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Urgent: After Being on Hunger Strike For Over 100 Days, Dafa Practitioner Li Zhenwen Is In Critical Condition

Oct. 20, 2002

October 6, 2002

(Clearwisdom.net) Falun Dafa practitioners Li Zhenwen and his wife, Zou Limei, are from Qingdao City, Shandong Province. Under Jiang's brutal persecution of Falun Dafa, they were forced to leave home in November 2000. On May 28th, 2002, Li Zhenwen was kidnapped by the Fushan Police Station while walking on Jiangxi Street in Qingdao City. Because he had committed no crime, Li immediately went on a hunger strike to call for his unconditional release. On June 1st, Li Zhenwen was sent to the Dashan Detention Center where he continued his hunger strike. Despite his deteriorating health, the Qingdao City "610 Office" (an agency specifically created to persecute Falun Gong, with absolute power over each level of administration in the Party and all other political and judiciary systems) demanded that Li remain in detention and directed the detention center to force-feed him daily through a tube inserted in his nose. On August 15th, after 76 days of force-feeding, they sent Li to the Weibei Prison for labor education despite the fact that he was extremely weak and malnourished and couldn't walk by himself. It has now been over 100 days now since Li first began his hunger strike, and he still has not been released. His physical health is in critical condition.

In order to try and prevent Li's family from learning the truth about his condition when he was first detained, the "610 office" illegally intercepted all of their mail. Li's family eventually learned about his condition and went to the Nanqu District "610 office" in Qingdao City to question the officers directly, but they denied all responsibility. When Li's workplace asked the police station about Li's condition after being informed by Li's family, the police refused to talk about the matter. Even when Li's family finally went to the interrogation team to demand their reason for arresting Li, a policeman refused to acknowledge their wrongdoing and fabricated charges against Li, yelling, "He will be sentenced from 4 to 7 years for sure!"

In end of July, despite Li's deteriorating health, the Nanqu Law Court secretly sentenced him to three years at Weibei Prison without any notice to his family or workplace. Li resisted the sentencing by refusing to confess to any wrongdoing, either in speech or in writing. He was righteous and determined, and didn't even allow his fingerprints to be taken. His family questioned the sentence when they found out, but Wang Caigeng, the person in charge of the court proceedings, stated the government's position that being a Falun Gong practitioner is a "political crime," and what to do about it can be "decided only by us [the state]." The decision of the court, he said, was "to comply from the low levels up," all the way to the top authority.

When Li's family insisted on taking him home on condition of his critical health, the court gave it no consideration. Instead, the Dashan Detention Center fined Li's family 700 Yuan to pay for the expenses of force-feeding.

Once in prison, Li's family persisted on getting him released by expressing their concerns to the prison authorities. They pleaded that Li's health was too critical for him to be in prison and he needed urgent hospital care instead. But the prison authorities refused their request without any reason, saying instead that Li would be forcefully brainwashed and tortured while in prison if he refused to give up his belief in Falun Dafa.

Currently, after being in the prison for a short while, Li Zhenwen's situation is extremely critical. He has been sent to the Weibei Prison Central Hospital for immediate medical care and his family has not been allowed to visit him. His friends, relatives, colleagues, classmates, and other kind-hearted people have expressed their concern about his safety and life. We hereby appeal to all kind-hearted people and Falun Dafa practitioners worldwide who learn of this news to call the phone numbers listed below and inquire about Li's condition.

Nanqu "610 office" at Qingdao City: 86-532-2872951

Nanqu Court in Qingdao City: 86-532-2795008 Wang Caigeng

Headquarter Phone of Qingdao South City Police Sub-bureau: 86-532-2860199

Phone number for Qingdao Fushan Police Station: 86-532-5762422 Yang Lei

Qingdao Dashan Detention Center: 86-532-5033164 Sun Weijun (Vice director)

Weibei Prison Interrogation Office: 86-536-7541254 Wang Junwu (Vice director)

Li Zhenwen's wife is still unable to return home. The police still attempted to arrest her.