Tianjin Man in Serious Condition Serving Time in Same Prison Where Brother Tortured to Death

(Minghui.org) Having served 12 years in prison for practicing Falun Gong, a Tianjin resident was sentenced again and has fallen into serious condition in the same prison where his brother was tortured to death eleven years ago for their shared faith.

Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.

Mr. Li Xiliang was taken to Team One in the tenth ward at Binhai Prison in November 2021. Information about his arrest and sentencing remains to be investigated. In the first month of his imprisonment, he was held in a 1.2 meter by 3 meter solitary confinement room. He was given a few pieces of boiled leaky greens to go with one steam bun for breakfast and dinner and two buns for lunch. Later on, the prison began to provide him with the regular meal given to other inmates.

On December 28, only ten days after he was transferred to Team Two in the tenth ward, a place specifically designated to persecute Falun Gong practitioners, he fell while using the restroom. The prison doctor found dark red substance in his vomit, but he claimed it was the seasoning from the instant noodle he had for dinner. The prison guards also took Mr. Li to an outside Dagang Hospital for a CT scan, and the doctor there still claimed that he was fine. He was then taken to the Xinsheng Hospital for a 15-day quarantine (anyone who has left the prison was required to quarantine), before he was taken back to the prison.

During the time, an insider told Mr. Li’s family that according to an inmate held in the tenth ward, Mr. Li was dying. Another inmate later said that a Falun Gong practitioner recently died there. Mr. Li’s family worried whether it was him. But due to strict information censorship, they couldn’t confirm.

Prior to his latest sentencing, Mr. Li and his younger brother Mr. Li Xiwang were both arrested in 2001 and sentenced to 12 and 8 years, respectively. Before Mr. Li was released, his younger brother was arrested on December 21, 2010 (about 1.5 years after he was released) and sentenced to another 8 years. On July 29, 2011, only ten days after the younger man was taken to the Binhai Prison, he died from the “anchor torture.” Yet Mr. Li didn’t know about his younger brother’s death in the same prison, until he was released from his first prison term in 2013.

In the “anchor torture,” the victim’s legs are kept straight and fixed, while his hands are shackled to the ground. His back is arched and the legs are immobile. While the maximum endurance for the inmates is two hours, Mr. Li Xiwang was anchored for over ten hours, before he was found dead at midnight.

Torture illustation: anchor torture

For Mr. Li Xiliang himself, he almost died from beatings and became incapacitated during his first prison term. When his family applied for his medical parole, the prison rejected them, claiming that they wouldn’t release him until he only had one last breath left.

Related reports:

My Brother Was Tortured to Death Within Ten Days at Gangbei Prison

Crimes Committed against Falun Gong Practitioners in Gangbei Prison