Death Cases

  • Traumatised Husband Dies, Wife Arrested and Tortured

    Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Zhang Shufen recounts her ordeal: "I was sent to Beijing Women’s Forced Labour Camp in 2008 for two years because I am a Falun Gong practitioner. My husband was left on his own and had a stroke. When I returned home in March 2010, he had another stroke and was no longer able to take care of himself. When practitioners started filing lawsuits against Jiang Zemin [former leader of China and instigator of the persecution], my husband wanted to participate because he had personally suffered as a result of the persecution when I was arrested and detained. However, before he was able to, he died suddenly."
  • Woman Becomes 188th in Weifang to Die in Detention for Practising Falun Gong

    A woman from Weifang City, Shandong Province died November 12th in police custody, just one month after arrest for upholding her belief in Falun Gong, a peaceful spiritual practice persecuted by the Chinese Communist regime. Ms. Li Xiufen became the 188th Falun Gong practitioner from Weifang to die in detention since the persecution began 16 years ago.
  • Engineer Dies Suddenly During Wrongful Imprisonment for His Spiritual Belief

    Mr. Dong Hanjie, an engineer from Zhuozhou, Hebei Province, suddenly died during his five-year term at Jidong Prison for his spiritual belief in Falun Gong. He was 51. According to his lawyer, Mr. Dong appeared to be healthy when the lawyer visited him at the detention centre on August 16th, 2015. But Mr. Dong passed away on October 10th, 2015, shortly after he was transferred to Jidong Prison, a place notorious for its brutality toward Falun Gong practitioners. Prison officials told Mr. Dong's family that he died from a sudden heart attack. His family suspects that torture in the prison was the main reason for his death. Mr. Dong was arrested five times, and sentenced to prison and forced labour camps for a total of ten years. He was tortured to the verge of death several times.
  • Teacher Dies 11 Weeks After Suing Former Chinese Leader for Imprisonment, Torture

    Mr. Xi Changhai died on September 25th, 2015, less than three months after he filed a lawsuit against Jiang Zemin for launching the persecution of Falun Gong that led to his imprisonment and subsequent torture. In 2008, the 68-year-old was sentenced to 11 years for practising Falun Gong. The prison eventually released him on medical parole in 2013, when he was on the verge of death from torture. Unfortunately, Mr. Xi was never able to recover from his torture-induced injuries and health problems.
  • Woman Dies While Serving 3.5 Years for Practising Falun Gong, Family Suspects Foul Play

    Ms. Li Guixiang died in late September 2015 while serving three and a half years for practising and spreading information about Falun Gong, a spiritual practice being persecuted by the Chinese Communist regime. Her family suspected that she might have been tortured during her imprisonment, as she was only in her early 50's and had no prior medical conditions.
  • Woman Falls Unconscious While Forcibly Having Blood Drawn, Dies 6 Days Later

    A 66-year-old woman was left unattended for more than two hours after she fell unconscious while having her blood forcibly drawn by police. She died six days later in a hospital. Ms. Liu Lanying from Lanzhou City, Gansu Province was arrested on August 18th, 2015 for distributing informational materials about Falun Gong, a self-cultivation system being persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party.
  • Thirty Death Cases of Falun Gong Practitioners Confirmed in 2015

    Fourteen Falun Gong practitioners are confirmed to have been tortured to death in the first three months of 2015. In addition, 16 death cases that occurred between 2007 and 2014 have been recently confirmed. Among these 30 cases, 18 were female practitioners and 12 were male. The age ranges were from 36 to 79. Twenty-seven of these practitioners were sentenced to prisons, labour camps, detention centres and/or jailed in brainwashing centres before death. The longest sentence was 13 years. All of the practitioners experienced severe torture before death, including being subjected to brainwashing, brutal beatings, sleep deprivation, and electric shocks.
  • Belated News: Man Dies from Multiple Organ Failure Caused by Labour Camp Torture

    Mr. Chi Yaocai died as a result of multiple organ failure on February 11th, 2015. He was 55 years old. Mr. Cai was arrested in 2011 for exposing the persecution of Falun Gong. He was given two years of forced labour and sent to the Chaoyanggou Forced Labour Camp, a detention facility notorious for its maltreatment of Falun Gong practitioners. Like many other detained practitioners, Mr. Cai was assaulted and tortured when he refused to give up his belief.
  • Woman Dies One Month After 5.5-Year Imprisonment for Practising Falun Gong

    Ms. Dong Shaotai was released in April after spending five and a half years in prison for talking to the public about Falun Gong, a spiritual practice being persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party. She died, however, one month later on May 19th, as a result of the multiple organ failure she developed during her imprisonment. She was 74.
  • Woman Dies 10 Days after Release; Family Suspects Poisoning

    Ms. Xiao Aixiu died just 10 days after her release from a local detention centre. She had hallucinations, and her skin was a strange colour during her final days. Her family suspected that she was poisoned while she was being detained. Ms. Xiao was arrested on September 28th, 2014, for talking to people about how the Chinese Communist Party is wrong to persecute Falun Gong, a practice that had transformed her life.
  • Hebei Man Dies from Torture-induced Health Problems After Years of Suffering

    Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Guo Zhengqing died on September 14th, 2015, after suffering from torture-induced health problems for more than a decade. The 55-year-old man was arrested in Tiananmen Square on April 25th, 2001 while unfurling a banner reading “Practising Falun Gong is a Human Right.” He was kept at a detention centre for 20 months, during which time he was tortured so badly that he sustained severe brain injuries and had trouble moving his hands and legs. The police kept harassing him at home after he was released in 2005. Mr. Guo was never able to recover, and by December 2014, he had lost the ability to talk or move.
  • Cold-Blooded Torture Renders Practitioners Unrecognizable at Death

    Since 1999, the communist regime in China has regularly used torture in its campaign to force Falun Gong practitioners to renounce their belief. During his ten years in Panjin Prison, Mr. Huang was beaten and tortured with electric batons. During a family visit in October 2009, an inmate had to hold him up. His own wife could not recognize him. He was extremely frail, his teeth were severely deformed, his body was shaking uncontrollably, and he partially lost his hearing. Five days after the visit on October 25th, 2010, prison authorities notified his family that Mr. Huang had died in prison.
  • Practitioner Dies Hours After Arrest in Hengshui

    Fifteen Falun Gong practitioners from Hengshui City, Hebei Province were arrested on August 21st, 2015, and one of them, Mr. Yuan, 65, suddenly passed away just hours later on the day of his arrest. Prior to his arrest, Mr. Yuan had his home ransacked by local police on June 18th. The officers confiscated many of his personal belongings, including two laptop computers, two printers, one CD burner, and three paper cutters. At the time of this writing, 13 of the practitioners remain in detention.
  • Belated News: 66-Year-Old Falun Gong Practitioner Dies with His Feet Still Shackled

    Mr. Liu Qingtian's family rushed to a local hospital in the early morning of January 26th, 2015, upon being notified by the prison that he had been hospitalized. They were not allowed to talk to him and had to watch him quietly pass away at 11:30 that night. Even at his death, his feet were still shackled. The police next cremated the 66-year-old Falun Gong's practitioner's body without his family's consent, and claimed that he had died of a “heart attack.”
  • 79-Year-Old Woman Dies Just Months after Lengthy Imprisonment

    Ms. Yang Suolin, a 79-year-old Falun Gong practitioner from Anshan City, Liaoning Province, died on April 22nd, 2015. Years of brutal treatment had left her paralyzed from the waist down. She spent 3 years in a forced labour camp and 7 years in prison for her belief in Falun Gong, enduring torture and humiliation. After her release from prison, a Party official continued to harass her until the day she died.