Xu Sailian (pseudonym Yu Fang), female, was born on May 29, 1955 and was from Jiujiang City in Jiangxi Province. She joined The Church of Almighty God in 2007. In October 2016, she was arrested by the CCP police because of her faith in Almighty God and was brutally beaten by the police, as a result of which her heart condition became serious. She died on October 18, 2018 despite efforts to save her.
The following narrative was provided by Xu Sailian herself before her death. At 8 a.m. on October 12, 2016, Xu Sailian was in a gathering with four other Christians at a location in Huanggang Town, Xiushui County, Jiangxi Province when the Huangguang Police Chiefs Zhang Fuqiang and Lu Weiming led two police officers to burst into the room. Without showing any documentation they arrested all five Christians and took them to the Huanggang Police Station.
Once there, the police questioned Xu Sailian on her personal information and the names of the church leaders and other Christians. She refused to answer. The Police Chief surnamed Zhang hit her face with an MP4 player so hard that she was knocked straight down onto the floor. An officer hauled her back up and another officer immediately kicked her back down, after which these two officers started kicking her all over her body without stopping. They stomped on her with their leather shoes, crushing the joints in her feet and ankles. They then started forcefully whipping her back with the heels of their shoes. Xu Sailian was beaten to the point that she was black and blue all over her body; she lost consciousness a number of times, and the skin around the joints in her feet and ankles was broken and blistered from their shoes. One of her feet was bleeding; she was in so much pain that she couldn’t walk.
At 9 that night, the police took Xu Sailian and the four other Christians to the Xiushui County Public Security Bureau (PSB). At the entrance to the building, the police threatened them, saying: “This isn’t a nice place to come into! Going into the PSB means you’re going to be beaten.” They could hear cries coming from inside the building. Already beaten within an inch of her life, Xu Sailian became paralyzed with fear and fell to the ground in the hallway. She was trembling all over and frothing at the mouth, and didn’t come to until over an hour later. After regaining consciousness, the police gave no regard to her physical condition and put her into an interrogation room to continue their torture and attempts to force her to confess.
According to the Christian Xiao Xue (pseudonym), who were arrested along with her, Lin Jing and Xiao Xue (pseudonyms), at about 11 p.m. on October 12 at the Xiushui County PSB, they heard Xu Sailian emitting yell after yell and crying from the interrogation room next door; it made their hair stand on end and scared them witless. The sound of those horrible cries went on for over half an hour. The following day at about 3 a.m., the police detained all three of them in the same space—critically injured Xu Sailian as well as Lin Jing and Xiao Xue. Xu Sailian was in unbearable pain. Her left foot was seriously injured from the beatings and she was at her last gasp. Xiao Xue also saw that Xu Sailian’s head had sustained serious injuries and there was a huge lump on the left side.
At 9 p.m. on October 13, Xu Sailian and the four other Christians were taken to the local jail. Xu Sailian’s blood pressure was above 200 mmHg, so the jail staff didn’t dare take her in. The police had no choice but to release her. As soon as she left the police station she passed out, and her family members immediately took her to the Xiushui County No. 1 People’s Hospital for emergency treatment. She was in the hospital for over a month.
According to Xu Sailian and her family members, she had never had any health problems prior to her arrest; she was intelligent and capable. After being so horribly beaten by the police, she was left with serious residuals. Her memory deteriorated, and her heart condition became so serious that it was prone to going off at any time. She sought medical attention for years, but was just barely pulling through with the help of medication. In September 2018, Xu Sailian’s condition worsened and she died in the hospital on October 18 at the age of 63.
