The forced labor camp released Mr. Ding Guohua when he was dying. Soon after he returned home, he died on January 13, 2009.

With less than 24 hours after his family's visit, the forced labor camp claimed Mr. Jiang died. But 7 hours later, his family found his body was still warm. Camp authorities gave different explanations for the cause of his death and forbade his family to examine Mr. Jiang's back.

Mr. Ding Guohua Dies Shortly after Being Released from Forced Labor Camp

Mr .Ding Guohua, in his 60s, is retired and lives in Mengcheng County, Anhui Province. On May 26, 2008, the Mengcheng County 610 Office, police, and community administration arrested him and imprisoned him in a detention center. In August 2008, he was taken to Nanhu Forced Labor Camp in Xuancheng City. In less than six months, he went from being healthy to being bedridden due to the brutal mistreatment.

Nanhu Forced Labor Camp is where Falun Gong practitioners in Anhui Province are severely persecuted. Practitioners detained there have to endure hard labor for 16 hours per day, from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m., and the food is cold even in the wintertime. Due to the extra-heavy hard labor and severe living conditions, Mr. Ding soon became very sick, but the guards still forced him work until he was bedridden.

Mr. Ding's family heard that he was very sick and went to visit him, but the camp administration refused to let them see each other. One week later after his family came, the guards saw that Mr. Ding was dying, and allowed his family to pick him up. Soon after he returned home, he died on January 13, 2009.

The Death Case of Mr. Jiang Xiqing in Chongqing City Forced Labor Camp

On the afternoon of January 27, 2009, the second day of the Chinese New Year, Mr. Jiang's family went to visit him at Xishanping Forced Labor Camp. He seemed to be in good health at that time. However, within less than 24 hours, at around 3:00 p.m. on January 28, labor camp officials called his family to notify them that Mr. Jiang had died.

At around 10:10 p.m. on January 28, 2009, seven hours after Xishanping Labor Camp declared Mr. Jiang Xiqing dead, his son and daughters found that his philtrum, chest, belly and legs were still warm. They were shocked, and shouted, "Dad is still alive! Quickly rescue him!"

They tried to do artificial respiration, but more than twenty guards forcibly dragged them out of the funeral home. When Mr. Jiang's family visited him 24 hours before his death, he was fine. How did he suddenly die of illness, as the labor camp official alleged? The suspicious nature of Mr. Jiang's death and the labor camp's clumsy attempts to cover up the cause of death have led the family to suspect that Mr. Jiang was murdered.

Mr. Jiang Xiqing, 66, was a retired employee of the Jiangjin District Tax Bureau in Chongqing City. He was very healthy after practicing Falun Gong, and he worked very hard. He was compassionate and helpful to others. Mr. Jiang was illegally arrested several days before the Beijing Olympics and detained in the 7th Ward of Xishanping Forced Labor Camp in Chongqing City.

On January 28, 2009, the labor camp officials told the family that Mr. Jiang died of a stroke. But on January 29, 2009, the camp gave a second explanation for the cause of his death. They claimed that Mr. Jiang Xiqing had suffered sunburn, and a Chinese medicine treatment that scrapes the skin on his chest, back, hands, elbows, and the joints on his legs to relieve the sunburn led to his death.

This was also a dubious claim, as normally this treatment is only performed on the parts of the body that suffered sunburn, not to the whole body. Furthermore, given that it was the middle of winter, it was highly unlikely for Mr. Jiang to have suffered sunburn all over his body as the camp authorities claimed. The only reasonable explanation is that Mr. Jiang probably passed out due to beating, as bruises covered his body. The labor camp administration forbade his family to examine Mr. Jiang's back, and they tried to have his body cremated quickly.

From the day Mr. Jiang was arrested, his home ransacked, to his being taken to the forced labor camp, no legal procedures were followed. His family was not notified of the arrest and incarceration. Jiangjin District Domestic Security Team leader Mu Chaoheng threatened his family, "I have power, and I can torture whoever I want. Your parents were taken to a brainwashing center in 2000 without being sent to forced labor or imprisonment. This time, I want to send your father to one year of forced labor."