(Clearwisdom.net) Ms. Liang Shixiu, 63, is a retired security chief from a water pump valve manufacturing company in Henyang City, Hunan Province. On March 23, 2003 she was arrested by police from the Railway Police Station while she was posting "Falun Dafa is Good" posters. In the police station, police interrogated her and asked her where the posters came from. They beat and kicked her. Her face and legs were covered with injuries, and her jacket was torn apart. Liang held a hunger strike to protest the inhumane persecution.

On March 25th, Liang was sent to the Hengyang City Railway Police Division Detention Center for criminal detention. According to sources familiar with the situation, the detention center personnel tied Ms. Liang, who had not eaten or drank for two days, to a torture bed and left her there around the clock, without doing the required physical examinations. There are 4 sets of handcuffs on the bed, and the person who is being tortured is tied to the bed by their four limbs with very short chains, and he/she can only sit or lie in the bed.

After being sent to the detention center, Ms. Liang continued her hunger strike. She told the guards and the people who interrogated her, "I didn't commit any crime and you should not arrest good people who believe in 'Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance'." Refusing to release her, the detention center began force-feeding her rice soup with highly concentrated salt water. They knocked her only two teeth out while force-feeding her. After over 20 days without eating, Ms. Liang's health deteriorated badly. During the entire hunger strike of over 20 days, she didn't have any bowel movements, and her lips were dried up. She was so thin that the shape of her stomach and other internal organs were clearly visible, and she was so weak that her legs shook when she stood up. Her feet and hands were cold. The guards in the detention center were so inhuman that they didn't release Ms. Liang, nor did they send her to see a doctor, even though she was in such serious condition. Instead, they asked inmates in the cell to watch her. One guard even said, "Internal documents instruct that Falun Gong practitioners are responsible for deaths caused by their hunger strikes; the guards have no responsibility."

Under such brutal persecution, Ms. Liang kept sending forth righteous thoughts, clarifying the truth, protesting, and convincing with reason and compassion. She requested her release, and that the persecution be stopped. As of April 25th, Ms. Liang was still detained in No. 2 female prison of the detention center. According to internal sources, she was sentenced to 3 years of forced labor, and will be sent to the Baimalong Female Forced Labor Camp in Zhuzhou City after being held in the detention center for one month.

The unit and individuals that persecuted Ms. Liang:
The First Section of Hengyang Police Division, Guangzhou Railway Police Bureau, telephone: 86-734-8313590

Policemen:
Luo Lingyun, cell phone: 86-13873425498
Tong Shan, cell phone: 86-13016198372
Zhao Weiyi