Ms. Liu Mei on the Verge of Death: Dabei Prison Warden Tells her Family, "If She Dies, You Can Come Here to Claim Her Body."

As a result of a blow to the head during her arrest by Donggang police authorities in April 2002, Dafa practitioner Liu Mei suffered a concussion and then developed a high fever that lasted for a long time. Later, she was diagnosed with pneumonia as well. However, at present she is still being detained, and the authorities have given no indication that they will release her. In March 2004, her relatives were told to go see her in Dabei Prison in Shenyang City, Liaoning Province. They found that she had to be carried by others with the use of a cart, and she had difficulty speaking. A team leader at the prison surnamed Zhang told her relatives, "If she refuses to yield to the government, she will never be able to leave the jail. If she dies, you can come here to claim her body."

On March 7, 2004, Liu Mei's mother received a phone call from the above-mentioned team leader at Dabei Prison, and was told that Liu's health was poor and her relatives should come to persuade her to accept the authorities' brainwashing and that she would be released if she renounced her belief.

Around noon of March 10, Liu Mei's relatives arrived at the prison. In the reception office, team leader Zhang coerced them into paying money to the prison officials. The prison officials also forbid Liu Mei's relatives from bringing anything to her, and only let her buy the daily necessities from the jail at prices 2 to 3 times higher than normal. Liu's relatives told the prison officials, "Let us first take a look at her state of health, and then we will pay the money." But team leader Zhang peremptorily denied their request, saying, "We have had a new regulation since March 1 that a prisoner's relatives must pay money before meeting the prisoner." Because they had been informed that she was very sick, in order to meet Liu Mei immediately, her relatives were forced to pay the money. Then Zhang ordered Liu's relatives, "You must persuade her to yield to the government; otherwise it will be impossible to see her."

Wrapped in a big gauze mask, Liu Mei was carried into the reception room on a chair by an inmate. Before her family entered the room, a warden instructed the inmate to put Liu on the seat so that she was sitting up straight. Upon seeing her, Liu's relatives found that she was extremely emaciated and weak and had difficulty speaking. Although the other inmates' relatives can meet them face-to-face, Liu's relatives were only allowed to talk to her through a telephone behind a glass partition. One police officer closely monitored Liu and another one monitored her mother. They allowed her mother to say nothing except to try to persuade her to give up her cultivation of Truth, Compassion, and Tolerance. Liu's mother was rudely interrupted by the wardens when she asked Liu about her health. Hearing her mother's inquiry, Liu spoke out with all her strength: "Mum, I am going to die...." Then the meeting was immediately stopped by the wardens. Liu was carried away and her relatives were forced out of the reception area. At that moment, her relatives became very clear about the seriousness of her situation, and they strongly demanded in vain that she be released immediately. Her mother pleaded, "If she refuses to yield, will you let her die here?" "If she dies, you can come here to claim her body," Zhang proclaimed fiercely. "You will be barred from seeing her again because you didn't cooperate with us." Liu's relatives were again refused when they demanded to talk to the head of the prison. Failing to reason with such a gang of cruel wardens, Liu's relatives left in tears.

Liu Mei was first arrested on April 9, 2002 in Donggang for producing and distributing materials explaining the facts about the persecution of Falun Gong. She and her husband Zhu Changming were both sentenced to 13 years in prison. Two days after being arrested, Liu was transferred to the first division of Dandong Police Department, where she suffered various kinds of torture. Police removed her clothing and shocked her body with electric batons; they also beat her head with the hard plastic baton handles. Liu passed out from the torture. She was imprisoned in that dungeon for four months, during which time she frequently suffered from a high fever as a result of a severe brain concussion she suffered at the time of her arrest.

At the time of Liu Mei's arrest, the police forced her into a police vehicle that was still moving and hadn't come to a full stop yet. As she was being pushed into the vehicle, because she had nowhere to hold on, she fell to the ground and passed out immediately. Liu was dragged unconscious into the vehicle and driven to the police department. She was later diagnosed with a severe concussion. From then on, she started to suffer from a high fever, and her lungs were also damaged due to insufficient treatment. The police didn't give her relatives any notice about her condition. Four months later, Liu was transferred to Donggang Detention Centre.

After her relatives repeatedly demanded to see Liu Mei, they were finally allowed to visit her. The detention center claimed that they needed money to treat Liu's illness and asked for 4,000 Yuan (1) from her family. Later, they continued to demand more money using various excuses. Liu was suffering from a severe fever at that time and was supposed to receive medical treatment at a hospital the following day. However, when her relatives arrived at the hospital in the morning, Liu had already been moved elsewhere. Later, they were told that she had been transferred to Dabei Prison in Shenyang. When they questioned the head of the detention centre--surnamed Wang--why they sent her elsewhere in such a poor state of health, Wang answered flippantly, "She is fine." Knowing that Wang was lying, Liu's relatives continued to inquire about her unceasingly.

At that time, Liu was diagnosed with a "severe lung infection" (the term used for pulmonary tuberculosis by the prison to avoid the fear of infection by its personnel), so Dabei Prison refused to accept her. After she was sent back to Donggang, Donggang Detention Centre, Dandong Detention Centre, and the first division of Dandong Police Department all refused to accept her for fear of infection. Then they temporarily put her in Fengcheng Detention Centre.

With the help of some kind-hearted people, Liu's relatives finally found out that she was in Fengcheng Detention Centre, and they went to Fengcheng to demand she be released for medical treatment. After their lies had been exposed, the Donggang Police Department quickly took Liu back to Donggang and brought her to a hospital. Despite her relatives' requests and Liu's terrible health condition (her health had deteriorated further after one week of hunger strike in Fengcheng), Donggang police did not show any mercy, and at 4 a.m. on November 4, 2002, they secretly transferred Liu Mei to Dabei Prison in Shenyang.

Liu was assigned to the prison team for the old and disabled. There, the police persecuted her in cruel ways to try to make her give up her belief in Dafa. Liu refused to yield. Her health deteriorated again in February 2003. The prison authorities sent her to the so-called prison "hospital," where Falun Gong practitioners have always suffered the most terrible persecution.

Since February 2003, her relatives have been requesting that she be released, but have been denied by the prison every time. Whenever her relatives were allowed to see her, they were under strict surveillance--even to the degree of having their lips and facial expressions closely watched while talking. With an incredible will power, Liu Mei has been holding out till now.

Since their visit on March 10, Liu Mei's relatives have received no more information about her. From the last sentence that she shouted out to her mother with all the physical strength she had left, we can realize that she was in an extremely dangerous state at that time. We are not sure about her condition at present. Moreover, to the best of our knowledge, the police of Dabei Prison have always disposed of a practitioner's body without a trace whenever they persecuted him or her to death.

We appeal to all kind-hearted people in the world to extend your help to stop the persecution of Liu Mei in Dabei Prison.

(1) Yuan is the unit of currency in China, where the average monthly salary of an urban worker is 500 Yuan.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.ca/mh/articles/2004/3/15/69999.html