As Falun Gong Practitioner Ms. Yuan Shumei Lay Dying, Prison Guards Tried to Force Her to Sign a Guarantee Statement to Give up Her Belief

Name: Yuan Shumei
Gender: Female
Age: Unknown
Date of Death: February 2003
Date of Most Recent Arrest: October 2001
Most Recent Place of Detention: Inner Mongolia No.1 Women's Prison in Hohhot
City: Chifeng
Province: Inner Mongolia
Persecution Suffered: Sleep deprivation, forced labour, beatings, imprisonment

Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Yuan Shumei from Chifeng City, Inner Mongolia, was incarcerated in Inner Mongolia No.1 Women's Prison in Hohhot in October 2001. She was tortured to death in early February 2003.

Ms. Yuan Shumei was the first practitioner to be taken to Inner Mongolia No.1 Women's Prison. She was assigned to the Third Ward. At that time the guards were very upset and everyone, from the head guard to the lowest ranking guards, monitored her. They ordered all the criminal inmates, including the head inmates and those eager to earn credit rewards, to monitor and persecute Falun Gong practitioners. Additionally, the guards threatened the other inmates with life imprisonment or with placing them with hardened criminals, or promised them things such as a stay of execution, to coerce them into actively persecuting practitioners.

They did not allow her to study the Falun Gong teachings or do the exercises. They also forced her to get up at 4:30 a.m. and did not allow her to go to bed till midnight. Due to long-term mental persecution and high intensity work, Ms. Yuan developed stroke symptoms. The guards tried to force her to go to the hospital, but she refused.

After Ms. Yuan did the exercises, she recovered and no longer had any symptoms. The guards forced her do hard labour. After she developed amnesia, the guards still forced her to do forced labour for several days. She developed symptoms again and the guards wanted to take her to the prison hospital. She did not agree to go and asked that she be allowed to rest and do the exercises. They took her to the prison hospital anyway.

The guards shoved her into a car. After they arrived at the hospital, she would not get out of the car. The guards ordered several inmates to drag her out of the car, then they hit her and dragged her into the hospital. As a result, she had a stroke and collapsed. The guards took her to the ward, but in vain.

When she collapsed, the guards beat and dragged her, making things worse. As per prison rules, she should have been released for medical treatment. However, the guards attempted to force her to sign a guarantee statement not to practise Falun Gong. They said if she did not sign it, they would not release her.

Because of the stroke, Ms. Yuan was unable to speak, but she motioned to her family not to sign it. The guards waited for her to die and would not release her. They stood and watched her as she died.

At that time the head of prison was Sun Yufeng, the deputy head was Ni Rongxiang, and the No. 3 Ward head was Fang Zhen.

Inner Mongolia No.1 Women's Prison:

Address: Shuaijiayingzi Village, Huliang Highway, Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, Zip Code: 010020

Sun Yufeng, head: 86-471-5970935
Ni Rongxiang, deputy head: 86-471-2396668
Liu Qiong, head of the No.3 Prison Area: 86-471-2396665

(Reference http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2003/4/30/35093.html)

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2011/4/25/239591.html