(Minghui.org) When Ms. Li Xiuqin was released on August 4, 2022, after serving four years for practicing Falun Gong, she was devastated to learn that her husband had died nearly two years ago, after being dealt a heavy blow by her imprisonment.
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Ms. Li, 59, is a retired employee of the Shuyang Township government in Xianghe County, Hebei Province. She was arrested at home on August 5, 2018, and had her Falun Gong books, computer, printer, and a large amount of cash confiscated. Her husband, Mr. Li Liandi, was also arrested and interrogated at the police station for several hours.
The interrogation and home-ransacking, as well as Ms. Li’s subsequent sentencing, brought tremendous pressure to Mr. Li, who himself had also been arrested numerous times over the years for practicing Falun Gong. His health kept deteriorating for the next two years and he passed away around September 2020.
Ms. Li was incarcerated at the Sanhe City Detention Center for 510 days following her arrest. In the first 15 days, she was forced to wear nearly 80-pound shackles around the clock.
Later, she was forced to get up at 5:30 a.m. and do unpaid labor all day, including making artificial flowers and joss paper ingots (incense papers). The dust and pungent smell from the chemicals were suffocating, yet she and other inmates weren’t given any personal protection equipment.
During the time when there was no work to do, Ms. Li was forced to sit on a small stool without moving, even after her buttocks festered.
The food provided in the detention center was mostly congee, clear soup with very few vegetables, and steamed buns, which was barely enough to keep a person alive. She once asked for more soup, only to be verbally abused by a guard. When she tried to reason with the guard, he grabbed her hair, dragged her by the hair for a long distance, and handcuffed her to a bed for many days. After that, she began to have severe hair loss. By the time she was transferred to prison, she had almost become bald.
Torture reenactment: dragged by the hair
Meanwhile, the detention center guards also barred Ms. Li from talking to others in order to isolate her. The mental and physical torment caused her to suffer a mental collapse and severe memory loss.
The Xianghe County Procuratorate approved Ms. Li’s arrest on September 4, 2018, and later moved her case to the Xianghe County Court. Her family hired a lawyer for her. But the lawyer was forced by the authorities to drop her case and her family had to hire another one.
Ms. Li appeared in Xianghe County Court in April 2019. She was sentenced to four years with a 20,000-yuan fine on September 29. She appealed the verdict to Langfang City Intermediate Court. Judge Li Shufen ruled to uphold her original verdict on December 20, 2019, without informing her family and lawyer.
Ms. Li was transferred to the Shijiazhuang Women’s Prison on January 3, 2020. She was starved and also forced to do intensive unpaid labor. She suffered a hernia and had a bloated abdomen.
After her husband’s passing, the prison didn’t allow their son to break the news to her. The young man also didn’t want to add further mental burden to her, which is why Ms. Li didn’t find out about her husband’s death until after she was released.
Perpetrators’ contact information:
Yang Yongli (杨永利), head of Xianghe County Domestic Security Office: +86-13503266006Cao Junying (曹军英), deputy head of Xianghe County Domestic Security Office: +86-13582785548Liu Zhenhua (刘振华), president of Xianghe County ProcuratorateLiu Jun (刘君), president of Xianghe County Court: +86-13903163558Hou Dongxiang (侯东祥), judge of Xianghe County Court: +86-18533638326, +86-15103262976
(More perpetrators’ contact information is available in the original Chinese article.)
Related reports:
Woman Serving Time for Her Faith Suffers Medical Condition, Still Forced To Perform Labor
Appeals Court Judge Upholds Prison Sentences Against Six Falun Gong Practitioners in Two Years
After Being Repeatedly Arrested, Hebei Woman Sentenced to Four Years in Prison for Her Faith
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