(Minghui.org) A 46-year-old woman in Suifenhe City, Heilongjiang Province, was force-fed when she went on hunger strikes to protest her abuse while she served a 2.5-year term for practicing Falun Gong.
Ms. Wang Lei was arrested on January 18, 2024 together with four other Falun Gong practitioners, including her husband Mr. Li Peng. While she was held at the Mudanjiang City Detention Center, Ms. Wang went on a hunger strike in protest and was force-fed at a police hospital. She and the other four practitioners stood trial on October 29, 2024 and they were all sentenced at the end of the hearing. Ms. Wang and her husband were both given two and a half years and fined 2,000 yuan. See the related reports for details of the couple’s arrests and sentencing.
After Ms. Wang was admitted to the Heilongjiang Province Women’s Prison, she was held in Division 8 and subjected to ongoing abuse. Xiao Chang and Fan Tinging, head and vice head of the division, together with guard Liu forced her to sit on a small stool and ordered her to write statements to smear Falun Gong. She twice went on a hunger strike to protest and was brutally force-fed. Guard Wang Xin also tortured her.
It is unclear where Mr. Li is incarcerated. The couple’s two children, an elementary school pupil and a middle-schooler, have to rely on relatives to care for them.
Ms. Wang was previously arrested in June 2000, when she went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong. After nine days of detention she was escorted back to Heilongjiang and held in a detention center. The police threatened to put her in jail and harassed her loved ones. Her father was so traumatized that he fell ill and remained hospitalized for one year. Her uncle had a heart attack and died.
Four Heilongjiang Residents Imprisoned for Their Shared Faith in Falun Gong
Suifenhe City, Heilongjiang Province: Five Falun Gong Practitioners Sentenced to Prison