Henan Woman Dies Alone after Years of Incarceration for Her Faith

The police knocked on Ms. Fan Jinping's door in early January 2018 and forced their way in when no one answered. What greeted them was her dead body on the floor. She was emaciated and had no trousers on.

Her son, who works in a different city, was summoned back to have her body cremated. No autopsy was done to determine the time or cause of her death.

Ms. Fan’s death capped her decades-long ordeal for refusing to renounce Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline being persecuted by the Chinese communist regime. The former Nanyang City Rail Station Street Committee Chair was twice given forced labour and twice sentenced to prison. She spent a total of 11 years in labour camps and prisons. When she was not behind bars, she was either under constant surveillance or held in the local brainwashing centre.

Her husband died in 2011. Their son left their hometown soon afterwards to avoid police harassment, and he had almost no contact with his mother in the years that followed.

Ms. Fan was abused during her multiple detentions. She was brutally beaten and passed out following her arrest in September 2012. While she was imprisoned in 2013, she was forced to watch videos slandering Falun Gong from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. every day. She was also given food laced with unknown drugs, which caused her to suffer from headaches and fatigue.

After Ms. Fan finished her second prison term in September 2015, she was denied social security benefits. She appealed but to no avail.

Meixi Police Station officers arrested Ms. Fan again in August 2016. When she was released 15 days later, she discovered that more than 100,000 yuan of her survivor’s benefits from her husband’s pension fund was gone.

Ms. Fan, 64, struggled to make ends meet. The local utility company cut off her water and electricity when she was late paying her bills. She relied on the kindness of others to get by.

The local police never loosened their grip on Ms. Fan. They continued to harass her at home from time to time. Their last visit to her was a routine check to see if she’d give up her belief in Falun Gong.

Meixi Police Station: +86-377-63131552, +86-377-63168066, +86-377 -63177090