(Clearwisdom.net) Mr. Li Jianqian and Ms. Li Xiaoyun are husband and wife in Xiangfen County, Shanxi Province. Mr. Li was a public servant, and Ms. Li was a school teacher. After the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) started persecuting Falun Gong, Mr. Li was sentenced to seven years in prison, and Ms. Li was forced to leave home and go from place to place. The last time they saw their son was four years ago, when he was three years old.

Mr. Li is 35 years old and retired from the Labor Bureau in Xiangfen County. In 2007, he was sentenced to seven years for practicing Falun Gong. He is now held in Jinzhong Prison in Xiqi County, Shanxi Province.

Ms. Li is 34 years old and used to be a teacher at the Third Middle School in Xiangfen County. In 2005, the police searched her home and issued a warrant for her husband's arrest. To avoid future persecution, she and her husband both left home.

The following is a statement from Ms. Li:

Jianqian and I learned Falun Dafa when we were students at Shanxi Normal University. My rheumatoid arthritis was gone in a week after I started practicing Falun Gong. We did the exercises every day and followed the principle of Truth-Compassion-Forbearance. My classmates told me that I became a different person after I started the practice. That was the happiest time of my life.

On July 20, 1999, the CCP launched the suppression of Falun Gong. The very next day, Jianqian went to Taiyuan City in Shanxi Province to appeal for Falun Gong. Liu Shuangqin and Chai Jishan from the Xiangfen County Public Safety Bureau then searched our house, fined us and locked him up for ten days.

On December 5, 1999, Jianqian and I went to visit our teacher in Shanxi Normal University. Police from Yaodu District Public Safety Bureau in Linfen City arrested us for holding an "illegal gathering" and locked us in the Xiangfen County Detention Center for over a month. My father-in-law, in order to help us, had to do a string of favors for Liu, including arranging a job for his daughter.

At the end of 2001, we were out of town for 15 days. Chai thought that we had gone to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong and tried to follow us. Chai then sent his people to Beijing to capture us and forced our family members and co-workers to look for us. During that time, my older brother was forced to stop working and go to the Beijing Train Station every day to look for us. After we returned, Chai forced Jianqian to work outside of town with the excuse of wanting to investigate his "Falun Gong activities." We had to pay for all of the policemen's investigation expenses. The school where I was employed forced me to renounce my practice in front of all my fellow teachers.

In the summer of 2005, the school's principal called me to participate in a CCP-sponsored activity, stating that the Bureau of Education put me on the list. The activity required everyone to write a 20,000-word declaration of our pledge to the Chinese government and to take the CCP's oath again. I had already quit the CCP on the Epoch Times website. I looked into the CCP's Party Constitution and it stated that members had the right to quit the Party. I filled out an application form to quit the CCP and gave it to the school principal. The principal returned the application to me and reported me to the Bureau of Education.

On August 15, 2005, nine officers from Yaodu District Public Safety Bureau and Xiangfen County Public Safety Bureau broke into my home to perform an illegal search. The officers included Wen Jinshen, Li Gang and Chai. They confiscated my Falun Gong books, computer, printer, phone, cell phone, Jianqian's ID and driver's license, and a deposit receipt for 10,000 yuan. Li took my application to quit the CCP, stating that it was evidence of my "threatening national security." I told Wen about the persecution, but he refused to listen. When they left, it was 11 p.m. and my husband wasn't home yet. They hid outside our house, waiting to arrest him.

In order to avoid further persecution, I left work and became homeless with my husband. The police put my husband on the list of wanted people and his picture on the Internet. They searched for people renting houses in Linfen City, looking for couples from Xiangfen. During that time, police posted our pictures in train stations and bus stations.

After we left, the school removed me from work and canceled my CCP membership. Without a valid ID, we couldn't find a job. I had to live off other practitioners.

On June 24, 2006, Jianqian posted fliers that exposed the persecution of Falun Gong while he was working in Jinan City, Shandong Province. Police officers arrested him, and he was locked up in the Yaodu District Detention Center in Linfen City on June 29, 2006. After being tortured for a year, on April 2, 2007, the Yaodu District Court sentenced him to seven years in prison. He is now being held in Jinzhong Prison in Xiqi County, Shanxi Province.

After my husband's arrest, the police wanted to arrest me, as well. They promised my family that they would not hurt me and it was not a big deal, claiming that it was just a formality that they needed to talk to me. I did not believe it and refused to go to the police. My family believed them, and blamed me for not caring about my family and my child.

In the past several years, my family's phone and cell phones have been tapped and they are constantly being monitored. My family members and my supervisors at work were in trouble because of me. They have suffered tremendous economic loss and mental pressure.

My son Li Haochen is seven now, and my mother-in-law is taking care of him. She is not in good health right now. When Mr. Li and I left home, he was only three. He could remember many poems from Hongyin and other articles written by Teacher. When he saw Teacher's picture, he would greet Teacher with respect.

Phone numbers of those who have participated in the persecution of these practitioners:

The 610 Office of Yaodu District, Linfen City: 86-357-2228610

Zhang Baoyu, Head of the 610 Office of Yaodu District and Secretary of the Yaodu District Political and Legal Committee: 86-13603576116 (Cell)

Liu Hongjun, Head of the Political Security Division of the Yaodu District Public Safety Bureau in Linfen City: 86-13363576123 (Cell), 86-357-2980345 (Home)