(Minghui.org) A Pinggu District resident was sentenced to 3.5 years in prison and fined 7,000 yuan on May 9, 2017, for talking to people about Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline being persecuted by the Chinese communist regime.

Ms. Li Xiaofeng, a hairdresser, was arrested in her salon on November 18, 2016, after a customer reported her to the police for talking to him about Falun Gong. She is appealing her case while detained at Pinggu District Detention Center.

This is not the first time that Ms. Li has been targeted for her faith. She has spent a total of 58 months in different labor camps in the past.

Ms. Li was given 1.5 years of forced labor after her arrest in February 2001. Her term was later extended by 10 months.

During her terms at various detention centers and labor camps, she was brutally tortured. An officer once hit her in the head repeatedly with a heavy book and a broomstick. While detained in Xin’an Forced Labor Camp, she was forced to sit on a small stool every day for a whole year. Her ordeal continued after she was moved to another labor camp, where she was often forced to stand for long periods of time. Once she was beaten so badly that her right eye was bloodied and she was covered with bruises. When she was not in a torture chamber, she had to do hard labor without pay.

Ms. Li was arrested again in 2006 and given 2.5 years of forced labor. She endured similar torture during that time, as well.

Her home was raided in February 2001 and again in 2006.