(Minghui.org)
Name: Li XianglianChinese Name: 李相莲Gender: FemaleAge: 68City: JiamusiProvince: HeilongjiangOccupation: HousekeeperDate of Death: September 2, 2021Date of Most Recent Arrest: October 11, 2020Most Recent Place of Detention: Anqing Police Station
Ms. Li Xianglian
A 68-year-old woman in Jiamusi City, Heilongjiang Province died on September 2, 2021, less than a year after she was last arrested for upholding her faith in Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999.
Days before Ms. Li Xianglian’s passing, the local police still harassed her and her family, ordering her to have her pictures taken to confirm that she was still home and not out exposing the persecution.
“Falun Gong Sister”
Ms. Li took up Falun Gong in 1997 and has enjoyed good health since. She also became more cheerful and considerate. She never hesitated to lend a hand to anyone in need of help.
At work, Ms. Li, a housekeeper, never fought for higher pay or a lighter workload. Her coworkers liked to be teamed up with her for housekeeping jobs. They affectionately referred to her as their “Falun Gong sister.” Her clients often commented that she did better housekeeping work than many younger people.
Five Arrests
Everywhere Ms. Li went, she talked to people about the goodness of Falun Gong and the illegality of the persecution. She also bought phone cards to call the public to raise awareness of the persecution. Her simple act was met with five arrests and two forced labor terms over the years.
15 Days of Detention After First Arrest in May 2000
Ms. Li went to Beijing in May 2000 to appeal for the right to practice Falun Gong, but was arrested at the Beijing Railway Station upon arrival. She was taken to the Jiamusi Municipal Government’s Liaison Office in Beijing, where several officers searched her and confiscated her Falun Gong book and 300 yuan in cash. They later returned the book and money after she urged them not to participate in the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners.
After she was escorted back to Jiamusi, she was held at a railway detention center for 15 days and extorted 1,000 yuan.
Two Years of Forced Labor After Second Arrest in November 2002
Ms. Li was arrested in November 2002 after being reported for distributing Falun Gong informational materials. She was taken to a detention center and held there for more than one month. Because she refused to renounce her faith, she was transferred to the Heilongjiang Province Drug Rehabilitation Center to serve two years of forced labor.
Ms. Li was under constant pressure to give up her belief. She refused to write statements to renounce Falun Gong, and the guards threatened to make her son’s life difficult. They also instigated other inmates to verbally abuse her. Ms. Li eventually buckled and wrote statements to renounce Falun Gong against her will. She felt extremely regretful afterwards.
She then suffered severe injuries to her leg in an accident. The guards notified her son to send in money for her treatment. She said, “I have only one son. He doesn’t have any money. Let me do the Falun Gong exercises and I’ll recover soon.” The guards agreed, and she was able to get out of bed and walk again in just two weeks.
Ms. Li and other inmates were also forced to do hard labor without pay every day, making disposable chopsticks and toothpicks. Team lead Liu Zhujie, who is in charge of the workshop, threatened the practitioners, “I’ll extend your term if you fail to finish your work quota!”
Some inmates were exempted from forced labor, and their sole task was to monitor Falun Gong practitioners and ensure that they did the assigned labor work. These inmates also ordered practitioners to write words slandering Falun Gong and its founder. When practitioners refused to comply, these inmates threatened them with term extensions.
One Year and Seven Days of Forced Labor Following Third Arrest in 2007
The communist regime intensified the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners across China in 2007, ahead of the 2008 Summer Olympics Games. Ms. Li was also targeted. The local Anqing Police Station had an officer follow her everywhere, including when she did her part-time job at a supermarket.
One day deputy chief Sun Wenyi and three officers deceived Ms. Li into opening her door by claiming to be checking her water meter. She condemned them for lying to her after realizing they were police, and refused to open her locked bedroom doors.
Sun then called in his police chief, before kicking open the master bedroom door. Ms. Li’s mother, who lived with her and suffered a heart attack after witnessing her previous two arrests, was again terrified. The police confiscated Ms. Li’s Falun Gong books and informational materials.
Two local practitioners who happened to be visiting Ms. Li were also arrested. The three of them were taken to the Anqing Police Station, where they were ordered to give their fingerprints. They all refused to comply. In the evening, they were taken to a hospital for physical examinations. After that, they were driven to a local detention center, where the guards shackled their feet together. Eight days later, they were transferred to Xigemu Labor Camp to each serve a one-year term.
In March 2008, the labor camp guards ordered Ms. Li and three other practitioners to write statements to smear Falun Gong. They all refused, and captain Liu Yadong forced them to each sit on a small plastic stool motionless for several hours every day for two weeks in a row. The four practitioners later removed their inmates’ uniform in protest. Liu ordered two guards to brutally beat them before putting them in solitary confinement.
The isolation cells each had two metal rings anchored to a wall. The four practitioners had their hands cuffed to the rings all the time. They were also deprived of sleep and had to eat and relieve themselves in their respective isolation cells. They were not let out of the isolation cells until 15 days later.
Ms. Li still held firm to her faith and had her forced labor term extended by seven days. She was released at the end of 2008.
Five Days of Detention Following Fourth Arrest in 2014
In 2014, a provincial inspection team toured the province to review local governments. When the team was at Harbin, the capital city of Heilongjiang Province, Ms. Li went there to submit a petition seeking the release of Ms. Wang Yanxin, a fellow practitioner from the local Jiansanjiang Farm.
Ms. Li was never able to see the inspection team. There were three checkpoints inside the provincial government building in Harbin. Liu Changhe, an officer from Jiansanjiang Farm who was there to capture local practitioners appealing for Ms. Wang, stopped Ms. Li at one of the checkpoints. He found her ID number from the police database and called in six special agents to carry Ms. Li outside the building.
The Wenhua Police Station in Harbin then came and took Ms. Li to their office, where they searched her. They notified the Jiamusi municipal government’s liaison office in Harbin to arrange a car to escort her back to Jiamusi. After she was taken back, she saw more than 20 people, including a local Communist Party secretary, awaiting at the Anqing Police Station. They interrogated her for more than three hours, before taking her to a local lockup to serve a five-day detention period.
Death After Fifth Arrest
On the morning of October 11, 2020, Ms. Li was grabbed by a few officers as soon as she stepped out of her home for grocery shopping. They said they were from the Anqing Police Station and had been staking out her home since 5 a.m. that morning.
Ms. Li refused to go with them and sat down on the ground. The police called in some special agents. They, however, couldn’t pull her up. They eventually had three officers carry her all the way to their cruiser.
The police kept her in a dark room in the police station. They found her key in her purse and proceeded to raid her home. Her Falun Gong books, computer, cell phone, cash, and satellite dish were also confiscated.
The local detention center refused to admit Ms. Li after she failed the required physical examination. The police kept her at their police station overnight and released her after her family was forced to pay a 10,000 yuan bail bond.
The mental pressure from the ongoing persecution took a toll on Ms. Li’s health. She died 11 months later, on September 2, 2021.
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