Mr. Li Huazi, 70 years old, was a farmer from Xiyu Village, Yanglin Town, Hanchuan City, Hubei Province. Mr. Li started practicing Falun Gong in 1997 and benefited both mentally and physically. While Falun Gong suffered persecution, he remained steadfast. In March 2000, Mr. Li was arrested and detained in the No.2 Detention Center in Hanchuan by staff from the 610 Office. He was released after being detained for several months. In November that same year, Mr. Li went to Beijing to appeal. Police arrested him on the way and locked him up in the Shijiazhuang Detention Center. While there, he suffered a brutal torture: the police hammered a row of nails into a wooden block, with the nails protruding one or two centimeters. They then punctured Mr. Li's palms with the wooden block. Later, Mr. Li was transferred back to Hanchuan and sentenced to one year of forced labor. In the Xiaogan Forced Labor Camp, Mr. Li again suffered savage torture, which resulted in him becoming extremely weak. He suffered edema and asthma. In spite of this, when his term was over, they still didn't set him free. Mr. Li thus underwent a hunger strike and was released in December 2001. Since then his health has deteriorated steadily, and Mr. Li passed away on May 26, 2005.