List of Practitioners from Shanghai Who Died Due to Torture or Other Persecution Means

It's been eight years since the persecution began. The 610 Office¹ in Shanghai has ordered the Procuratorate, judicial and legal institutes, the military, police, special agents, news media, psychiatric hospitals, local Chinese Communist Party (CCP) organisations, and residential commissions to participate in persecuting Falun Gong practitioners. More than 30 practitioners in Shanghai have died as a result of persecution; numerous practitioners have been tortured and left physically disabled, suffered mental collapse, deteriorated mental health, job loss, and many have had no choice but to leave their homes. Their families have also suffered tremendous physical and mental anguish, as well as economic hardship.

As of December 20th, 2006, we have information about 12 Falun Gong practitioners who were tortured to death.

1. Mr. Lu Xingguo, 45, lived in Hongyi Village, Wanggang, Tang Town, Pudongxin District. Mr. Lu was imprisoned in the Qingpu Third Forced Labour Camp. On October 15th, 2003, Xiang Jianzhong, Captain of a police middle team, instigated ten drug abusers to beat Mr. Lu to death. Mr. Lu's body was badly disfigured when he died.

2. Ms. Li Weihong, 43, used to be a clerk at the Nangjing W. Rd. business centre and lived on Hutai Road, Jiabei District, Shanghai. In 2000, police in Wenzhou City, Zhejiang Province, forced hot chilli sauce into her stomach using a naso-gastric tube. This caused her to roll on the floor in excruciating pain. Her oesophagus, stomach, liver, and intestines were damaged. Ms. Li was sentenced to a year in prison. She was later sent to the Central Hospital in Jing'an District on bail. After the surgery, the doctor found abscesses in her stomach and intestines. Ms. Li died on April 19th, 2003.

3. Mr. Yang Xueqin, 36, was a practitioner who lived in Shanghai. Mr. Yang went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong in July 1999 and was arrested and sent to a psychiatric hospital. In 2000, Mr. Yang went to Beijing and was arrested again. On February 18th, 2000, after Mr. Yang was tortured in a detention centre, he was found lying on the ground with a massive head injury. Centre staff claimed he had "jumped off the building." He died nine days later.

4. Mr. Ma Xinxing, in his 40s, lived near Xuhui Campus of the Jiao Tong University in Shanghai. In late 1999, police from Xuhui district kept Mr. Ma in a psychiatric hospital for over three months, during which time he was administered nerve-damaging drugs. In late 2000, Mr. Ma was again sent to the Qingpu Third Forced Labour Camp. In November 2003, Mr. Ma's life was in danger as a consequence of being tortured. The police, wanting to avoid responsibility for his death, asked his family to take him home. Mr. Ma died on December 14th, 2003.

5. Mr. Li Jianbin, 23, graduated from the Shanghai Jiao Tong University in 1999. Mr. Li lived in the teachers' dorm of the East China University of Science and Technology in Shanghai. On May 13th, 2000, Li climbed out of a window on the fifth floor to avoid police harassment and arrest. He fell and died.

6. Mr. Li Baifan, 40, was a lecturer in the East China Normal University in Shanghai. Mr. Li was sentenced to two years in a forced labour camp in August 2000 and sent to the Dafeng Farm in Jiangsu province. Mr. Li refused to renounce Falun Gong. He died on April 14th, 2001, in a brainwashing centre. The police said he committed suicide. However, the police refused to let Mr. Li's family see his body.

7. Ms. Li Limao, lived on Huaihaizhong Road across the street from the Ruijin Police Station in Luwan District. In October 2004, someone reported Ms. Li for clarifying the truth about Falun Gong. A police officer from the Ruijin Police Station unlawfully arrested her and sentenced her to a year in a forced labour camp. Around April or May in 2005, Ms. Li was sent to a hospital for pain in her liver. Those who last saw her said she looked fine at that time. A few days later, she died after being injected with unknown drugs while in the hospital.

8. Ms. Cao Jinxian, 48, lived in Cailu Village, Cailu Township, Pudongxin District, Shanghai. Ms. Cao was a steadfast practitioner and was thus many times arrested by the police and tortured in forced labour camps. In 2005, Ms. Cao was forced to leave her home and became homeless. She died on June 18th, 2005.

9. Ms. Huang Qiaolan, 58, lived in Baoshan District in Shanghai. On November 20th, 2001, a security guard arrested Ms. Huang while she was distributing Falun Gong leaflets exposing the persecution and locked her in the Luodian Detention Centre in Baoshan District. Ms. Huang's family spent most of their savings bribing the guards trying to get her out of prison, almost 50,000 yuan². Consequently the prison decided to let her serve her three-year term outside of the prison. After Ms. Huang returned home, the 610 Office, police, and residential commissions continued to threaten and harass her. Liu Bing from the 610 Office twice arrested Ms. Huang and sent her to a brainwashing centre to torture her. Ms. Huang couldn't withstand the persecution and developed liver cancer. She died on October 29th, 2004.

10. Ms. Ge Wenxin was tortured in the Songjiang Women's Prison. Ms. Ge's health deteriorated and her life was in danger. The prison sent her to a hospital in June 2005, where she died within a week.

11. Mr. Chen Jun, 28, was from Hunan Province. Mr. Chen started to practise Falun Gong because he was moved by a kind practitioner while he was serving his term in the Tilanqiao Prison. The guards and prisoners started to torture Mr. Chen because of his practice and viciously beat him. Mr. Chen was badly injured and died in February 2006.

12. Ding Youmu, 65, was sentenced to two years in prison in June 2001. Ding was released in September 2002. After Ding went home, the police continued to interfere with Ding's life. Ding's brain tumour worsened and he died on December 18th, 2004.

There are another 20 cases documented of people who died because of the persecution. Some of them died after they gave up the practice of Falun Gong and their health deteriorated, and others' causes of death are still unknown.

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://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2007/1/29/147811.html