71-year-old Woman Hooked Up to Intravenous, Taken to Prison for Her Faith

On January 13, 2025, while still hooked to an IV, 71-year-old Zhang Shuhua was forcibly detained in Jilin Province Women’s Prison by Chinese authorities. As a resident of Yushu City in Jilin, Ms. Zhang has endured years of forced labor and torture for practicing Falun Gong, according to Minghui.
Her ordeal underscores the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) intensified repression of elderly female practitioners, often employing high-tech surveillance technology to monitor and put a stop to their advocacy work.
Sentenced in critical health
On December 23, 2023, at approximately 7 p.m., officers from the Zhengyang Police Station arrested Ms. Zhang at her home, alleging that surveillance footage had captured her distributing Falun Gong informational materials in the Luren Community. Due to her deteriorating health, the detention center refused to admit her, leading to her release on bail on Jan. 5, 2024.
Despite her poor health, on June 21, 2024, the Dehui City Court conducted a video trial of Ms. Zhang at her residence. Subsequently, on August 19, 2024, officials from the Dehui City Procuratorate, the court, and the Yushu City Domestic Security Division visited her home to deliver the verdict. Ms. Zhang was unjustly sentenced to a prison term of three years and two months and fined 10,000 yuan.
On January 13, 2025, on the pretext of a medical examination in Changchun City, the Dehui Court and Yushu City Domestic Security Division forcibly transferred Ms. Zhang to Jilin Province Women’s Prison, which is notorious for torturing Falun Gong practitioners. Medical examinations revealed that her blood pressure had skyrocketed to 220 mmHg, and it was evident that she had multiple health issues. Disturbingly, reports indicate that she was transported to the prison while receiving intravenous therapy, highlighting the disregard for her well-being.
Previous forced labor
Ms. Zhang had endured repeated persecution by the CCP for practicing Falun Gong, including a 60-day detention in 1999 along with being forced to pay 1,868 yuan and a 35-day detention in 2000, after which she was sentenced to one year of forced labor at Heizuizi Labor Camp in Changchun, the capital city of Jilin Province.
At this notorious labor camp, she endured harsh conditions, including physical abuse, forced sitting for long periods of time, restricted restroom access, exposure to freezing temperatures, and grueling labor from 4 a.m. to 11 p.m.
She was arrested again in 2004, detained for 15 days, and was extorted for the amount of 2,000 yuan, and in 2017, she was briefly detained for attending a court hearing in support of a fellow practitioner. These incidents reflect the CCP’s relentless targeting of Falun Gong practitioners through physical, financial, and psychological abuses.
Terror of high-tech surveillance
The CCP has increasingly utilized advanced surveillance technologies to monitor and persecute Falun Gong practitioners. In Ms. Zhang’s case, authorities cited surveillance footage as evidence that she was distributing informational materials, leading to her arrest. Then, the court conducted a video trial at Ms. Zhang home despite her health issues.
This incident exemplifies the regime’s broader strategy of employing technology to corner and identify Falun Gong practitioners, resulting in mass detentions of practitioners involved in advocacy work to end the persecution.
Ms. Zhang Shuhua’s harrowing experience also reflects the common plight of elderly Falun Gong practitioners in China. The combination of severe health issues and the CCP’s relentless persecution, facilitated by advanced surveillance, underscores the urgent need for her immediate release from prison.