Hu Xuanming Campaigns for the Release of His Mother after Second Prison Sentence

Ms. Liu Pintong, a woman in her 50s residing in Dandong City, Liaoning Province, was arrested on February 3, 2023 and lost her appeal in November 2023 against a 1.5-year prison term for her faith in Falun Gong. Falun Gong is a mind and body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999. Ms. Liu’s son, Mr. Hu Xuanming, a graduate student in the U.K. has been actively campaigning for the release of his mother.

When she was arrested in February 2023, she was living with her aunt in Fushun City. The Shuncheng District Court in Fushun City sentenced her to one and a half years around September 2023. She filed an appeal with the Fushun City Intermediate Court, which held a hearing on October 31, 2023.

Judge Cao Yang presided over the appeals hearing of Ms. Liu’s case. Despite an earnest attempt by Ms. Liu to seek justice during the appeals hearing by explaining the values of Falun Gong, Cao ruled around mid-November (exact date unknown) to uphold the guilty verdict against Ms. Liu.

Ms. Liu was previously arrested twelve years ago on March 3, 2012, for raising awareness about the persecution of Falun Gong. The Zhenxing District Court sentenced Ms. Liu to eight years on August 10, 2012. The judge claimed that it was an order from above.

Throughout eight years in custody, Ms. Liu has undergone various injuries for attempting to clarify the truth about Falun Gong to her compatriots. She has experienced extorted confessions of family and friends, fabricated evidence to indict her, forced labor for long hours, and brutal torture intending to coerce her to retreat from the practice. As a result of the long duration of torture she experienced, she suffered from numerous health conditions, including cervical spondylosis, numbness, dizziness, severe bloody diarrhea, kidney failure, and other life-threatening symptoms.

Her son Mr. Hu Xuanming, who is currently studying for a graduate degree in the U.K., wrote to Boris Johnson, his Member of Parliament (MP) and former U.K. Prime Minister, seeking his help in rescuing Ms. Liu.

On March 27, 2023, Johnson forwarded Mr. Hu’s concern to The Rt Hon Anne-Marie Trevelyan MP, Minister of State in the British Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office. Trevelyan replied to Johnson on May 2, stating the U.K. government will “monitor this issue closely and will continue to impress upon China the need to immediately end serious violations of human rights.”

The Chinese Communist Party has been relentless for 24 years in its campaign to eradicate Falun Gong. Too many innocent people have been imprisoned, tortured, brainwashed, raped, and killed for their organs due to their belief in the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Tolerance. Mr. Hu has started a petition to help raise awareness about his mother’s plight and makes an earnest plea for people to join the effort in releasing his mother, as “every day that Ms. Liu is held in detention is a danger to her life.”