AFP: Seven More Falun Gong Followers Die in Chinese Custody

BEIJING, Feb 7, 2001 -- (Agence France Presse) Seven more followers of the outlawed Falun Gong [group] have died in police custody with all victims showing signs of beatings or mistreatment, a Hong Kong-based human rights group said Wednesday.

The seven deaths occurred in prisons and detention centers around China over the last two months and have increased the total number of recorded deaths of Falun Gong practitioners in police custody to 112, the Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy said.

AFP could only independently confirm the deaths of two of the followers, Wang Lixin and Yu Wenjiang, who both died in prisons in the northeastern province of Jilin. Police denied they were beaten to death.

Meanwhile the rights center painted a gory picture of alleged maltreatment in Chinese prisons.

On February 2, police in the central Anhui province informed the family of Li Mei that their 28-year-old daughter had died in a local labor camp, the center said.

Li had a history of complaining about beatings since she had been sentenced to two years labor last June for protesting against the nationwide ban on the spiritual group, the center said.

Family members who were allowed to see Li's body said her face was covered with bruises, while there were traces of blood from her nose, mouth and ears and gauze bandages were wrapped around her neck, claimed the center.

On January 16, police in Shijiazhuang city, in the northern province of Hebei, notified the family of Liu Rongxiu that Liu had died in the city's detention center, the center said.

Liu was arrested on December 6 after protesting in Beijing's Tiananmen Square and embarked on a hunger strike after he was sent back to his hometown of Shijiazhuang, the center said.

Before police hurriedly cremated Liu's remains, the family said that his head had been bandaged and dried blood was caked around his mouth, the center said.

Wang Lixin, a Falun Gong practitioner in Jilin city, Jilin province, was arrested last November 24 for distributing leaflets supporting the banned group and began a hunger strike in the local detention center immediately after his arrest, the center said.

On December 3, two policemen began to beat Wang who died two hours later, the center alleged.

Also listed as beaten to death in police custody was Sun Shaomei, who was arrested for protesting on Tiananmen Square in November and died in a labor camp in Shandong on December 12, the center said. Family members said her body was covered with bruises.

Yu Wenjiang, arrested on December 18 in Jilin province, was reported dead on January 2 at the Siping detention center and apparently died after being force-fed while on a hunger strike, while Xiao Yanglong was also reported to have died in a Fujian detention center in July after being force-fed while on a hunger strike, the center said.

The seventh victim was Wang Yijia, who was practicing Falun Gong exercises in his home in Hengyang city, Hunan province, in January when police burst in and tried to arrest him.

Wang refused to cooperate and ran to his balcony and fell to his death, the center said.