Dr. Li Aijun, Physician at a Beijing Hospital, Sentenced to Nine Years in Prison

In 2002, Dr. Li Aijun, a physician at Xiyuan Hospital in Beijing, was sentenced to nine years in prison for practising Falun Dafa. She has already served five years in the Tiantanghe Women's Prison in Beijing.

Dr. Li was a physician in internal medicine in Xiyuan Hospital's inpatient department. Before she began practising Falun Dafa, she was a frail individual who frequently became ill. After she began cultivating, however, she became healthy and energetic. She strictly conducted herself according to the principles of "Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance." While each of the other doctors in her division cared for only three patients, Dr. Li cared for nine, and she never asked for additional compensation. Both the hospital staff and the patients praised her highly for her dedication and her noble medical ethics.

By late 2000, however, Dr. Li was forced to leave her job and was homeless for over a year in order to avoid the persecution.

In early 2002, police spotted Dr. Li and arrested her. She was sentenced to nine years in prison, and also formally dismissed by her employer.

Since her imprisonment, Dr. Li has been unable to care for her elderly parents or her son, a high school student. Her husband works hard every day, but he has no one to look after him. Dr. Li's heavy prison sentence has brought severe emotional trauma as well as economic loss to her family.

Reports indicate that other Falun Dafa practitioners currently held in the Beijing Women's Prison include Ms. Chu Dan, a graduate student from Gingham University, who was sentenced to eleven years, as well as Ms. Zhou Zi, a model teacher from the Fangshan District, and four government officials, including Ms. He Xinping, Ms. Xu Jing, Ms. Liu Yi, and Ms. Chen Shulan. Their sentences range from five to eight years.

The guards at the Beijing Women's Prison often beat practitioners with impunity. Ms. Zhou protested her mistreatment and has been on a hunger strike since February 26th 2007. Fifty-nine days have elapsed as of April 25th

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2007/5/9/154401.html