Ms. Yuan Xiangfan, female, 38, lived in Ruyang County, Henan Province. She used to work at the Ruyang County Printing House in Henan Province. She was a Falun Gong practitioner. Since February 2000, because she went to Beijing to appeal to the government to stop the persecution of Falun Gong, she was detained and tortured three times. In July 2001, she was arrested again and sent to the Shibalihe Women’s Labor Camp, where she was sentenced to two years of forced labor. In the labor camp, guards ordered inmates to beat her; they grabbed her head and slammed it against the concrete floor. Her body was always covered with black and blue bruises.

To protest her arbitrary detention and mistreatment, Ms. Yuan went on a hunger strike on October 23, 2001 and again on November 6, 2001. The first hunger strike lasted for 12 days, and the second lasted about two months. While on the hunger strikes, she was force-fed, as a form of torture used to make her renounce Falun Gong. One guard held her head, two held her arms, one sat on her body, another pried her mouth open with two steel spoons and held it open, while a sixth guard poured liquids into her mouth. The torturers kept pouring in the food and did not care whether she swallowed or choked on the food. After each dose was poured in her mouth, they held her head steady, pinched her nostrils, and held her mouth closed to prevent her from spitting the food out. In this extremely painful circumstance, she could neither spit out the food nor swallow it. She choked on the food and could not breathe. She was in indescribable pain. The food came out through her nose and mouth, and splattered the guards, so they beat and kicked her, and hit her head with the metal spoons. Then they used a metal screwdriver to pry her mouth open, injuring the tissues of her mouth, tongue, and throat.

In December 2001, they gave Ms. Yuan glucose injections three times and force-fed her twice by inserting a tube into her stomach through a nostril. The first time the tube was forced into her stomach, they poured clear soup into the tube. The second time, they poured in two syringes of highly concentrated salt water, causing intense pain and vomiting. The tube they used for force-feeding was a thick plastic tube, 1 m in length and 1 cm in diameter. Each time, four to five guards without proper medical training held her down and pushed the thick plastic tube into her stomach. Eventually, they damaged her stomach severely.

After each force-feeding, Ms. Yuan turned purple and gasped for air. For several days after the force-feeding, she vomited blood. Ms. Yuan’s blood pressure dropped to 70/30, so the authorities sent her to Zhengzhou City People’s Hospital for an examination. The medical staff tested only her blood and kidneys, and reported that everything was fine, so she was returned to the labor camp. In the middle of December, when everything was covered with ice and snow, Ms. Yuan and another Falun Gong practitioner, who was also on hunger strike, were taken every day to a workshop inside the labor camp. Despite the fact that these women had become extremely frail and could not stand up, the inmates were ordered to drag them by their arms and make them walk until they were completely exhausted and gasping for air.

By March 2002, Ms. Yuan had been unable to walk for over two months, and her whole body had become extremely swollen. Even though she was in critical condition, the authorities extended her term by three months because she still refused to renounce Falun Gong.

By June 2002, most of the swelling in her body had receded except for that in her belly, which was so swollen that she looked eight months pregnant. She was unable to eat anything and could only drink a little soup each day. She could not stand up. Then she lost the ability to sit as well. She could only lie in bed. She had trouble breathing and was unable to eat or drink. When she was close to death, the labor camp authorities called her family and demanded 3,000 Yuan in advance for “medical treatment.” Her family was unable to produce the money because the persecution had left them impoverished. The extortion attempt and the news of Ms. Yuan’s failed health upset her husband so much that he could not bear the pressure and divorced her. When the labor camp failed to get any money from Ms. Yuan’s husband, they gave up and sent her to a hospital. From that point on her family was pressured to pick her up as soon as possible.

On December 9, 2002, Ms. Yuan’s family brought her home. The labor camp granted her a three-month medical parole to recuperate. Three months after her release, the labor camp came to check on her, intending to take her back to the labor camp if she were sufficiently recovered. However, Ms. Yuan was paralyzed and bedridden. She was unable to eat or sleep, and suffered great pain. Under the care of her mother, younger sister, and many fellow practitioners, Ms. Yuan struggled for life for over nine months after her release before finally passing away on the night of August 8, 2003.

type=Case, Death; type=Case, Women; type=Case, Torture; type=Labor Camp, Shibalihe Labor Camp; location=Henan;