(Clearwisdom.net) One morning, when I opened up the Clearwisdom website, one of the headlines caught my eye, "Mr. Liu Laibin Dies After Enduring Five Years of Imprisonment," My heart sank, and I asked myself how this could have happened. I could not believe it and I started to cry.

Despite the pain, I opened the link. Mr. Liu had been subjected to persecution by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for several years because he practiced Falun Gong. After I had finished reading the article very carefully, I was shocked and could hardly believe what had happened. Even though we had not seen each other for six months, I still remembered his voice and smile. But now he was gone. I started crying again.

I had known Mr. Liu for eight years. Among all my fellow-practitioners, he made a very deep impression on me. He always smiled, was very diligent, and was always willing to help others. He spoke Mandarin with a Shanxi Province accent, and had a good sense of humor. Even though he was already in his sixties, he was like a child. When I was around him, I always felt very close to him.

Mr. Liu was a kind-hearted person. No matter who had difficulties, he tried his best to help them, and he always thought of others. When I first met him, my desk was broken, and he happened to come to my office. Without being asked, he started to fix the problem. There was nothing for me to do but to stand there and watch this older man helping me. His desire to help really touched me. He went out of his way to help me because I was not a local person. He always asked me if I needed anything because he was worried that I might not speak up for myself.

He made a living by repairing cooking pots, and he greeted every customer with a smile. He fixed many cooking pots with deft hands. When people saw his healthy, happy face, they often said, "Way to go, old man Liu!"

Mr. Liu was a retired from the Yingkou City Furnace Factory. In the past he had many diseases, including a stomachache, phlebitis, and a pulmonary abscess. In 1997, he began practicing Falun Gong, and as a result, all his illnesses were healed. After the CCP began persecuting Falun Gong in 1999, people from the local community management committee and police station came to his home to harass him many times. He was also twice taken to a brainwashing center. Despite this, he held on to his beliefs, told people about how much he had benefited from Falun Dafa, and exposed the lies of the CCP.

On June 24, when Mr. Liu was doing business at Jianfeng Market in Zhanqian District, he was taken away by police officers from Yingkou City Desheng Police Station, and detained at Yingkou City Detention Center. Once there, other inmates beat him because he did the Falun Gong exercises. Soon afterward he was transferred to the City Detention Center. At the center, police officer Yin Zhaoyun did not allow Mr. Liu to do the exercises or to say "Falun Dafa is great." They forced him to do hard labor for more than ten hours every day and to work long hours at night. He got very little sleep and was forced to cover other people's shifts even though he was in his sixties.

While he was detained at the detention center, people from the Lingkou City Zhanqian District Procuratorate raised charges against Mr. Liu in court. On December 5, 2003, the trial opened, and on the 23rd, he was sentenced to a five-year term. In February 2004, he was taken to Yingkou Prison.

At the Yingkou Prison, Mr. Liu suffered tremendously both mentally and physically. He was admitted to the hospital, where guards tried to get other inmates to force him to write a repentance statement. People from the provincial 610 Office put pressure on Mr. Liu and his family. For example, they made sure that Mr. Liu would not be allowed to use the savings put away by his daughter unless he renounced Falun Gong. He was also detained in solitary confinement for four days, forced to sit on a very narrow stool, and deprived of sleep for 24 hours. Mr. Liu collapsed many times due to the intense pressure and was at the brink of death. Nonetheless, he was not released. Several times, the authorities acted as if they were letting him go for medical reasons, but did not let him go, to weaken his spirit. Mr. Liu was not released until June 2008.

Mr. Liu has passed away. This brutal persecution has taken away so many kind-hearted people, and ruined so many happy families. We appeal to everyone not to be misled by the CCP's lies. Today they are persecuting Falun Gong. Who will they be targeting tomorrow?! Do we have to wait until they come after us before we finally wake up?