(Clearwisdom.net) When overseas media reported on the facts surrounding the persecution of Ph.D. graduate Li Zhigang from the college of computer science at the National University of Defense Technology , in Changsha City, Hunan Province, it greatly frightened his persecutors. Since then, Li Zhigang's situation in the military prison in Chenzhou has improved some.

Before this, Li Zhigang was detained in a small, solitary cell. The policemen prohibited him from brushing his teeth or washing his face, and even prohibited him from changing his clothes. The Minister of National Defense Cao Chuangang ordered that Li Zhigang be "reformed" no matter what it would take. They would not allow Li Zhigang into a normal cell unless he renounced Falun Gong. When Li Zhigang did come out of the small cell, because of the persecution he faced, he looked sickly and sallow with disheveled hair and a dirty face. His 186 cm stature (about 6 feet) appeared withered, with his eyes deeply sunken. However, he remained firm and did not give in to the police's demands. His mental state was good. After the facts surrounding his persecution were exposed, Li Zhigang was transferred to a cell that holds four people, and has been allowed to brush his teeth and wash his face.

The "610 Office" ⁽¹⁾ in Hunan province and the judicial and public security system in Changsha have undertaken a lot of effort to investigate how the facts surrounding the persecution of Li Zhigang were exposed to overseas media. They thought it was Li Zhigang's mother and tried to force her to say how the news was leaked out. They even charged Li Zhigang's mother with a crime for allegedly exposing the persecution. On February 25, 2004, Li Zhigang's mother was subpoenaed by the Changsha Kaifu district procuratorate regarding the persecution of Li Zhigang being spread over the Internet.

At the same time, the law office where Li Zhigang's defense attorney works received a request from top levels to cancel his attorney's license.

At present, Li Zhigang's mother is under a huge amount of pressure. On this year's Human Rights Day, we hope that overseas human rights organizations will give this issue their attention and call for justice in support of those Dafa practitioners and their families who have been brutally persecuted by Jiang Zemin and his accomplices.

(1) The "610 Office" is an agency specifically created to persecute Falun Gong, with absolute power over each level of administration in the Party and all other political or judicial systems.