Ms. He Daozhen Dies from Persecution in Jiujiang City, Jiangxi Province

Name: He Daozhen
Gender: Female
Age: 58
Address: Unknown
Occupation: Retired worker of Jiujiang Leather Shoe Factory

Date of Most Recent Arrest: August 19th, 2007
Most recent Place of Detention: Jiangxi Women's Forced Labour Camp

City: Jiujiang
Province: Jiangxi
Persecution Suffered: Sleep deprivation, forced labour, brainwashing, beatings, solitary confinement, torture, extortion, detention
Key Persecutors: Police Station Director Huang, Zhong Zhen, Zhang Xiaocui

Ms. He Daozhen, 58, was twice sentenced to forced labour after 2002. After she was released from the Jiangxi Women's Labour Camp in 2008, she remained physically weak. She never recovered from suppurating wounds as a result of brutal beatings she had sustained in the labour camp. Ms. He died on April 24th, 2010.

Ms. He was a retired worker of the Jiujiang Leather Shoe Factory. She started practising Falun Gong in 1997. She suffered persecution for extended periods after the Chinese Communist Party started the persecution in July 1999. She was held at the Majialong Forced Labour for three years, from 2002 to 2005. She was again held in the Jiangxi Women's Forced Labour for another year from 2007 to 2008.

Suffering During First Forced Labour Term

In December 2002, she was called into the local Guanpaijia Police Station. Director Huang of the station asked her, "Are you still practising Falun Gong?" Ms. He Daozhen answered, "Yes." The police immediately took her to the Majialong Forced Labour Camp. She was held there for three years.

Ms. He was imprisoned at the No. 4 Division. Her cell was at the end of the corridor, next to the toilet. Most of the inmates were drug addicts. The inmates were incited by the labour camp guards to curse and pressure her to sign the three statements renouncing Falun Gong. She was not allowed to step out of the cell. At night, she was deprived of sleep. The drug addicts even filled her mouth with used menstrual pads to prevent her from talking or shouting.

In the dead of winter some of the inmates lied to her and told her that it was time for her to sleep. After she took off her jacket, while still in her underwear, she was again deprived of sleep and ordered to write the three statements. Some of the inmates jabbed their elbows into her chest and back. She suffered injuries to her internal organs, but there were no signs of visible wounds. She coughed for a long time after the jabbing incident. One drug addict, in exchange for a possible term reduction, volunteered to torture Ms. He in her cell. This inmate prevented Ms. He from sleeping, and forced her to stand after she wrote the name of the founder of Falun Gong on the sole of one of her feet. This forced her to stand on one foot. The inmate threatened her, "If you can't support yourself and put the other foot on the floor, I will tell your fellow practitioners tomorrow that you stepped on your Teacher." Ms. He was severely tortured both mentally and physically.

One day, a prison guard named Zhong Zhen, went to Ms. He's cell. Ms. He stepped forward to tell the guard that the drug addicts were violently attacking her. Zhong Zhen did not say a word, and turned around and left. The inmates denied the beatings. Some of them falsified witness statements to help cover up the assaults. There was no follow-up to Ms. He's complaints. She continued to have a bad cough. A boil grew in her neck and became infected with blood and pus continually oozing out. This condition persisted until she was released from the camp three years later.

Second Forced Labour Term

In August 2007, Ms. He went to Gaoan City, Jiangxi Province to spread the word about the persecution of Falun Gong. On August 19th, she was arrested by the Gaoan City police. After being held at the Gaoan City Detention Centre for 37 days, she was taken to the Jiangxi Women's Forced Labour Camp.

The day before she left, her family sent 100 yuan¹ to the camp. The police said the money was needed for a physical examination in Nanchang City the following day. The police spent the money that was left over on food and drinks. Ms. He was not fed on the way to the labour camp.

As soon as she arrived at the labour camp, Ms. He was held in solitary confinement. Two inmates were ordered to beat and curse her every day. They also tortured her through so-called military drills.

One day, the guards asked Ms. He to write down a sequence of events. When she wrote: "persecution," instead, the drug addicts viciously beat her. This was instigated by the guards that were nearby. The guards pretended not to hear her cries for help. Later she was telling guard Zhang Xiaocui about the beatings and Zhang blamed the attacks on Ms. He.

For a period of time, the guards forced her to watch television programmes that defamed Falun Gong. If she refused, the guards and inmates harassed her every day.

Ms. He left the Jiangxi Women's Forced Labour Camp in 2008, after one year of forced labour, The raw wounds on her skin that continuously oozed pus and blood never healed. She died on April 24th, 2010.

Note

1. "Yuan" is the Chinese currency; 500 yuan is equal to the average monthly income of an urban worker in China.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2010/8/17/228434.html