Name: Liang Meihua (梁美华)
Gender: Female
Age: 64
Address: Nanchang City Xihu District
Occupation: Formerly employed at the Nanchang Overseas Chinese Friendship Corporation in Jiangxi Province
Date of Most Recent Arrest: April 30, 2009
Most Recent Place of Detention: Women's Prison of Jiangxi Province (江西省女子监狱)
City: Nanchang
Province: Jiangxi
Persecution Suffered: Sleep deprivation, forced labor, brainwashing, illegal sentencing, beatings, solitary confinement, torture, force-feedings, physical restraint, home ransacked, interrogation, detention
(Minghui.org) Ms. Liang Meihua from Nanchang City was imprisoned for nearly a decade during the Communist regime's 13-year persecution campaign against Falun Gong. She has been subjected to all kinds of torture and suffered huge financial losses. As a result, this once healthy and vibrant woman was devastated both physically and mentally. Her family has also endured heart wrenching pain.
Ms. Liang Meihua
Ms. Liang worked at Nanchang Overseas Chinese Corporation in Jiangxi Province. Before she practiced Falun Gong, she suffered from severe rheumatoid arthritis, heart disease, and other illnesses, and she was extremely weak. After she took up the practice of Falun Gong in June 1996, she became healthy again and was always happy. Dafa gave her a new lease on life.
1. Persecuted While Detained at a Beijing Police Station
In November 1999, Ms. Liang went to Beijing to appeal for Dafa. She was arrested in Tiananmen Square and taken to a police station. She was punched five or six times in the chest as well as her hands and legs, and she was handcuffed behind her back.
The police proceeded to brutally beat her for more than two hours with a wooden stick over one meter long. As a result of the beating her arms became numb and there were bruises all over her body.
When she tried to stop a police officer from tearing up Dafa books, the police lifted a stick and brutally hit her on the head. A huge swelling as large as a goose egg appeared on the back of her head.
2. Ms. Liang Persecuted in Jiangxi Women's Forced Labor Camp
Around June 2001, Zhu, a political head of Hecao Street Police Station and police officers broke into Ms. Liang's house, ransacked it, and arrested her. She was taken to Jiangxi Women's Forced Labor Camp where she was imprisoned for one year.
In the forced labor camp, her hands were shackled to the bedstead by guard Wang Jun because she asked to be released and was on a hunger strike. Her legs were bound with ropes, pulled taut, and tied securely to the bedstead. Then she was force-fed.
Every day she was tortured three times and every time she was forced to pay 10 yuan in “administration fees.” After she was force-fed, her hands and legs remained shackled and a basin was placed beneath her for her to urinate into.
Day and night she was tortured non-stop, resulting in bruises and numbness in her hands and legs. She said that while she was being tortured, the prison doctor Xu Xiaoliang who force-fed her said, “If you die, we will throw your body out like a dog's.”
One year later, because she refused to give up her belief, the forced labor camp extended her term. After being persecuted for more than one month after her release due date, the camp authorities attempted to transfer her to Nanchang City Forced Labor Camp. When she refused to sign the documents, guard Hong Chuanghua ordered criminal inmates to grab her hand and put her thumbprint on the papers.
3. The No. 2 Detention Center in Nanchang City
In July 2002, police from Donghu Branch Police Station attempted to arrest Ms. Liang but could not find her, so they arrested her non-practitioner son. He was detained for a week in the detention center.
At the end of 2002, Zhu, the political head at Hecao Street Police Station, and several police officers broke into Ms. Liang's house again, ransacked the place and took her back to Nanchang City No 2 Detention Center. Ms. Liang went on a hunger strike to protest the illegal arrest.
Police officer Shu brutally force-fed her with concentrated salt water several times. Once, when Ms. Liang spat out the concentrated salt water from her mouth and nose just after nurses poured it in, police officers told them to force-feed Ms. Liang with the solution again. This time, because her throat and stomach could not withstand the strong stimulation, she violently threw the salt water up again.
During the entire force-feeding session, Ms. Liang's mouth was held open with a metal clamp. She could not utter a sound and became very weak. Her mouth and nose were bleeding.
4. First Imprisonment in Jiangxi Province Women's Prison
After she was tormented in the detention center for several months, Ms. Liang was unjustly sentenced to five years of imprisonment by Donghu District Court officials. From March 2003 to July 2007, she was incarcerated in Jiangxi Province Women's Prison. During nearly five years, she was brutally persecuted.
When there was a shortage of forced labor, everyone had to get up at 5:45 a.m. and work until around 11 p.m. before she was allowed to return to her cell. Due to over exertion, Ms. Liang vomited blood.
Later on, guard He Ru ordered two criminal inmates to watch over her 24 hours a day and torture her. Inmate Hong Jiao yelled at her and made her stand from 6:30 a.m. until midnight.
Ms. Liang was only given a 15-minute break in the afternoon and evening to eat. When she pointed out that this was physical torture, the inmates shouted at her, dragged and kicked her around. Sometimes her arms bled from the rough treatment and her clothes were torn.
When she pointed out that it was against prison rules to beat prisoners, Hong Jiao said, “We are acting under orders from the head guard.” When Ms. Liang told head guard Li Hui about the mistreatment, Li said: “We can treat practitioners who refuse to give up their belief however we like.”
-Forced to Stand for Long Periods of Time
Abetted by the head guard, the criminal inmates had nothing to fear and extended the punishment until 2 a.m. She once had to stand until past 3 a.m.
After standing for long hours, Ms. Liang's legs became puffy and swollen like bread, the skin on her legs turned purple and black, and she could not put on her shoes. Her calves were so swollen that they were as thick as her thighs.
Once she slipped in the toilet while taking a bath because her legs were so swollen she could not stand properly. Soon after, she started to vomit a lot of blood. The inmates only stopped torturing her temporarily at the doctor's request. However, not long afterwards, they began to torture her again. During the hot summer they even forced her to march outside in military formation under the scorching sun.
-Made to Walk Military Formations in the Hot Sun
In the summer of 2007, the prison political head locked her in a tiny cell where the urinal was right next to the bed and the smell was terrible. After she was incarcerated in the cell, the guards wouldn't let anyone clean it. Spiders and mosquitoes bred in swarms.
In the afternoon she was made to march by the edge of the wall in the hot sun. Every day her clothes were soaked through with sweat, yet she was not allowed to take a bath or change her clothes.
Ms. Liang was finally allowed to take a shower and change her clothes 42 days later after adamant demands. However, she could only bathe and change her clothes once a week. She was tortured relentlessly and imprisoned in the same tiny cell until her sentence was up and she was released.
5. Kuaizixiang Police Station and Xihu Branch Police Department
On the afternoon of April 30, 2009, several officers from Kuaizixiang Police Station forced their way into Ms. Liang 's house and ransacked the place. They looted her computer, printer, Dafa books, DVDs, and other belongings. They also took the 10,000 yuan she had as living expenses. Seven practitioners who were studying the Fa at her house were also arrested.
Ms. Liang was taken to Xihu Branch Police Department and tortured during interrogation. Several officers interrogated her until 3 a.m. and refused to let her sleep. They handcuffed her to a chair. Both her hands and legs were handcuffed. In the morning, they continued to interrogate her.
6. Imprisoned a Second Time in Jiangxi Province Women's Prison
Ms. Liang Meihua was persecuted in the No 1 Detention Center for one year and two months. In June 2010, Xihu District Court officials sentenced her to three years of imprisonment and she was sent to Jiangxi Province Women's Prison again.
-Hard Labor and Brainwashing
Political Head Liao Qiuhua and guard Zhang Ying ordered criminal inmate Song Rusha to monitor her. She was not allowed to talk to anyone. Every day she had to do slave labor for over 14 hours. After returning to her cell after 9 p.m., she was not allowed to take a shower.
Instead, they made her go to the stuffy activity room to watch videos defaming Dafa, march in military fashion and memorize the prison rules. When she resisted, she was made to stand from midnight onwards and not allowed to sleep.
In the cold of winter, guards began torturing her in the unsheltered corridor. They made her read books defaming Dafa, write her “understandings,” and march. She pointed out that the videotapes were lies and wrote articles clarifying the facts about Dafa and the persecution.
Subsequently, guard Zhang Ying ordered inmate Song Rusha to tear up and make her re-write reports whenever she wrote articles promoting Falun Gong. If she did not comply with their orders to write articles defaming Falun Gong, she would be made to stand for long periods of time. For a long time, she was only allowed to sleep after 2 a.m. and had to wake up at 5 a.m.
-Forced to Stand for Long Periods of Time
When Ms. Liang was made to stand, if she so much as closed her eyes a little, criminal inmates would shout at her. Once late at night, she closed her eyes a few times due to extreme exhaustion. Song Rusha who was watching her punched and beat her. When Ms. Liang lodged a complaint, the guards did not punish Song but instead indulged her. Encouraged, Song beat her even more brutally.
Song even took off her smelly and dirty socks on many occasions and stuffed them into Ms. Liang's mouth to stop her from saying, "Falun Dafa is good." Song reprimanded Ms. Liang and forced her to stand and march. Guard Liao Qiuhua also told other criminal inmates to torture Ms. Liang, telling them to gang up on her and beat her if she said Falun Dafa was good.
-Deprived of Sleep
To intensify the persecution, prison political head Wu Haitao made it a rule that Ms. Liang could only go to sleep after 3 a.m. and had to wake up at 5 a.m. This went on for several months. Later they escalated the torture by not allowing her to sleep until 4 a.m. and she still had to get up at 5. She only had one hour's sleep every day and during the day, she had to work for 14 hours.
On New Year's eve 2011, Ms. Liang's whole body felt cold, she was dizzy, and she felt very weak. Song Rusha continued to force her to march in military formations. Later on when the hospital took her temperature, it was 38 degrees Celsius. Only then did the prison allow her to rest for one day. The next day at 5:30 a.m., criminal inmates woke her up and forced her to watch videotapes defaming Falun Gong, claiming that this was ordered by prison political head Liao via a phone call.
As a result of being subjected to long periods of torture, Ms. Liang's physical and mental condition was severely ravaged. Several times she lost consciousness while sitting on a wooden stool and fell over.
The whites of her eyes were blood red and her vision was blurred due to long periods of sleep deprivation. She also had high blood pressure, she was dizzy, and she vomited blood.
Although her condition was critical, the guards still made her work beyond human endurance.
-Denied Family Visits and Forbidden to Write Appeal Letters
Ms. Liang was deprived of the most basic human rights. Although her family came to visit her many times, they were not allowed to see her. Her mother, who is nearly 90 and disabled, came to see her, escorted by family members. She was also turned away.
Ms. Liang was also not allowed to send letters, speak to her family, or buy things. She wrote an appeal letter to the authorities as allowed by the law, but her letter was withheld. The letters she wrote and submitted to the prison guards complaining about the illegal physical punishments she was subjected to were snatched away by criminal inmates.
Guards even sent inmates to monitor the prison complaints box. Guards Liao Qiuhua and Zhang Ying tore up all the letters Ms. Liang wrote right in her face and ordered criminal inmates to take away her paper and pen.
-Verbally and Physically Abused Days Before Her Release
Along with the frequent physical punishment, the prison guards and inmates also tortured her mentally. Education Section head Liu Aizhen often pointed a finger inches away from her face and yelled at and verbally abused her. Once Liu said filthy words and hit her hard on the head with an umbrella. A few days before she was released, political head You Longhai even locked her up in solitary confinement.
