(Minghui.org)

Name: Song LifangChinese Name: 宋立芳Gender: FemaleAge: 77City: BotouProvince: HebeiOccupation: Director of Botou Municipal Government Science and Technology CommissionDate of Death: Winter 2023Date of Most Recent Arrest: October 2007Most Recent Place of Detention: Botou City Detention Center

Minghui.org recently learned that a 77-year-old woman in Botou City, Hebei Province, died in winter 2023, after years being persecuted for practicing Falun Gong.

Ms. Song Lifang, who had a bachelor’s degree, once served as the Director of the Botou Municipal Government Science and Technology Commission. She began practicing Falun Gong before the communist regime launched a nationwide campaign against the spiritual discipline on July 20, 1999. She was a volunteer coordinator who helped others learn how to practice.

Ms. Song set out for Beijing to appeal, two days after the persecution began. She was intercepted in Qing County, Hebei Province. The police kept her at a brainwashing center for three days. After that, they kept harassing her at home. She held firm to her faith and later left her job (it not clear whether it was voluntary).

Ms. Song was arrested around June 2000, while putting up Falun Gong posters. The Botou City Police Department interrogated her with torture and later gave her three years of forced labor. She was subjected to various forms of abuse at the Tangshan City Labor Camp.

After she was released, Ms. Song who was once talkative, became a person of few words. She was also extremely weak due to the abuse in custody. Through doing Falun Gong exercises, she made a quick recovery.

Ms. Song was arrested again in October 2007 and taken to the Botou City Detention Center, where she was handcuffed and forced to do hard labor without pay. After she was released one month later, the Botou City Police Department closely monitored her. Her husband struggled to cope with the relentless persecution which targeted her and died.

The police and local street committee kept harassing Ms. Song at home after her husband died. They also publicized the photos and videos they took of her, causing her enormous personal injury and emotional distress. She died in the winter of 2023.