(Clearwisdom.net)

Ding Lihong, male, 36, a Dafa practitioner from Shijiazhuang City, Hebei Province, was a train operator for Shijiazhuang Railway and lived in the Jianming Area of Shijiazhuang.

At the beginning of November 2002, Ding Lihong was kidnapped and detained by the Shanxi police in Yuci County and detained in secret. From the start of his detention to the time when he was tortured to the brink of death, the police never gave his family members any information. Over a month later, the police asked Ding Lihong's parents to go to Shanxi to identify and retrieve his body. Immediately afterwards Mr. Ding's body was cremated, and his family was only able to take the ashes back to Shijiazhuang shortly before December 20, 2002. The wicked officials were afraid of bearing responsibility for this crime. They exerted great pressure to intimidate Ding Linghong's parents, making the elderly couple's lives even more difficult in addition to losing their beloved son. They were so intimidated that they have still yet to dare to hold a funeral for their son. What's even more outrageous is that sometimes they are forced to say that their son "died under normal circumstances."

Ding Lihong is the eighth Dafa practitioner from Shijiazhuang to be tortured to death. The others include Tao Hongsheng, Zhao Fennian, Liu Xiurong, Zuo Zhigang, Ding Gangzi, and Dong Yan.

Ding Lihong started practicing Dafa in May 1996, faithfully following the principle of "Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance." His health improved, and he was known as someone who worked hard and was kind towards others. After the persecution began, he validated Dafa and clarified the truth of Falun Gong. He was illegally detained, fined, and had his home ransacked many times. His righteous belief in Dafa and Teacher was unshakeable in the face of evil, and his story is encouragement for his fellow practitioners.

After July 20, 1999, he went to Beijing to validate Dafa for four times and was detained illegally even more times. From September 2000 until his death, he carried out many activities to make as many people as possible become aware of the facts of Dafa and the persecution. At the end of August 2001, the police from Huaizhong Road in Shijiazhuang kidnapped him. He walked out after a 28-day hunger strike. After that he was forced to become homeless and go from place to place to avoid further persecution. During the Chinese New Year in 2002, the Shijiazhuang Police Department forced Shijiazhuang Railway to send him to the Hebei Province Brainwashing Center, officially known as the Hebei Province Law Education and Training Center. He walked out openly and with dignity due to his righteous belief in Teacher and the wisdom he gained from cultivating Dafa. (See "The Cruel Torture I Received in the Hebei Province Brainwashing Center Cannot Sway My Righteous Belief" http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2002/5/23/22360.html). Later he went to Shanxi and helped the practitioners there to carry out truth-clarification activities.

It was reported that some other practitioners arrested at around the same time were also tortured to death, and the details of these cases are being investigated.