Shanghai Woman Sentenced to Four Years for Her Faith Despite Pneumonia

Ms. Jiang Linying

Ms. Jiang Linying

Ms. Jiang Linying, a Shanghai resident who is about 70 years old, was recently sentenced to four years in prison for her faith in Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since 1999.

The police harassed Ms. Jiang at her home on February 3, 2021 and ordered her to sign statements renouncing Falun Gong. When she refused, they arrested her and ransacked her home. Her Falun Gong books, computer and other personal belongings were confiscated.

She was detained for over a year at the Baoshan Detention Center before being sentenced on September 8, 2022. During this time Ms. Jiang suffered an asthma attack and had a persistent fever for a week before guards finally took her to see a doctor. When she finally received medical attention doctors discovered she had contracted pneumonia.

Her family pleaded for her release, as practicing Falun Gong does not violate Chinese law, but their efforts were unsuccessful.

Past Persecution of Ms. Jiang

Ms. Jiang has practiced Falun Gong since before the persecution was single-handedly initiated by Jiang Zemin, former general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, in 1999.

After the launch of the persecution campaign, Ms. Jiang was arrested twice in 2000 for appealing for the right to practice Falun Gong. Since then, she has been arrested a total of twelve times and held for over ten years.

During her times in prison, she has been tortured by guards multiple times to coerce her into renouncing her faith. She has been injected with drugs to destroy her central nervous system, brutally beaten, forced to stand for prolonged periods of time, forced to sit on a small stool in one position for extended periods of time, denied restroom use, deprived of food, and forced to overeat. She has also spent a year and three months doing forced labor at the Shanghai Women’s Labor Rehabilitation Management Center.

Her family members have likewise suffered tremendously from the persecution of their loved one. In one incident in 2008, Ms. Jiang’s daughter came home from school to find the front door of their home open. Her house had been ransacked by police, and neighbors told the girl that the police had taken her mother away. Ms. Jiang’s husband has also been taken into custody and interrogated about his wife’s efforts to speak out.

Based on an original report by Minghui.org

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