(Clearwisdom.net) After being illegally detained for more than a year, Ms. Li Shihong was sentenced to four years in prison on April 7, 2010, by the Jiangan Court. She was not allowed to defend herself during the court proceedings. Her lawyer filed an appeal to a higher court and is awaiting a new hearing, as there was no incriminating evidence or legal basis for the original sentence.

Li Shihong

When Ms. Li's mother Song Wenxiu and Wu Bilin, Huang Jing, and Sun Jingping went to Jiangan Court to appeal for justice on April 30, all of them were arrested.

Mother and daughter suffer repeated persecution

Ms. Li's 70-year-old mother Song Wenxiu was arrested in front her house at noon on March 31, 2009, by Yu Jiming from the Danshuichi Police Station and officers from the Jiangan District Branch of Wuhan City Public Security Bureau. The officers also ransacked her apartment and confiscated 1,200 yuan in cash.

When Ms. Li got home that afternoon, she was arrested and detained by Luo Lin from the Domestic Security Division, officers from the Jiangan District Branch of Wuhan City Public Security Bureau, and Yu Jiming, Yuan Qinghong, and Wan Baozhu from the Danshuichi Police Station. Her case was not accepted in court until December 2009 due to lack of evidence.

Ms. Li's mother was arrested again in the morning of June 12, 2009. She was taken to the Chenjiaji brainwashing center, where she was mentally and physically tortured.

Ms. Li was previously arrested in the first half of 2002. She was detained at the Wuhan Baibuting brainwashing center, where she was severely beaten, requiring hospitalization. She was released to her family from the hospital thereafter. She was also arrested and detained at the Huangpo brainwashing center for five months in March 2000. At the end of 2000, a group of officers broke into her house and took her to the Wuhan brainwashing center, where she was detained for one year.

Husband and child are also victims of the persecution

Ms. Li's husband Lu Qiqi was imprisoned at the time of her arrest in 2009, as he had been arrested in December 2007 while distributing truth-clarification materials and sentenced to four years in prison by the Baoan Court in Shenzhen.

Mr. Lu went missing in April 2004. More than four months later, in September, his family was finally informed that he had been arrested and detained at the Jiangan brainwashing center for a year. In October 2005, he was sent to Hewan Forced Labor Camp in Wuhan for another year.

Mr. Lu was also previously arrested and detained at the Wuhan Police Station, Wuhan Detention Center, and the Jiangan brainwashing center in 2000. After being released, he became homeless in an effort to avoid further harassment.

Ms. Li's son Lu Hai was only five years old when he first witnessed his parents' arrests. He was being cared for by Ms. Li's mother while his parents were incarcerated. When Ms. Li's mother was arrested in 2009, officers from the Jiangan Police Station and the Danshuichi Police Station brought in13-year-old Lu Hai for questioning but subsequently released him to his aunt.