Campaign Begins to Rescue a UK Practitioner’s Younger Brother, who is Incarcerated, Suffering Torture and in a Critical Physical Condition in China

UK Resident and Falun Gong practitioner Bing HE, 29, has started a campaign to rescue his brother Jian HE, 27, who has suffered incarceration and torture, and is now imprisoned in a hospital in China that is heavily guarded by the Chinese police.

During the four years of persecution by the Jiang regime, Bing HE’s brother, Jian, has been incarcerated in a labour camp in Wuhan for eighteen months without trial, and has been tortured many times for practising Falun Gong and peacefully appealing against the cruel persecution. Around 22 June 2003, he was arrested again to suffer further at the hands of the police. Two weeks later, Bing learned that his brother is struggling for his life in a hospital heavily guarded by the police. Jian’s parents in China have been ordered to pay all medical expenses. Under huge emotional and financial pressure, the health of Bing’s parents has deteriorated rapidly. Apparently under close surveillance, they would not say anything about Jian over the phone, but told Bing that the security service is very interested in him.

BACKGROUND
Jian was born in 1976 and lives in Wuhan, China. He began his study at the University of Wuhan in 1993 and, after graduating in 1997, he continued his study by pursuing a Masters degree in Marketing. In the same year, he started practising Falun Gong in an effort to tackle his ill-health, which then improved significantly. He has been practising Falun Gong ever since.

To Jian’s utter dismay, in 1999 the Jiang regime started persecuting Falun Gong practitioners in China. In January 2000, Jian visited the State Appeals Office in Beijing to appeal against the persecution but he was punished for speaking up and was detained for 15 days. In October 2000, as the severity of the persecution increased, he went to Beijing again and unfurled a banner on Tiananmen Square to peacefully appeal against the brutal violations of human rights. A group of armed policemen surrounded him and showered him with kicks and punches, before detaining him.

In May 2001, Jian was sentenced to 18 months on fabricated charges in Hewan Labour Camp in Wuhan, where he was cursed, forced to work intensely, forbidden from talking to others, given terrible food, beaten up, and deprived of rest.

Bing is appealing to the British people to help free Jian by signing a petition for his release or raising the issue with politicians. He also appeals to the UK government to call on China to release Jian immediately.