(Clearwisdom.net) (Complied by Clearwisdom.net reporter Fang Hong) According to information reported on Minghui Net [the Chinese version of Clearwisdom.net], another twenty-six cases of innocent Falun Gong practitioners dying as a result of torture in China were verified in September 2004. These death cases were verified through civilian channels and increased the total number of Falun Gong practitioners who have been tortured to death or died as a result of torture in China to 1,060.

In September, 26 cases of Falun Gong practitioners tortured to death were verified through civilian channels, of those 12 were killed in 2004, including one practitioner who was killed in September, 2004.

The twenty-six deaths occurred in thirteen provinces and municipalities directly under the control of the Central Government. There were six in Hebei Province, six in Liaoning Province, two in Hubei Province, two in Shanxi Province, two in Shandong Province, and one in each of the following places: Beijing, Anhui Province, Jilin Province, Sichuan Province, Guangdong Province, Heilongjiang Province, Jiangsu Province, and Jiangxi Province. Among the practitioners who died as a result of torture were factory workers, housewives, government employees, and retired workers, owners of private companies, farmers, taxi drivers, and others.

The oldest practitioner was 78-year-old Wang Qirong from Jilin City, Jilin Province, while the youngest was a woman Falun Gong practitioner from Sichuan Province, who was about 30 years old, and whose name is still unknown. Fifteen deaths were of senior citizen Falun Gong practitioners whose ages were over 50, which accounts for 57% of the total deaths reported in September. Eleven women practitioners were killed, which accounts for 44% of the death toll.

The practitioners whose deaths were reported in September had experienced both severe physical torture and mental torment. Their homes were ransacked, and many of them were abducted and subjected to extortion. They were subjected to all kinds of brutal beating and torture, as well as coercive brainwashing, being sent to forced labor camps, detention centers, and brainwashing centers, and otherwise abused and grossly mistreated at the hands of the local police and persons from the "610 Office" who tried to force them to give up their Falun Dafa faith in Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance.

Ms. Yang Meizhen, 55, was a Falun Gong practitioner from Suining County, Xuzhou City, Jiangsu Province. She suffered from police persecution numerous times because she refused to give up Falun Gong practice. In December 2000, Yang Meizhen went to Beijing to appeal to the government to stop persecuting Falun Gong. For that, she was arrested and detained in Suining County Detention Center, and was subjected to brutal beatings and various other forms of torture. In order to get information about other practitioners, the police cuffed her hands and feet together for over two weeks. The police refused to open the cuffs even when she ate, slept or needed to use the toilet. Later, when the police saw her walking or moving slowly, they used truncheons to savagely beat her.

In October 2002, Yang Meizhen was sentenced to four years of "re-education through forced labor" and imprisoned at Sihong County Forced Labor Camp. The camp police tried in vain to force her to curse Falun Dafa and the founder of the practice. Because she would not give up Falun Gong, Yang Meizhen was subjected to various tortures and beatings, and was forced to do excessively heavy labor. The jail guards also deprived her of sleep and forced her to do labor.

In June 2003, Yang Meizhen's family brought her home when she was on the verge of death. On July 22, 2004, she died as a result of torture she had suffered.

Mr. Niu Xigong, 38, was an employee working for the Economic Committee in Shiqiaozi Town, Zhucheng City, Shandong Province. He lived in Shiqiaozi Village, Shiqiaozi Town. After he started Falun Gong practice in July 1998, his chronic illnesses soon miraculously disappeared and he became healthy.

On October 8, 2000, Mr. Niu and his wife went to the Appeals Bureau in Beijing to tell the government the facts of Falun Gong, and because of this they were taken back by the local police for persecution. The guards took him from the adult education building to the police station, and subjected him to severe torture. They also searched his body. Deputy Head of the police station Dong Deliang took over 100 Yuan (1) from him. The 200 Yuan his wife had carried with her was also taken. The police then detained the couple, forcing them to pay a "fine" of 10,000 Yuan.

At that time, they had an eleven-year-old child at home, who was in no position to find money for the fine payment. After detaining them for over two weeks, the police released them. Nevertheless, just several days later, more than twenty evildoers, including Zhang Hongxin, Yu Hongmei, Sun Youli, Shi Shunmin, Chen Hongzhen, Lu Hongwei, as well as Li Bingzhang, Ma Zhiliang, Zhu Chengliang from Shiqiaozi Village, and other lawless persons whose names are unknown, removed the door to the couple's home and prepared to ransack it. After Mr. Niu clarified the truth and explained the law, they gave up their attempt.

In November 2000, while Mr. Niu and his wife were working at a relative's place in Anqiu City, they were forcibly put in a vehicle by Shi Shunmin, Lu Hongwei, and Chen Hongzhen, and taken back to their hometown. They were then detained in the adult education building for about two weeks. Later, police from Zhucheng City Police Department, including officers Cao Jinhui, Ding Bofeng, Yin Ruiwen, Sun Youli, and others ransacked their home, confiscating a tape recorder and their Falun Gong materials. They also took Mr. Niu to the town's police station. Policemen Cao Jinhui and Yuan Wei took him to a room and beat him for the entire morning. As a result, Mr. Niu's face and nose were swollen and became black and blue. They tried to force him to write a Guarantee Statement promising to give up Falun Gong practice. In the afternoon, he was taken to Zhucheng Detention Center where he was detained for one month and was fined 10,000 Yuan.

This torture caused Mr. Niu enormous physical and mental suffering, and since then, he remained in a state of extreme nervousness.

On July 8, 2003, when Mr. Niu was at work, police officers Mao Yulong, Zhou Zhong, and others from Zhucheng City Police Department arrived suddenly and took him by force to the town's police station. He was detained there for one morning. Furthermore, Shi Shunmin also led people to ransack his home. Although they did not find anything they wanted, they still took Mr. Niu by force to Zhucheng City Detention Center, where he was detained until his family members were forced to pay 5,000 Yuan [for his release].

The many instances of persecution and the long-time mental torment had pushed Mr. Niu's endurance to the limit. On August 28, 2004, he could not bear the heavy pressure any longer and died that evening.

Ms. Yang Lirong, 34, lived on Beimen Street, Dingzhou City, and Baoding Prefecture, Hebei Province. She began practicing Falun Gong in 1998. In October 1999 she went to Beijing to clarify the truth about Falun Gong, but was illegally arrested by Xiao Fudi, a police officer from Dingzhou City, and was detained in a detention center for two months. The authorities extorted 5,000 Yuan before releasing her, and the police constantly harassed her after she returned home. Her aged family members were very scared, and the police took advantage of their weakness to threaten them. Her husband was worried that he may lose his job, and he often physically abused Yang Lirong. Yang Lirong treated her husband with kindness and the family atmosphere became a little better. However, the persecutors often came to harass her and her family, and take her to a brainwashing class for persecution. Because she firmly refused to give up her belief, she was taken to the brainwashing class three times. Consequently, the atmosphere in her family became very tense.

On the evening of February 8, 2002, the police again went to Yang Lirong's home to search for Falun Gong materials. They did not find anything and left, feeling dejected. Her husband could not bear the pressure any longer, so in the early hours the next morning, while their aged parents were away from home, he strangled Yang Lirong to death with his hands. She left behind their ten-year-old son. Her husband immediately called the police after the murder. After the police came, although her body was still warm, they still examined her body through an autopsy and removed a number of her internal organs. When her internal organs were being taken out, a lot of blood flowed out and her body emitted a lot of steam. One police officer from Dingzhou City Police Department said, "This is not dissecting a corpse; this is dissecting a living person!"

Yang Lirong's husband is a driver for the Bureau of Measurements and Standards.

Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Chen Xingyu, 53, was an employee of the Economic and Trade Commission of Si County, Anhui Province. After he started practicing Falun Dafa in May 1996, the illnesses that had caused him to suffer for many years disappeared. Since then, he had been very energetic. Witnessing his changes, many people in Si County started to learn the practice as well.

At that time, Mr. Chen acted as the head assistant at the county Falun Gong practice site where the exercises were taught free of charge. After July 1999, his home was ransacked many times. He was illegally put into administrative custody and was detained many times. In July 2000, after he was detained for about three months, his elder sister paid 2,500 Yuan in extortion money to have him released.

On New Year's Day of 2001, Mr. Chen went to Beijing to clarify the truth and to tell the government that "Falun Dafa is good." He was arrested by Beijing police and taken back by Mao Xuebing, an official from Si County's "610 Office." He was then beaten by a group of police. Mao Xuebing grabbed Mr. Chen's hair and hit his head against the wall. A large area of his hair was pulled out and that hair still had blood on it. Wound marks resulted from shocking with electric batons covered the areas from his inner thighs to his toes.

Mr. Chen was determined in practicing Falun Gong. He was handcuffed and shackled at all times, was given no quilt, and had to sleep on the concrete floor in the cold winter. Because he told the inmates in his cell that Falun Dafa was great, his hands and feet were tied up behind this back, so when he was cuffed to an iron pole on the concrete floor, his body could only touch the floor with one shoulder and one knee. The inmates in his cell could not bear to see the cruelty, so they helped him to change his body position. Finding him practicing the meditation exercise, the lawless persons tied Mr. Chen up beside a urine bucket.

Mr. Chen refused to write the Guarantee Statement promising to give up practicing Falun Gong, so the lawless perpetrators intensified their persecution of him. To resist the persecution, Mr. Chen staged a hunger strike. The police force-fed him and also injected unknown drugs into his body.

The inmates were given maggot-infested pickled vegetables. Because of hunger, some inmates mixed toilet tissue into the porridge to stop the hunger. The several months of torture had made Mr. Chen become very thin and weak. His body weight, originally over 70 kg (154 lb.), dropped to a little over 40 kg. (88 lb.). He could not stand up or walk, nor could he pass stools or urinate normally. He passed the food that he ate without any digestion. Later when he was brought to the hospital, he was on the verge of death, but he was still shackled.

On November 24, 2001, upon learning her husband was in the county hospital, Mr. Chen's wife immediately went there. The lawless police did not allow her to come close to him. Later Mr. Chen was taken back home, but after that, he was still harassed continuously. At six o'clock on March 27, 2002 he died.

Every death case represents a blood debt, and every blood debt is like a rope [that will be used to tie up the debtors and bring them to justice]. Good and evil will eventually get their respective rewards or retribution, which is a heavenly principle that controls everything. All the blood debts that Jiang's group owes during their genocide-style persecution of Falun Gong will be paid, and that day is drawing closer and closer.

(1) Yuan is the Chinese currency. The average monthly salary of an urban worker in China is 500 Yuan.

October 4, 2004