 Li Huiqi |
Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Li Huiqi in Hebei Province was paralyzed in 2002 from torture at the Shijiazhuang Labor Camp. She died on April 27, 2007, at the age of 40 after enduring five years of excruciating pain. Following are the details.
Li Huiqi was born in 1967 and worked at the Shijiazhuang Paint Factory in Hebei Province. She never spent a single Chinese New Year with her family after 1999 because of the persecution.
 Li Huiqi paralyzes in coma and breathes through a tube, with her trachea cut |
Li Huiqi went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong on January 6, 2000
[lunar calendar] and the police illegally
arrested
her. She was held at the paint factory following her release. She
explained the facts to her colleagues during the end-of-year meeting in
December 2000 and told them, "Falun Dafa is good."
The factory officials canceled her work contract and notified Youyi Street Police Station. She was then arrested from home and held at a detention center and later at the police station.
Li Huiqi was reported on December 2, 2001, while clarifying the facts about Falun Gong near the factory. She was arrested by Weiming Street Police Station in Shijiazhuang City and held the 1st Detention Center of Shijiazhuang City for two months. She was taken to the 2nd Squadron of the 4th Group of Shijiazhuang Labor Camp on February 2, 2002 where she was held for one year.
She was on the brink of death from torture several times at the labor camp. Her family demanded to see her and requested medical parole, but the camp authorities rudely refused. They tried to extort money from the family, but did not succeed.
Li Huiqi was taken to the Emergency Department at Hebei Province People's Hospital on April 9, 2002 when she was close to death. Her family was finally allowed to see her for the first time since she was taken to the labor camp. She was emaciated.
The camp authorities did not end the persecution there. During her hospitalization, five police officers stood outside her room while three plainclothes police officers stayed inside her room and monitored her 24 hours a day. They arrested practitioners who went to visit her. The persecutors did everything to prevent the persecution fact from being exposed.
Li Huiqi was a quadriplegic [whole-body paralysis] and was in a coma. Her trachea was cut so she could breathe through a tube.
She used to have a happy family. Her husband watched her painful struggles with death but could not alleviate her suffering. After taking care of her for 100 days, his frayed nerves could no longer take it. He said, "If I see her go through this hell for one more minute I'll throw up blood!" He divorced Li Huiqi.
The camp authorities turned the still unconscious Li Huiqi over to her family on December 3, 2002, claiming her sentence had expired. The responsibility of caring for her fell on the shoulders of her older sister.
For a long time after she was taken home, police cars and 610 Office agents were staked outside her home every day. They monitored her and her family. Some CCP agents still harassed the family at their home on May 20, 2006.
Li Huiqi passed away on April 27, 2007. Her tragic death is the
result
of persecution at the hands of agents from the Hebei Province 610
Office and those from the Shijiazhuang Labor Camp.
Four Chinese Falun Gong practitioners currently residing in Canada have family members who are being persecuted in China for practicing Falun Gong. They share similar pain as well as the same wish: They hope that all kind governments and people of the world will pay attention to the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China and work together to help end the persecution.
Four Falun Gong practitioners from different parts of Canada recounted their family members' suffering at the hands of the Communist regime during a press conference in front of Parliament Hill in Ottawa on April 24, 2007. They also hoped that the foreign minister of Canada would bring up the issue of the persecution of Falun Gong in his upcoming visit to China. The Canadian practitioners requested the release of all illegally detained Falun Gong practitioners, including 15 family members of Canadian residents.
1. General manager of French company beaten and arrested in office
A group of police officers beat and arrested Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Ma Jian who worked as the general manager for PCM Pumps, a French company, in charge of China and North Asia. The arrest and abuse happened in his office on February 28, 2007.
Ma Jian was illegally charged with "using a [slanderous term omitted] to sabotage the administration of law" and was sentenced to two-and-a-half years of forced labor by CCP on April 18, 2007.
Yao Lian, Mr. Ma Jian's wife, said, "After he was arrested, we contacted the French Consulate in China. One official in charge of economic affairs wrote a letter to the Chinese Public Security System and asked them to explain why they took him away. One week later a French consulate official and a staff member from the company went to the Dongcheng District Police Department in Beijing to inquire about the issues surrounding my husband's arrest. They explained things like illegal arrests have a huge impact on their company. The police refused to answer any questions and avoided meeting with the French officials. They agreed, however, to serve as the go-between with Ma Jian and the company, to deliver documents back and forth."
Soon, the company received pressure from Communist authorities and stopped asking about Ma Jian's case. His wife Yao Lian said, "They [PCM company officials] suddenly told my family that they would no longer get involved in this issue. They said they had hired a legal consultant to whom we should direct our questions."
Yao Lian said her husband Ma Jian had worked for the company for more than three years. The police did not explain the reason for the arrest, "I only heard the police and my family members say it's because [he practices] Falun Gong and he had contact with other Falun Gong practitioners. We never saw him after the arrest."
She said, "Later on they told my family to sign a detention notice. My husband was arrested on February 28; it was March 22 when we were told to sign it. The time of arrest on the notice was written as March 19. My family said, 'The date in this document is listed as 19 days after the actual date of arrest. What supposedly happened during those 19 days? We cannot sign it, because this is not true!'
"The police in charge of this case said he was held in a brainwashing center during those 19 days when he was out of police control. He claimed the police took over as of March 19, 2007. They were only responsible from that date. The detention notice was the only written document presented to my family."
Yao Lian arrived in Canada on December 25, 2006, and is currently living in Canada. She was shocked when she first heard about the arrest. She said, "I called his colleagues and asked, 'did the manager act any differently recently?' They said, 'No, not at all; just the same as always.' My husband was planning to attend a conference in France in early March 2007, and his colleagues said, 'Manager Ma Jian was very, very busy during that time. We worked long hours each day. He came to the office early in the morning on the day of his arrest and kept working and did not leave his office. There was nothing unusual; he was simply busier."
She said, "Everyone who knew my husband was shocked by the arrest and thought it was ridiculous. We still do not know specifically what had provoked the arrest."
"We started practicing Falun Gong relatively early. My husband was illegally held in a labor camp for 18 months before he started working for this company."
2. Purported ownership of the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party VCD led to six-year prison sentence
Shanghai City citizen Lin Shenli is a permanent Canadian resident. He was incarcerated for two-and-a-half years for persisting in his belief in Falun Gong and was later rescued and relocated to Canada. The House of Commons passed Motion 236 in 2001, which requested the Prime Minister of Canada to urge Jiang Zemin, the Chinese president at the time, to release 13 imprisoned Falun Gong practitioners including Lin Shenli's brother Lin Mingli. Lin Mingli was released one month early, after the passage of Motion 236.
Last year, Lin Mingli was sentenced to six years in prison without any physical evidence or witnesses. The verdict was based on a single statement from someone who said, "Lin Mingli has VCDs of the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party," for which he was sentenced to six years in prison.
Lin Mingli's brother Lin Shenli said, "They had no reason to arrest him. After the arrest, agents from the 610 Office and National Security officers spent one year to collect evidence but could not find anything. They arrested him before they looked for evidence. They did not show their ID cards when arresting him.
"They refused to give the family any explanation in the year following the arrest. We eventually learned they were seeking evidence everywhere. When the court announced the sentence last November, the only evidence was someone's alleged witness statement, which claimed Lin Mingli was making VCDs of the Nine Commentaries. It took them an entire year to come up with only a single statement. They subsequently sentenced the practitioner to six years in prison."
"My brother's arrest and detention violate the laws of China,
especially those written in the constitution. My brother appealed to
the intermediate court immediately after the sentencing. Perhaps the
intermediate court also thought the sentence was ridiculous; so, at
first they tried to find out my family's reaction. Unfortunately, Lin
Mingli's wife was not very proactive and did not speak with the court
officials. Two months later, the court called my brother's lawyer and
told him the case had concluded and the original verdict was upheld.
The lawyer was incredulous, because no hearing had been held. The court
said, 'There is no need for a court hearing; this is a simple case.'
The defense lawyer asked, 'Can I meet with the court officials and
explain it to them? I don't think it's appropriate to conclude this
case without a hearing.' They would not give him any chance, saying,
'The dust has settled. What you say won't make any difference.' The
intermediate court did nothing to uphold justice.
"I had just learned Canada's foreign minister will visit China, so I wrote a letter calling for him to bring up this issue."
3. Four sisters incarcerated
Shen Yue, a Chinese student in Montreal recounted the experience of his mother and three aunts. He said, "My mother is in her 40s and worked at a pharmacy. My mother and her three sisters suffered from poor health, especially my oldest aunt. They regained energy and robust health after they started practicing Falun Gong. My mother came across Falun Gong in 1997, and the practice made her very healthy both mentally and physically. That is why Falun Gong practitioners always persist in their belief, regardless of the severity of the persecution.
"My mother was sentenced to prison and incarcerated between 2000 and 2001. She was held in labor camp(s) many times after the persecution began in 1999. The situation was terrible. My mother told me, 'Someone stopped me in the street and asked if I practiced Falun Gong. I answered yes and was put in a car.' No explanation was given. This was after 1999. On one occasion, my mother was with many other Falun Gong practitioners. She was charged with 'illegal gathering and disrupting public security.' In fact, they did not do anything except sit together.
"My aunts were under house arrest. My oldest aunt was not allowed to leave the house at any time, and the authorities refused to allow her son get a job or get married. They told him to watch his mother at home. Her husband had passed away two years earlier, so my aunt lives with her son. The government pressured my cousin and said to him, 'You must keep a close eye on your mother.'"
Shen Yue's two other aunts are still held at the Shijiazhuang Women's Prison. Mr. Shen said, "My second oldest aunt was sentenced to three years in prison, and my third aunt was sentenced to four years in prison. They are in poor health due to the persecution. Several months ago my third aunt almost died because of the brutal brainwashing and exhaustive slave labor. They have to work from 7:00 a.m. until 10:00 p.m. daily.
"My mother went to see my aunts several days ago. It was not until then did she learn the awful condition of her sisters' health. They are subjected to brainwashing and are forced to follow the police officers' every whimsical command, including cursing our Master. They have lost their mind after constant, ruthless psychological torment. They no longer have any personality or willpower and do whatever they are told to do."
Shen Yue said his mother was savagely tortured. "When my mother was released from the custody center I saw blood all over her toenails. She had not completely recovered from her injuries. She told me the practitioners were forced to walk around the drill ground wearing 11-pound shackles. They were made to run 50 laps in the snow, barefooted. Each day the guards hit them with sticks, rubber police batons and high-voltage electric batons. They had no personal freedom and were forbidden to do any Falun Gong exercises. They could not do anything that was not on the authorities' list. My mother held a hunger strike to protest and was force-fed.
"The other practitioners held with my mother had similar experiences. They are usually held together because Falun Gong practitioners are considered different. The officials locked all of them in one place. That particular prison held about 300 Falun Gong practitioners when my mother was taken there. There were two groups in 2002 -- one for men and one for women."
4. Eight-year prison sentence issued without trial
It has been confirmed during a press conference that the Communist regime still incarcerates Toronto resident Zeng Xiaonan's mother Huang Xin. She is in her 50s and has been repeatedly arrested and detained. She was sentenced to eight years in prison without a trial.
During detention Ms. Huang was physically tortured and also injected with nerve-damaging drugs after which she could not speak or walk. She cannot recognize her husband. Zeng Xiaonan said his mother's suffering mirrors what has befallen millions of other Falun Gong practitioners in China.
Zeng Xiaonan said, "Each time I receive a phone call from
China, or when an article on my mother is published on the
Minghui/Clearwisdom website, Communist officials would always 'visit'
my father; in fact, they try to pressure him to stop making the facts
known. It's obvious that what the perpetrators fear most is the
exposure
of their crimes."