Practitioner Li Jiangang, Is Abducted Right Before His Wedding

Mr. Li Jiangang of Shandong Province, nephew of Weifang City Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Chen Zixiu (1), was abducted by National Security agents right before his wedding. He is illegally detained at Kuiwen District Detention Centre.

May 13 was to be Li Jiangang's wedding day. On the evening of April 24, 2004, while driving, he was suddenly stopped and apprehended by Weifang National Security agents. At 1:30 a.m. on the morning of April 25, National Security policemen surrounded the home of Mr. Li's fiancée, and opened the security-chained door. His fiancée and her mother were awakened from a sound sleep by the loud knocking. They climbed out the window and jumped off the wall to escape the persecution. The wedding money that they had saved and put aside was taken when the National Security policemen ransacked the apartment.

Mr. Li's father was a retired cadre of the Weifang Municipal Government. His mother is a retired employee. Both of them went to Weifang City National Security Bureau to try to get their son back. They questioned the policemen as to why they abducted their son, and why the wedding money was taken. They wanted to know if the money given by their families and relatives for their wedding was considered as "evidence of a crime." Personnel from Weifang National Security Bureau denied that they had stolen the money. They even asked the old couple to show them the proof that the money was taken! Later, they would talk no more about it and drove the elderly couple away. The elderly couple then went to the Kuiwen Public Security Sub-bureau to try to get their son back. Officers from the Police Bureau threatened them with arrest, warning them to stop looking for their son, Li Jiangang.

In a search for justice, Ms. Zhang Xueling, Mr. Li's cousin and the daughter of Ms. Chen Zixiu, exposed the persecution of her mother. As a result, on April 24, 2001, Ms. Zhang Xueling was sentenced to three years in forced labour camp without trial.

Cultivating Falun Gong gave Li Jiangang a sense of justice and responsibility. He used to cause a lot of trouble for his parents and relatives. He fought with others, abused alcohol, smoked and gambled a lot. When he was 26 years old, he read "Zhuan Falun" (2) and began to change. He became an upright, kind and helpful person. When others did not treat him well, he was tolerant of them.

After July 20, 1999, when Falun Gong was being defamed and slandered, Li Jiangang went to Beijing to appeal to the government many times. He hoped to clarify the truth about Falun Gong through his own experience. However, he ended up being arrested, detained, penalized and beaten. During that one year, he was illegally arrested nearly 10 times by the police station and detained for "violation of the social order" two times. He was detained once on a false criminal offense and 12,000 yuan (3) was extorted from him.

According to incomplete statistics, there have been over 30 Falun Gong practitioners persecuted to death in Weifang City of Shandong Province. There are numerous Falun Gong practitioners being illegally fined, illegally detained and thrown into forced labor camps, and their homes ransacked.

Notes:

(1) Ms. Chen Zixiu was tortured to death in 2000. The front page article of the Wall Street Journal, dated April 20, 2000, read, "Practicing Falun Gong Was a Right, Ms. Chen Said, Up to Her Last Day." The article describes the facts of how the local officials tortured Ms. Chen Zixiu to death. This article has attracted a lot international attention. Ian Johnson, the reporter, was awarded the Pulitzer News Award for 2000.

(2) The book, Zhuan Falun, comprises the principal teachings of Falun Dafa.

(3) yuan: Chinese currency; 500 yuan is the average monthly income for an urban worker in China.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2004/5/31/76031.html