Belated News: Non-Practitioner Mr. Li Weiji Sentenced to Eight Years in Prison for Helping to Rescue Persecuted Falun Dafa Practitioners

I met Li Weiji in late August 2002 in China. He told me that his sister, Li Weixun, was severely persecuted for practising Falun Gong. He learned more about Falun Gong when he was in the US and attended the 2002 Falun Dafa Experience Sharing Conference in Washington, DC. He decided to return to China and rescue Dafa practitioners who, like his sister, were being persecuted.

First he asked me about the methods of torture used on Dafa practitioners at various forced labour camps in Liaoning Province. He also needed my help to find practitioners being persecuted in Liaoning Province. He told me about his plan to return to China and his desire to rescue persecuted practitioners and help them leave China. Then they could testify against Jiang Zemin and his accomplices in an international court of law, regarding their innumerable crimes in persecuting Dafa practitioners.

I was moved to tears. He was modest and very proud of his sister, Li Weixun, for being a Dafa practitioner.

I cried and told him of the inhumane tortures I had suffered at six labour camps in Liaoning Province. When he heard I, a woman, was thrown into a cell full of men at the Masanjia Forced Labour Camp, he said angrily, "This government is so villainous! Don't worry! I'll make sure to get you out of this country so everyone in the world will know about it."

Li Weiji and I took on this responsibility. We bucked the odds, collected evidence, and visited witnesses with knowledge of the persecution of practitioners. Li Weiji had recently returned from the US at the time when he suddenly became completely immobile and was forced to stay in bed at his youngest sister's home for three days. Due to the urgency of the matter, he forced himself to get up [when his condition improved slightly] and we went to Shenyang City, Tiaopingshan, and Fushun City. At first he could not move his back and sometimes needed my help to walk. The situation improved somewhat, and his mobility was soon completely restored. Some practitioners, however, suspected that Li Weiji was a spy, which created great pressure for our evidence collection and the entire rescue effort.

Li Weiji was undaunted by pressure from all sides. There was one practitioner who was released after her lower limbs were paralysed from torture at the Wujiabao Labour Camp in Fushun City. No practitioner dared to visit her, because everyone knew her home was being monitored. A few days later, this persecuted practitioner, who had cerebral atrophy and lower-body paralysis, appeared before us. When I carried this practitioner, who weighed less than 88 lbs to the toilet, I asked, "How did you get here?" She told me, "Li Weiji came to my home and told me the information about practitioners abroad. He said overseas practitioners need evidence of the persecution from the practitioners in China. He hoped I would cooperate with him and expose the persecution. That is why I came with him. He hired a taxi and picked me up." All of us admired Li Weiji's courage. Later, officers from Yinbei Police Department in Tieling City confiscated the videotape we made of this practitioner recounting her persecution experiences.

Another time, Li Weiji wanted to go to the Masanjia Forced Labour Camp to videotape scenes. I was really worried about him but could not make him waver in his determination. Two practitioners from Shenyang City went to the Masanjia Labour Camp with him. Later on, the two practitioners, Ms. Wang Jie and Ms. Cai, were each sentenced to four years in prison.

With help from two other practitioners, Li Weiji continued to collect persecution evidence. He took me and another practitioner (whose lower spine was broken from a police beating) to the home of his wife's sister so we could write our persecution experiences. To ensure our safety, he did not want us to rent a home and arranged for us to stay there during the whole process. I was truly moved by his sacrificing everything in an effort to rescue practitioners. His wife's sister and her husband were later persecuted for keeping us at their home.

As we were about to leave Liaoning Province after having collected a large amount of persecution evidence despite the enormous pressure, about a dozen officers from Yinbei Police Station in Tieling City broke into our living place on October 8th, 2002, because our phone had been monitored. They took all of our papers and physical evidence, the videotape recordings of Dafa practitioners' own recollections, five passports, Dafa practitioners' pictures, and information that exposed the persecution. The local police were shocked by what they found.

I was sentenced to three years of forced labour and sent to the Masanjia Forced Labour Camp. I was carried home seven months later. The two aforementioned practitioners, Ms. Cai and Ms. Wang Jie from Shenyang City, were taken to Dabei Prison. I heard that Li Weiji was injured in a beating and was sentenced to eight years in prison. Hearing the news, my heart wept.

I am writing this article to call on the world to rescue this brave man who gave up everything to uphold justice.

Although my voice is several years late, Li Weiji's name and what he did will forever stay with me. Li Weiji, I will forever testify to your courage!

Note: Under the persecution in the last few years, I lapsed into a despondent state for two years due to pressure from all sides. I want to use this opportunity to thank a fellow practitioner who helped me. It is he who helped me with a practitioner's wisdom cultivated from Dafa and awakened my memory. I wrote this article after this practitioner gave me an article about practitioner Li Weixun and her family. I cried the entire time as I read the article, and when I wrote this article. I want to again thank the practitioner who lent me help.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2007/3/30/151852.html