FDI: News of Seven Falun Gong Deaths Breaks through Jiang Regime’s Information Blockade

NEW YORK (FDI) — For more than three years, the Falun
Dafa Information Center has received — on a daily basis — dozens of
reports of arbitrary detention, forced-labor, extortion, torture, death
and other forms of persecution against Falun Gong practitioners in China.
These cases, however, are only the ones that made it out of China. A vast
majority of the persecution remains hidden beneath a strictly enforced
information blockade put in place by Jiang’s regime to hide the persecution
from the international community.

In the winter of 2001, for example, the Falun Dafa Information
Center had verified and documented the deaths of approximately 300 people
who died from police violence and torture after being detained because
of their Falun Gong practice. Chinese government sources at the time,
however, indicated that the real death toll was well over 1,600. Some
inside sources suggested even higher figures.

Thus, for every case of arbitrary detention, forced-labor,
extortion, torture, or death of a Falun Gong practitioner in China, there
are five, or perhaps many more, that we don’t know about.

This release presents what has been confirmed in the
last few days about seven more Falun Gong practitioners who have lost
their lives in this persecution:

• Ms. Fan Yaxiong, a middle school vice principal in her forties,
  Hebei Province.
• Mr. Ji Jingchang, a 53 year-old man from Changchun, Jilin
  Province.
• Mr. Li Xingze, from Sichuan Province, who died from the extreme
  conditions of forced labor in a brick kiln.
• Mr. Li Hongwei, a 50 year-old Beijing man who was arrested
  during the 16th Party Congress and died in police custody shortly thereafter.
• Mr. Zhang Quanfu, a 65 year-old man who died on the way to
  hospital from wounds inflicted during torture in a Changchun labor camp.
• Mr. Yan Yongdong, who police claim jumped from a train, though
  inspection of his body suggests torture as the more likely cause of
  death.
• Ms. Guo Renfeng, an otherwise healthy woman in her thirties,
  who died shortly after release from police detention in Hubei Province.

Ms. Fan Yaxiong, in her forties, was the Director of
Education and Vice Principal at Zhangjiakou City No. 15 Middle School,
Hebei Province. Respected by colleagues and students alike, Ms. Fan was
given the “Teacher of Excellence” award. However after the persecution
began, Ms. Fan was expelled from the Communist Party and removed from
her position at the school.

On July 20th 1999 Fan Yaxiong went to Beijing to appeal
for Falun Gong. She was arrested before she arrived. In January 2000,
Ms. Fan again went to Beijing. Police on Tiananmen Square arrested her
and sent her to Xuanhua Detention Center. Ms. Fan began a hunger strike
to protest, and was held captive until her health declined dramatically.

In March of 2000 and again in May, Ms. Fan returned to
Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong. She was arrested each time and tortured
brutally in both Xuanhua Detention Center and Shaziling Mental Hospital,
then sentenced to three years of forced labor at Tangshan Labor Camp.
She was beaten, cursed, and threatened, enduring it all even until her
life was on the line. Fearing the rapidly declining state of her health,
the guards released her. Two days after, Fan Yaxiong passed away.

Fifty-three year old Mr. Ji Jingchang from Nanguan District.
Changchun City was a handicapped person who suffered from many diseases.
He began practicing Falun Gong in 1998 and after two months of practice,
Mr. Ji regained his health and was able to once again walk normally.

After July 20th of 1999, Ji Jingchang and his family
appealed to government officials many times to explain how Falun Gong
could benefit society. As a result of the persecution that followed for
Mr. Ji, his wife and young son, Mr. Ji’s health deteriorated dramatically.

Mr. Ji’s paralysis returned after being harassed
into stopping his practice, police continued to raid his home. They repeatedly
threatened him and his family, arresting his wife and even threatening
their son with a gun. Under the stress, Mr. Ji’s health quickly failed.
He passed away on August 26th 2002.

Mr. Li Xingze endured very intense physical torture in
Ziyang Detention Center. He was tortured with electric batons and brutally
beaten. Mr. Li was also forced to do hard labor in a brick kiln, hauling
heavy loads all day in extreme heat and dangerous conditions.

Unable to endure any longer, Li Xingze passed away in
October of 2000.

Mr. Li Hongwei, a fifty year-old researcher in Beijing’s
Chaoyang Agricultural Machinery Institute was arrested during the 16th
National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party in November, 2002.

Mr. Li’s family was not allowed to visit him until
his wife was told that he had died of a hunger strike in February 2003.
She rushed to the detention center and took pictures of the bruises she
found covering his body. Fearing exposure of their brutal crimes, officials
seized the camera, smashed it, and confiscated the ruined film.

Zhang Quanfu, a resident of Liaoyuan City was detained
and brutally tortured by Chaoyangguo Labor Camp’s No. 6 Brigade’s
Second Team, Changchun City. On January 2, 2003, Mr. Zhang died on the
way to the hospital.

Mr. Yan Yongdong went to Beijing to appeal for Falun
Gong after the persecution began on July 20th 1999. He was killed ten
days later.

Police claimed that he jumped off of a train that ran
between Beijing and Tianjin, but his family members found his body covered
with bruises and his face twisted into an expression of great pain. It
was clear to his family that he had actually died from torture.

An employee of Hubei Province’s Vehicle and Bridge
Plant, Guo Renfeng endured long term detention at the order of the County
“610 Office” Chief Liao Xuesheng.

Ms. Renfeng’s physical condition was very weak when
she was recently released from detention. She passed away in the hospital
shortly thereafter.

# # #

NEWS — Mar. 18, 2003

Falun Dafa Information Center, www.faluninfo.net

Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa (about),
is a practice of meditation and exercises with teachings based on the
universal principle of “Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance.” It is a practice
that was taught in private for thousands of years before being made public
in 1992 by Mr. Li Hongzhi. Falun Gong has roots in traditional Chinese
culture, but it is distinct and separate from other practices such as
the religions of Buddhism and Taoism. Since its introduction in 1992,
it quickly spread by word of mouth throughout China, and is now practiced
in over 50
countries.

With government estimates of as many as 100
million practicing Falun Gong, China’s President Jiang Zemin
outlawed the peaceful practice in July 1999 (report),
fearful of anything touching the hearts and minds of more citizens than
the Communist Party. Unable to crush the spirit of millions who had experienced
improved health and positive life changes from Falun Gong, Jiang’s
regime has intensified its propaganda campaign to turn public opinion
against the practice while quietly imprisoning, torturing and even murdering
those who practice it.

The Falun Dafa Information Center has verified details
of 630 deaths (reports
/
sources) since the persecution of Falun Gong in China began in 1999.
Government officials inside China, however, report that the actual death
toll is well over 1,600, while expert sources estimate that figure to
be much higher.
Hundreds of thousands have been detained, with more than
100,000 being sentenced to forced labor camps, typically without trial.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT THE FALUN DAFA
INFORMATION CENTER — Gail Rachlin 917-501-4441, Levi Browde 914-720-0963,
Erping Zhang 646-533-6147, or Feng Yuan 917-941-1097. Email: faluninfoctr@nycmail.com,
Website: http://www.faluninfo.net/

Posting date: 20/March/2003
Original article date: 19/March/2003
Category: News from China