(Clearwisdom.net) Falun Dafa practitioner Ms. Liu Shufen has been on a hunger strike for nearly seven months, and her condition is now critical. The administration of the Harbin Women's Prison is still covering up the facts and treating her family very rudely when they visit. More details follow:

In the middle of May 2005, police arrested Ms. Liu, who is from Daqing City, Heilongjiang Province. They picked her up from the place she had been staying since she was forced to leave home to avoid near certain arrest there. She was sentenced to eight years in prison by the Rang District Court in Daqing City. Confined in the Heilongjiang Province Women's Prison (located in Harbin City), Ms. Liu Shufen has been tortured with methods known as the Big Hang Up (1) and Locking up in a Small Cell (2). She has also been brutally tortured by having her legs stretched from a hanging position, having her hands cuffed 24 hours every day, being hung from a rail with her hands cuffed behind her back (3), and being denied sleep or use of a toilet.

On June 6, 2005, Ms. Liu Shufen began a hunger strike to protest her illegal imprisonment. Her hunger strike continues today. Her parents have visited her many times but have been facing obstacles from the prison administration. They are trying very hard to rescue her, their only daughter, but she has been on a hunger strike for seven months, and her life is in danger.

On December 29, 2005, Ms. Liu Shufen's mother Wang Yanxiang went to the prison to visit, requesting that her daughter be given a medical parole. Ms. Liu's mother took a letter of appeal to give to the warden. The guards told her the warden was not there. Ms. Wang waited until the afternoon, but the warden was still absent. Ms. Wang was waiting in the hallway and pushed her appeal letter through an opening in the door. The guards were very angry with Ms. Wang and ignored her request to transmit the letter to the warden.

Ms. Wang insisted on seeing her daughter and refused to leave unless she saw her. Guards then arranged to let her see her daughter Liu Shufen with plate glass between them, using a telephone to communicate. Three guards listened to their conversation. Ms. Wang found her daughter in bad shape, with sunken eyes and emaciated. Her daughter did not smile and the guards told her she was carried out on a chair. Ms. Wang refused to leave since her daughter was obviously in such a critical condition. Prison administration refused her medical parole request the last time, saying she was not sick enough. But even though she is now in such a dangerous state, they still refuse to let her out.

Ms. Liu Shufen's mother Ms. Wang was finally dragged out by guards Li Bin (female) and Xiao Lin (male).

We are here calling all organizations and people with justice in the world to lend support.

Relevant contact information:

Heilongjiang Province Women Prison address: 389-Xuefu Street, Nangang District, Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province, zip code, 150069; operator, 86-451-86684001, or 86-451-86684002, or 86-451-86684003 (ask for names or offices); Friday afternoon is Ward Office hours, 13:00-15:00 p.m., 86-451-86684002-ext.3009, or 86-451-86694053

Ward Xu Longjiang (male), ext. 8001

Deputy Ward Cong Xin (gender unknown), Zhu Shuhua (female), Liu Zhiqiang (male, in charge of medical parole)

Prison CCP Director Chu Xiuhua (female), ext. 8002 or 86-451-86684001-ext.3003

Prison Hospital Director Zhao Yingling (female), ext. 8053

First Ward Cui Hongmei (female), Deputy Ward Xia Fengying (female), Hou Xueping (female)

Procuratorate Liaison Office in Prison, 86-451-82030982

Heilongjiang Province Prison Administration Bureau Head Sun Ping, 86-451-86316442, or 86-451-86342238, or 86-451-86342139.

(1) There are two forms in this torture: 1) With both hands cuffed behind the back and only toes touching the ground, one is hung by a rope that is tied to a metal window frame; 2) One hand of a practitioner is cuffed to one bunk bed and the other hand to another bed, and the two beds are pulled in the opposite directions. One feels extremely pain as the body is pulled apart. See illustration on http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2004/11/17/54624.html.

(2) The detainee is locked up in a very small cell individually. The guards handcuff practitioners on their back in a fixed position, in which the practitioners can neither move nor lie down. The small cell is very damp and no sunshine comes in. Detainees have to urinate and defecate in the cell. Only half of a regular meal is served to detainees locked up in a small cell during the daytime. During the night rats roam the cell. The stench in the small cell is so bad that it is difficult to breathe.

(3) With both hands cuffed behind the back, both feet off the ground or only toes touching, one is hung onto the basketball support or house beam with the handcuffs. Both hands and arms will soon lose sensory perception. In addition, both hands will go dead from lack of blood circulation. See illustration on http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2004/8/31/51910.html.