(Minghui.org) Sanctioning human rights abusers has become common among democratic countries. After the U.S. passed the Magnitsky Act in 2016, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the 27-member-country EU enacted similar laws. Australia and Japan are working on the same.

In accordance with these laws, Falun Gong practitioners have compiled lists of perpetrators involved in the persecution of Falun Gong for the past few years. Every year they submit several lists to democratic governments, urging them to sanction the named perpetrators.

Starting on July 14, 2021, Falun Gong practitioners in more than 30 countries are submitting the latest list of perpetrators involved in the persecution of Falun Gong to their respective governments, demanding sanctions on these human rights abusers, including denying entry into their countries and freezing their overseas assets.

One name on this list is Li Xiang.

Perpetrator Information

Li Xiang

Full Name of Perpetrator: Li (last name) Xiang (first name) (Chinese: 李祥)Gender: MaleCountry: ChinaDate/year of Birth: April 1959Place of Birth: Unknown

Title or Position:

Prior to 2012: Deputy director of the Siping Municipal Education Commission and Secretary of the Party Committee of the Municipal Education College, director of the Municipal Education Commission, member of the Standing Committee of the Baicheng Municipal Party Committee, secretary of the Political and Legal Committee, director of the Municipal Public Security Bureau, member of the Standing Committee of the Baicheng Municipal Party Committee, and minister of the Organization Department.

June 2012 – November 2016: Deputy director of Jilin Provincial Public Security Bureau (in charge of the National Security Bureau), deputy mayor of Changchun City, and director of the Changchun Public Security Bureau.

December 2016 – December 2019: Member of the Standing Committee of the Changchun Municipal Party Committee and secretary of the Political and Legal Committee of Changchun City, Jilin Province.

Main Crimes

I. June 2012 – November 2016 – Crimes committed during the four years Li Xiang was the Deputy Director of the Jilin Provincial Public Security Department and the Deputy Mayor of Changchun and the Director of Public Security

During four years between 2012 and 2016 that Li Xiang served as deputy director of the Public Security Department of Jilin Province, he made every effort to implement the CCP’s extermination policies and plans to “ruin Falun Gong practitioners’ reputations, financially cut them off, and physically eliminate them.” He directed the public security system of Jilin Province to commit large-scale arrests and home raids, and illegal detention and harassment. His actions directly led to the torture and even deaths of many Falun Gong practitioners.

According to available statistics, at least 13 practitioners in Changchun City were tortured to death during this period, including Wang Dongbiao, Ren Shuqing, Liu Fengyun, Cui Zhanyun, Wang Shiqin, Liu Guihong, Yu Qinhai, Chen Liandong, Yan Jingyou, Sun Shibin, Sheng Guizhen, Zhu Haishan, and Fan Minxiang.

According to available statistics of persecution cases on Minghui.org, in 2016, at least 840 Falun Gong practitioners in Jilin Province were mentally and physically tortured. Among them, 293 were illegally arrested, forcibly brainwashed, and detained for extended periods of time; 286 were illegally detained; and 102 were harassed and were targets of attempted arrests. Among these persecuted practitioners, at least 140 had their homes illegally ransacked and robbed, and were extorted for a total of 460,308 yuan. In Changchun City alone, 386 practitioners were persecuted.

Sheng Guizhen, a Falun Gong practitioner in Changchun, was expelled from public office, arrested three times, and persecuted through a labor camp term. He was arrested for the third time on May 25, 2016. After he was released, he continued to suffer pressure and harassment in his workplace as well as injuries sustained from the detention and persecution through labor. He died at home on October 16, 2016, at the age of 52.

In 2015, a total of 756 Falun Gong practitioners in Jilin Province were persecuted with varying degrees of severity, with five dying while being persecuted. 607 practitioners were arrested, including 257 in the city of Changchun alone.

On September 25, 2015, the Public Security Bureau of Fusong County, Jilin Province dispatched a large number of police to arrest and harass Falun Gong practitioners on their list. As many as eleven practitioners were arrested, with one practitioner and their family members killed in the process. When a group of police broke into elderly Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Sun Xiuhua’s house, they intimidated and threatened her, leading to her dying of fright. In another case, after Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Zhang Fengxia was arrested, her elderly mother could not bear the emotional blow and died of grief that night.

At least 352 Falun Gong practitioners and their relatives were illegally arrested in Jilin Province from January to October 2014, and at least 57 were arrested and sent to brainwashing centers for persecution.

On the afternoon of September 9, 2014, Falun Gong practitioner Cui Zhanyun was arrested by the Yushu National Security Brigade. He was first taken to the Yushu City Detention Center. On September 12, he was taken to the Yushu City Brainwashing Center. Li Fenglin, secretary of the Yushu Municipal Legal Committee, ordered three or four employees to forcibly drug Cui Zhanyun. On September 15, Cui was then arrested by Li Fenglin and taken to the Changchun Brainwashing Center. In the afternoon, Cui felt unwell and was picked up by his son the next day and brought home. At that time, Cui Zhanyun’s arms, neck, and back were sore, his bones were aching, and he couldn’t eat. Cui Zhanyun told his family, “I am not sick. This was caused by Li Fenglin who asked the brainwashing guards to drug and persecute me.” Cui Zhanyun passed away on November 3, 2014.

438 Falun Gong practitioners were arrested in Jilin Province in 2013, and four were tortured to death. Forty-six practitioners were illegally sentenced and arrested, 99 were detained in brainwashing centers for persecution, 150 were illegally detained in detention centers, and 14 were harassed by local police. Among them, Mr. Wang Dongbiao, born in 1962, was physically injured and mentally devastated by the harassment, as police and the courts called to harass him almost every day. He passed away on September 21, 2013 at age 51.

II. December 2016 – December 2019 – Crimes committed during the three years Li Xiang served as Secretary of the Changchun Municipal Political and Legal Committee

According to available statistics, from December 2016 to December 2019 while Li Xiang acted as secretary of the Changchun Municipal Political and Legal Committee, at least nine Falun Gong practitioners, including Liu Shuyan, Yu Guixiang, Zhang Yuanyuan, Song Zhaoheng, and Liu Jianying, were tortured to death in Changchun. One hundred and sixty-five practitioners were illegally sentenced or held illegally in courts, 742 were arrested, and 367 were harassed. Changchun City is one of the country’s top cities for the most brutal persecution of Falun Gong practitioners.

The Political and Legal Committee was the command body of the CCP’s persecution of Falun Gong. As secretary of the Changchun Municipal Political and Legal Committee, Li Xiang should be held responsible for the persecution, torture, death, and maiming of Falun Gong practitioners during his term in office. The following is a collection of some serious cases of persecution during this period.

1. Ms. Huo Runzhi was tortured to death in Nong’an County, Changchun

Ms. Huo Runzhi was arrested in March 2016 and sentenced to three years in prison. During her detention, Ms. Huo was physically and mentally tortured, leading to multiple injuries to her body, and she was beaten to the point where all her teeth were loose. She was weak and underweight, and developed severe hypertension and rectal tumors. The prison sent Ms. Huo home on August 16, 2017. Ms. Huo was delirious and confused at the time, had lost all memory, and had many scars on her body. Other than sleep, all she could do each day was scream in pain. She died on November 14, 2017. She was 72 years old.

2. Ms. Song Zhaoheng, a retired teacher, was tortured to death in the detention center

Ms. Song Zhaoheng, a retired teacher, was arrested on August 27, 2018 by the Yushu City 610 National Security Brigade from the streets, for telling the truth about Falun Gong. She was illegally detained in the Yushu City Detention Center. Ms. Song was tried by the court on November 16, 2018, and illegally arraigned on January 14, 2019. During the arraignment period, the judge used Ms. Song’s daughter to force her to transform, putting pressure on her, and threatening Ms. Song that if she did not transform and give up her faith, she would be sentenced to nine years in prison. Soon after Ms. Song returned to the prison, she passed away. She was 76 years old.

3. Changchun City Falun Gong practitioner Zhang Yuanyuan died during persecution

Ms. Zhang Yuanyuan was arrested, and her home was ransacked by police in April 2019. Because Zhang Yuanyuan’s blood pressure was too high, she was rejected intake by the detention center. However, the local police station continued to harass Ms. Zhang, forcibly holding her in the prosecutor’s office and in the courts. On the morning of June 24, 2019, the police again arrested Ms. Zhang and sent her to the Procuratorate. They threatened Ms. Zhang, saying she would not be allowed to go out for 15 days and would be on-call to appear any time she was summoned, or else face violent law enforcement consequences. On July 1, 2019, Ms. Zhang was arrested and sent to the court without her family’s knowledge. At 4 p.m. that day, Ms. Zhang was picked up and brought back home by her son. Before she could say anything, she fell to the ground and could not speak again. She died on July 3.

4. Li Jing was sentenced to ten years in prison

Ms. Li Jing, 64, rode home alone in a car on the afternoon of March 14, 2018. After entering her community, she was arrested, and her home was ransacked. Personal belongings including printers, laptop computers, and Falun Gong books were all taken away. That night Ms. Li was detained at the police station and interrogated all night. She was handcuffed and not allowed to sleep. The interrogation lasted two nights and one day, and the police forced Ms. Li to tell them the source of the Falun Gong materials found in her home. Ms. Li was illegally arrested by the Procuratorate on March 28, 2018. On November 7, Ms. Li was tried in secret. On April 2, 2019, Ms. Li was sentenced to ten years in prison.

5. Yu Jianli’s family of 7 was sentenced to seven to seven-and-a-half years in prison

The Siping City Public Security Bureau and the Lishu County Public Security Bureau dispatched hundreds of police force members on August 15, 2019, and with the cooperation of local police in Changchun City, began to arrest Falun Gong practitioners and their family members from Changchun City as well as other regions throughout the province. Seven members of Yu Jianli’s family were arrested by the police at their respective homes. On that day, more than 30 Falun Gong practitioners and their families in Changchun were arrested, 16 were illegally prosecuted, and two were released on bail. After that, 14 Falun Gong practitioners were sentenced to seven to nine years in prison. Among them, Yu’s mother, Fu Guihua, died two months after being taken to the Jilin Province Women’s Prison.

Below are the practitioners’ prison terms.

Meng Xiangqi was sentenced to seven-and-a-half years in prisonFu Guihua (Meng Xiangqi’s mother-in-law) to seven-and-a-half years in prisonMeng Fanjun (Meng Xiangqi’s father) to seven years in prisonYu Jianli (Fu Guihua’s eldest daughter) to seven years in prisonWang Dongji (Yu Jianli’s husband) to seven years in prisonWang Kemin (Yu Jianli’s Father-in-law) to seven years in prisonWang Fengzhi (Yu Jianli’s mother-in-law) to seven years in prisonCui Guixian to seven years in prisonLiu Dongying to seven years in prisonHan Jianping to seven years in prisonJiang Tao to nine years in prisonTan Qiucheng to seven years in prisonHou Hongqing to seven years in prisonZhang Shaoping to seven years in prison