Toronto Man Worried About Brother Held Captive in China for Belief in Falun Gong

Toronto resident Lizhi He (C) speaks at a rally outside the Chinese consulate in Toronto on Dec. 10, 2024. He called on the Chinese regime to free his brother, Lizhong He, who has been detained since January 2023 for practising Falun Gong. NTD

It’s been nearly a year since the Chinese regime arbitrarily detained the brother of a Toronto resident for practising Falun Gong, once again prompting calls for an end to Beijing’s long-running persecution campaign against the meditation practice.

At a rally outside the Chinese consulate in Toronto on Dec. 10, Lizhi He, a Canadian citizen, told the story of his family’s harrowing experience. His brother, Lizhong He, a farmer in Gansu Province in north-central China, has been imprisoned since Jan. 12, 2023, for practising Falun Gong, a traditional spiritual discipline that has been brutally oppressed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) since 1999.

“The police came to our home, took [Lizhong He] away in front of our parents, who are over 80 years old, and accused him of having Falun Gong-related content on his cellphone. They even robbed him of his bank book—his life savings from decades of hard work,” Lizhi He said in Mandarin.

“I strongly protest the persecution and unlawful imprisonment of my brother, Lizhong He, by the Chinese authorities. I demand that the authorities immediately cease the persecution and unconditionally release Lizhong He.”

Toronto resident Lizhi He (L) attends a rally outside the Chinese consulate in Toronto on Dec. 10, 2024. He called on the Chinese regime to free his brother, Lizhong He, who has been detained since January 2023 for practising Falun Gong. NTD

Lizhong He, who has no prior criminal record, is being held in a prison in Lanzhou, the capital of Gansu Province. When his family travelled over 400 kilometres to visit him in April, they were denied access, with prison authorities citing that he had not yet been “transformed” as the reason, said Lizhi He.

“Transformation” is a CCP tactic designed to force Falun Gong practitioners to renounce their beliefs and submit to the Party’s ideological control, according to Minghui.org, a website that documents the persecution of Falun Gong. Forcing detained practitioners to transform usually involves torture and brainwashing.

This is the second time Lizhong He has been detained for practising Falun Gong. In February 2010, he was arbitrarily imprisoned for three years, during which time he was subjected to torture, including being forced to stand for prolonged periods and chained inside a small cage for up to six months, Lizhi He said.

Condemnation

As of Sept. 22, there are 12 Canadians, including Lizhi He, who have family members illegally incarcerated in China for their belief in Falun Gong.

MPs have raised these cases in Parliament and urged the government to call on Beijing to release the family members and end its 25-year persecution of Falun Gong.

On Oct. 31, Conservative MP Garnett Genuis highlighted the “tragic, immoral imprisonment” of Lizhong He, and the torture he endured, while presenting a petition to the House of Commons urging an end to the CCP’s campaign against Falun Gong. Thirteen other Tory MPs also presented the same petition over several days in October and November, in accordance with their availability.

Conservative MP Garnett Genuis poses with Falun Gong practitioners on Parliament Hill on Nov. 19, 2024. Genuis and over a dozen other Tory MPs presented petitions in the House of Commons calling on the Chinese Communist Party to end its persecution of members of the spiritual practice. NTD

MPs who participated in presenting the petition include Cathay Wagantall, Larry Brock, Damien Kurek, Scott Reid, Jeremy Patzer, Brad Vis, Tako Van Popta, Marc Dalton, Dane Lloyd, Dan Albas, Dave Epp, Tom Kmiec, and Greg McLean. Collectively, they condemned the CCP’s practice of live organ harvesting, torture, forced labour, and other inhumane measures against Falun Gong practitioners in China.

Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is rooted in Buddhist traditions and involves meditative exercises and moral teachings based on the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance.

The CCP’s persecution campaign against Falun Gong practitioners began in July 1999 and remains ongoing, causing untold suffering for practitioners and their families across China for over two decades.

Sun Qian, a Falun Dafa practitioner from Vancouver who has been illegally detained in China since February 2017, in an undated photo. The Epoch Times/Handout

The regime has also extended its campaign overseas, according to a report by the Falun Dafa Association of Canada. It details cases where Canadian Falun Gong practitioners have faced harassment, surveillance, threats to their family members in China, and efforts to sabotage their attempts to raise awareness about the CCP’s human rights violations.

On Dec. 10, Ottawa announced sanctions against eight senior CCP officials for their involvement in persecuting Falun Gong practitioners, as well as for abuse targeting Tibetans and Uyghurs.

NTD contributed to this report.