Belated News: Two Women Tortured to Death While Appealing for Falun Gong in Beijing 23 Years Ago

(Minghui.org)

Name: Li GuihuaChinese Name: 李桂华Gender: FemaleAge: 47City: N/AProvince: ChongqingOccupation: Textile factory workerDate of Death: October 1999Date of Most Recent Arrest: October 1999Most Recent Place of Detention: Chongqing government’s office in Beijing

Name: Zhang ShiyuChinese Name: 张世玉Gender: FemaleAge: 53City: N/AProvince: ChongqingOccupation: Textile factory workerDate of Death: October 1999Date of Most Recent Arrest: October 1999Most Recent Place of Detention: N/A

Two Chongqing residents were tortured to death when they went to Beijing in October 1999 to appeal for the right to practice Falun Gong. The authorities prohibited their families from hosting memorials for them and kept secret the details of their deaths.

Ms. Li Guihua, 47, and Ms. Zhang Shiyu, 53, were both workers of the Jiangbei Textile Factory. Ms. Li’s husband, Mr. Wang Yinhua, also worked at the same factory.

Ms. Li took up Falun Gong in 1996. She served as a volunteer coordinator in organizing group exercises and offering help to newcomers.

When the Chinese communist regime ordered the persecution of Falun Gong in 1999, countless practitioners from around the country went to Beijing to appeal for the right to practice their faith.

Ms. Li and Ms. Zhang went together in early October 1999. A week later, their families were informed by the authorities to go to Beijing to pick up their ashes. After the families went there, the police refused to provide any information about the two women’s deaths. The police also forbade the families from holding memorial services for their loved ones or being visited by other practitioners.

One insider once revealed that while Ms. Li was held at the Chongqing government’s liaison office in Beijing, the police shocked her chest with electric batons and eventually tortured her to death. Her body was covered with bruises.

Ms. Li’s death came when her son was still in elementary school. As a way to protest the persecution, her husband held her ash box and took a photo at the Tiananmen Square.

According to information collected by Minghui.org, at least another four Falun Gong practitioners in Chongqing died while going to Beijing to appeal.

Ms. Xia Wei went to Beijing in September 1999. She was arrested in early November. While waiting to be taken back to Chongqing, she fell to her death from the building of Chongqing government’s liaison office in Beijing. The police ordered her husband to keep her death confidential. She was 43.

Ms. Yu Xiangmei went to Beijing in early November 1999. Similar to Ms. Xia, she also fell to her death from the building of Chongqing government’s liaison office in Beijing. She was 35.

Mr. Tang Yun, 30, was a department store sales person. He went to Beijing on December 4, 1999 and died while being transported back to Chongqing. His son was only 2 at the time.

Mr. Hu Mingquan, a retired steel factory worker, went to Beijing to appeal on December 1, 2000. His family was informed by the police to pick up his body six days later. His son questioned how he died, and a doctor responded that he died of high blood pressure. But according to Mr. Hu’s son, he had been healthy all along and never had high blood pressure before he was arrested. An insider said Mr. Hu died from suffocation during force feeding. He was 63.