Arrest: August 22, 2011
Most Recent Place of Detention: Hohhot Women's Forced Labor Camp (呼市女子勞教所)
City: Hohhot
Province: Inner Mongolia
Persecution Suffered: Interrogation, detention, forced labor, brainwashing, beatings, torture, home ransacked

Name: Yang Cuiling (楊翠玲)
Gender: Female
Age: Approximately 70 years old
Address: Shanqian Town, Yuanbaoshan District, Chifeng
Date of Most Recent Arrest: June 13, 2011
Most Recent Place of Detention: Hohhot Women's Forced Labor Camp (呼市女子勞教所)
City: Hohhot
Province: Inner Mongolia
Persecution Suffered: Detention, forced labor, brainwashing

(Clearwisdom.net) Falun Gong practitioners Ms. Cong Peilan and Ms. Yang Cuiling were illegally arrested in the summer of 2011. Subsequently, Ms. Cong was sentenced to two years and Ms. Yang to three years of forced labor. The two practitioners were sent to the Hohhot Women's Forced Labor Camp in the fall of 2011 and are still imprisoned there.

Ms. Cong Repeatedly Persecuted for Maintaining Her Belief in Falun Gong

On August 22, 2011, Liu Shutian and Bai Zhanguo from Xilutian Police Station arrested Ms. Cong while she was on her way home. They held her in the Yuanbaoshan District Detention Center. Wang Heran and Feng Xiaohu from the Yuanbaoshan District Domestic Security Division tortured her, in an attempt to force a confession. Ms. Cong suffered injuries to her face, legs, and abdomen. Her blood pressure rose to critical levels, resulting in two hospitalizations during her detention period. Her family was denied visitation. The authorities sentenced her to two years of imprisonment and took her to the Hohhot Women's Forced Labor Camp on October 28, 2011.

Ms. Cong used to suffer from over 20 different ailments. She was in so much pain that she even tried to end her life. However, her illnesses disappeared after she began practicing Falun Gong. She was able to straighten her body, which previously had been crooked and bowlegged. She gradually was able to walk normally and looked younger than her age. Her neighbors and friends were amazed to see such a change as a result of her practice. Ms. Cong said: “I've been saved. The Teacher of Falun Gong gave me a second life. When I was paralyzed in bed, a fellow practitioner read me the Falun Gong teachings for half an hour, and then I was able to stand up.”

After the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) launched the persecution of Falun Gong on July 20, 1999, the CCP authorities frequently arrested and tortured Ms. Cong due to her firm belief in Falun Gong.

On January 10, 2001, Liu Weimin, captain of the Domestic Security Division of the Yuanbaoshan District Public Security Bureau, led officers to arrest about 20 practitioners in the Pingzhuang area, including Ms. Cong. Police took the practitioners to a meeting room in the Yuanbaoshan District Public Security Bureau and subjected them to brainwashing, in an attempt to force them to give up their Falun Gong practice. Ms. Cong stood up and clarified the facts about the practice to Yang Zhenyuan, deputy director of the Yuanbaoshan District Public Security Bureau, Yang Xiaohui and Liang Yujin, directors of the Xilutian Police Station, and several police officers, all of whom actively participated in the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners. Liu Weimin then dragged Ms. Cong out of the meeting room and beat her in the hallway. Afterward, she was taken to the Yuanbaoshan Detention Center.

The weather was very cold at that time. Zhang Haiqing, director of the Yuanbaoshan Detention Center, forced Ms. Cong and nine other practitioners to stand in the snow. Ms. Cong wore only a thin shirt and a pair of light pants. Her fingers were frozen, and a few minutes after she returned to her cell, her fingernails split from her flesh. Three days later, the skin on her fingers began to slough off, with some areas resulting in open wounds with bodily fluids oozing out. Even though she was in this state, the guards brought their dirty clothes and forced her to wash them. Three months later, the guards took her to the Hohhot Women's Forced Labor Camp, where she was tortured some more.

After Ms. Cong was released, the police attempted to arrest her again on July 19, 2006, but she was not home. Five plainclothes officers from the Yuanbaoshan District Domestic Security Division and Xilutian Police Station scaled her fence and entered her house, and several other officers broke down her door. The police illegally searched her house. The endless harassment from the police and the 610 Office caused great difficulties for her parents and children. To avoid further persecution, Ms. Cong was forced to leave home in 2004 and became destitute. The police posted a warrant for her arrest.

Ms. Yang Cuiling Incarcerated Seven Times for not Giving up Falun Gong

Ms. Yang Cuiling is approximately 70 years old. Liu Zhenting and Wang Huilong from Harqin Domestic Security Division, along with Wang Heran and Feng Xiaohu from the Yuanbaoshan Domestic Security Division, arrested Ms. Yang on June 13, 2011, because she practiced Falun Gong. She was subsequently tortured in the Jinshan Detention Center in Harqin. On November 19, 2011, she was sentenced to three years of imprisonment and transferred to Hohhot Women's Forced Labor Camp.

After Ms. Yang began practicing Falun Gong, she became very healthy, and her children were very happy for her. After the persecution of Falun Gong began on July 20, 1999, the CCP authorities in Chifeng arrested and incarcerated Ms. Yang almost every other year, in an attempt to force her to give up her practice. She has been incarcerated at least seven times.

One time, she was tortured in a forced labor camp over a two-year period. On the day of her arrest, officers in Yuanbaoshan District deceived her and took her to the Public Security Bureau. Liu Weimin drove her to Chifeng and took her into a government office. Ten minutes later, Liu handed her a notice that she was sentenced to two years of forced labor. No legal procedures were followed, and Ms. Yang was not officially charged. Without notifying Ms. Yang's family, Liu took her to the Hohhot Women's Forced Labor Camp in Inner Mongolia, over 600 miles from her home. That day was extremely cold, and Ms. Yang wasn't allowed to bring any clothes with her.