(Minghui.org) A Dongguan City, Guangdong Province, resident serving time for her faith in Falun Gong may be facing involuntary drug administration, according to her family.
Ms. Dai Xiaolan, 52, was arrested on June 28, 2021 and sentenced to two years and three months following a court hearing on September 12, 2022. She appealed the wrongful conviction, only to have her term increased to two years and nine months. She was admitted to the Guangdong Province Women’s Prison on June 19, 2023.
On August 21, 2023, her family received a call saying that she had developed severe high blood pressure in prison.
While Ms. Dai was awaiting trial, the detention center guards claimed she had high blood pressure and laced her food with some unknown drugs on two occasions, causing her to experience breathing difficulty and weak limbs. Now that the prison also claimed she had hypertension and her loved ones worry it was just an excuse to give her unknown drugs again.
Taking Up Falun Gong
Ms. Dai is a native of Longchuan County, Guangdong Province and has been working in Dongguan City for years.
Before she took up Falun Gong in 1998, Ms. Dai suffered from hepatitis B, gastroenteritis, facial paralysis, and other diseases. She had a sallow complexion and was very weak. She also had extremely low self-esteem because of the infectious hepatitis B. One week into her Falun Gong practice, however, all her symptoms disappeared and she became illness-free for the first time in decades.
After the Chinese Communist Party launched a nationwide campaign against Falun Gong in July 1999, Ms. Dai was extremely saddened that a government would persecute such a peaceful mind-body practice that had transformed her life. She felt compelled to let people know that Falun Gong was nothing like what was depicted in the slanderous propaganda. She began using various means to raise awareness of the illegality of the persecution, including using banknotes with messages about Falun Gong printed on them.
Arrest, Involuntary Drug Administration, and Sentencing
While shopping in Humen Town, Dongguan City on June 28, 2021, Ms. Dai was arrested after being reported for using banknotes bearing messages about Falun Gong to pay for her purchase. The police first took her to the Taiping Police Station before moving her to the Dongguan City Detention Center for quarantine.
In July 2021, Ms. Dai was transferred to the Dongguan City Second Detention Center. During the time, she was temporarily held at Hongchuan Hospital, which, according to an insider, was stealthily used to persecute local Falun Gong practitioners using medical means. The detention center guards claimed she had high blood pressure (even though she was perfectly healthy before her arrest) and gave her some unknown drugs twice in the hospital. The first time they mixed the drug into her rice bowl. The second time they laced her noodles with the drugs.
The authorities didn’t tell Ms. Dai about the drugs either time. She just felt odd that her food tasted bitter and she thought her mouth sore had altered her taste buds. But soon after she finished eating, her whole body ached and felt weak. She couldn’t even straighten her back. She then struggled to breathe and couldn’t get out of bed. Her symptoms gradually subsided when her food no longer tasted bitter. It then dawned on her that she must have been given some unknown drugs.
The Dongguan City Second Court held a hearing of Ms. Dai’s case on September 12, 2022. Everyone else only had a mask on, but she was forced to wear a full body protection PPE, likely to prevent others from seeing how weak she had become. Even so, her family was able to tell through the PPE cover that she looked very ill. They also noted that she couldn’t walk well.
Prosecutor Huang Zhiting recommended 3-7 years of prison sentence and the judge later sentenced her to two years and three months.
Ms. Dai appealed, but got her sentence extended by six months. She was admitted to the Guangdong Province Women’s Prison on June 19, 2023. Her family made an inquiry with the prison and learned that she spent 109.49 yuan on daily necessities in July, but zero in August. Her loved ones asked why there was no spending in August and were told that she was being placed on strict management, which limited her spending on daily necessities.
Her family received a call from the Tiechang Police Station on August 21, 2023. The caller relayed the prison’s message that Ms. Dai exhibited symptoms of severe high blood pressure. This medical term immediately evoked the family’s memories of what happened when she was held in the Dongguan City Second Detention Center and taken to Hongchuan Hospital for involuntary drug administration. They are worried she’ll face the same abuse again.
Chief Perpetrators
Ms. Dai is currently held in Division Four, which is designated to hold Falun Gong practitioners. Nearly 1,000 practitioners have been held there at one point or another over the years. Many guards in Division Four have received rewards and/or promotions for actively persecuting the practitioners.
Former guards Luo Hui, Wu Ge, and Yin Lihong are now the head, vice head, and political department director of Division Four. Two other guards, Yu Yunxia and Huang Yunying, were named “National Exemplary Female Worker” and “National Prison Guard of the Year,” respectively, for their roles in the persecution.
Division Four also established the “Model Worker Yu Yunxia Studio” and “Education Transformation Expert Studio” as new development programs for young prison guards.
With Division Four’s track record of persecuting Falun Gong practitioners, Ms. Dai’s family worries she may be subjected to other forms of physical torture in addition to the involuntary drug administration.
Related article in Chinese:
https://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2023/8/30/广东女监狱警以迫害换升迁-戴小兰被折磨致血压高-464744.html
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