Xi'an City Practitioner Ms. Li Yanfang's Legs Broken, Mouth Damaged by Torture

On New Year's Day 2005, practitioner Ms. Li Yanfang was arrested for posting the message "Falun Dafa Is Good" on a wall. After being severely tortured in jail, Ms. Li could only crawl. The prison inmates broke her legs, and she was sent to the hospital. The doctor issued a notification of critical illness to her family members. She was then sentenced to four years in prison. The police carried her into the Shaanxi Province Women's Prison following the sentencing. She is now unable to speak because the police badly damaged her mouth while force-feeding her.

Ms. Li Yanfang came from the countryside of Shanxi Province to Xi'an City to work. In January 2005, she posted the message "Falun Gong Is Good" on a wall and a taxi driver reported her. The National Guard Squadron in the Lianhu District Police Department in Xi'an City arrested her. Ms. Li went on a hunger strike to protest and was severely tortured. As a result, she was sent to the Ankang Hospital in Xi'an City.

In the Ankang Hospital, while she was on a hunger strike, the police tied her to an iron chair and brutally force-fed her. By the 28th day of her hunger strike, her body was swollen and her head had become so large it was frightening. After the torture, the hospital issued a notice of critical illness.

The Lianhu National Guard Squadron and the city's 610 Office¹ notified her parents to have one last meeting with her. They told her family that she could be released if they paid a fine. Her parents were too poor to pay the fine, so the police refused to release her. In the few days that her parents negotiated with the police, the police let them pay for cigarettes, meals, and taxi fares, costing the family over 3,000 yuan². In particular, a policeman with the last name of Fu in the National Guard Squadron in Lianhu District Office kept asking for meals. Li's parents gave him 50 yuan and he still complained.

Ms. Li's parents persuaded her to end her hunger strike. As soon as she was able to take in some food, the police again sent her back to the Lianhu Prison. Ms. Li persisted in doing the Falun Gong exercises. The police directed other inmates to berate, humiliate, beat, and abuse her. Ms Li had bruises all over her body, with new injuries added before old ones healed. With encouragement from the police, the inmates broke her legs. After the beating she had to crawl to use the bathroom, wash her face, shampoo, or take a shower. Her whole body smelled and her hair became entangled and matted together. During her menstrual periods she was unable to properly care for herself.

To protest the persecution, Ms. Li once again went on a hunger strike. Afraid that she might die in jail the officials sent her back to the Ankang hospital. The hospital issued a notice of critical illness twice after the court sentenced her to four years in prison. The "610 Office" and Lianhu National Guard police ignored the hospital's notice of critical illness and carried her directly from the hospital to the Shanxi Province Women's Prison.

On August 18, Ms. Li's parents came to the prison from Shanxi Province to visit her. Ms. Li was carried out on a stretcher to meet them. Family members found that she could no longer speak because her mouth was so badly damaged, apparently from the force-feeding.

I hope that practitioners in Shanxi Province will send forth righteous thoughts after reading this article, to help Ms. Li Yanfang escape from the torture as soon as possible.

Note

1. "The 610 office" is an agency specifically created to persecute Falun Gong, with absolute power over each level of administration in the Party and all other political and judiciary systems.

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

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2005/10/28/113321.html