Practitioner Ms. Yang Xiaolin Is Still Detained in the Harbin Women's Prison in Heilongjiang Province

Ms. Yang Xiaolin, 30 years old, is a resident of Mishan City, Heilongjiang Province. Ms. Yang began practising Falun Gong in 1998.

On October 30th, 2001, someone turned Ms. Yang in to the authorities, and police from the Political Security Section, Police Department of Mishan City, arrested her. She was handcuffed and interrogated at the police department. At one point when the police were not paying attention, Ms. Yang maintained righteous thoughts and was able to remove the handcuffs and escape.

On August 11th, 2002, Ms. Yang was again reported to the authorities. Police from the Mishan City Second Police Station arrested her in the Mishan coal mine area. She was then beaten by policemen Meng Qingqi, Du Yongshan, Li Gang and Xiao Yu from the Political Security Section, Police Department of Mishan City. As a result, she had a bloody nose and a cracked tooth (it was later knocked out in the detention centre). After the beating, they took her to the police department to interrogate and torture her. Policeman Meng Qingqi cuffed her hands together with one hand crossing up over her shoulder, causing excruciating pain. She was also deprived of sleep. Later, she was sent to the detention centre.

At the detention centre, Ms. Yang, along with other Falun Gong practitioners, held hunger strikes to protest their detention. Former detention centre director, Mao Baosheng, instigated the criminal inmates to force-feed practitioners. Practitioner Liu Guiying was tortured to death by force-feeding.

In 2003, Ms. Yang was sentenced to 12 years in prison because of her so-called refusal to comply with the rules of Mishan City Court. Ms. Yang believed the verdict was unfair and filed an appeal. However, the appeal was rejected on the grounds that Falun Gong practitioners were not allowed to appeal. Later, Ms. Yang was sent to the Harbin Women's Prison for further persecution.

In the "Concentration Training Team" at the prison, Ms. Yang was beaten by division head Lu Jinghua, guard Wang Xiaoli and three other guards because she refused to shout out "report" whenever a guard was around or when she was asked a question. Her face swelled from the beating and it was more than 10 days before she recovered. In September of 2003, she was transferred to the No. 2 Ward. In December, Ms. Yang refused to do forced labour and was dragged outside in the snow. She was forced to stand up or run around. This torture lasted for over 10 days.

In June 2004, Ms. Yang was transferred to the No. 9 Ward. The division leader Yan Yuhua instigated inmates, Xu Zhen and Qiao Qingyan to mistreat her. They did not allow her to go to sleep until 2 a.m. for 13 days, and they only let her to sleep for a very short time each night.

From September 19th, 2005 to November 10th, 2005, Ms. Yang was put in solitary-confinement for 56 days. Later, she was transferred again to the No. 8 Ward. Since she refused to put on the prison clothes and "report" herself, the division head and guard, Xu Meng, instigated inmates, Zhang Fang and Zhang Jinhua, to handcuff her hands behind her back to the bunkbed ladder for 9 hours. While she was handcuffed, they threatened her and tempted her with false promises, and didn't allow her to go to toilet. They told her that she was not allowed to sleep until she agreed to do the things they had asked her to do. To prevent others from seeing them torture her, they covered the door's window with newspapers.

Currently, Ms. Yang is still being persecuted in the Harbin Women's Prison.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2007/1/1/145919.html