Despite her health issues, Niu Xiaona was transferred from Harbin No. 2 Detention Center to the notorious “cemetery of Falun Gong ladies.”
by Yang Feng
![Inmates of the Heilongjiang Provincial Women’s Prison in a Chinese propaganda video. Screenshot.](https://bitterwinter.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/BITTER-WINTER-18.jpg)
![Inmates of the Heilongjiang Provincial Women’s Prison in a Chinese propaganda video. Screenshot.](https://bitterwinter.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/BITTER-WINTER-18.jpg)
On June 5, co-religionists told “Bitter Winter” that in late May Niu Xiaona, a female Falun Gong prisoner of conscience, had been transferred from Harbin no. 2 Detention Center to Heilongjiang Provincial Women’s Prison, a notorious place of death and torture nicknamed “the cemetery of Falun Gong ladies.”
Niu Xiaona, who will turn 50 next year, is a severely disabled person. She was diagnosed with progressive rheumatoid arthritis during her sophomore year and had to drop out of college. Encouraged by her mother Tuo Wenxia, a college professor who also became a practitioner, Niu started practicing Falun Gong in 1998.
She was very happy about the improvements she attributed to the practice of Qigong. She was still not able to stand up, a permanent condition that persists today, but at least the pain subsided. The times, however, were not the best for Falun Gong practitioners. In 1998, the campaign that would lead to the ban and persecution in 1999 had already started. In 1999, Niu and her mother, and even her father who was not a Falun Gong practitioner, were all arrested.
In 2004, the Aimin District Court of Mudanjiang City, Heilongjiang province, sentenced Niu to 14 years in prison. However, due to her disability, this was commuted to house arrest. She continued quietly to practice Falun Gong.
On April 19, 2021, Niu and her parents were arrested again in Harbin. Her father was released after interrogation, and her mother released on bail as by 2021 she was in turn in poor health. Niu was detained for three months and then released on bail herself.
In September 2022, Niu was tried by the Harbin Railway Transport Court. The judge concluded that there was no evidence that she had respected the terms of her house arrest after 2004 and ruled that she should now purge the 14 years of the 2004 decision, plus one additional year. However, once again, the 15-year jail term was commuted into house arrest, on condition that she should not practice Falun Gong.
Since she intended to continue practicing Falun Gong, while appealing the decision Niu did not go home but went into hiding. On November 5, 2023, at the age of 73 her mother died of cancer. On March 19, 2024, the police found Niu and arrested her again.
![Heilongjiang Provincial Women’s Prison. From Weibo.](https://bitterwinter.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/BITTER-WINTER-1-14.jpg)
![Heilongjiang Provincial Women’s Prison. From Weibo.](https://bitterwinter.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/BITTER-WINTER-1-14.jpg)
This time, rather than been placed under house arrest, she was taken to Harbin no. 2 Detention Center to serve her 15-year jail term.
From there, she has now been transferred to the horrific Heilongjiang Provincial Women’s Prison, a place from where it is not easy for Falun Gong prisoners to come out alive.