Housewife Arrested and Detained in China: Disabled Husband Left Home Alone

Mrs. Guangzhen Li, a 66 year-old housewife and mother of New York resident Jin (Jason) Xiao, was arrested on March 15, 2004 in Hubei, China for handing out informational flyers in a public area. Authorities are holding Mrs. Li and two of her friends, both senior ladies, in Gongan County Detention Center in Hubei, China. Mrs. Li’s husband, a disabled senior, normally relies upon her for his daily living needs.

Jin Xiao, the founder of Rescue Our Family Members, is extremely concerned for his mother’s safety. He seeks his mother’s immediate release from detention, and hopes to obtain asylum for both of his parents to ensure their long-term safety from government oppression.

This is the second time that Mrs. Li has been arrested for exercising her constitutional rights, with the first arrest in May 2002. In that instance she was released after twenty intense days in detention. Following the most recent arrest, police threatened to send Mrs. Li to labor camp for one year unless her family provided monetary compensation – bribery – to the police department.

In both instances Mrs. Li was providing the public with accurate information pertaining to the Chinese government’s state-run persecution of a popular meditation practice called Falun Gong.

To date, more than 900 deaths have been confirmed in relation to the state-run persecution of the Falun Gong meditation practice, though experts estimate that number to be just the ‘tip of the iceberg’ of the actual death toll. Detainees in Chinese detention centers and labor camps regularly face both physical and mental torture. The Laogai Foundation, a US-based labor camp watchdog, estimates that between three and six million people are currently undergoing “reform through labor” in Chinese forced labor camps.