What I Know about the Death of Tangshan City Dafa Practitioner Mr. Wei Laihe

I witnessed the details surrounding the death of Wei Laihe.

Since July 20, 1999, Wei Laihe had been detained many times for continuing to practise Falun Gong. I still remember what happened one morning in the spring of 2000. After Wei Laihe was detained for half a month at his work unit, three people took him in a police car back to his home, and asked him to fetch 400 yuan [500 yuan is the average monthly income for an urban worker in China.] for them to pay his "living expenses". His family did not have the money at that time, so they had to borrow it from a neighbour and gave it to the police. Wei Laihe was then sent to Hexi District Detention Centre. He was kept there for half a month for not writing a "Warrant of Guarantee" to not continue practising.

I still remember that around 8 am November 6, 2002, Linxi Police Station's Wang Zhenhai took Wei Laihe to the police station. At noon, two policemen went to his home and searched everywhere but did not find anything. They told his family that Wei Laihe was detained. When the family asked why, a policeman said, "We do not know. We are following orders from above, and he was said to have distributed flyers." Wei Laihe's father, who was almost 70 years old, said, "My son has been at home the whole time." The two policemen could not answer, and they left.

Wei Laihe went on a hunger strike to appeal the illegal detention he was experiencing. On the morning of November 9, 2002, when his wife was visiting him, she found his face, whole body, and even the eyes were yellowish. Wei Laihe also kept vomiting. She thus requested the director and the political head of the police station to release him, since if something happened to him, the police station needed to take responsibility. The police officers had nothing to say, but did not release Wei Laihe. As he continued his hunger strike till November 16th, his family found him in a life-threatening situation, so they once again found the director and political head of the police station and said, "Now he [Wei Laihe] is extremely weak, and keeps vomiting. He can hardly stand up, yet you still do not release him?" The guard on duty reported that Wei Laihe kept vomiting. Seeing this, the director and the political head knew Wei Laihe was really in danger. Being afraid of taking responsibility if he died there, they said, "He [Wei Laihe] can go home with approval from his workplace. This is not over yet."

After Wei Laihe returned home, he was extremely weak. Although his family tried hard to look after him, his health did not improve. As a result of the injustice that occurred to him, he passed away on December 2, 2002. He left behind his 7-year-old daughter, 31-year-old wife, as well as his elderly father (nearly 70 years old).

Wei Laihe was 37 years old, and he lived in Tangshan City, Hebei Province. He was a former employee from Linxi Mining Corporation. He used to be addicted to gambling before he practised Falun Gong. He became a good person through the practice. People who knew him praised him for being able to become an upright person. However, nobody would have imagined that he would die as a result of persecution because he practised Falun Gong.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2003/12/8/61917.html