(Minghui.org) Ms. Yao Yanping, a resident of Wuhan City, Hubei Province, started practicing Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, in 1996. She lives by Falun Gong’s principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance to be a good person. She not only became healthier but also abandoned her strong pursuit of self-interest. Her improved character also brought more happiness and harmony to her family.

Since the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) launched the persecution against Falun Gong in 1999 due to its tremendous popularity, Ms. Yao has been arrested multiple times for upholding her faith. She was brutally tortured while being incarcerated in Wuhan No. 1 Women's Detention Center, Etouwan Brainwashing Center, and several police stations.

Early Arrests

On March 23, 2001, Ms. Yao was arrested at work by officers from Yijiadun Police Station. She was handcuffed to a metal shelf in the local police station, with her arms stretched horizontally. The police then ransacked her home and took away her Falun Gong books and photos.

The officers tried to interrogate her into a confession. When Ms. Yao refused to answer, she was brutally hit in the face, causing bleeding in her mouth. 

She escaped from the police station the next afternoon and was listed online as a wanted person afterward. 

Ms. Yao was arrested again on April 30, 2001, while writing “Falun Dafa is good” along a major road. She was taken to the Siwei Police Station and transferred to a brainwashing center the next day and detained there for five days. 

Tortured in Wuhan No. 1 Women's Detention Center

Ms. Yao was transferred to Wuhan No. 1 Women's Detention Center on May 7, 2001. Upon arrival, she was stripped naked, slapped in the face, and beaten. As she had refused to reveal her name since her arrest, the guards instigated inmates to beat her.

Torture Reenactment: beating and banging head on the wall

On one occasion, Ms. Yao practiced Falun Gong exercises at night. She was hung up to the metal door with both hands tied behind her back, causing her to pass out. The guards didn’t let her down until seven days later.

Torture Reenactment: hanging 

Because Ms. Yao refused to memorize the prison rules, the guards forced her to stand still for long periods of time, deprived her of sleep, and did not allow her to take a shower or change clothes on hot summer days. She was also handcuffed behind her back for more than one month.

Starting in July 2001, Ms. Yao had to get up at 6 a.m. to do unpaid labor for more than ten hours every day. She was not allowed to sleep if she did not finish the assignment. 

In November 2001, Ms. Yao held a hunger strike for seven days to protest the persecution. She was pulled out of her cell by several inmates and force-fed in a vacant room. She bled profusely and her teeth came loose as a result.

Torture Reenactment: Brutal Forced-Feeding

Rejected by Labor Camp Twice

After the Jiang’an District 610 Office, an extralegal agency created to persecute Falun Gong, found out Ms. Yao’s name, they gave her a 1.5-year term at Hewan Forced Labor Camp on January 23, 2002. 

When the 610 Office agents took Ms. Yao to the labor camp, however, the guards there refused to accept her due to her high blood pressure and heart disease. Ms. Yao was then taken back to the detention center. 

On January 29, 2002, the 610 Office agents took Ms. Yao to Siwei Police Station and notified her family to bring her home after ten months of detention. During the detention period, she was fired by her employer, the Hubei Water Shipping Company. 

Only one and half years after Ms. Yao was released, she was arrested again on September 26, while walking on the street.

On September 28, the third day of her arrest, she was taken to Wuhan No. 1 Women's Detention Center and interrogated more than 20 times, but she refused to provide the police with any information about other practitioners.

In March 2003, Ms. Yao was given two years of forced labor. But the Hewan Forced Labor Camp again refused to accept her because of her high blood pressure and heart disease. She was thus released on medical parole.

Persecution in Etouwan Brainwashing Center

On June 9, 2005, Ms. Yao was arrested one more time and taken to Etouwan Brainwashing Center. She went on a hunger strike to protest the arbitrary arrest and detention, only to be brutally force-fed. 

In the brainwashing center, Ms. Yao did not have any freedom. The inmates watched her every day and forced her to watch videos that slandered Falun Gong. They forced her to write thought reports and statements to renounce her faith. She endured tremendous mental torment during that time.

In August 2005, the brainwashing center released everyone detained there but kept Ms. Yao for one more month. 

Ms. Yao was arrested again at her mother's home by officers from Qiaokou District 610 Office on October 11, 2007. They ransacked her home and took away her son’s computer. She was detained at the Etouwan Brainwashing Center for more than a month.