On October 20th, the opening day of the Fourth Plenary Session of the Communist Party of China (CPC), Shanghai petitioner Li Xuemei was taken to Jiu Jing Zhuang in Beijing and then sent back to Shanghai where she was locked up in a black prison. Under the torture of two female black security guards, her blood pressure soared to 200mmHg but she was not allowed to seek medical help, risking her life. Three days later, she was finally sent back home.
On October 25th, after returning home, Li Xuemei shared her experience of petitioning in Beijing on a social media platform. Below is Li Xuemei’s account of what she went through:
On October 20th, I queued day and night in front of the National Petition Office and was taken to Jiu Jing Zhuang. On the morning of October 22nd, after returning to Shanghai, I was taken to a relief station at No. 500 Fucun Road, where Jiang Dingqiang from Gaojing Town Petition Office and police officer Wu Guoping from Gao Jing Police Station took me out.
There were already two female security guards in the police car. The car stopped at Han Ting Hotel, No. 521 Jipu Road (Shanghai University of Finance and Economics Jipu Shop). I refused to get off the car, and suddenly two people forcibly grabbed my arms and dragged me upstairs. I was thrown into room No. 532, and the female security guards did not allow me to step outside.
On October 23rd, the female security guards started threatening me, saying, “We won’t let you go out, behave yourself and stay in bed, or we will beat you to death.” They continued to verbally abuse me and threatened to beat me. I pointed to the surveillance camera and called for Jiang Dingqiang to come out instead of hiding and watching through the camera. At that moment, I remembered how Chen Meihua, a Shanghai petitioner, was tortured almost to death at Chongming Yingchang Farmhouse. I couldn’t let history repeat itself; I had to fight back. After a few hours of standoff, dripping in sweat, feeling dizzy and with a splitting headache, I struggled to breathe and gasped for air to ease my condition.
Seeing my worsening condition, the female security guards panicked and took a video to share in their group. Later, a nurse came to check my blood pressure. At that moment, my blood pressure was already at 180/95mmHg, but they disregarded it as unimportant.
In the evening, my symptoms worsened, struggling to breathe, almost suffocating. They called in a doctor again, and my blood pressure had risen to 210/100mmHg, and my blood sugar had dropped. The doctor commented in the corridor that if things continued this way, it would end in death; I needed medical attention!
At that moment, I was gasping for air, struggling to breathe and heard them plotting to create the appearance of natural death in the corridor. My right leg trembled violently, severe pain in my left chest, severe lack of blood supply to the brain, splitting headache, severe hypoxia, and then I passed out.
I woke up not knowing how much time had passed, to find a law enforcement recorder on the table. The female security guards even checked if I was breathing several times. Luckily, with a strong physical foundation and sheer willpower, I managed to pull through.
On October 24th, I told myself that if I wanted to survive, I had to eat, had to regain strength. I lay in bed, preparing to face the next challenge. On October 25th, I was finally released and sent back home.
Some petitioners expressed outrage at the severe harm Li Xuemei suffered in the black prison, with her blood pressure soaring over 200 without receiving medical attention, deeming it worse than being treated like animals!
Shanghai petitioner and victim of black prison Chen Huiying said, “Such malicious incidents are not isolated cases. Petitioners advocating for their rights according to the law will face oppression, intimidation, and even death threats. Criminals involved in such acts should be held accountable and punished to ensure the safety of petitioners.”
Ms. Ma, a rights activist in Shanghai, stated, “In a civilized and rule of law country, citizens have the right to file complaints, demonstrate, criticize the government and officials, as well as resist unlawful infringements. In a country governed by tyranny, the rampant presence of corrupt officials and criminals is the hallmark of this era, where the people are not citizens but slaves who are constantly bullied, exploited, humiliated, and brutally abused.”
“In today’s Shanghai and across the country, the rampant lawlessness and oppression of the people, even to the extent of brutal killings, shows that the situation can only get darker! This is a barbaric era of lawlessness, where those in power are worse than thieves, and the people are treated as worthless grass, ruled by mediocrity and evildoers, with limitless power and officials enjoying pleasures at the expense of the people,” she added.