Ms. Hou Qingyuan Poisoned and Jailed for Nine Years

Ms. Hou Qingyuan has been persecuted since 1999. She was detained in a mental hospital even though she is mentally healthy. She was also sent to forced labour camps, and sentenced to nine years in jail. During her incarceration she was poisoned, handcuffed and force-fed, and abused in various ways.

Ms. Hou lost her job and her house after her release, and had no source of income.

Poisoned

Police followed Ms. Hou Qingyuan to her home in July 2004 and arrested her. All her money and Falun Gong leaflets exposing the persecution were confiscated.

Ms. Hou refused to answer questions during police interrogations. The police then stretched her arms to the level of her shoulders and handcuffed her hands. She could not move.

Ms. Hou went on a hunger strike to protest the abuse. The police ordered her to drink a bottle containing liquid which smelled like alcohol. When she refused, it was forced into her mouth. She was also slapped in the face with a thick book.

That same evening, the police put a substance that emitted toxic fumes on the windowsill and soaked the curtain with toxic-smelling liquid. They soaked a towel and a police shirt with the liquid and placed them in front of an electric fan to spread the fumes. Throughout the night, Ms. Hou was surrounded with the toxic fumes.

The next morning, the officers instructed two inmates to assault Ms. Hou. The inmates could not stand the toxic smell, and left in two minutes.

The police then burned a poisonous-smelling stick. The entire room filled with a rotten smell. The smoke made Ms. Hou dizzy and brought tears to her eyes. She felt like numerous tiny needles were piercing her eyes. For three days the officers burned a number of strange smelling sticks until 10:00 a.m. on the third day, when she went into a daze. Her eyes could no longer focus, and everything seemed to be an illusion to her.

The officers then took her to the Feicheng Detention Centre. Ms. Hou did not come out of the coma for more than forty days.

Ms. Hou went on a hunger strike in Feicheng Detention Centre. She was subsequently force-fed many times. Her mouth was forced open with a piece of wood, which broke her teeth. She was also tortured with shackled.

Ms. Hou was sentenced to a nine-year jail term on September 23rd, 2004. She was sent to Shandong Women's Prison, where she was tortured physically and mentally.

The prison guards instructed prisoners to beat Falun Gong practitioners. The practitioners had to sit upright on small stools all day, and could not use the toilet without permission. Any prisoner could beat or slap them at will. Practitioners who refused to wear the prison inmate uniform were stripped of all their clothes and forced to stand in the corridor to be publicly insulted.

Prisoners Xu and Li slapped Ms. Hou's face. They grabbed her hair, knocked her head against the wall, and pulled out her hair.

Ms. Hou was forced to work long hours without any breaks. She had to get up at 5:30 a.m. and work from 7:00 a.m. until midnight. Practitioners were sometimes forced to work for four or eight days and nights continuously.

Family and Job Lost

Ms. Hou Qingyuan is in her fifties. She was previously a teacher at Taian Engineering School. She was originally very unhealthy, but in 1996 she started practising Falun Gong, after which her body quickly returned to health.

Ms. Hou went to appeal for Falun Gong on July 20th, 1999 at the provincial government office. She was arrested and detained.

She went to Beijing to appeal again in early 2000. She was arrested, sent back to her hometown, and detained for 15 days.

Pressured by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Ms. Hou's parents took her to a mental hospital. She was tortured there for more than 40 days.

Ms. Hou went to appeal again in January 2001. She was sentenced to a three-year term and sent to Shandong Women's Forced Labour Camp.

Her husband could not stand the CCP's pressure and divorced her. After she was released from the forced labour camp. Ms. Hou's company dismissed her because she practised Falun Gong.