FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - 12/31/2001 [ http://www.faluninfo.net/ ]

NEW YORK, December 31, 2001 (Falun Dafa Information Center)-Three female Falun Gong practitioners from Northeast China died after being tortured in custody, according to sources in China familiar with the cases.

Ms. Wang Kefei, 34, from Changchun City, Jilin Province practiced Falun Gong since June 1994. Because she went to Beijing to appeal for the freedom to practice Falun Gong multiple times, she was arrested and detained in the Heizuizi Female Labor Camp in Jilin Province. After enduring torture there, she was sent to Tiebei police hospital on December 20, 2001 and died on the same day. The official cause of death is still under investigation.

Ms. Chen Sulan, 53, from Fushun City, Liaoning Province, was arrested on December 1, 2001 en route to Beijing, also to appeal for the freedom to practice Falun Gong. Two days later, she was taken to the Fushun City Gaowan Economy District Police Substation and then detained in the Fushun City Shizilou Detention Center. A week later, sources say, she was beaten to death by the police.

Ms. Qu Junli, 28, had worked at the Jilin City Chuanying District Qiguan Heat Electricity Plant, and was about to start a new job at a department store in Jilin City before being arrested in October, 2000. Sources familiar with her case say she had a 4-year-old son and a harmonious family life. These sources say she was arrested on Tiananmen Square on October 27, 2000 while trying to appeal for Falun Gong. She was arrested again in Beijing on December 2000, during a similar appeal effort, and was tortured to death three days later. Family members have since retrieved her ashes and brought them home, these sources say.

The Falun Dafa Information Center has verified particulars of 334 deaths since the persecution of Falun Gong in China began in 1999. The last of these three cases, news of which has made its way out of China a year after it happened, illustrates the difficulty of knowing the full magnitude of the persecution campaign, which, according to inside Chinese government sources, has killed at least 1,600 practitioners as of October 2001.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT THE FALUN DAFA INFORMATION CENTER- Contacts: Gail Rachlin 917-501-4441, Adam Montanaro 917-405-4507, Erping Zhang 646-533-6147, or Feng Yuan 646-523-5676. Email: faluninfoctr@nycmail.com, Website: http://www.faluninfo.net/