60-Year-Old Mr. Lai Jiamiao Dies in Custody in the Shaoguan City Prison

Name: Lai Jiamiao
Gender: Male
Age: 60
Address: Jiaoling County, Meizhou City, Guangdong Province
Occupation: Small business owner
Date of Death: November 27th, 2009
Date of Most Recent Arrest: December 2007
Most Recent Place of Detention: Shaoguan City Prison
City: Shaoguan
Province: Guangdong
Persecution Suffered: Brainwashing, imprisonment, extortion, home ransacked, interrogation, detention

At around 10:00 p.m. on November 27th, 2009, Mr. Lai Jiamiao's family received a call from Shaoguan City Prison, saying that Mr. Lai was very sick, but they did not ask the family to visit. Only three hours later, at 1:00 a.m. on November 28th, the prison authorities called again and said that Mr. Lai had died. Mr. Lai's family and their own personal business manager rushed to the prison on November 29th, a Saturday, and requested an autopsy. The prison administration refused to comply, saying, "No one works at weekends."

Mr. Lai's relative condemned the prison for torturing him and for failing to notify his family of his condition sooner, which resulted in Mr. Lai's death in custody. The relative demanded that the prison compensate Mr. Lai's family 300,000 yuan¹. The prison administration answered that there was no one working at the weekend, but they managed to get Mr. Lai's son, Lai Jianfeng, to agree to not go through with the autopsy, and only paid his family 20,000 yuan. They cremated his body on Monday, November 30th. On December 2nd, Mr. Lai's family took his ashes back home to Jiaoling County. During this entire process, they did not notify his wife, Ms. Lin Xingru, who is also a Falun Gong practitioner, and is currently in prison.

Mr. Lai and his wife were successful business owners in Meizhou City. He used to have many illnesses, such as hypertension and late stage diabetes. In 1997 he met Falun Gong practitioners who were spreading the practice in public. He followed Truthfulness-Benevolence-Forbearance, and all his illnesses vanished. Over the past ten years of persecution, he shared with others how Falun Gong had saved him. The couple was arrested multiple times.

In January 2000, Mr. Lai and his wife did the exercises in public and were arrested and detained in the Jiaoling County Detention Centre. Ms. Lin Xingru was sent to Guangdong Province Sanshui Women's Forced Labour Camp, while Mr. Lai was detained in a brainwashing centre.

In 2005 the Jiaoling County 610 Office (an organisation of special agents just for persecuting Falun Gong) tried to hold brainwashing sessions many times, but were unsuccessful in arresting the couple. The 610 Office, Domestic Security Division, and the Jiaocheng Town government harassed their family constantly and even tried to extort money from them. In order to avoid being arrested, the two left home for more than a month. On September 10th, 2005, they were arrested when they came home to visit Mr. Lai's mother. Ms. Lin Xingru escaped successfully, but Mr. Lai was once again taken to a brainwashing session.

Since 2005 Mr. Lai and his wife have not been able to go home. They let their family take care of their business and lived in Shenzhen City. In May 2006, Ms. Lin was arrested and detained while she was handing out Falun Gong leaflets exposing the persecution. She went on a hunger strike for 25 days, and when her condition was critical, she was released.

In December 2007, the police found their home in Shenzhen City, ransacked it, and arrested the couple. In 2008 they were each sentenced to three years in prison. Mr. Lai was detained in the Shaoguan City Prison, while Ms. Lin is still in the Guangzhou City Women's Prison. After Mr. Lai died in custody, Ms. Lin was not allowed to attend the funeral or see his body one last time.

Qiu Jianxiang, Jiaoling County 610 Office chair: 86-753-7862098/7888338, 86-13750501338/13322666338 (Mobile)
Qiu Xinqiang, Jiaoling County 610 Office deputy chair: 86-753-8121388/7888396, 86-13750501368 (Mobile)
Dai Junsheng, Jiaoling County CCP Political and Judiciary Committee secretary: 86-753-7860715, 86-753-7871686 (Office), 86-753-7884922, 86-13923029138 (Mobile)
Lai Shifeng, Domestic Security Division chief: 86-753-7182216/7873012, 86-13825975813 (Mobile)
Huang Tao, Jiaoling County Police Department director: 86-753-7878832/7182881, 86-13823813691 (Mobile)
Lin Jianxiong: Jiaoling County commissioner: 86-753-7860082, 86-13509097198 (Mobile)

Note

1. "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/2009/12/9/214094.html