Elementary School Teacher Tortured to Death Within One Month of Detention

New York—An elementary school teacher was killed in detention in early October in Shandong province, approximately one month after she was abducted into custody on September 2 for practicing Falun Gong. Over the past eleven years, she and other family members, including her teenage daughter, have been repeatedly detained, tortured, and harassed.

Ms. Hu Lianhua (???) worked as an elementary school teacher in Hebei Province. On August 28th, 2008, Ms. Hu was discovered handing out information about the persecution, and was sent to a detention facility where she was reportedly tortured. Authorities ransacked her home, confiscated electronics, Falun Gong books, and took her son and daughter into detention. Ms. Hu was released only after the torture had rendered her weak and in ill-health.

Upon her release, Ms. Hu continued practicing Falun Gong, and began to recover from the effects of abuse in custody. Then, on September 2, 2010, Ms. Hu was abducted in Shandong Province, along with about ten other Falun Gong practitioners, and taken to Qinyun county’s police department. Her home in Hebei province was also ransacked again, and authorities there took her husband into custody as well.

One month later, on October 4th, the family was notified that Hu Lianhua had died in custody. Additional details into her death are being investigated.

After the Communist Party launched its suppression of Falun Gong in July 1999, Ms. Hu felt compelled to speak out. In 2000 she traveled to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong, but lost her job and pension once she returned home. Over the following ten years, Ms. Hu was abducted and imprisoned four times for her belief in Falun Gong. 

Additional details:

Hu Lianhua’s address: Hanjiangjun Village, Xiaoying Township, Yanshan County of Hebei Province (?????????????)

Name of elementary school where she taught: Hanjiangjun Elementary School in Xiaoying Township, Yanshan County, Hebei Province (?????????????????)

First-hand account by Hu Lianhua published online in 2004 about the torment she and her family had been subjected to since 1999: (full story)