Falun Gong Practitioner Ms. Liu Qingmei Dies after Years of Torture

Summary of Key Persecution Facts

Name: Liu Qingmei
Gender: Female
Age: 54
Address: Daxiapo Village, Shidui Township, Anqiu City, Shandong Province
Occupation: Unknown
Date of Death: September 3rd, 2013
Date of Most Recent Arrest: March 1st, 2008
Most Recent Place of Detention: Shandong Province Women's Prison
City: Jinan
Province: Shandong
Persecution Suffered: Electric shock, sleep deprivation, forced injections/drug administration, beatings, hung up, imprisonment, torture, force-feedings, extortion, physical restraint, home ransacked, detention, denial of toilet use

Ms. Liu Qingmei, 54, from Shandong Province passed away around 8 p.m. on September 3rd, 2013, in the Anqiu City Hospital. Her death was a direct result of the persecution she had been subjected to at Shandong Women's Prison, where she was stripped naked and severely tortured repeatedly since 2008. She became mentally disordered at one point. She couldn't walk and suffered from high blood pressure and kidney disease.

She was sentenced to 12 years in prison back in 2003, but the prison refused to admit her due to high blood pressure.

Ms. Liu used to suffer from many illnesses before she started practising Falun Gong, including chronic gallbladder attacks, stomach problems, and inflammation of the small intestine. She took both Eastern and Western medicines in large doses on a daily basis and was sometimes given IV fluids when her condition worsened, but she still lived with a lot of pain. After she started practising Falun Gong in 1998, her illnesses disappeared and her body became light. She regained her mental and physical health, and she was very grateful to Falun Gong. Her determination to practise Falun Gong was as firm as a rock.

When the Chinese regime began the persecution of Falun Gong in 1999, she helped people understand the facts about Falun Gong and exposed the regime's lies. As a result, she was repeatedly arrested, detained, and brutally tortured. However, she remained steadfast and firmly believed in Falun Gong. While incarcerated at the Anqiu Detention Centre around 2002, Ms. Liu helped inmate Hu Guangtai, a murderer on death row, to realize the meaning of life. A few days before Hu's execution, he was let out of his cell and allowed to take a walk in the corridor outside of the cells. When Hu walked pass Ms. Liu's cell, she said to him, “Hu Guangtai, you have to remember, Falun Gong is good, Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good.'” Hu immediately shouted, “Falun Gong is good! Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good!” He then added sadly, “If I had only known that before, I would be very calm and would not be here today. ”

Arrests and brutal torture in detention centres

Ms. Liu went to Beijing six times between July 20th, 1999, and the end of 2000 to appeal for Falun Gong. She was repeatedly arrested, detained, severely tortured, and had 4,300 yuan¹ extorted from her.

Cheng Shuping of the Anqiu City Police Department Political Security Section once escorted her back to Anqiu City and detained her in the office. Li Shenghua, a section officer, handcuffed her behind her back, forced her to sit on a cement floor with her legs stretched, and started hitting her with a broom until it broke into pieces.

She was later transferred to the Anqiu Detention Centre. Because Ms. Liu resisted the persecution, guard Ma Xiyan fastened rusty shackles on her that weighed about 30 lbs for five days. For doing the exercises, guard Zhou Xinzhi shocked her on the neck, hands, and legs with an electric baton, and hung her to the rails of the staircase by her handcuffs, leaving her feet barely touching the ground.

Ms. Liu was arrested and taken to the Jiage Police Station in July 2001 for passing out Falun Gong materials to soldiers installing communication cables. She was severely beaten by officer Jia Zaijun and later held in the Anqiu Detention Centre. She was bound to a metal chair and force-fed by the guards with the help of nurses from the Anqiu City People's Hospital. Song Yunqing, deputy director of the police department, gave the order to leave the tube inserted for future force-feeding sessions.

Ms. Liu was again arrested, along with other practitioners, in January 2002 while at a practitioner's home in Weifang City. Officers with the Weifang High Tech Industry Development Zone Police Station made the arrest. The police attempted to handcuff her with one of her hands over her shoulder to meet the other hand behind her back. Five officers pushed her down, twisted her arms, pinned her head down, and knelt on her legs, but somehow they couldn't put her hands together behind her back. They finally gave up and just handcuffed her behind her back. Officers Li Shenghua and Jia Zaijun from the Anqiu City Police Department picked up the arrested practitioners, including Ms. Liu, in Weifang after 24 hours and took them back to Anqiu City.

Anqiu Detention Centre officials refused to admit the practitioners because of their injuries. Officer Li Shenghua handcuffed them to a metal chair in the office at the detention centre and had local police monitor them. When the practitioners went on a hunger strike to resist the persecution, criminal inmate Li Hongmin, instigated by the detention centre guards, force-fed them with an unknown substance that caused two practitioners to vomit. Ren Zengcai from the Shidui Police Station beat and slapped them while shouting, “Who told you to vomit?”

Ms. Liu was taken back to Shidui Township two days later by officers from the Shidui Police Station. She was taken to Shidui Hospital and injected with unknown drugs and force-fed. She resolutely resisted by pulling out the needles and tubes and demanded to be immediately released. Officer Han Wenbin handcuffed her to the sides of the bed and brutally beat her with a wooden board. The nurses heard the noise and tried to stop Han.

One time after being given an IV, Ms. Liu was in excruciating pain all over her body, as if she were being stabbed with knives. She resisted with all her might and pulled out the needles. Han was furious. He shut the door so the nurses and other patients would not hear and, like a wild man, hit Ms. Liu's legs and buttock with a wooden board. She was badly bruised and, for a long time, couldn't turn from side to side or even move because of the pain.

After being tortured like this for three weeks, Ms. Liu was in critical condition. The police were afraid that she was going to die and quickly released her. However, they did not let up. Yang Xudong, the then director of the local police station, and another officer went to her home and harassed and threatened her. Ms. Liu left her hometown to avoid arrest.

While temporarily staying in Weifang City, Ms. Liu was arrested one night in April 2002. Officer Li Shenghua and Jia Zaijun from Anqiu City Police Department took her back to Anqiu City and detained her at the Anqiu Detention Centre for four days. Ms. Liu was forced to leave again and became permanently displaced.

Sentenced to 12 years in prison

Displaced and not able to go home, Ms. Liu couldn't take care of her children. She called her neighbour and asked how her children were, only to find out later that even the neighbour's phone was tapped. The police ransacked her neighbour's home and arrested and detained the neighbour until his family paid a 2,000-yuan fine five days later.

Ms. Liu finally got to see her children on Sunday, September 26th, 2002. However, around 10 that night while she and her family were asleep, officers from the Shidui Police station, including Han Wenbin, shattered the glass in the door, broke into her home, and arrested her. Han told the driver to turn on the siren and said he had arrested her “openly.” Li Jingbo, director of the Shidui Police Station, and other officers, ransacked her home that same night. Ms. Liu's daughter trembled in fear.

All the furniture in her home was pried open and searched. When Ms. Liu's daughter said, “It is illegal to ransack our home like this,” Li Jingbo responded, “It is not breaking the law even if I dig three feet under the ground.” All the police wanted was to find money, but they couldn't find anything. The officers took the safe that was given to Ms. Liu when she worked for the credit station. When Li Jingbo returned to the station with the safe, Li Shenghua and Jia Zaijun were waiting for him. They borrowed an electric drill and opened the safe, only to find hardly any cash. Desperately, Li Jingbo searched Ms. Liu to see if she had any cash on her.

As they drove Ms. Liu to the Anqiu Detention Centre, officers Li Shenghua and Jia Zaijun declared that they would bury Ms. Liu alive if they could find a proper location. Once there, the detention centre officials refused to admit her. Li Shenghua went back and forth, did everything possible, and eventually got Ms. Liu admitted.

At the detention centre, Ms. Liu went on a hunger strike to protest. Zhang Yuanting, a doctor at the detention centre, handcuffed her to a metal chair and ordered criminal inmate Li Hongmin to force-feed her. Li Hongmin was very brutal with Dafa practitioners. He always hit and cursed them when inserting feeding tubes and sometimes even kicked their legs or hit their heads. Ms. Liu lost consciousness and became incontinent. She had no idea what the guards and the prison doctor said or done. Zhang Yuanting kicked her in the mouth and claimed that he was checking to see if she was still breathing. When released three weeks later, she was unconscious and nearly dead.

Ms. Liu was again arrested on the night of October 28th, 2002, at a place she rented in Anqiu City by police officers Li Shenghua and Jia Zaijun. At the Anqiu Detention Centre, she went on a hunger strike and was bound to a metal chair by Zhang Yuanting and force-fed by inmate Li Hongmin. Zhang Yuanting also told criminal inmates to feed her already-chewed buns. Ms. Liu attempted to resist and kept her mouth closed. The inmates pulled her hair, pinned her head to the back of the chair, poured water into her mouth, and fed her the chewed buns. She could hardly breathe, and guard Ma Xiyan again told inmates to chew up the buns to feed her. When she refused to open her mouth, Ma Xiyan pried her mouth open with handcuffs and poked her gums, which became badly bruised.

After she had been on the hunger strike for more than three weeks, Zhang Yuanting instructed inmate Li Hongmin to handcuff her to behind her back using a stick, which is much more painful than just being handcuffed. For the nine days she was handcuffed in this position, she had to sleep lying on her stomach, and most of the time she was not able to sleep because of the severe pain in her shoulders and back. She felt as if her shoulders were going to be dislocated. Another Falun Gong practitioner detained there would sit up in the middle of the night so Ms. Liu could lean against her and rest for a little while.

When the guards told her to sign the “arrest warrant,” Ms. Liu responded, “I didn't break any law by practising Falun Gong. I will not sign.” Guard Li Shenghua said, “If you don't sign, I will sign it for you.”

Right before the 2002 Chinese New Year, Ms. Liu said to Pan Qilu, director of the detention centre, “Release me immediately. My kids are waiting for me to go home and spend the new year with them.” Pan refused to release her and had guards handcuff and shackle her. She was boundd to the metal chair for five days straight. Her legs and feet were swollen and she couldn't even walk to the toilet. She continued to be handcuffed and shackled for three weeks after she was released from the chair.

Ms. Liu was carried to the Anqiu City Court with her hands cuffed and feet shackled on February 21st, 2003, for a trial. When the presiding judge asked her if she had anything to say, Ms. Liu asked to be released immediately. She received a written sentence 10 days later: 12 years in prison. When she refused to sign the sentence, the guard said, “It becomes effective even without your signature.”

Division head Pan and officers Zhang Yuanting and You Fang tried to take Ms. Liu to Jinan Prison a few days later. On their way there, the police car crashed into a tree and they all returned to the Anqiu Detention Centre. Three weeks later, officer Zhang Yuanting escorted her to Shandong Province Women's Prison. Due to her high blood pressure, she was not admitted and was finally released.

Repeatedly persecuted, Ms. Liu died of brutal torture in prison

Officers from the Shidui Township Police Station, working in collusion with village Party secretary Han Huiwen one snowy night in March 2004, attempted to trick Ms. Liu into opening the door to her home. She didn't fall for it and escaped.

The next day, 19 officers and officials from the police station and the township government surrounded her home. They climbed over the wall, broke in, and ransacked her home while no one from her family was home. The officers and the Party officials ransacked her home again a few days later in broad daylight. They confiscated almost everything, including cash, valuables, food, and household items. They even searched through a pile of dirt in her yard.

Officer Han Jingjing of the Shidui Township Police Station knocked on Ms. Liu's door on the afternoon of July 13th, 2006, and asked, “Ma'am, please open the door.” Ms. Liu thought it was the neighbour's daughter and opened the door. Officers Han Wenbin, Dang Shangshi, Liu Guitao, and Han Jingjing arrested her. Ms. Liu said, “I did not break any law. Why are you arresting me?” The officers didn't respond so she started shouting, “Falun Gong is good!” A few officers stomped on her toes until they bled.

The officers handcuffed Ms. Liu and pushed her into a black car. She continued to shout, “Falun Gong is good!” Officer Dang Shangshi waved an electric baton in her face and threatened her. Han Wenbin later ransacked her home. When Han returned to the police station, director Yang Haitao asked, “Have you combed through her home thoroughly?” Han responded, “Not really.” Yang Haitao and officers Han Wenbin and Liu Guitao went back that same night. Led by village Party secretary Han Jianwu, they went to Ms. Liu's home, broke the lock, and ransacked her home without any of her family being present. Everything, including food and household items, was confiscated.

Ms. Liu was detained in the Anqiu City Detention Centre. Doctor Zhang Yuanting ordered inmates to handcuff her to a metal chair and insert a tube into her nose for force-feeding. The tube was secured to her nose with tape and was not removed after each force-feeding session. It was very hot at that time and the tube kept slipping out because of the sweat. When she pulled the tube out with her knees, inmate Fu Yuhang tried to put it back and accidentally inserted it into her trachea. She almost suffocated.

After being subjected to torture for more than 40 days in the detention centre, doctor Zhang Yuanting, female guards Liu Xiuxia and Ming Fanli took her to Shandong Province Women's Prison. The prison officials refused to admit her because she failed the entrance physical and was diagnosed with high blood pressure and heart disease. Ms. Liu was released on August 24. During the time she was held in Anqiu Detention Centre, Ms. Liu helped more than 40 people quit the Communist Party and its affiliated organizations, including guards and inmates who were directly involved in persecuting her.

After her arrest, her daughter, who was a student at Anqiu No. 1 Middle School; her son, a college student in Jinan; and her relatives went to the Anqiu Police Station and asked that Ms. Liu be immediately released. The head of the Domestic Security Division, Zhang Jin, scratched her son's face and neck and threatened them. Shidui Township Police Station officers arrested Ms. Liu's daughter the next day and detained her for a day.

Shidui Police Station officers arrested Ms. Liu on the morning of March 1st, 2008, and detained her for more than two months at the Anqiu City Detention Centre. She was transferred in May to Shandong Province Women's Prison.

As soon as Ms. Liu arrived at the prison, she was hospitalized. After being released from the hospital, she was placed in the “Intense Training Division” which was specifically set up to persecute Falun Gong practitioners. Division head Xue Yanqin instigated collaborator (former practitioners, brainwashed against Falun Gong, made to assist in brainwashing and torturing practitioners) Qiu Xiuxin to torture her. Qiu and over 10 other inmates beat her and did not allow her to sleep or use the toilet. She was forced to wet herself even during her menstrual period. Ms. Liu had injuries all over her body. Unable to walk, she had to crawl. Ms. Liu eventually became mentally disordered.

Ms. Liu was later transferred to the No. 6 Ward. Guard Deng Yixia instigated inmates including Wang Qiuxia, Mei Gui, and Wang Hongjie to beat her for continuing to practise Falun Gong. They stripped her naked, forced her to sit on the cement floor, and poured stinging medicated oils into her mouth. Ms. Liu's blood pressure was constantly in the range of 190 to 200 and she suffered from liver disease. She was taken to the hospital many times and administrated unknown drugs.

After having gone through so much suffering, Ms. Liu passed away in the Anqiu City Hospital around 8 p.m. on September 3rd, 2013, at age 54.

Parties involved in persecuting Ms. Liu:

Song Yunqing (宋云清), deputy director of the Anqiu City Police Department (from July 20, 1999 to the end of 2009, one of the officials in charge of persecution in the Anqiu City Police Department): +86-536-4266618 (Home), +86-13706469257 (Mobile)
Cheng Shuping (程淑平), male, born in 1963, former section chief of the Anqiu City Police Department Politics and Security Section, current deputy chief of the Anqiu City Police Department: +86-536-4262329 (Home), +86-13805362668 (Mobile)
Li Shenghua (李升华), police officer with the Anqiu City Police Department: +86-536-4383927 (Office), +86-13153632267 (Mobile)
Jia Zaijun (贾在军), police officer from the Xing'an Police Station: Police Number 052770, +86-536-4266239 (Home)
Han Wenbin (韩文彬), police officer with the Anqiu City Shidui Police Station: +86-13583686638 (Mobile)
Pan Qilu, director of the Anqiu City Detention Centre: +86-536-4264060 (Home)
Zhang Yuanting (张元亭), doctor at the Anqiu City Detention Centre: +86-536-4261032 (Home)
Ma Xiyan (马喜彦), police officer with the Anqiu City Detention Centre: +86-536-4261779 (Home)

Note

1. "Yuan" is the Chinese currency; 500 yuan is equal to the average monthly income of an urban worker in China.