(Minghui.org)
Name: Ma JuntingChinese Name: 马俊亭Gender: FemaleAge: 86City: Tai’anProvince: ShandongOccupation: retired engineer and college professorDate of Death: 2025Date of Most Recent Arrest: 2025Most Recent Place of Detention: Shandong Province Women’s Prison
An 86-year-old woman in Tai’an City, Shandong Province was admitted to prison in 2025 to re-serve an expired prison term, only to die two months later.
The wrongful conviction of Ms. Ma Junting, who is a retired engineer and professor from Shandong University of Science and Technology, stemmed from her arrest in June 2018 for her faith in Falun Gong. She was sentenced to a three-and-a-half year prison sentence and a 30,000-yuan fine on June 13, 2019. Because she was still on probation from an earlier three-year term (also for practicing Falun Gong), the judge in charge of her case suspended the probation and ordered her to serve a combined five-year term. He allowed her to serve time at home due to her advanced age.
On December 24, 2021, the leadership of Shandong University of Science and Technology removed Ms. Ma from their retirees’ roster. The university ordered the suspension of all of her retirement benefits beginning in January 2022, and demanded that she return the pension she had received between June 2019 and August 2021, as well as the pension funds and health insurance benefits received between September and December 2021.
The local police arrived unexpectedly at Ms. Ma’s home in February 2025, and said that the prison term she had served at home didn’t count. She was ordered to re-serve the time in prison. She had already become wheelchair-bound and incapacitated at that time. The police threats worsened her condition and she had to be hospitalized.
The police took Ms. Ma to the Shandong Province Women’s Prison located in the capital city of Jinan as soon as her condition stabilized. In just two months, she fell into a coma and was released on parole. Her family rushed her to a hospital and she died a few days later (exact time unknown).
Four Other Victims Who Died Before Ms. Ma
Ms. Ma was not the first Falun Gong practitioner to die while serving time at Shandong Province Women’s Prison. Minghui.org has recorded at least two other cases.
Ms. Wang Jianping, of Zhaoyuan City, Shandong Province, died in 2008 while serving a 7-year term in the prison. The authorities never disclosed her cause of death. Her family discovered multiple wounds on her body after her death, and suspected that she died of torture. According to an insider, she had been subjected to long-term beatings, electric shocks, and forced labor. Her death took place not long before her term was to end in 2008.
Ms. Zhang Xiuchun, of Jinan City, Shandong Province, was arrested in 2003 and sentenced to a five-year term. While serving time in the prison, she was forced to stand for long hours and deprived of sleep. She died in the prison in 2007. The authorities claimed that she committed suicide, but her family suspected that her death was actually due to an abuse-trigged health decline.
Besides the above cases, Minghui.org has also recorded at least two other cases concerning Falun Gong practitioners once abused in the prison, but it is unclear whether the deaths took place in the prison.
Ms. Li Mei, of Yantai City, Shandong Province, was sentenced to a six-year term in 2002. The prison guards shocked her with electric batons and forced her to do hard labor. She died of multiple organ failure in 2009, not long after she was released. Her family believed that her death was directly related to abuse while she in the prison.
Ms. Zhao Lihua, of Qingdao City, Shandong Province, was sentenced to four years in 2004. The prison guards held her in solitary confinement for extended periods of time and ordered her to renounce Falun Gong. She died in 2010, but it was unclear where she died. Her family suspected that her death was an indirect result of her abuse while in the prison.
Due to the communist regime’s censorship, it is difficult to obtain complete information on the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China. Minghui.org has managed to gather information about the five cases of persecuted practitioners who were incarcerated in Shandong Province Women’s Prison, but further details about them remain to be investigated.
In addition, in another disturbing new development in 2025, many elderly practitioners, mostly in their 80s, like Ms. Ma, were taken back into custody to serve time that they weren’t required to serve previously. Most were denied admission to detention centers or prisons due to various ailments. The new order to enforce their prison terms or even re-serve prison terms that had already expired, despite their physical conditions, poses tremendous risks to their health and lives.
Related Reports:
Three Falun Gong Practitioners in Their 70s and 80s Sent to Prison to Re-serve Expired Terms
81-year-old Retired Teacher Sentenced to Prison for Her Faith
Retirement Benefits Stopped for Two Retired College Professors While They Serve Time for Their Faith
Six Falun Gong Practitioners in Shandong Province Indicted for Their Faith
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