Mother of Xuanming Hu

[Update: RELEASED] Ms. Pintong Liu, the mother of a UK graduate student, was sentenced in Liaoning for her faith in Falun Gong.

(Pictured: Xuanming Hu’s mother Mrs. Pintong Liu.)

Thanks to international advocacy, Ms. Liu Pintong reunited with her son, Hu Xuanming, in England for the first time in years.
Latest Update: Finding Freedom in the UK

Case Summary

Pintong Liu / 刘品彤 – Gender: Female, Birthyear: 1971.

Current status: Released.

Past Detentions: 8-year sentence between 2012-2020, 1.5-year sentence in 2023 for distributing flyers.

Reports of Torture: Yes, she developed cervical spondylosis and kidney failure during prior terms.

Family Residence: United Kingdom

Timeline

  • July 14, 2025: Arrived in London
  • August 2, 2024: Released
  • November 2023: Lost Appeal
    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. In November, the judge ruled to uphold the guilty verdict against Ms. Liu.
  • February 18, 2023
    When Ms. Liu’s 15-day administrative detention expired, Jiao put her under criminal detention and transferred her to the Liushan Detention Center.
  • February 14, 2023
    Ms. Liu’s family called Jiao Chen, the Deputy Head of Shuncheng District Domestic Security Office, on February 14 to inquire about her case. Jiao claimed that due to Ms. Liu’s earlier arrest in May 2022 for talking to people about Falun Gong, they were planning to sentence her for three to five years.
  • February 3, 2023: Second Arrest
    Ms. Pintong Liu was arrested for a second time on February 3, 2023, three years after she finished serving a previous eight-year prison term.
  • May 2022: Monitored by Authorities
    According to her son, Ms. Liu was distributing advocacy materials about religious persecution when she was recorded by plainclothes police. In 2023, prosecutors later cited this video recording as primary evidence of her alleged “crime.”
  • 2020: Released
  • 2012: First Arrest, Sentenced to 8 Years
    Ms. Liu was previously arrested on March 3, 2012, for peacefully distributing flyers on the persecution of Falun Gong. The police forced her young son to sign the fabricated case document on her behalf. She suffered numerous abuses, including being slapped in the face, kicked, having her hair pulled during interrogations, as well as being threatened with a heavier term if she had a “bad attitude” (for example, by saying “Falun Dafa is good”). At Dandong City Detention Center, Ms. Liu was then subjected to brutal torture and forced to work for long hours without pay. 

    By the time she was taken to the Liaoning Province Women’s Prison on December 11, 2012, she was suffering with a severe neck problem, numbness in her limbs, and dizziness. She was subjected to torture – such as long hours of standing, and sitting on a small stool with spikes on its surface. She was humiliated, deprived of sleep and denied the ability to use toilet and washing facilities.

    Ms. Liu suffered kidney failure on October 14, 2014 and was taken to the 739 Hospital in Shenyang, the designated hospital for the prison. The guards tied her in a spread eagle position on the bed. Her hands and feet became extremely swollen. She was emaciated and didn’t even have the strength to greet her sister when she came to visit her.

    The prison refused to release Ms. Liu on medical parole. They claimed that since she was having kidney failure, they would count her as a natural death if she died and they wouldn’t bear any responsibility for it. 

    After one week at the hospital, Ms. Liu was taken back to the prison. The 4,000 yuan her family deposited for her to buy additional food was confiscated and her family wasn’t allowed to visit her for two months. The guards kept her tied up in a spread-eagle position and force fed her for two months.

News & Action

  • March 4, 2023: Liu’s Son Petitions on Change.org
    Xuanming created a petition page to help rescue his mother here.
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