Older Woman Imprisoned to Serve 3.5 Years for Her Faith

(Minghui.org) A 70-year-old woman in Shantou City, Guangdong Province, was admitted to the Guangdong Province Women’s Prison on September 30, 2022, for refusing to give up her faith in Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.

Ms. Cai Yuchang was arrested on December 12, 2020, for distributing informational materials about Falun Gong. She was sentenced to 3.5 years with a 10,000-yuan fine by the Jinping District Court on September 13, 2021. She filed an appeal three weeks later, but the Shantou City Intermediate Court ruled to uphold her original verdict.

This isn’t the first time that Ms. Cai has been targeted for her faith. She was previously arrested in 2001, August 2002, and April 2005, and held in brainwashing centers each time for one to four months. She was arrested again on December 4, 2010 and sentenced to 1.5 years by the Longhu District Court on July 7, 2011.

In addition to Ms. Cai, her two sons and daughter have also been persecuted for their shared faith. Her husband, Mr. Xie Jiqi, who didn’t practice Falun Gong, was devastated by the persecution of his loved ones and he passed away, grief-stricken.

Persecution of the Family

Oldest Son Mr. Xie Chunze

Ms. Cai’s oldest son Mr. Xie Chunze, who ran a clothing store, was given two years in Sanshui Forced Labor Camp in 2000. The guards held him in solitary confinement for three days in March 2002 and shocked him with high-voltage electric batons.

When he started a hunger strike in protest, the guards ordered the labor camp doctor to force-feed him. The doctor inserted the feeding tube into his nose and pushed it back and forth to torture him. The tube was covered in blood when it was pulled out. In one attempt, the doctor stabbed his lung with the tube. For the next few years, Mr. Xie often had a bad cough.

Because Mr. Xie refused to renounce Falun Gong, the authorities extended his term by two months when his original term expired in June 2002. During that time, the guards took a sample of his blood every week against his will. They also added toxic drug into his food, which made him to suffer hallucinations and excruciating headaches. When he was released, he weighed only 77 pounds and could not think clearly.

Mr. Xie was arrested again in January 2004. While the police interrogated him for six days, they deprived him of sleep, food, and water. A guard hit his head with a shoe, causing severe injury.

Younger Son Mr. Xie Chunfeng

Ms. Cai’s younger son, Mr. Xie Chunfeng, used to be a clerk in the Shantou City Intermediate Court. He was arrested in August 1999 for protesting the persecution in Tiananmen Square. The authorities held him in a psychiatric hospital in Shantou for nine months and injected him with toxic drugs, causing his head to tilt and his sclera (the whites of his eyes) to yellow.

Mr. Xie was arrested again in October 2000 for doing the Falun Gong exercises outdoors and given one year in Sanshui Forced Labor Camp.

He returned to Beijing to appeal for the right to practice Falun Gong in September 2001 and was arrested. The police shocked him with electric batons and took him to the Daxing District Detention Center three days later. He was often beaten and forced to wear shackles for six months. The guards once stripped off his clothes and left him naked in the snow for half an hour. They taunted him and said if he died, the media would blame him for going astray by practicing Falun Gong. He was transferred to a brainwashing center on the outskirts of Beijing in January 2002.

After a year of incarceration in Beijing, Mr. Xie was taken back to Guangdong and held in the Chenghai Detention Center. The authorities then handed down another two-year term in Sanshui Forced Labor Camp. He was held in solitary confinement and frequently shocked with electric batons, once for over an hour with three batons used on him simultaneously. He was shocked all over his body except his private part. The guards poured water over him as they shocked him. The authorities took him to a brainwashing center to serve another three months after his term expired.

Daughter Ms. Xie Chunyao

Ms. Cai’s daughter Ms. Xie Chunyao, who worked in Guangzhou as an interpreter, was arrested in mid-February 2001 for distributing informational materials about Falun Gong. She was given an unknown term in Chatou Forced Labor Camp and tortured. She was traumatized and didn’t dare return home for many years after she was released.

Perpetrators’ information:

Liu Jie(刘婕), president of Jinping District ProcuratorateHuang Xiaoyang (黄小洋), president of Jinping District Court: [phone]Luo Hui (罗晖), president of Guangdong Province Women’s Prison: [phone]

(More perpetrators’ information is available in the original Chinese article.)

Related reports:

Woman Sentenced for Giving Out Material about Her Faith, Son Blocked from Representing Her in Court

Three Elderly Guangdong Women Targeted for Telling People about Falun Gong

Children Tortured, Mother Held in a Brainwashing Center, Father Passes Away from Stress and Grief

Mr. Xie Chunze and His Family Persecuted Relentlessly in Chenghai City, Guangdong Province