After Being Imprisoned for Eight Years and Nearly Paralyzed, Retired Teacher Ms. Liu Yongfen Now Under House Arrest

Name: Liu Yongfen
Gender: Female
Age: 61
Address: Chaling County, Zhuzhou City, Hunan Province
Occupation: Retired kindergarten teacher
Date of Most Recent Arrest: July 4th, 2012
Most Recent Place of Detention: Limin Office
City: Zhuzhou
Province: Hunan
Persecution Suffered: Forced labour, forced injections/drug administration, imprisonment, torture, detention, extortion.

Retired teacher Liu Yongfen worked as a kindergarten teacher at the Limin Iron Mine in Chaling County, Hunan Province. She has been imprisoned seven times because she practises Falun Gong. On September 19th, 2012, Ms. Liu was sent back to her employer from a forced labour camp. This is the third time that labour camp officials have sent Ms. Liu to her employer to be detained. After prolonged abuse, Ms. Liu's physical condition became very poor. She was nearly paralyzed and emaciated. Despite the fact that she could barely move, Ms. Liu was still placed under house arrest at her former workplace. Additionally, Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials hired two male ex-convicts to watch her.

After Ms. Liu Yongfen began practising Falun Gong in 1999, she conducted herself according to the principles of “Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance.” She reconciled with her husband after trying to divorce him for more than 20 years. She became calm and cheerful, and her long-term illnesses, including hyperthyroidism and uterine fibroids, were cured without medication. After the Chinese Communist regime began persecuting Falun Gong, Ms. Liu persisted in telling people the truth about the persecution. Local CCP officials went after her, and subjected her to many difficult ordeals. She was arrested and detained seven times, she was incarcerated for a total of eight years, her personal belongings and cash were taken again and again, and her pension was suspended. She now has no permanent place to stay.

1. Incarcerated in Hunan Women's Prison

The Chinese Communist regime began persecuting Falun Gong in July 1999. Facing rumours and slander broadcast by the CCP media, Ms. Liu was determined to explain the facts of Falun Gong to people. She and fellow practitioners posted many flyers exposing the persecution throughout her city. When police learned that she was doing this, they arrested her, and she was sentenced to four years in jail. After spending one year in the Zhuzhou City Detention Centre, Ms. Liu was sent to Hunan Province Women's Prison to serve the remainder of the sentence.

The prison guards launched a “military training” in October 2003 to punish practitioners who refused to call themselves criminals. From 6:00 a.m. to midnight, these practitioners were forced to run, stand in the “soldier posture” and a half-squatting posture, and to do push-ups. When the guards were unhappy about the practitioner's “training performance,” they kicked them and stomped on them with their hard leather boots. Even elderly practitioners in their fifties and sixties were not spared this abuse.

Practitioners were also forced to do slave labour. They were forced to peel 17.5 kg (39 lb.) of broad beans with their bare hands each day. Many practitioners suffered bloody fingers as a result of the extensive peeling. They were also forced to package dried tofu. The prison pocketed the profits from these products.

The guards punched and kicked anyone who refused to participate in the slave labour, and tortured them using various techniques, including hanging them by their handcuffed wrists. The prison guards put the most steadfast practitioners who refused to abandon their beliefs in solitary confinement cells. Each practitioner was assigned a criminal inmate who followed them at all times. The most steadfast practitioners were confined in solitary confinement cells both day and night. They had to perform slave labour inside the cell, and were forced to soak broad beans in large containers of water, which made the rooms very wet, especially in the winter. Ms. Liu spent three years in this dreadful environment.

2. Ms. Liu Is Sent Twice to Baimalong Forced Labour Camp in Zhuzhou City

In November 2004, Ms. Liu Yongfen and her youngest daughter, Liu Xueqin, were arrested by police in Zhuzhou’s Lusong District and sent to Baimalong Women’s Forced Labour Camp. Ms. Liu Yongfen was later sentenced to two years of forced labour. When she got there, the guards kept her awake for three days, and she was forced to remain standing the entire time. This special torture method is called the “eagle-suffering,” and it was used as an attempt to force Ms. Liu to give up Falun Gong. As a result of standing for three days, her feet were badly swollen. She was also forced to kneel for extended periods of time, and watch videos and read articles slandering Falun Gong. A variety of ways were used to intimidate, punish and humiliate her. She was subsequently made to do slave labor, working more than ten hours each day. She was not released until January 2007.

In July 2007, when Ms. Liu clarified the truth about the persecution to Mr. Chen Nianxin, a leader at her former workplace, he called the Chaling County Police. Ms. Liu was arrested the next day and sent to Baimalong Forced Labour Camp to serve a second two-year term. In April 2009, Ms. Liu could not walk and was nearly paralyzed. Her family bailed her out for medical treatment.

3. Sentenced Three Times to Forced Labour Camp Followed by House Arrest--Her Family's Bank Savings Seized

Officials from Ms. Liu's former employer, along with Chaling County Domestic Security police, arrested Ms. Liu on July 6th, 2012, and sent her back to Baimalong Forced Labour Camp. Realizing that Ms. Liu could not walk, the labor camp sent her back to the police twice, refusing to take responsibility for her condition. But her former employer insisted on sending her the labour camp the third time on August 18th, 2012.

After a month in the camp, her feet began to atrophy, and she suffered from lumbar intervertebral problems. She was nearly paralyzed. By the time she was sent back to her former employer, she looked like a skeleton because she had lost so much weight. Despite the fact that she could barely move, Chaling County police still barred Ms. Liu from returning home, citing the security of the Chinese Communist Party’s Eighteenth Congress as the reason. She was placed under house arrest in the Limin Office Building. The company assigned two male employees (ex-convicts) to watch her day and night. Her pension was suspended, and her family’s bank cards were seized, including her two daughters' cards.

Ms. Liu Yongfen is still under house arrest.