(Clearwisdom.net) On April 17, Ms. Guo Lifang, a 54-year-old Falun Dafa practitioner, was persecuted to death in Xiangtan City, Hunan Province. The police arrested her in her home on March 31, 2005. They detained and cruelly tortured her in the Sanjiaoping Detention Center. Ms. Guo used the only option left to her after all her human rights were taken away by going on a hunger strike. Even this last resort of a person's right to protest unfair treatment was taken away from her when she was force-fed.

Around midnight on April 17, shouting was heard from the women's cell, "Report to the guard!" The shouting lasted for more than ten minutes, but no guards came. The women's cell asked the men's cells to help and together they shouted, "Report to the guard!" After a long time, the guard on duty finally arrived, but he soon left. By 12:30 a.m., the women's prison reported that Ms. Guo had died. The guard in the detention center then called some workers to wrap Ms. Guo in a bed sheet and send her to a hospital. Ms. Guo died at 12:35 a.m. on April 17.

After Ms. Guo died, the Sanjiaoping Detention Center held a meeting for all prisoners and employees. They banned practitioners from speaking to each other or exchanging information in any manner and banned all visitors to the detention center for a week. They claimed that that all telephones were out-of-order and being repaired in order to prevent information from leaking out.

Five practitioners are currently being detained in this detention center, including Mr. Xiao Zhixiang, Lin Jia, Mr. Li Shunxiang and Mr. Peng Yigang, who were all arrested by the Yuhu National Security Brigade in Xiangtan City, and Mr. Liu Heqing, who was arrested by the Shuangma Police Station in the Yuetang District of Xiangtan City. Mr. Liu Heqing has been on a hunger strike for seven days. Mr. Li Shunxiang joined him in the hunger strike several days ago.

Cao Shiyong and Huang Saiping, the new supervisor of the Yuhu National Security Brigade, signed the arrest warrant and approved Ms. Guo Lifang's detention. It was reported that the detention center had called the Yuhu National Security Brigade to take Ms. Guo back when she was in critical condition, but the security brigade refused. More than ten practitioners have been persecuted to death directly or indirectly in this district in Xiangtan. They started another round of arrests of practitioners just before May 1, the Labor Day holiday in China.