(Minghui.org) Fourteen cases of Falun Gong practitioners persecuted to death for upholding their faith were reported in November 2023, bringing the total year-to-date reported deaths to 188.
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a meditative practice based on the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance. The practice was introduced to the public in 1992, and over the next several years, millions of Chinese people embraced its profound teachings and health benefits. The Chinese communist regime feared its popularity and launched a nationwide campaign to eradicate Falun Gong in July 1999. The persecution continues today.
Except for a death that took place in December 2004 and in May 2012, the other 12 cases took place in 2023. Due to the communist regime’s strict information censorship, the real death toll as a result of the persecution is likely much higher.
Jilin and Anhui Provinces each registered three deaths, Inner Mongolia two, and the remaining six provinces—Gansu, Guangdong, Henan, Heilongjiang, Hunan, and Liaoning—each had one case.
The fourteen deceased practitioners included nine women and five men. Among the 11 practitioners whose ages at the time of passing were known, the youngest was 51 and the oldest 84 years old.
Most of the practitioners endured severe beatings and tortures during incarceration before their passing. A 66-year-old woman died while she was in prison. A woman in her 70s died a day after her release from police custody. A 69-year-old woman died six days after the police put her in a detention center. Another man in his 70s was tortured in a detention center and lost his vision as a result.
In addition, a 51-year-old man was beaten in a detention center until he vomited blood and lost consciousness for a week. He was sent home while his wife, who also practiced Falun Gong, was put away in a forced labor camp. He suffered severe water retention in his abdomen and couldn’t afford to see a doctor. Similar to him, a 78-year-old woman became too sick to care for herself as a result of the torture. While she served a three-year sentence at home, the authorities continued to harass her twice a month until she passed away. Another 61-year-old woman never recovered from the torture and injections of toxic drugs she was subjected to while in prison, and died as a result.
An 84-year-old man’s pension was deducted for years because of his practice. When the authorities tried to force him to return the pension he received in the past, he suffered a stroke and died.
Below are brief summaries of 11 of the 14 deaths reported in November 2023. The list of the 14 practitioners can be downloaded here (PDF).
Belated News: Liaoning Man Beaten to Near-death in Detention Center and Died Alone After Release
Mr. Jiang Dejin
A man in Dashiqiao City, Liaoning Province, passed away on December 4, 2004, due to injuries from being tortured in custody for practicing Falun Gong. He was 51 years old.
Mr. Jiang Dejin used to have issues with almost all of his internal organs, including his kidneys, stomach, and heart. He also struggled with low blood sugar and insufficient blood supply to his brain. He was always weak, and lacked energy. He became a healthy man after he learned Falun Gong.
The authorities in Dashiqiao City posted a 2,000-yuan reward in May 2002 for the arrest of one Falun Gong practitioner. Police chief Zhan Wei and Han Dan, the director of the street committee, arrested Mr. Jiang. They first held him in the local lockup and then transferred him to the Dashiqiao City Detention Center.
The inmates in Mr. Jiang’s cell whipped him with soft metal wires. They said that by using the soft wires, his injuries would mostly be internal and not show on the outside.
Mr. Jiang kept vomiting blood and soon passed out. When he was taken to the hospital, the doctor couldn’t even draw blood from his arm, as he had lost so much. After much effort, the doctor managed to draw a little blood from his leg to be tested.
Mr. Jiang remained in a coma for a week. His family wasn’t allowed to visit him during that time. The director of the detention center later released him.
Mr. Jiang was bedridden for over a month. When he could finally get out of bed and walk, a liver condition left him with systemic edema. At the time his wife was being held in Masanjia Forced Labor Camp. He couldn’t afford to go to the hospital or hire someone to look after him. The police also had people stake out his home to monitor him. He passed away about a year and a half later on December 4, 2004.
Women Dies After Being Tortured and Not Allowed to Practice Falun Gong
Ms. Xu Guizhi of Yushu City, Jilin Province struggled with deteriorating health after she was tortured in prison from 2019 to 2021. She was not allowed to practice Falun Gong after being released, and died two years later in January 2023 at the age of 69.
Ms. Xu was arrested by officers from the Zhengyang Police Station on December 6, 2018. She was tried in Yushu City Court and sentenced to 2.5 years in prison on March 15, 2019. The guards in Jilin Province Women’s Prison beat and tortured her in attempts to force her to renounce her faith. The torture took a toll on her health and she developed diabetes, became incontinent, and had a hard time walking.
After she was released in 2021, her family was terrified of the persecution and prevented her from taking up the practice again. Her health continued to decline and she died as a result.
Inner Mongolia Woman Dies Six Days After Being Admitted to Detention Center
A resident of Tuquan County, Hinggan League, Inner Mongolia, died six days after she was arrested in March 2023 while visiting her daughter in Changchun City, Jilin Province.
Ms. Liang Lixin became a Falun Gong practitioner in 1997. As a result of the persecution she was put in a forced labor camp in February 2001 for 2.5 years. She was sentenced to seven years in prison in 2004 and 3.5 years in 2013.
She moved to Changchun City, Jilin Province to live with her daughter. The local police arrested her in March 2023 and put her in Jiutai Detention Center. The police later transferred her to Changchun City Detention Center, and she died six days later.
Pension Extorted, Former Deputy Chief of Water Resource Bureau Dies of Anguish
Mr. Li Dianxing, a resident of Huaihua City, Hunan Province was constantly harassed by the local authorities. An employee from Yuanling County Human Resources and Social Security went to his place on April 3, 2023 and demanded he return a portion of the pension he received. The person claimed that because Mr. Li wasn’t entitled to any retirement benefits while serving a previous prison term for his faith, he was thus required to return the funds he received during that time. Mr. Li was so angry and upset that he suffered a hemorrhagic stroke. He died later that day. He was 84.
Mr. Li was an engineer and deputy chief at Yuanling County Water Resource Bureau. His chronic lung and stomach diseases, and rheumatoid arthritis, disappeared after he learned Falun Gong in 1998.
He was arrested on March 17, 2020 by the Yuanling County police for handing out Falun Gong fliers and detained 15 days.
The police arrested him another time in November 2020 after he put a Falun Gong flier on a car. The Yuanling County Court sentenced him to six months and fined him 2,000 yuan on November 30, 2021. He appealed to the Huaihua City Intermediate Court, which ruled to uphold the original verdict on February 8, 2022. He was transferred to Wangling Prison in You County on July 14, 2022 and later suffered hypertension, gout, and fever as a result of the torture.
While he was in prison, the Yuanling County Human Resources and Social Security secretly withheld all of his pension savings, a total of 1,118.64 yuan. By the time he was released on January 13, 2023 he had no cash and nothing to live on.
Two months later, on March 24, staffers from the Human Resources went to his home and demanded that he return the pension he received before. He refused to comply and argued that his pension was his personal assets earned through his decades of hard work.
The authorities came back again on April 3, still trying to force him to sign documents to return his pension. He suffered brain hemorrhaging as a result of rage, and died that day.
English Teacher Dies After Repeated Harassment and Intimidation
Mr. Wang Maojie of Tonghe County, Heilongjiang Province, died in April 2023 at the age of 53 as a result of years of persecution.
Mr. Wang used to teach English in Nonghe Town. Because of the persecution he was repeatedly arrested and detained. When he was detained in Tonghe County Detention Center for 157 days, the guards put 53-pound shackles on him, which were intended only for death row inmates. On one occasion, an inmate beat him on the hip with a one-inch thick plastic tube until blood was visible on his shorts. His limbs developed ulcers as a result of the torture and they were unbearably itchy.
Torture reenactment: Heavy shackles
A judge at the Tonghe County Court sentenced Mr. Wang to a year in Hulan Prison on December 15, 2016. The head of the Tonghe County 610 Office, along with officers from Nonghe Town Police Station, continued to harass and intimidate him after he was released.
Beaten and Injected with Unknown Drug, Woman in Inner Mongolia Dies as a Result
Succumbing to the physical torture, administration of toxic drugs, and mental distress from serving a five-year term for her faith in Falun Gong, Ms. Li Ping passed away on September 15, 2023, only eight days before her 61st birthday.
Ms. Li, a Holingol City, Inner Mongolia resident, was last arrested on August 12, 2014. She was transferred to Hohhot Women’s Prison with her hands and feet chained together on October 18, 2015 to serve a five-year term. The guards instructed inmates to mix unknown drugs into her food. They also injected her with toxic drugs when she refused to eat the tampered-with food. Two days before her release on August 12, 2019, the guards made her sit on a small stool for nine hours because she did the Falun Gong exercises.
Prior to her five-year prison term given in 2015, Ms. Li was twice held in brainwashing centers and served a 2.5-year forced labor camp term.
Woman Dies in Jilin Prison as a Result of Torture
Ms. Gu Jinfen from Yanji City, Jilin Province was arrested in April 2023 by an officer from Beishanjie Police Station for telling people about the persecution of Falun Gong. Despite that the police released her on bail, they still submitted her case to the local procuratorate. She was forced to live away from home to hide from the authorities after she was indicted.
As soon as she returned home months later, the police arrested her and took her back into custody. She was soon handed a prison sentence and taken to the Changchun City Women’s Prison. She died in the prison on October 1, 2023. She was 66 years old.
Police Continue to Harass Sickly Woman Until She Passes Away
Ms. Su Xianghong, a resident of Zhongshan City, Guangdong Province, was arrested on July 12, 2019 by agents from the Tanzhou Town 610 Office and the local Domestic Security Office. Her health deteriorated after being detained for over a year. She was tortured until she was unable to care for herself. Despite her poor health, the local court sentenced her to a three-year prison term. She was allowed to serve time at home. The authorities continued to harass her twice a month until she passed away on October 12, 2023. She was 78 years old.
Woman Arrested for Talking About the Persecution, Dies Two Days After Being Released
Ms. Xu Lixia, of Ma’anshan City, Anhui Province, was arrested on October 23, 2023 by officers from Yushan District Domestic Security. She was telling people about the persecution of Falun Gong at the time. The police released her the next day and she died the day after. She was in her 70s. Her family tried to seek justice for her, but the authorities forced them to have Ms. Xu’s body cremated on November 5.
Ms. Xu’s younger sister, Ms. Xu Liping, was arrested with her and has since been detained in Ma’anshan City Detention Center. Prior to her sister’s passing, Ms. Xu Liping also lost her husband and another sister, Ms. Xu Lizhen, this year because of the persecution.
Ms. Zhang Xiuxiang, a resident of Changchun City, Jilin Province, was arrested on April 7, 2015 and sentenced to 3.5 years in prison on October 27, 2015. She endured relentless torture while serving time in the Jilin Province Women’s Prison. She struggled with poor health when she was released on October 7, 2018. Even after she became incapacitated, the police still went to her home to harass her. She passed away on November 5, 2023. She was in her 70s.
Torture reeactment: Sitting still on a small stool over long period of time
When Ms. Zhang arrived at Jilin Province Women’s Prison, the prison authorities ordered other prisoners to strip her naked. They forced her to hold a criminal number plate and took photos of her undressed. She was then not allowed to wear undergarments beneath her jacket and trousers.
The guards made her sit still on a small, seven-inch-tall stool from 5:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. every day. She had to look straight forward with her back straight and knees touching each other. Her hands had to be placed on her legs, and she was not allowed to move or talk. The posture hurt her back and made her lower legs swell. The ridges on the chair scratched her buttocks and ruptured the skin, which caused her flesh to fester. While she sat, the guards cursed at her and forced her to watch videos that slandered Falun Gong and its founder.
Man Dies in Hospital After Years of Persecution
A man in his 70s who lived in Pingdingshan City, Henan Province was arrested in September 2019. He was viciously beaten in a detention center and lost his eyesight a month later after he was released. The police continued to harass him, and his health worsened. The Minghui.org website confirmed in November 2023 that he died while being treated in Chongqing Hospital.
Mr. Xiao Shiquan was arrested on September 24, 2019 during a police sweep. The officers in Zhanhe District beat the 70-year-old until his shirt was soaked in blood.
Mr. Xiao was locked in a detention center for a month, and could barely see anything after he was released. He soon became completely blind. The police in Zhanhe District continued to harass him at home and attempted to have him sign statements renouncing his faith. This further worsened his already-poor health, and he eventually was hospitalized, and passed away.
Mr. Xiao became a Falun Gong practitioner in 1995 and he recovered from his lung, liver, and stomach illnesses. He suffered many arrests and detention before his latest arrest. He was arrested in October 2000 and held in Pingdingshan Second Detention Center for a month.
The police arrested him again in January 2001 when he was spotted telling people about the persecution of Falun Gong. In the detention center he was beaten until he passed out, and physically tortured. He spent over seven months in the detention center and had to work without pay for 15 to 21 hours every day.
Agents from the 610 Office and his employer put him in a brainwashing center for over a month in June 2003.
Related reports:
Belated News: Liaoning Man Tortured to Death 19 Years Ago for Practicing Falun Gong
Inner Mongolia Woman Dies Four Years After Serving a Five-Year Prison Term for Her Faith
Eight Falun Gong Practitioner Deaths Due to Persecution Reported in October 2023
Ten Falun Gong Practitioner Deaths Due to Persecution Reported in September 2023
21 Falun Gong Practitioner Deaths Due to Persecution Reported in August 2023
Persecution Deaths of 120 Falun Gong Practitioners Reported in the First Half of 2023
20 Falun Gong Practitioner Deaths Due to Persecution Reported in May 2023
25 Falun Gong Practitioner Deaths Due to Persecution Reported in April 2023
25 Falun Gong Practitioner Deaths Due to Persecution Reported in March 2023
19 Falun Gong Practitioner Deaths Due to Persecution Reported in February 2023
15 Falun Gong Practitioner Deaths Due to Persecution Reported in January 2023
Copyright © 2023 Minghui.org. All rights reserved.
