(Minghui.org) A 75-year-old woman went into a coma less than six weeks into her imprisonment. She was being held for refusing to give up her faith in Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline being persecuted by the Chinese communist regime.
Ms. Xiao Shaogui was in good health before she was taken to Chongqing Women's Prison on February 2 of this year. Her family challenged the authorities on what took place in prison that led to her current condition. The prison staff who notified them of her hospitalization on March 13 refused to give any specifics.
The family called the prison back the next day and was told that Ms. Xiao had just been discharged from the hospital, and that she was “fine.”
Ms. Xiao's loved ones, however, remain extremely concerned about her well being. They worry that she might have been subjected to and will continue to face various forms of abuse, which she went through during her previous detentions.
Her family's request to have her released on medical parole was turned down. They have also been denied family visits since her imprisonment began.
Ms. Xiao was arrested on May 17, 2014, and later released on June 5 when she broke her leg after a bad fall on the slippery floor in the detention center. She was taken to Chongqing Women's Prison on February 2 this year when the local court sentenced her to one and a half years.
Prior to her latest imprisonment, Ms. Xiao had been repeatedly arrested. She was once beaten so badly that she lost all but one tooth. She was later given forced labor on two occasions, for a total of two years. She was finally released in late 2011, only to be arrested again a few years later.
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