Southwest Jiaotong University Teacher Ms. Zou Hongying Arrested and Tortured

Name: Ms. Zou Hongying
Gender: Female
Age: 34
Address: Southwest Jiaotong University Campus at Emeishan, Sichuan Province
Occupation: Professor
Date of Most Recent Arrest: July 28th, 2008
Most recent place of detention: Women's Prison in Chengdu, Sichuan Province
City: Chengdu
Province: Sichuan
Persecution Suffered: Detention, home ransacked, extortion, beatings

One week before the 2008 Olympic torch relay passed through Emeishan, police from the Emeishan Mountain Area arrested Ms. Zou Hongying, a Southwest Jiaotong University professor. They ransacked her home before taking her to Sichuan Province Women's Prison on February 12th, 2009.

Ms. Zou Hongying lived on the Southwest Jiaotong University Campus at Emeishan, Sichuan Province. She started practising Falun Gong in March 1999, and four months later all her illnesses, including low back and stomach pain, as well as bleeding gums that developed as a result of complications from many miscarriages, disappeared and she became a healthy individual. At work, she was a tireless employee and was praised by her supervisors and students. Through the practice she became thoughtful of others, no longer just thinking of her own benefits. She was no longer interested in competing with others.

Yielding to pressure, Ms. Zou Hongying publicly renounced Falun Gong after the persecution began on July 20th, 1999, but continued practising at home. Then, realising that one can't have it both ways, she stepped forward to appeal against the persecution of Falun Gong after many practitioners were arrested, imprisoned in labour camps and sentenced to prison terms, as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) suppression of Falun Gong escalated.

On September 28th, 2002, Ms. Zou Hongying was detained in the Emeishan Detention Centre because she publicly declared that she was a Falun Gong practitioner. On October 21st, she was transferred and detained at the University Hotel. She held a hunger strike to protest her detention on October 23rd, and was released three days later after a university leaders' meeting. Emeishan police arrested her again on October 28th and charged her with disturbing the social order with a hunger strike. On November 13th, she was released into the custody of the university until the end of the CCP 16th Party Congress.

Unable to endure the continuous stress, her ailing elderly father died in the Spring of 2003.

In July 2005, 610 Office (an organisation of special agents just for persecuting Falun Gong) agents from the Emeishan City arrested Ms. Zou and took her to Leshan City for brainwashing and transformation [forcibly renounce Falun Gong]. She was released on August 30th. Her husband was in deep distress and asked for a divorce. Their daughter was only two years old.

On July 28th, 2008, one week before the Olympic Torch passed through Emeishan, Ms. Zou was arrested and her home ransacked. The Emeishan mountain area police took her to the Emeishan Detention Centre. The officers confiscated a notebook computer, desktop computer, ink jet printer, laser printer, 40G hard drive, USB flash drives, Falun Gong books, leaflets exposing the persecution of Falun Gong, and CDs.

Persons involved in this persecution:

The Emeishan City Public Bureau: Caiqin, Ma Yen, He Lin, Gao Feng, and Duan Ming
610 Office agents: Song Chun, Jiang De, Guo Yan, and Fong Yonshin
Emeishan City court officers: Tong Bin, Zen Jai, Yi, Jun Lin, and Li Chun
Emeishan prosecutors: Li Suming and Jin Chuancai

Zou Hongying was transferred to the Chengdu Women's prison in Sichuan Province on February 12th, 2009. On March 7th, two inmates stopped her from meditating and called a guard. She persisted in doing the exercises, so the guard ordered the inmates to push her face down on the ground with her arms twisted behind her. When she called out "Falun Gong is good!" the guards put a towel into her mouth and pulled her backward. Since Ms. Zou kept calling out "Falun Gong is Good," the guards pushed the towel deep into her mouth until she fainted.

Practitioner Ms. Zhu Yifang was also tortured, physically and mentally. Guards tied her up and beat her behind a closed cell door. They stuffed a towel into her mouth so her cries couldn't be heard. Some practitioners handed flyers detailing the torture to some prison staff, and guard Zhao Hongmei was also given a copy. Upon being accused of persecuting Ms. Zhu, Zhao claimed that she took Zhu Yifang to the prison doctor.

One month later, guards tried to take Zhu to the prison doctor for her skin infection. When she refused, the guards ordered inmates to drag her to the doctor's office. Ms. Zhu called out that "Falun Gong is good." She claimed that the torture she suffered was in retaliation for exposing the persecution on the Internet. Guards monitored Ms. Zhu closely for the following days while inmates force-fed drugs to her.

Site of the persecution:
Chendu Sichuan Women's Prison District #6, Unit #2
Chendu Sichuan Lianyang City Hung Town 610109

Supervisor and Leaders:
Officers responsible for the persecution: Zhao Hongmei and Xia Song

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2009/12/12/214271.html