Falun Gong Woman Left Paralyzed from Severe Torture in Chinese Forced Labor Camp
35-year-old Ms. Li Huiqi was tortured for two months in a Chinese Labor Camp, leaving her paralyzed and emaciated.
NEW YORK (FDI) — Two months in the Shijiazhuang Forced Labor Camp in Hebei Province transformed a healthy, vibrant woman into a mere skeleton of herself.
Ms. Li Huiqi, 35, worked at the Shijiazhuan Paint Factory in Hebei Province. On December 2, 2001, police from the Weiming Street Police Station in Shijiazhuang City detained her because she practices Falun Gong. On February 2, 2002, after being illegally detained at Shijiazhuang First Detention Center for two months, she was sent to the Second Squad, Fourth Brigade of the Shijiazhuang Forced Labor Camp for a one-year term.
At the Shijiazhuang Labor Camp, “610 Office” officials and Labor Camp police tortured Ms. Li until she was on the brink of death.
During the time Ms. Li was detained and tortured in the labor camp, her health deteriorated dramatically. Still, the labor camp refused to release her.
During her detention, Ms. Li’s family came to the camp many times and begged to be allowed to visit her. However, policewoman Qi Xiaoxia of the Second Squad, Fourth Brigade of the labor camp reportedly told them, “Falun Gong practitioners have no visitation dates. ‘Visitation day’ is not for Falun Gong!”
Sources say the camp also demanded money from Ms. Li’s family.
On April 8, 2002, due to the torture Ms. Li had endured, the labor camp sent her to the People’s Hospital of Hebei Province to be resuscitated. Ms. Li was emaciated. Many of her major organs were malfunctioning. Her pulse could not be detected, and she had to be put on a ventilator.
Ms. Li remained in serious condition, and was transferred to the Third Hospital of Hebei Province on May 30, 2002. Her condition remained serious and she had to be resuscitated several times.
Family members say they began funeral preparations on at least three separate occasions.
Throughout Ms. Li’s ordeal in the hospital, labor camp police monitored her 24 hours a day, apparently fearing what she may reveal regarding the torture she experienced in the labor camp. The police also arrested Falun Gong practitioners who came to visit her.
“They used every way they could to prevent her persecution from being exposed,” says one source from Hebei Province.
On the morning of December 12, 2002, Li Yong, a director from the labor camp and head of the fourth squad, and police officer Zhou Yilin went to the hospital. Stating that Ms. Li had “fulfilled her sentence” at the labor camp, they indicated she should be released, which meant the labor camp would no longer provide further medical treatment. The responsibility of caring for the now paralyzed Ms. Li was passed to her family.
Currently, Ms. Li is suffering from a urinary tract infection, pneumonia, and frequent muscle spasms. She cannot breathe without a ventilator. She is being cared for at home by her oldest sister, who is always by her side.
