(Clearwisdom.net) Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Hu Jiqin from Songzi City, Hubei Province was subjected to cruel persecution for her belief in Falun Gong and as a result her family was broken up. She is now held in the First Detention Center of Songzi City. Exhausted by the harassment, intimidation and extortion of money by the police, her husband was forced into divorcing her. In addition, her 70-year-old mother was intimidated and jailed for many years by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), causing her death in August 2005.

Ms. Hu Jiqin is a resident of Xinjiangkou Town, Songzi City, Hubei Province. She started to practice Falun Gong in 1998. Before she practiced Falun Gong she suffered from many illnesses including severe anemia, constant dizziness and gastric diseases. In particular, she suffered from a skin ulcer the size of a palm in the back of her neck, for which she resorted to both Chinese and Western treatments without success. She suffered many years from acute pain and itching. After she started to practice Falun Gong in 1998 all of her illnesses were gone in a short period. She then started a wholesale food business. As a Falun Gong practitioner she was always kind to others and her business expanded rapidly. However, after the CCP started to persecute Falun Gong in 1999 she was harassed and intimidated numerous times by local 610 Office officials, the National Security Team, and the police from Shuilu Police Station. The pressure forced her to end her profitable business.

After July 20, 1999, the day the CCP started to persecute Falun Gong nationwide, the directors of the 610 Office of Songzi City (Hu Shouwen, Li Xianjin and others) detained Ms. Hu. They placed her in the First Detention Center for one month and extorted 5,000 yuan from her. Ms. Hu was sentenced to forced labor in Shayang Labor Camp of Hubei Province. After she was released from the labor camp she was sent to brainwashing classes twice by Li Xianjin and others from the Songzi City 610 Office.

To save money for her daughter's university education she worked as an accountant in a private company in Yanglinshi Town, Songzi City. During that time she was harassed numerous times by the 610 Office and the National Security Team. Later, she was arrested and held in the First Detention Center for one month and extorted 5,000 yuan again.

On July 5, 2006 more than ten people, including director of the Songzi Ctiy 610 Office Deng Nian'gui, and police from the Shuilu Police Station, broke into Ms. Hu's home. They arrested and took her to the First Detention Center. She was later sent to a brainwashing class in Wuhan City, Hubei Province.

After Ms. Hu was arrested for the fifth time by Deng Nian'gui and police from Shuilu Police Station, she was sent to the First Detention Center again, where she was placed in a confinement cell and tortured. To keep her awake, the police forced her to stay under a big lamp right above her head for a long time and to sit on her knees on a board with a rough surface. She was not released until her family members paid the police 30,000 yuan.

After she was released from the detention center she went to stay with her sister in Beijing to get a job, but the police learned about her whereabouts. In the middle of April 2008 she was arrested in Beijing and sent to the Songzi City First Detention Center, where she has been held ever since. Her family members were threatened by police not to tell others the details of her current situation. The only thing that we know about her is that she has become crippled.

Ms. Hu's mother Ms. Luo Guangquan had also suffered from many illnesses, including constipation, dizziness, edema over her whole body, and an intestinal malfunction which made her unable to eat. In 1997 she started to practice Falun Gong. As a result her physical condition improved and she was able to start up a small business to make a living. As a Falun Gong practitioner she was always kind to others and her business ran very well.

After the persecution of Falun Gong started, Ms. Luo went to Beijing to tell authorities "Falun Dafa is good", for which she was arrested and sent back to the Songzi City First Detention Center. She was not released until one month later. Later, Den Nian'gui, director of the local 610 Office and Li Xianjin, director of the National Security Team, ordered the police from Shuilu Police Station to harass her on numerous occasions. In particular, Zhang Xuefeng, a policeman from Shuilu Police Station, jumped the fence of Ms. Luo's yard, broke into her home when she was home alone, and yelled at her to intimidate her. Sometimes a single officer would harass her, and sometimes seven or eight officers would climb over the fence and break into her home. One time, Li Xianjin and other police officers from Shuilu Police Station broke into her home, arrested her, and detained her in the First Detention Center for one month. Under constant harassment by the police, Ms. Luo died in August 2005.

We hereby call for the immediate release of Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Hu and the return of the 40,000 yuan and property that the Songzi City 610 Office extorted from her. We also call on all kind people to lend their support to help stop the persecution of Falun Gong which has lasted for nearly ten years.