(Minghui.org) Ms. Chen Zaixian, a retired nurse from Guizhou Province, passed away on July 23, 2016, after suffering years of persecution by the Chinese Communist Party for refusing to renounce her faith in Falun Gong. She was nearly 60.

Ms. Chen had been repeatedly arrested; she was sentenced twice to forced labor camps and once to prison for a total of seven years–all for telling the public about the communist regime’s persecution of Falun Gong that began in 1999.

While in prison, she was constantly tortured by inmates. Ms. Chen was deprived of sleep, not allowed to use the bathroom, forced to do long hours of hard labor, and made to stand under the baking sun while wearing layers of clothes.

Ms. Chen's tragic death came only four months after her latest arrest in March 2016 for passing out informational materials about Falun Gong. She was arrested with two other practitioners, who were given two and three-year sentences, respectively.

During the detention following her arrest in March, Yang Guangqing, the former head of the Domestic Security Division in Tianzhu County, frequently harassed her. Even though he was retired, Yang actively persecuted practitioners. The stress caused Ms. Chen’s health to deteriorate.

After Ms. Chen was sent to the hospital, Yang forced her brother and sister to monitor her in her hospital room and pressure her to give up practicing Falun Gong. She eventually passed away after years of mental and physical suffering.

Ms. Chen once described her torture in 2003-04 at the Guizhou Women's Forced Labor Camp. She said, “The guards arranged six inmates to monitor me. They didn't allow me to sleep, drink water, use the bathroom, or even wash myself. Sometimes they also forced me to do hard labor for 18 hours, at times 24 hours.

“In the winter, they forced me to stand in the snow for long hours, causing me to have frostbite. In the summer in 100-degree heat, they forced me to stand outside under the baking sun while wearing five layers of clothing and a puffer coat. If I moved, they beat me and kicked me.”

During another labor camp term in the winter of 2006, a guard ordered an inmate to strip Ms. Chen naked to humiliate her. She resisted and dislocated her arm. Instead of providing her medical treatment, the guards ordered the inmates to make her stand outside for three nights in the freezing cold.

Six months after she returned home from the labor camp in 2008, Ms. Chen was arrested again for distributing Falun Gong informational materials; she was sentenced to three years.