Massacre victims seek justice

Tragic reminder: Pan holding up a T-shirt worn by his father when he was executed by firing squad in 1947. — AFP

TAIPEI: For Pan Hsin-hsing the sight and smell of lilies held a particular horror for many years – the pungent flowers decorated the room where his executed father lay before the funeral.

He was just six years old when Pan Mu-chih, a doctor and local politician, was arrested, tortured and killed in a 1947 massacre that was the precursor to years of political purges in Taiwan, known as the “White Terror”.