Killed for Posting Flyers About Human Rights Abuses

In the early morning hours of December 8, 2001, Mr. He Xingzong, 55, a resident of Macheng City, Hubei Province, left his home to post flyers on wire poles in the surrounding area. The flyers exposed human rights abuses against Falun Gong practitioners. According to sources inside China familiar with this case, Mr. He was noticed by policemen from the Songbu Police Substation who then assaulted and killed him. After choking Mr. He to death, the police took his body to a local hospital where an official report pronounced an "accidental death" with "no visible wounds." When Mr. He's family went to identify the body, however, they observed two deep handprints on his neck, severe injuries to the back of his head, and that his testicles had been crushed.

In a telephone interview with a reporter, a police officer from Macheng City claimed, "He Xingzong died from posting flyers." When questioned how a man could die from "posting flyers," he began yelling, at which time his words became unintelligible. He then hung up the phone. Further attempts to contact the police station were not successful.

Woman Released from a Forced Labor Camp to Die Days Later

In a separate case, Ms. Guo Shuyan, a 38-year-old resident of Jidongyu Manchu Autonomous Town in Liaoyang County, Liaoning Province, went to Beijing on December 17, 2001. According to a police officer in Jidongyu Town, Ms. Guo unfurled a banner on Tiananmen Square that read "Falun Dafa is good" and held it high above her head. She was immediately arrested. Police from her local town escorted her back from Beijing, and then sent her to the Liaoning Detention Center, the police officer said.

While at the detention center, she was sentenced without trial to three years at the Masanjia Forced Labor Camp. To protest her illegal arrest and mistreatment, Ms. Guo conducted a hunger strike. Sources in China say her condition worsened by the time authorities brought her to Masanjia. Therefore, out of concern that Ms. Guo might die in the camp, the hospital director at the camp refused to accept her. She was released on December 20 at 2 p.m.

Ms. Guo's condition continued to deteriorate after her release as she began to vomit food, and later blood. She passed away on December 31, 2001. Ms. Guo is survived by her 17-year old son and husband, who works as a farmer and also practices Falun Gong.

A police officer from Jidongyu Town indicated that Ms. Guo's family had made inquiries about her death, but added there was little his police station could do. "We told them that the state [central government in Beijing] defined how to handle the Falun Gong issue," he said, "what could we do?"

The Falun Dafa Information Center has verified details of 338 deaths since the persecution of Falun Gong in China began in 1999. Government officials inside China, however, report that the actual death toll is well over 1,600. Over 100,000 have been detained, with more than 20,000 being sentenced to forced labor camps without trial.

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