The widow of a well-known musician and Falun Gong adherent, who died from abuse in police custody, has been arrested and is at serious risk of being sentenced to a long prison term.

A previously healthy practitioner is released in critical condition and dies within a month.

Mr. Luo Jiabin has suffered several periods of imprisonment, as have other members of his family.

FDI: Urgent Appeal: Celebrity Musician's Widow Faces Prison for Practicing Falun Gong

Xu Na, pictured here, is at risk of long-term imprisonment because she practices Falun Gong.

NEW YORK –Yu Zhou, a popular folk band member, and his wife, Xu Na, were detained in Beijing on January 26. According to reports received by the Falun Dafa Information Center (FDIC) from their family and friends, police stopped the couple’s car as they were coming home from a performance by Yu’s band, Xiaojuan and Residents from the Valley.

The couple was detained and taken to Tongzhou District Detention Center because they practice Falun Gong.

Eleven days later, Yu’s family was told to go to the Qinghe Emergency Center. When his family arrived, they found him dead. (news) Soon after, Yu’s death was mourned in the Chinese blogosphere and reported on by The (London) Times. (news)

His wife Xu Na, herself an award-winning artist, has remained in detention since the couple’s arrest. In April, her family was notified that she was to be charged with “using a heretical organization to undermine implementation of the law,” a vague provision of the penal code commonly used to sentence Falun Gong adherents to prison terms of up to 12 years. (Amnesty report)

In early May, Xu was transferred to the Chongwen District Detention Center, where she awaits trial at the Chongwen District Court.

“Xu is a prisoner of conscience, detained only because of her identity as a believer of a peaceful spiritual practice and is now facing jail because the authorities fear her speaking out over her husband’s death,” said FDIC Spokesperson Erping Zhang.

Xu Na and her husband Yu Zhou in happier times. Yu was killed in police custody in February and Xu is currently at risk of being unjustly imprisoned for years.

Xu was released in 2006 after serving a five year sentence for having lent her apartment to Falun Gong adherents traveling to Beijing to appeal to the authorities for an end to the persecution campaign. While in detention, she was reportedly subjected to torture, including beatings, sleep deprivation, forced-feeding, and being tied into uncomfortable positions for hours.

Sources familiar with Xu’s case believe that her trial is still being delayed because of the international attention to her husband’s death.

“Xu Na is in serious danger of being sentenced for a long time,” says Li Jie, who shared a prison cell with Xu in 2001. Speaking from Los Angeles, Li explained that a second imprisonment for Falun Gong practitioners is typically harsh. “Since Xu was sentenced to five years the first time, the second time might be more than ten years.”

“Life in jail is horrible, especially for Falun Gong practitioners, because they will use any method to force you to give up your beliefs. It’s awful for such a young and talented lady.”

The FDIC is calling for:

• Xu Na’s immediate and unconditional release, as she has been detained solely for the peaceful practice of personal religious beliefs. This violates her rights enshrined in Article 36 of the Chinese Constitution and China’s commitments under international law.
  
• The international community to pressure the Chinese authorities to release Xu Na and to properly investigate and prosecute those responsible for Yu Zhou’s death.
  
• Foreign media in Beijing to investigate Xu Na’s case and seek to attend her trial should it take place. Li Jie and other acquaintances of Xu Na and Yu Zhou currently living in North America are available for interview.

Timeline of Xu Na’s Case

1995: Yu Zhou and Xu Na begin to practice Falun Gong in Beijing; they are among the first in the city to do so.

July 1999: The Communist Party bans Falun Gong and launches a campaign to wipe out the practice.

November 2001: Xu Na is sentenced to five years in prison for having lent her apartment to adherents traveling to Beijing to appeal to the authorities for an end to the persecution campaign. Initially she is held at Tuanhe Juvenile Prison, where she is cell mates with Li Jie, and is later transferred to the Beijing Women’s Prison.

Fall 2006: Xu Na is released from custody after serving a five year sentence. While in custody, she was reportedly subjected to torture, including beatings, sleep deprivation, exposure to freezing temperatures, and being forcibly tied into physically uncomfortable positions. She was also force-fed by guards and held in solitary confinement.

January 26, 2008: Yu Zhou, 42, and his wife Xu Na, 40, both Falun Gong practitioners, are stopped by police at approximately 10pm in Yangzhuang Village, Beiyuan neighborhood, Tongzhou District in Beijing. The couple is on their way home from a concert of Yu’s band in Beijing. When the police discover the two practice Falun Gong, they detain them at Tongzhou District Detention Center.

January 27, 2008: At approximately 9am, police from Tongzhou and Haidian Districts search the homes of Xu’s parents and sister, but reportedly fail to find any incriminating evidence.

February 6, 2008: Yu Zhou’s family is notified to come to Qinghe Emergency Center. Upon arrival, the family finds Yu dead, his body covered with a white sheet. The authorities warn the family not to make Yu’s death public.

March 2008: Xu Na is transferred to the Seventh Section of the Beijing City Police Department, also known as the Beijing Detention Center. The section normally detains only serious felons, but in recent years has increasingly been used to hold Falun Gong adherents and political prisoners.

April 2008: Xu Na’s family receives notice that Xu is being charged with “using a heretical organization to undermine implementation of the law” and will face trial in the coming weeks. She is informed by her attorney of Yu’s death and decides to file a petition with the Procuratorate demanding an investigation.

Early May 2008: Xu Na is transferred to Chongwen District Detention Center; her trial at the Chongwen District Court is postponed, presumably as a result of the international exposure surrounding the death of her husband.
(6/17/2008 1:38)

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT THE FALUN DAFA INFORMATION CENTER
Contacts: Gail Rachlin (+1 917-757-9780), Levi Browde (+1 646-415-0998), Erping Zhang (+1 646-533-6147), or Christina Chai (+1 917-386-5068).
Fax: 646-792-3916 Email: , Website: http://faluninfo.net/

Ms. Li Xiaowen Dies after Being Tortured in Brainwashing Center in Chengdu City, Sichuan Province

Ms. Li Xiaowen, 67, lived in Shuangliu County (part of Chengdu City) in Sichuan Province. In November 2007, she was arrested and taken to Chengdu City Legal Education Center, a Brainwashing Center located in Xinjin County. She was tortured to the point of being in critical condition, and was released in March 2008. She had been having heavy bleeding ever since. At the beginning of May 2008, she passed out due to the bleeding, and was taken to Sichuan Province Medical University Affiliated Hospital for recovery, however, she died at the beginning of June 2008.

Ms. Li Xiaowen had been arrested many times, and endured torture numerous times. She looked very healthy before being taken to the brainwashing center, but quickly she became as thin as a skeleton, and came down with an unknown sickness.

Falun Gong Practitioner Mr. Luo Jiabin Tortured and in Critical Condition

Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Luo Jiabin has been on hunger strike to protest his persecution since he was arrested in Chenzhou City by Communist Party officers on May 11, 2008. He was secretly taken to Shaodong County Detention Center and is now being tortured there. He has been on hunger strike for 28 days and is in critical condition. His family members are very worried and are calling on people of conscience in and outside of China to help rescue him.

Mr. Luo Jiabin, born in 1975, is a resident of Shizhuqiao Township, Shaodong County, Hunan Province. He was previously a Second Lieutenant of the Air Force in Kaifeng City, Henan Province. Later he was transferred to Hengyang City, Hunan Province. In 2000, he went to Tiananmen Square to peacefully appeal on behalf of Falun Gong. He was arrested and detained in the Shaodong Detention Center, where he went on hunger strike to protest his persecution. In 2001, he was arrested, sent to Xinkaipu Forced Labor Camp in Hunan Province, and tortured there for a year. After he was released, he worked in Huaihua City, Hunan Province. Before the Mid-Autumn Festival in 2005, he was arrested again and taken to the 7th Ward  of Xinkaipu Forced Labor Camp. He was released in February 2008.

Mr. Luo Jiabin's wife Ms. Jiang Yulian is a nurse at the Huaihua City Second People's Hospital. Because she persisted in believing in Falun Dafa's principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, she was sentenced to forced labor twice and tortured. She is currently being tortured brutally at the Baimalong Women's Labor Camp in Zhuzhou City. On September 14, 2005, the chief of the Hongjiang District 610 Office in Huaihua City, along with Huang Lin (male), Li Jin'e (female), and State Security Devision Officers Zhou Wei (male), Yu Huimin (male), and Deng Jianxin (male), surrounded Ms. Jiang Yulian's home. Both Ms. Jiang and Mr. Luo were arrested and sentenced to forced labor, leaving their two-year-old toddler at home without their care.

As a result of being persecuted for a long period, Mr. Luo was short on money when he was released from the labor camp, so he went out to get work. While working in Chenzhou City, he was again arrested by the 610 Office.