He was drugged with unknown substances, forced to work up to 16 hours a day, beaten until disabled and left to die.
That was Hu Heling – a practitioner of the Falun Gong spiritual practice, whose followers continue to receive unusually harsh treatment from the Chinese Communist Government.
Falun Gong sources say the persecution escalated in recent months, as China prepared to impress the world with its Olympic dream.
Naturally, for the estimated 250,000 inmates of labor camps and prisons, the Olympic bonanza means very little, if anything at all.
For Mr Hu, the Olympic clean-ups of so-called dissidents and “anti-government forces” meant more detention and torture.
Having practiced Falun Gong since 1997, Mr Hu witnessed the drastic transformation of China’s attitude to the spiritual practice that saw unprecedented popularity in the 1990s, followed by brutal suppression.
Mr Hu was first detained in 1999, soon after the state-wide persecution against Falun Gong commenced. He was again arrested in 2003 and again most recently on March 18, 2008.
Sources from China report that Mr Hu was swept up with many other Falun Gong practitioners – some in their sixties and seventies – and sent to the Yueyang Detention Centre where they were forced to do slave labor.
It is believed that while in detention he was given unknown drugs, possibly in injected into his food.
Sources also reveal that Yueyang Security Guards refused family visits and his weight dropped from 57.5 kg to 40kg as the police forced him to work 12 to 16 hours each day.
That was Hu Heling – a practitioner of the Falun Gong spiritual practice, whose followers continue to receive unusually harsh treatment from the Chinese Communist Government.
Falun Gong sources say the persecution escalated in recent months, as China prepared to impress the world with its Olympic dream.
Naturally, for the estimated 250,000 inmates of labor camps and prisons, the Olympic bonanza means very little, if anything at all.
For Mr Hu, the Olympic clean-ups of so-called dissidents and “anti-government forces” meant more detention and torture.
Having practiced Falun Gong since 1997, Mr Hu witnessed the drastic transformation of China’s attitude to the spiritual practice that saw unprecedented popularity in the 1990s, followed by brutal suppression.
Mr Hu was first detained in 1999, soon after the state-wide persecution against Falun Gong commenced. He was again arrested in 2003 and again most recently on March 18, 2008.
Sources from China report that Mr Hu was swept up with many other Falun Gong practitioners – some in their sixties and seventies – and sent to the Yueyang Detention Centre where they were forced to do slave labor.
It is believed that while in detention he was given unknown drugs, possibly in injected into his food.
Sources also reveal that Yueyang Security Guards refused family visits and his weight dropped from 57.5 kg to 40kg as the police forced him to work 12 to 16 hours each day.
And while the final Olympic touches were being made in Beijing, Mr Hu continued to rot in prison. On 16th June, 2008 he was taken for a medical check at the city hospital. The doctor said his organs were decayed.
The following day, authorities contacted Mr Hu’s family to pay for his release – a tactic commonly used to extort money from family members to bail out their relatives.
Back home the practitioner’s health condition worsened – he was very weak and swollen from his belly to his feet. He had became emaciated and found it difficult to walk.
On August 7, Hu Heping died just one day before the Beijing Olympic Games opening ceremony.
