Additional Information about the Persecution of Xu Hongmei, Who Recently Died in Custody

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Police officers from the Qingyun Street Police Station arrested Falun Dafa practitioner Ms. Xu Hongmei from Qiqihar in Heilongjiang Province on January 13th, 2007. They brutally beat her, handcuffed her hands behind her back and hung her up by the handcuffs four times. They also handcuffed her hands in front and hung her up by the handcuffs once. They beat her so severely that she suffered internal injuries. In protest of the unjust detention Ms. Xu was on a hunger strike for 31 days. Even though she was bed-ridden they still kept her shackled. She couldn't walk, she was coughing up blood and her blood pressure was dangerously low. Ms. Xu was suffering an electrolyte imbalance, couldn't eat and was reduced to skin and bones. Xu Hongmei died at 4:30 p.m., on February 27th, 2007, at age 37.

Ms. Xu Hongmei, her daughter Tiantian and her husband Sun Weimin, who is currently incarcerated in Tailai Prison

Ms. Xu's family had been to Longsha Police Subdivision and Qinglong Street Police Station many times demanding her release, but the director of the Qingyun Street Police Station made up all kinds of excuses to evade them and postpone their meetings. He made things difficult for them, with no regard for Ms. Xu's life, and refused to release her.

Ms. Xu Hongmei was born in 1971 and started to practise Falun Gong in 1995. She met her husband Sun Weimin of the Qiqihar Number Two Mechanical Factory at the local Falun Gong practice site. They got married and had a daughter named Tiantian in 1999. Disaster descended on this happy family in 1999 when the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) started to persecute Falun Gong.

In November 1999 the whole family was kept in a deserted room with no indoor heating because they refused to renounce Falun Gong. One-year-old Tiantian screamed constantly. Each day they were forced to listen to slanderous and insulting statements against Falun Gong founder Mr. Li Hongzhi, Falun Dafa and themselves. Section Chief of the Political and Security Section of Longsha District Wang Chen and Longsha Township Police Station Director Liu took Ms. Xu to a detention centre. She was released at the end of December, but they sent her to a brainwashing centre in a seniors' apartment complex in Longsha District. They tortured her there in an attempt to make her give up Falun Gong.

Ms. Xu Hongmei had been arrested five times; she had been placed under house arrest, sent to a forced labour camp, and forced to become homeless. Her husband Mr. Sun Weimin was forced to leave home and was sentenced to thirteen years. He's still incarcerated at Tailai Prison. When she was one year old, Tiantian was under house arrest with her parents in a deserted residence near a factory, with no heat. She's been living in terror and doesn't have her parents with her.

In March 2000, Mr. Sun brought Tiantian with him to Beijing to appeal for the end of the persecution of Falun Gong. When they returned home, he was forced into homeless to avoid further persecution. In the summer of 2001, Sun Weimin was arrested and sentenced to thirteen years by Longshan Court. He is still serving the sentence at Tailai Prison.

Because Ms. Xu Hongmei refused to renounce Falun Gong party officials decided to detain her at the local detention centre for half a month. In June 2000, Ms. Xu and Ms. Shen Zili went to Beijing to appeal for justice for Falun Gong and were arrested by Director Liu of the Longsha Township Police Station. Political and Security Section Chief Wang Chen tortured Ms. Xu, and she was later transferred to the Qiqihar Detention Centre and sentenced to forced labour for a year. In July 2000 she was sent to Qiqihar Forced Labour Camp.

At Qiqihar Forced Labour Camp Ms. Xu was locked up in a small cell and tortured by officers Wang Mei and Wang Yan. During the extended detention, Ms. Xu and other practitioners, including Ms. Shen Zili, were sent to the detention centre because they resisted the persecution, but they couldn't be sentenced because they'd been incarcerated longer than the terms of their sentences. Three months later they were sent back to the forced labour camp and their terms were extended for another six months before they were finally released.

On April 21st, 2002 Director Liu brought some people to Ms. Xu's home, and they took her and her child to the Longsha Village Police Station. Later that day they took her to the detention centre and sentenced her to three years of forced labour.

Ms. Xu was subjected to all kinds of torture at the Qiqihar Forced Labour Camp. As a result, she couldn't walk, and she wasn't allowed to see her relatives for three years. Her pain was so unbearable that she tried to kill herself [Editor's note: the teachings of Falun Gong strictly forbid killing, including taking one's own life. The fact that Ms. Xu would try to kill herself underscores the brutality of the persecution]. The authorities at the labour camp took her to the Qiqihar Farm Bureau Hospital for an operation without notifying her family. They also extended her term by six months.

At approximately 4:00 p.m. on January 13th, 2007 police officers from the Qiqihar Qingyun Street Police Station arrested Xu Hongmei, Shen Zili, Hou Yaqian and another female practitioner in her 60s. The officers, including Yi Zhanhui, interrogated and tortured them. They brutally beat Xu Hongmei, handcuffed her hands behind her back and hung her from the handcuffs four times. They also handcuffed her hands in front and hung her by the handcuffs once. They beat her so severely that she suffered internal injuries. In protest of the imprisonment Ms. Xu began a hunger strike, which continued for more than 30 days. She continued to be mistreated even when she was severely ill and was on the verge of death. Ms. Xu Hongmei passed away at 4:30 p.m., on February 27th, 2007, at age 37.

People and agencies involved on the persecution:

Mayor Yang Xin: 86-133-9462-6060 (mobile)
Longsha Public Security Subdivision: 86-452-2467711
Qingyun Street Police Station: 86-452-2423571
Qiqihar Detention Centre: 86-452-2632345
Qingyun Street Police Station Director Gong Yanhui
Qingyun Street Police Station Associate Director Zhou Huanyu
Police Officer Yi Zhanhui

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2007/2/15/149099.html