(Minghui.org) A 74-year-old woman in Fushun City, Liaoning Province is facing prosecution following her latest arrest for her faith in Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999.
Ms. Miao Shuqing was seized by six officers on August 11, 2023, while returning from an out-of-town trip. Her family tried to stop her from being taken away from the long-distance bus they were riding, but to no avail. The police took her to the Fushun City Detention Center. The Guchengzi Police Station summoned her daughter the next day and asked the latter to sign a temporary detention notice for Ms. Miao.
This is not the first time that Ms. Miao has been targeted for her faith. She was previously twice jailed, and served a total of eight years. During both prison terms, she was brutally tortured. She was often shocked with electric batons for long hours, resulting in incontinence and severe injuries to her body. Even now, she becomes incontinent if she is under pressure. Her left eye has become blind and her right eye has very limited vision. Her pension was suspended in June 2016, one month after she finished her second prison term.
Ms. Miao’s latest arrest happened not long after she returned home after having been forced to live away from home in August 2022 to avoid further persecution.
Past Persecution
Ms. Miao took up Falun Gong on September 3, 1996, when she was 47 years old. Not long after, her severe heart condition, blood disease, and neck problem all disappeared. Her itchy skin became smooth and she took on many household chores without worrying about being out of breath.
After she was arrested on October 8, 2002, the police deprived her of sleep, subjected her to freezing, stretched her legs into an excruciating position, and shocked her entire body with electric batons, including on her private parts and eyes. Her body was severely burned. Another officer inserted toothpicks under her fingernails.
Torture reenactment: Inserting toothpicks into one’s fingernails
Ms. Miao was later sentenced to 4.5 years at the Shenyang Women’s Prison, where she was constantly beaten, verbally abused, and forced to slander Falun Gong. She later regretted her action and wrote a statement voiding her words in defaming Falun Gong. The guards retaliated by instigating the inmates to beat her.
Ms. Miao was arrested again on November 5, 2012, for putting up Falun Gong flyers in an apartment. She was sentenced to 3.5 years by the Shuncheng District Court on April 22, 2013.
While serving time in Masanjia Women’s Prison (the former notorious Masanjia Forced Labor Camp, which became a prison after the labor camp system was abolished in China in late 2013), she was again shocked with electric batons, deprived of sleep, and tortured on a tiger bench. The guards also held her in solitary confinement, forced her to sit on a small stool for long hours, suspended her by her wrists, and inserted toothpicks under her fingernails.
A month after she was released on May 4, 2016, the authorities suspended her pension. She appealed with the social security office, which was managing the retirement fund for all employers, but to no avail.
Ms. Miao was arrested again on June 15, 2022, for talking to people about Falun Gong. While she was released the next day, the police gave her family a bail release notice in mid-August and charged her daughter a 5,000 yuan bail bond. To avoid further persecution, Ms. Miao had little choice but to live away from home. She returned home several months later and went on a trip with her family in August 2023, only to be arrested on the way back home.
Related Reports:
73-year-old Nearly Blind Woman Forced to Live Away from Home to Avoid Persecution of Her Faith
Ms. Miao Shuqing Sentenced to Prison for the Second Time
Miao Shuqing from Fushun City, Liaoning Province Suffers Years of Persecution
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