(Minghui.org) A 78-year-old woman serving a three-year term for practicing Falun Gong has been denied visits or phone calls with her family, as she refused to renounce her faith, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
As one of Ms. Zhang Yun’s eyes is already blind and the other eye has very poor vision, her family is now very worried about her situation. Her daughter, Ms. Dong Mei, is also serving time in the same prison with her, for their shared faith.
Ms. Zhang, a Shenyang City, Liaoning Province resident, was first arrested on December 4, 2019, with her daughter. While Ms. Zhang was released after 16 days of detention, Ms. Dong remained in custody and was sentenced to two years by the Shenhe District Court around November 9, 2020.
Ms. Zhang was arrested two more times, on March 12 and August 20, 2020, respectively. She was released the next day and placed on residential surveillance at home both times.
Ms. Zhang appeared in the Yuhong District Court at 9 a.m. on December 24, 2020. She was taken back into custody at the Shenyang City No.1 Detention Center after the hearing and transferred to the Liaoning Province No. 2 Women’s Prison on December 21, 2021, after being sentenced to three years.
The Liaoning Province No. 2 Women’s Prison was officially established on August 31, 2019, to accommodate the increasing demand for prison facilities. It was previously used as a juvenile correction center in the prison complex in Shenyang City and located next to the Liaoning Province No.1 Prison.
According to an insider, all newly sentenced women in Liaoning are now taken to the new No. 2 prison. As of August 1, 2021, there were 1,635 people detained there and the number of detainees has increased to over 2,000 by the end of 2021.
Since January 1, 2020, all newly admitted detainees to the Liaoning Province No. 2 Women’s Prison have been banned from bringing in any personal items. They are ordered to wear the inmates’ uniform while in the prison and shortly before their release, the prison would inform their families to send clothes for them.
All Falun Gong practitioners taken to the prison are subjected to constant torture and tight surveillance aimed to force them to renounce their faith. They are also forced to study various brainwashing materials and learn skills to work on the apparel production line without pay.
Ms. Jin Hong, a Shenyang City resident serving a four-year term, was stripped naked and tied to a bed in May 2021. The guards then opened the window and let the cold wind blow on her. She was previously beaten by the inmates and her body was covered with bruises.
In another torture session on June 27, 2021, several inmates stripped Ms. Jin naked, put a lot of bugs on her body, tied her wrists to the bed railing of the upper bunk, and hung her up. They taped her feet to the step ladder of the lower bunk. Then they put a plastic bag over her head and began to hit her head with full water bottles. Ms. Jin almost suffocated and passed out. Afterward, one inmate pinched her nipples, a second one taped her pubic hair before yanking the tape, a third one kicked her in the abdomen and a fourth one poked Ms. Jin’s private parts with her foot which had athlete’s foot to infect her.
Also in June 2021, Ms. Long Shufen was deprived of sleep, forced to stand for hours, and then beaten for four hours by the inmates. She fainted and was unable to get out of bed the next day.
In August 2021, Ms. Dong (Ms. Zhang’s daughter) was forced to stand for hours and beaten by inmates. She was covered with bruises. She had several swellings on her head. Her legs were injured and she had difficulty walking.
77-Year-Old Blind Woman Sentenced to Three Years for Her Faith