Husband Li Xiaorong Tortured to Death, Wife Xu Shufen Still in Detention

(Clearwisdom.net) Li Xiaorong, male, 41, was an employee of the Daqing Petroleum Company. He started to practice Falun Dafa in 1995.

On March 8, 2000, the company forced 10 Dafa practitioners including Li Xiaorong to attend an 18-day brainwashing class. Every practitioner was accompanied by two of his or her colleagues. The room and board for each person was 400 Yuan RMB. After the class was over, Li Xiaorong was demoted and expelled from the Party. He could still go to work, but he was only paid 350 Yuan each month when his normal monthly salary plus bonus was over 1,500 Yuan before.

On December 1, 2000, Li Xiaorong and several other Dafa practitioners left for Beijing to validate Dafa, arriving at Tiananmen Square on December 4. Shortly after they unfurled a banner and shouted "Falun Dafa is Good," they were arrested. Later they were taken back to a local police station, where they were illegally detained for over 100 days. Before Li was arrested, he weighed about 166 pounds and was very healthy. During the detention, Li went on hunger strikes several times in protest. By the time Li was released on March 21, 2001, he weighed only 66 pounds and had lost the ability to care for himself. When asked by the authorities if he would still practice Dafa, Li answered, "Yes!"

Because Li's wife Xu Shufen (also a Dafa practitioner) was in detention at the time, Li's 72-year-old mother had to take care of Li, in addition to looking after Li's son, a 6^th grader. Li never recovered, even after coming home. He lost his appetite and had difficulty breathing. Moreover, he had scabies all over his body. Even so, the local police wouldn't spare him. They frequently called Li and forced him to report to the local police station. In addition to enduring enormous physical pain, Li had to bear huge mental pressure as well.

On December 14, 2001, Li Xiaorong passed away in a hospital.

Xu Shufen is a schoolteacher in an elementary school affiliated with the Daqing Petroleum Company. On the morning of June 20, 2000, she was practicing Dafa exercises with other practitioners in a park when she was illegally arrested. She was released on August 4 after paying 10,000 Yuan as a so-called "guarantee bounty." The money was never returned to her. After Xu went back to work, her pay was reduced to 350 Yuan each month.

On December 15, 2000, Xu also went to Beijing to appeal. She was arrested and taken back to a local police station. Later she was illegally sentenced to one year of forced labor camp and transferred to the Harbin Drug Rehabilitation Center on January 18, 2001.

The Harbin Drug Rehabilitation Center completely cut off all contact (including phone calls and visitation) that Xu had with her family members. Even in the summer of 2001 when Xu's elderly father passed away, they did not let her see relatives who came to the center to tell her the news. This time, when Xu's husband Li Xiaorong passed away, under the strong request of Xu's family members, the center asked two guards to escort Xu to the mortuary in the hospital where Li had died. The guards videotaped the whole process and asked Xu to give up cultivation. Xu rejected their demand firmly, and on the very same afternoon, Xu was taken back to the center. Xu's relatives strongly requested the center to release Xu, since her term had already expired and her young son and elderly mother-in-law needed her care at home, but they were refused.

Now Xu Shufen is still under detention in the Drug Rehabilitation Center. Xu's elderly mother-in-law took the grandson to the police station to ask for Xu's release but without success. The elderly lady then went to all the relevant departments (Xu's work unit, Daqing Petroleum Company, Longfeng District Government and the Drug Rehabilitation Center) to request Xu's release. However, none of these departments wanted to take responsibility. The elderly woman and the young child currently do not have any income on which to subsist.

At present, the Drug Rehabilitation Center has agreed to release Xu, but Xu's work unit and the "610" office (an agency specifically created to persecute Falun Gong, with absolute power over each level of administration in the Party and all other political and judiciary systems) refused to do so. We hope that all kindhearted people can pay attention to this matter. We call on the world human rights organizations to help free Xu Shufen!

January 13, 2002

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