(Minghui.org) The deaths of 11 more Falun Gong practitioners as a result of the persecution of their faith were confirmed in May 2025.

One death each took place in 2012, 2015, 2016 and 2023; three deaths occurred in 2024; and four more between February and May 2025. Due to the Chinese Communist Party’s strict information censorship, the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners cannot always be reported on time, nor is all the information readily available.

The 11 practitioners, five of them women, hailed from six regions. Chongqing, a centrally-controlled municipality, and four provinces (Heilongjiang, Liaoning, Hubei, and Sichuan) each reported two deaths. Jilin Province reported one death. Except for one practitioner whose age at her passing wasn’t known, the other ten were between 53 and 87 when they died. Two of them were in their 50s, one in his 60s, five in their 70s, and two in their 80s.

Three of the practitioners died in custody, including a 53-year-old man who was serving a 12-year term, a 71-year-old woman who was serving a 4-year term, and a 71-year-old man who was serving a term of either 4 or 4.5 years.

A 67-year-old man died in 2024, after being forced to live away from home for 22 years to avoid being arrested. He and six other practitioners intercepted TV signals in 2002 and played videos that debunked the slanderous propaganda about Falun Gong. While he escaped, those who were arrested were sentenced to from 14 to 20 years for their courageous act.

A Chongqing resident became critically ill about ten days after he was admitted to Yongchuan Prison on April 27, 2023, to serve a 2.5-year term. He developed diabetes and was forced to submit to injections of unknown drugs. He continued to struggle with poor health after being released from prison in August 2024 and passed away only months later. He was 73.

A resident of Sichuan Province, who was serving a 3.5-year term in prison, was forced to take medications to treat his “high blood pressure” even though he didn’t have any symtoms of hypertension. His health was severely damaged by the abuse and drugs. By the time he was released, he couldn’t straighten his back or lift his head. He also suffered severe memory loss and mental decline. The police still harassed him regularly. He died on February 22, 2025. He was 87.

Below are selected cases. The complete list of the deceased practitioners can be downloaded here (PDF).

Deaths in Custody

53-Year-Old Heilongjiang Man Dies in 2023 While Serving 12 Years

Mr. Li Chang’an of Fangzheng County, Heilongjiang Province, died in a hospital on September 24, 2023, while serving a 12-year term for practicing Falun Gong. He was 53.

Mr. Li, a truck driver, was repeatedly targeted for his faith after the Chinese Communist Party ordered the persecution of Falun Gong in July 1999. Following his last arrest on May 21, 2015, he was sentenced to 12 years on October 28, 2015, and admitted to Hulan Prison.

Because Mr. Li refused to wear the prison uniform or answer roll calls on May 23, 2016, he was beaten and put in solitary confinement for 13 days. He was only given one steamed bun every day and subjected to continued abuse.

The guards beat Mr. Li again in July 2018 because he refused to put on the inmates’ uniform. They put him in solitary confinement and didn’t let him out until he became critically ill from a hunger strike.

During the following year, captain Xu Wenlong put Mr. Li in solitary confinement five more times on the grounds that he refused to wear the prison uniform or do hard labor. Once he was beaten by a guard so badly that his face was covered in blood. The guards also instigated the inmates to beat him, and they knocked out one of his teeth. The guards didn’t do anything to punish the inmates, who then beat Mr. Li even more savagely.

At the end of 2022, the prison reorganized and put Mr. Li under the management of a newly formed “anti-riot” team. He refused to comply with the new team’s orders and was repeatedly put in solitary confinement. He went on a hunger strike in protest and was repeatedly force-fed.

Mr. Li suffered declining health as a result of the long-term force-feeding and abuse. Around November 2022, he had generalized edema, abdominal fluid accumulation, and cirrhosis. Instead of holding his abusers responsible, the prison extorted 50,000 yuan from his family to cover his “medical expenses.”

Mr. Li fell into a coma and was taken to a hospital, where he died a week later, on September 24, 2023. According to insiders, at least 16 other Falun Gong practitioners also died after they were abused in Hulan Prison, which was designed as a high-security prison to hold death-row prisoners and inmates with at least 15-year prison sentences. After the persecution began in 1999, it became the main facility where Falun Gong practitioners in Heilongjiang Province were detained.

71-Year-Old Liaoning Woman Dies in Prison While Serving 4 Years for Her Faith in Falun Gong

Ms. Wang Yan, 71, of Shenyang City, Liaoning Province, died on May 9, 2025, while serving a four-year term in the Liaoning Province Women’s Prison for her faith in Falun Gong.

Ms. Wang was arrested at home on March 5, 2022, after being reported for distributing Falun Gong informational materials in a residential area. Officer Fang Peng and others from the Dongta Police Station confiscated her Falun Gong books, picture of Falun Gong’s founder, and cell phone.

The police released Ms. Wang on bail three days later after extorting 5,000 yuan from her. Officer Fang harassed her at home on July 19, 2022, and warned her that a judge was “looking for her.” He returned the next day and took her to the Shenyang City First Detention Center. She was first held in Division 5, then transferred to Division 3 due to the COVID-19 outbreak. The Dadong District Court sentenced her to a four-year prison term to be served at an unknown time. She was admitted to the Liaoning Province Second Women’s Prison on February 15, 2023 (likely in Division 3) and died there on May 9, 2025.

Ms. Wang was diagnosed with breast cancer when she was still in the detention center, prior to being taken to prison. According to prison rules, those with severe illnesses shouldn’t be admitted, and if she had applied for medical parole, she should have been allowed to serve time at home. Despite her condition, the prison not only admitted her, but also forced her to write statements and record videos renouncing Falun Gong against her will and subjected her to other forms of abuse.

The prison rules also state that inmates 65 or older or who have severe illnesses should be assigned to the elderly and infirm division and exempted from doing forced labor. But Falun Gong practitioners are never assigned to the elderly and infirm division, whatever their ages or physical conditions.

71-Year-Old Man Tortured to Critical Condition While Jailed for His Faith, Dies in Hospital

Mr. Tang Fenghua, 71, of Chongqing was so brutally tortured that he ended up in critical condition while being held in Yongchuan Prison for his faith in Falun Gong. He was taken to the Chongqing Second Hospital and died there on April 17, 2025.

Due to strict information censorship and the cover-up of the persecution of Falun Gong by the Chinese communist regime, it’s not clear when Mr. Tang was arrested (likely late 2021 or early 2022) or sentenced. It was reported that he was serving a prison term of either 4 or 4.5 years and was expected to finish serving his term sometime in 2025.

Mr. Tang, the owner of a furniture store, had been repeatedly targeted since the onset of the persecution in 1999. He had previously served two prison terms for a total of five years.

Deaths After Over Decades of Persecution

Liaoning Man Dies After 22 Years of Displacement to Avoid Being Persecuted for His Faith

Mr. Wang Zhanhai managed to escape being arrested on February 16, 2002, after he and six other practitioners in Anshan City, Liaoning Province, intercepted the TV signal to play videos that debunked the Chinese Communist Party’s slanderous propaganda about Falun Gong. To avoid being arrested, he was forced to live away from home from then on. The hardship took a toll on his health. He passed away on May 10, 2024, after 22 years of displacement. He was 67.

Mr. Wang Zhanhai

While Mr. Wang escaped, the six other practitioners who were involved in intercepting TV signals were all arrested over the next few weeks. The police shot Mr. Xu Zhaobin in the leg and nose on the night the TV signal was intercepted. He and four other practitioners were later sentenced to heavy terms by the Anshan City Court: Mr. Wei Zhiyi to 20 years, Mr. Shen Hailong to 18 years, Mr. Xu to17 years, Ms. Li Guihong to 15 years, and Ms. He Xiaoqiu to 14 years.

Ms. Zhang Li was arrested on March 19, 2002, and tortured to death on August 27, 2002. She was 40 years old. An insider revealed that she was interrogated several times while being held in the Anshan City First Detention Center. Each time, she was carried out on a stretcher and left in the hallway, where people could see she was injured all over and bleeding. According to a witness who saw her body after she died, her trachea was sliced open and there were cuts under both of her armpits. The witness suspected she was a victim of the Chinese Communist Party’s organ harvesting crime.

While Mr. Wang was on the run, the police often sneaked into his home and installed tapping devices to monitor his family’s conversations. Several of his relatives were harassed or arrested as well. The 296-yuan monthly low-income subsidy issued to his wife, who’d just been laid off, was stopped after only two months, leaving her and their school-age child in tremendous financial difficulty. The police also attempted to bribe their friends to try to find out where Mr. Wang was. At major holidays, the police waited outside of his parents’ home to be on the lookout for him. All of his family members were under tremendous mental pressure.

Mr. Wang recalled in his criminal complaint filed in 2015 against Jiang Zemin, the former head of the Communist Party who ordered the persecution, “I was unable to find a job and I couldn’t go out very often. I was also saddened that I was unable to take care of my elderly parents or fulfill my obligations as a father. The pressure I am under, be it physical, emotional or financial, would be unimaginable for most people. For all these years, it’s been not just me, but so many Falun Gong practitioners have suffered such brutal persecution, endured being separated from their families, or even been persecuted to death.”

73-Year-old Chongqing Man Develops Severe Medical Issues During Third Wrongful Prison Term, Dies Eight Months After Release

After serving three prison terms and a forced labor camp term for a total of eight years and two months for his faith in Falun Gong, Mr. Dai Xianming of Chongqing passed away on April 19, 2025. He was 73.

Mr. Dai was arrested on January 5, 2022, after he was deceived into going to the police station. He was secretly tried by the Yongchuan District Court and sentenced to two and a half years. He was transferred from the Yongchuan District Detention Center to Yongchuan Prison on April 27, 2023.

Only ten days after Mr. Dai was admitted to the 10th Division, also known as the strict management division, he fell into critical condition and was taken to the hospital for emergency care. His wife, Ms. Xu Keqin, went to the prison nine times to visit him, but was turned away each time.

On May 22, 2023, Ms. Xu received a letter from the prison, saying that Mr. Dai suffered from high blood sugar but had recovered after a hospital stay. Ms. Xu was instructed to wire 2,000 yuan to the prison so her husband could purchase daily necessities and supplements.

Ms. Xu became worried about her husband’s health, so she went to the prison again and showed the letter to a guard. The guard threatened to punish whoever wrote the letter. Ms. Xu said that Mr. Dai’s pension had been suspended for practicing Falun Gong and that she did not have money to make a deposit into his commissary account. She asked to see her husband but was not allowed to.

A few days later, Ms. Xu returned to the prison but was still denied a visit. A guard asked her to wait for a phone notice from the prison. Someone called later but the decision was still “no visits with Mr. Dai.”

Ms. Xu received a letter from Mr. Dai on July 7. He wrote, “I almost died just ten days after I was admitted. I was hospitalized for over ten days, then taken back to Division Ten. Since then I have been taking medications and being given IV injections.”

Mr. Dai later developed diabetes and was again hospitalized. He was forced to submit to two injections of unknown drugs every day.

Mr. Dai continued to suffer from failing health after he was released in August 2024. He passed away on April 19, 2025, in the Chongqing Second Hospital.

Prior to his latest arrest and sentencing, both Mr. Dai and his wife had been arrested, harassed, and had their homes ransacked repeatedly for their shared faith in Falun Gong.

Sichuan Man Sentenced to 3.5 Years, Dies a Decade Later at 87

An 87-year-old man in Suining City, Sichuan Province, died on February 22, 2025, a decade after he was sentenced to three years in prison for practicing Falun Gong.

Mr. Zheng Shiyi was arrested on February 3, 2015, after he was reported for putting up self-adhesive stickers with Falun Gong information. Over ten officers broke into his home and seized him. His son, Mr. Zheng Deliang, rushed back home and was arrested as well.

Father and son were taken to the Hedongxin District Police Department for interrogation. Mr. Zheng Shiyi refused to reveal where he got the stickers. He and his son were then admitted to the Yongxing Detention Center. Both were issued formal arrest warrants on March 11, 2015, and had their case submitted to the Chuanshan District Procuratorate.

The Chuanshan District Court ruled on November 20, 2015, to sentence Mr. Zheng Shiyi, then 77, to three and a half years and his son to three years. Another local practitioner, Mr. Huang Yichao, who had put up the stickers with Mr. Zheng, was also arrested and sentenced at the same time. Mr. Huang, then 73, was allowed to serve his three-year term outside of prison and later died as a result of the long-term persecution.

Mr. Zheng and his son were both admitted to Jiazhou Prison. He was brutally tortured and forced to take medications to treat “his high blood pressure,” even though he did not have symptoms of hypertension. By the time he was released in March 2018, his health had been severely damaged. He couldn’t straighten his back or lift his head. He also suffered severe memory loss, likely due to the medications. His condition continued to worsen in his final years. He declined mentally and eventually became completely incapacitated.

Despite his condition, the police still harassed him at home numerous times. They drew his blood and photographed him against his will. He died on February 22, 2025.

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Reported in April 2025: 16 Falun Gong Practitioners Die as a Result of Persecution

Reported in March 2025: Thirteen Falun Gong Practitioners Die as a Result of Persecution

Reported in February 2025: Eight Falun Gong Practitioners Die as a Result of Persecution

Reported in January 2025: 13 Falun Gong Practitioners Die as a Result of Persecution