(Minghui.org) A woman in Zunyi City, Guizhou Province, was illegally sentenced twice for a total of seven years for practicing Falun Gong. The persecution took a toll on her husband’s health and he died of an illness during her first imprisonment, leading to the collapse of their family business with no one to run the factory. She continued to face harassment from the authorities after her release, as she refused to renounce her faith.
Below is an account of her persecution.
Becoming Healthy After Practicing Falun Gong
Ms. Han Weiyou, 62, was sickly since childhood. Her lumbar and cervical spine conditions worsened after marriage; her neck became stiff and she couldn’t turn her head. She also couldn’t straighten her back, causing her to to walk with a hunched back. Due to the terrible pain, she would get up before dawn every day and ask her husband and children to massage the affected area, resulting in her family eventually losing patience with her. Moreover, Ms. Han had trouble digesting food, resulting in her stomach becoming bloated after eating. No medication was effective.
Ms. Han went to a private clinic in 2003. The doctor told her to sit but she didn’t dare to. When asked why, she said she had severe hemorrhoids which bled when she sat down. They also bled when she passed gas, leaving blood stains in her bathroom. She caught colds all year round and had urinary incontinence when she coughed.
The doctor said there was no treatment for her conditions. Hearing this, she said, “It seems I can only wait for death.” Seeing her suffering, the doctor told her that only Falun Gong could help her. She was skeptical and asked for more information.
Ms. Han subsequently started practicing Falun Gong and her health improved dramatically. The first time she did the exercises, she felt as if her neck was being pulled upward, and she heard a cracking sound. From then on, she no longer had any back pain. The hemorrhoids also disappeared and she no longer caught colds. Her digestive system became normal and she could eat anything without feeling bloated. After all her ailments went away, Ms. Han no longer had a bad temper. Her family was overjoyed.
Although Falun Gong was being severely persecuted at that time, her husband still supported her practice after seeing all the positive changes. One day, her husband was doing electrical repairs on a ladder and suddenly fell off. The ladder smashed the living room window and her husband landed on the broken glass. When he got up, he discovered that he was completely unhurt.
There were two other times when her husband and also her son met with danger while driving, but they remained safe and believed these were blessings from Ms. Han’s practice in Falun Dafa.
Sentenced to Three Year Prison Term
Having benefitted from Falun Gong, Ms. Han wanted to share the practice with others, but was sentenced to prison twice for doing so.
On May 7, 2007, Ms. Han drove with her daughter and her daughter’s friend to Zunyi City to deliver some goods. During the trip, she handed out some Falun Gong informational materials from the car to people on the street. Someone reported her, and her car was stopped by the police when passing through Gelin Town in Zhen’an County.
The three of them were taken to the police station. Her daughter’s friend was detained for three days, and her daughter was detained for a week, even though neither practiced Falun Gong. The police claimed that Ms. Han’s daughter was the one driving, and arrested her. She was sent to a brainwashing center for more than a month.
The police also went to Ms. Han’s home and ransacked the place. She was detained in the Zhen’an County Detention Center for more than four months and was later sentenced to a three year prison term by Zhen’an County Court.
While in the detention center, Ms. Han refused to wear the inmate’s vest, and was subsequently forced to wear very heavy, old-fashioned shackles on her feet. She went on a hunger strike to protest. After holding a hunger strike for seven days, she was transferred to Zunyi City Second Detention Center and later to the Guizhou Province First Women’s Prison. Her family was allowed to retrieve their car after the case was closed and had to pay a 4,000-yuan parking fee. It was a new car, which had only been used for a few months, but sustained various damage while impounded.
Sentenced to Four Years
Ms. Han went to Fenggang County on February 20, 2011, to run an errand, but was arrested after being reported for using currency bills with information about Falun Gong printed on them. The police searched her and confiscated more than 10,000 yuan in cash. While in detention, Ms. Han demanded that her money be returned. The police later returned 7,000 yuan, but not the rest of the bills with information about Falun Gong written on them. The police also ransacked her home again.
A few days after arriving at the Fenggang Detention Center, a guard slapped her in the face several times. Other practitioners held there previously were also slapped in the face by the same guard.
Ms. Han appeared in the Fenggang County Court after being detained for half a year. She was sentenced to four years and sent back to Guizhou Province First Women’s Prison in November 2011.
Abused in Guizhou Women’s Prison
The first time Ms. Han was taken to the prison in November 2007, she was held in the Fourth Team and monitored by four inmates until 2 a.m. before she was allowed to go back to the cell to sleep. The next day at 6 a.m., she was woken up to attend brainwashing sessions.
Ms. Han was taken to the entertainment room and made to watch videos slandering Falun Gong. She was also verbally abused every day by the inmates and forced to write guarantee statements to renounce her faith. The captain instigated the inmates to put pressure on Falun Gong practitioners to “transform” them. The main inmates in charge of persecuting Ms. Han included embezzlers Wang Yuxiu (former branch president at China Construction Bank), Zhao Weizhen, and Yang Yuanyi, and those assigned to monitor her were Feng Qing and Zhou Yi (a narcotics offender).
The second time Ms. Han was sent to the prison in 2011 she was once again taken to the Fourth Team and held in a room where she was monitored by two inmates, Luo Xiaoyan and Huang Xia. In an attempt to force Ms. Han to “transform,” they subjected her to various forms of harassment. She was forced to sit on a small stool every day, with her back straight and hands on her knees. This continued even during winter. When she was washing clothes, the inmates would try to turn off the water faucet.
Ms. Han was beaten by several people one day when she shouted “Falun Dafa is good.” An inmate grabbed her hands while another stuffed a dirty towel in her mouth.
The prison experimented with various methods to transform Falun Gong practitioners. An embezzler, Zhang Yu, who was previously a senior lecturer at Beijing Normal University, was assigned to brainwash practitioner Ms. Mo Daiqiong, who had been sentenced to 16 years.
Family Destroyed, Continued Harassment
Ms. Han came from a well-off family. She and her husband had a daughter and a son. Her husband ran a factory selling farm tools. The business was very successful, as demand for the products exceeded supply.
The first time she was sentenced to prison, the pressure from the persecution took a toll on her husband’s health and he died of an illness on May 7, 2010, at age 52. The business was disrupted after his death as there was no one to take care of it.
After Ms. Han was released, the police continued to harass her.
The second time Ms. Han was sent to prison, her son, who was a minor at the time, had no one to care for him. He stayed temporarily at his aunt’s house and became depressed. Her son’s friends felt sorry for him and lent him money so he could go and find work. After her release, Ms. Han had no home to return to and couldn’t find her son for nine years.
From 2024 to date, the police from Bozhou District, Zunyi City, repeatedly searched for Ms. Han and her family, to force her to renounce her faith in Falun Gong.
Ms. Han went to a relative’s house in February 2025 for a celebratory banquet, where the police intercepted her. They wanted her to go to the police station to renounce her faith. She asked to see their IDs, and they said they would be shown at the police station. They also took a photo of her.
The police and neighborhood committee staff members went to Ms. Han’s daughter’s home in late 2025 and harassed her. They tried to force their way into her house but were prevented from entering. They later called her daughter several times to pressure Ms. Han into renouncing her faith.
The police called her daughter again in September 2026, urging her to persuade Ms. Han to give up Falun Gong.
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