The Facts of the Persecution of Falun Gong  -- September 25, 2006

Issued by Clearwisdom Net

Content


  • Mr. Hou Zhiqiang's Wife Died as a Result of Persecution, and He Has Been Brutally Tortured

  • Dong Jiahe from Huili County, Sichuan Province Detained, Viciously Beaten and Illegally Sentenced to a Forced Labor Camp

  • The Persecution Suffered by Ms. Ren Chunying of Yushu City, Jilin Province

  • My Experiences in Three Forced Labor Camps



  • Mr. Hou Zhiqiang's Wife Died as a Result of Persecution, and He Has Been Brutally Tortured

    Mr. Hou Zhiqiang, 44 years old, is from Jiamusi City, Heilongjiang Province. He started practicing Falun Gong in 1998. After the persecution started on July 20, 1999, he was repeatedly arrested by the local 610 Office and police, interrogated, harassed, injured by violence, and made to do forced labor. Both his body and mind were severely hurt, and his family was torn to pieces. His wife, Ms. Men Xiaohua, was sentenced to forced labor and suffered severe mental and physical persecution. She died in the summer of 2003. Mr. Hou was twice sent to serve forced labor, for a total of four and a half years. This is all because he persisted in the belief of 'Truth-Compassion-Forbearance".

    In October 2000, Mr. Hou Zhiqiang was arrested during his appeal in Beijing. After he was taken back by the Yonghong Police Department, they sent him to a detention center for over two months of imprisonment. During this time, Mr. Hou and Wang Yongqi went on a hunger strike to protest their illegal imprisonment. Guards tortured them by pulling them in five directions. They were sent to serve one year of forced labor.

    At the labor camp, Mr. Hou practiced the Falun Gong exercises with Niu Jinping. Because of this, guard Yang, Administration Section Chief Xu Hengji, Security Section Chief Wang Tiejun, and Labor Camp Director Hou cooperated to put Mr. Hou and Niu Jinping in a small cell for half a month. They were not allowed to sleep and were forced to relieve themselves inside the cell. They suffered severe psychological and physical damage.

    One day at noon in April 2002, a police officer pretending to be a fellow practitioner called Mr. Hou Zhiqiang on his cell phone. Mr. Hou fell into the trap and went to the intersection of Qiaonan Market. There, from an expensive black sedan, three officers jumped out and took him to the city police department.

    At the police department, a group of officers surrounded Mr. Hou and pulled up his clothes to cover his head. Then they started to beat and kick him. After beating him for a while, they confiscated his cash of over 100 yuan, a Falun Gong book and a cell phone. Then they sent Mr. Hou to Qianjin District Police Department, handcuffed him to metal chair for two days and two nights and forbade him from even blinking his eyes. They put a big steel helmet on his head and fiercely hit it with an electric baton. They also put copper gong on Mr. Hou's chest. Several officers took turns knocking on the gong and the helmet. Mr. Hou's head felt as if it was going to explode, with his eyes red and his ears swollen and unable to hear anything.

    Among the three or four officers who tortured Mr. Hou, police Wang Huamin was the leader. Wang punched Mr. Hou's face with his fists. Mr. Hou's face and eyes were swollen. Then three officers--one older and two younger--dragged Mr. Hou to a metal bunk bed, handcuffing him to the upper level, then separating his feet in the air. Another officer again put a helmet and gong on Mr. Hou and pounded on them. After about half an hour, they dragged him to a metal chair.

    Mr. Hou felt as if his bones and muscles had been separated. The pain was beyond endurance. The police intended to torture Mr. Hou to death, yet they still wanted him to suffer slowly in pain. When they had tortured him enough, they sent him back to the detention center and imprisoned him for six months. At the trial, they continued to persecute Mr. Hou by deceiving, threatening, confusing, framing, and other means. Mr. Hou protested by holding a hunger strike, but he was chained to the floor by detention center guard Zhang for six days and nights. Then they sentenced him to three years of forced labor.

    At the forced labor camp, Mr. Hou again suffered from all kinds of tortures by the camp guards. In November 2002, he was put into a small cell by guard Zhang for reciting Falun Gong teachings. He was forced to sit on a small stool and handcuffed to heating pipes. He was also forced to squat on one ceramic tile and not allowed to move. The guards also instigated prisoner Yu Haiyang and another prisoner to tie Mr. Hou's legs with a belt. When he struggled out of the belt, Yu Haiyang stomped on Mr. Hou's chest, and he immediately lost consciousness. Mr. Hou was sent to the hospital for emergency treatment.

    After he left the hospital he was again subjected to confinement. He was put into a small north room alone and not allowed to be in contact with anybody. In the cold winter the window was left wide open. His feet, hands and body were all frostbitten from the cold. He was forced to pick beans and ordered to wear a name tag. When he refused to wear a name tag, prisoner Wang punched his nose, and Mr. Hou's face was covered in blood.

    The persecution lasted for three days without any intervention from the guards. When the guards heard that the inspector was coming, they told Mr. Hou to wipe the blood off his face. When he refused to clean it, police chief-at-the-time Liu Hongguang and Diao Yukun ordered four prisoners to carry Mr. Hou to the second floor office. Four people held down his arms, legs and head and roughly cleaned the dried blood off of Mr. Hou's face with a towel. His face was burning in pain from the rough treatment.

    In early February 2003, the labor camp organized a so-called complete "transformation." Mr. Hou was again put into a small north room alone. He was forced to sit on a small stool and recite 23 regulation articles. He was handcuffed behind his back to the bed. He was not allowed to sleep. Two prisoners monitored him, and once his eyes closed, they pushed his head. They repeatedly brutally beat and cursed him. Mr. Hou shouted, "Falun Dafa is good!" Prisoners then put toilet paper into a urine bucket and stuck it into his mouth. On the second evening, they still did not allow him to sleep. When he shouted, "Falun Dafa is good!" he was attacked by guard Ge and two prisoners. The three punched and kicked him under the bed. He was in unbearable pain.

    In early 2004, they again tried to forcefully "transform" him. Mr. Hou was separated, not given drinking water for long time, and prisoners were instigated to harass him. Guard Yang Chunming opened a window in the winter and did not allow Mr. Hou to use a quilt. Mr. Hou was freezing and shaking all over. He could neither take care of himself nor walk. The guards secretly instigated prisoners to set traps to trouble Mr. Hou. He was tortured at the labor camp until he could barely even breathe. He could not even go to the restroom. They forced him to crawl to the restroom. Humiliation and pain put great pressure on Mr. Hou. The authorities thought they could "transform" him with these harsh measures.

    In the summer of 2004, guard Ge again told Mr. Hou to recite the 23 regulation articles. Mr. Hou refused and was again handcuffed to a metal chair for three days and nights and not allowed to sleep.

    At about that same time, a prisoner burned three scars on a practitioner's chin with a cigarette lighter. Mr. Hou stood up and called out for justice for his fellow practitioner. For doing this, he was handcuffed to the bed for a week by guard Guo Gang.

    By March 2005, Mr. Hou's stomach was severely damaged by repeated force-feeding. He vomited whatever he ate. He was too weak to move. He could no longer take care of himself and looked like he was going to die. Finally he was sent to the hospital, and the doctor suggested that he should be under hospital care. At the time, labor camp doctor Song Yan refused, saying that they needed Mr. Hou back at the labor camp to talk about it. Guard Yang Chunlong and Diao Yukun, who had taken Mr. Hou to the hospital, said, "No problem, he won't die."

    Mr. Hou was taken back to the labor camp. The so-called discussion never took place until Mr. Hou was released.

    Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2006/9/7/137295.html



    Dong Jiahe from Huili County, Sichuan Province Detained, Viciously Beaten and Illegally Sentenced to a Forced Labor Camp

     On August 3, 2006, Falun Gong practitioners Dong Jiahe and his brother-in-law Li Tianhua from Xiaying Village and Tianxihe Village, Neidong County, Huili County, Liangshan City, Sichuan Province went to the town to buy pesticide. On the street they met Falun Gong practitioner Liu Tianhou’s disabled wife who was in a wheelchair. She said she was going to visit the National Security Team to inform the officials of their financial difficulty and demand the immediate release of her illegally-detained 73-year-old husband. Both of them wanted to go with her. At about 3:00 p.m., the leader of the National Security Group, Yang Shaoliang came out with some police officers. They videotaped the practitioners who were there and drove them away. They arrested Dong Jiahe and his brother-in-law and took them to the police department. At about 6:00 p.m., the police sent them to the Custodial Station and illegally detained them.

    That night, the police in the Huili Custodial Station instigated the inmates to savagely beat Dong Jiahe and Li Tianhua. Mr. Dong's right leg became swollen and turned black and blue, and he had difficulty walking. The right side of his chest was swollen as well and he felt pain in his back. Xiong Zhiqiang, the policeman on duty, instigated inmates Chen Gang, Luo Xiande and Duan Kairong to beat Dong Jiahe. Police officer Lu Hongyou instigated inmates Ni Guoqiang and Li Huaqiang to beat Falun Gong practitioner Li Tianhua.

    Dong Jiahe has a 74-year-old mother at home. One of his sons is studying away from home and needs financial support. Another son hasn’t grown up yet, and his wife is in poor health. It is the busy season in the country at this time and there is no one to look after the fields. His mother and sister (both Falun Gong practitioners) went to the National Security Team to inform them about their situation and also tried to reason with them. Yang Shaoliang lied to them by saying that Mr. Dong and Mr. Li came to make trouble and said mockingly, "You can go ahead and sue me. I would go to prison if I arrested people wrongfully." After enduring a lot of trouble, they finally managed to see Deputy Director Lu Jianrong. Lu tried to prevent them from looking for other officials by saying, "I will report your situation to the senior officials. Please don’t look for them yourself."

    To get the 800 yuan bonus for sentencing every Falun Gong practitioner to forced labor camp made the police fabricate a case against Dong Jiahe and Li Tianhua and they were sentenced to forced labor on August 29. Dong Jiahe was sentenced to two years and Li Tianhua to one-and-a-half years. The statements in the verdict were full of lies. The verdict reads, "At about 2:00 p.m. on August 3, 2006, the defendant with ten other people went to Huili Police Department to spread the Falun Gong, chanting anti-revolutionary slogans, protesting and demanding Falun Gong practitioner Liu Tianhou be released unconditionally."

    Dong Jiahe corrected this erroneous statement by saying, "We didn’t chant any slogans. At the time I sat in front of the gate of the Grain Bureau and Yang Shaoliang forcibly apprehended me and took me to the police department. I didn’t bring any materials. The verdict says I had '125 copies of anti-revolutionary materials.' Where did they come from?" Dong Jiahe and Li Tianhua totally deny the charges and they have decided to appeal to the court.

    Dong Jiahe, 46, initially suffered from a number of diseases such as gastric ulcer, cystitis, lumbar muscle pain and numbness of all four limbs. The treatments he pursued did not cure these ailments. But after he started practicing Falun Gong in January 1999, the diseases quickly disappeared. After the persecution began on July 20, 1999, policeman Yang Shaoliang and others illegally broke into and searched his house. In August 2001 Mr. Dong was constantly followed by the police and was forced to become homeless to avoid further persecution. In October 2002, he was apprehended and sent to the Panzhihua City Custodial Station. There he was hung by handcuffs from the window above the door and was beaten ferociously by the police. Warden Xiong Zhiqiang viciously beat him with a heavy leather belt. They took turns beating him until he was covered with bruises. Later Yang Shaoliang from the National Security Group and his team made a secret decision to send Dong Jiahe to the Xinhua Labor Camp in Mianyang City, and they sentenced him to one-and-a-half years in the forced labor camp. Once again, Dong Jiahe has been arrested, viciously beaten and illegally sentenced to forced labor.

    Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2006/9/11/137569.html


    The Persecution Suffered by Ms. Ren Chunying of Yushu City, Jilin Province

    Ms. Ren Chunying is an engineer at the Yushu City Construction Design Institute. After she started practicing Falun Gong, Ren Chunying became a diligent and unselfish worker. She was well respected by those who knew her.

    Ren Chunying was illegally arrested and sent to a forced labor camp by the 610 Office when she refused to give up her belief in "Truthfulness, Compassion, Tolerance." Ms. Ren was also fined and forced to undergo brainwashing multiple times by the 610 Office and the National Security Unit of Yushu City Police Department. The police has extorted over 30,000 yuan from Ren Chunying’s family.

    1. Illegally Detained with no Appeal

    On July 20, 1999, when the persecution began, Ren Chunying appealed to the provincial government on behalf of Falun Gong. However, she was shoved into a truck by armed police and taken to Nanling Stadium. The police dismissed the practitioners after taking down their names. They were left with no place to appeal except for Beijing.

    Tens of thousands of Falun Gong practitioners waited outside the Appeals Office to clarify the truth. However, they were repeatedly pushed back by the police.

    On July 30, when practitioners were helping to clean the streets, they were discovered by police and taken to Fengtai Stadium in police cars. Several thousand people were already there, and most were Falun Gong practitioners who had gone to appeal.

    On the next day, Ren Chunying was sent back to Changchun by the Changchun Office in Beijing, and then brought back toYushu Police Department. The director at that time was Liu Xiwu, and the chief of the Political Security Unit was Chen Xingguo. Policeman Hu Manshan interrogated them and threatened them with detention if they refused give up practicing Falun Gong. Their families were threatened with forced labor camps. After Ren Chunying was detained for three days, she was released after her family was forced to pay thousands of yuan.

    2. Persecution at the Yushu Detention Center

    On February 25, 2000, Ren Chunying did the exercises at Yushu Park in order to appeal for Falun Gong. She was taken away by policeman Shi Hailin and others from Yushu City Police Department. She was again put into illegal detention. The documentation noted that Ms. Ren was to be detained for 15 days, but she was actually held for over a month. At the detention center, Ren Chunying ate buns made from corn flour that was to be used for animal feed. They were given two meals a day consisting of these buns, which were often undercooked, as well as some soup made from frozen cabbage. Most people remained hungry after these meals, but everyone had to pay ten yuan each day for the "board." The room they lived in was damp and cold, and had frost on the walls. Water leaked from the roof onto the bed. They could not sleep and had to sit huddled together.

    Ren Chunying was beaten and left to freeze in the snow for simply practicing the Falun Gong exercises. She was also forced to stand in the cold from 4:00 to 7:00 in the morning. She suffered frostbite and all of her fingernails fell off.

    On February 28, between 4:00 and 7:30 a.m., Ms. Ren and eight other Falun Gong practitioners were beaten by the police for practicing the exercises. Director Wei Fucheng ordered policemen Zhang Fuxue, Sun Jingfu, Zhang Zhijun and driver Xiao Han to strike the practitioners with clubs. The practitioners' backs, buttocks and legs were badly beaten. Their bodies swelled up where they were beaten, and they were covered with bruises. They had trouble walking and squatting down, and they did not recover until a month later.

    When these evildoers became tired from beating the practitioners, they threw the practitioners into the cold. The temperature was as low as minus 27 degrees in the snow. The police threw the practitioners, who only had on undergarments, into the snow. Two practitioners fainted from the cold. Policeman Xu Jiufei refused to carry the two practitioners inside. He exclaimed, "There are two death allowances each year, so it's fine to let them die."

    The police mocked Ren Chunying and told her to meditate in the snow. Later, she was put into a cell that was cold and wet. The police forced Ren Chunying and other steadfast practitioners to stand outside to freeze in the cold for several straight days. The practitioners were not allowed to wear jackets. Ren Chunying’s hands turned pale and numb. A month later, her family was extorted out of over 10,000 yuan, and she was released. When she went home, a layer of skin came off her hands. Her nails turned from black, to red, to white and finally returned to normal. She was able to recover in an amazing fashion because of Falun Gong.

    3. Persecuted for Clarifying the Truth

    In the spring of 2001, police from the Zhangqian Local Police Station arrested Ren Chunyin as she was putting up truth-clarification materials. She was taken to Yushu City Police Department and detained at the Yushu Detention Center. In the detention center, Ren Chunying conducted a hunger strike to protest her confinement. She was released seven days later, when her family paid several thousand yuan to the police.

    In September 2002, Li Jin, former director general of the Urban Construction Bureau, actively participated in persecuting Falun Gong practitioners. When the Yushu Politics and Judiciary Committee 610 Office established a brainwashing center, Li Jin and two policemen from the Urban Construction Bureau Police Station arrested Ren Chunying in her home. She was dragged downstairs by Liu before even getting the chance to put on her shoes. She was then sent to the brainwashing center.

    On March 2, 2003, Ren Chunying was arrested by police from the Zhengyang Police Station when she went to a fellow practitioner’s home. She was detained at the local detention center, where the police interrogated her. When Ren Chunying refused to respond, the police made up some testimony against her. They then threatened her family with sending Ms. Ren to a place where she would be crippled.

    Ren Chunying conducted a hunger strike to protest, but was force-fed by police officer Teng Shuling and the prison doctor. They added a bit of powdered milk to highly concentrated salt water and force-fed her. Ms. Ren was then sent to the Heizuizi Forced Labor Camp for a year.

    The Yushu Police Department confiscated Ms. Ren's mobile phone, which they still have not returned. Her family was extorted out of 7,000 yuan, including 2,000 yuan to Zhang Deqing, 1,000 yuan to Teng Shuling and the rest to others. Ren Chunying was sent to a forced labor camp in April 2003.

    4. Persecution at Heizuizi Forced Labor Camp

    In April 2003, Ren Chunying was sent to Team 5, Squadron 4, Group 3 at Heizuizi Forced Labor Camp. She was tortured mentally for refusing to give up her belief, but she remained steadfast. She went from weighing 70 kg to just over 50 kg from the abuse at the labor camp. She suffered severe vaginal bleeding. Ren Chunying’s family attempted to have her released on bail on medical grounds, but when the group leader asked for money, Ren Chunying refused, so she did not receive any medical treatment. The guards clearly knew that she was badly hurt and even admitted it publicly, yet they refused to let her go. Due to long-term physical and mental torture, a year later, Ren Chunying was diagnosed with uterine cancer. She had to undergo an operation to remove her uterus.


    Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2006/9/7/137273.html


    My Experiences in Three Forced Labor Camps

    On October 23, 2000, I went to Beijing to appeal to higher authorities on behalf of Falun Gong with three other practitioners. At 10:00 p.m., we were illegally arrested in a hotel and sent to the Shenyang City office in Beijing. Our cash was also confiscated. When one practitioner walked toward the doors to leave the lobby, police officer Feng and two other officers ran downstairs and caught him, pushing him to the ground and beating him. The practitioner's nose was bleeding, and his clothes were torn.

    I was detained in Longshan Brainwashing Center, while practitioner Feng Bo from Ningxia and another practitioner from Industrial University were detained in the regular educational section. The practitioners protested the illegal detention. Officer Feng poured boiling water on them, and they were scalded badly.

    Party officials transformed Longshan Brainwashing Center into Longshan Forced Labor Camp to detain female practitioners, and sent the male practitioners to Shenxin Forced Labor Camp. When we arrived at Shenxin Forced Labor Camp, we saw practitioner Wang, about 30 years old, suspended on the east wall, his feet unable to touch the ground. He seemed to be in great pain. Later we heard that this practitioner was tortured because he read Falun Gong articles and did the Falun Gong exercises in the camp.

    Later on we were detained in Zhangshi Forced Labor Camp. In the newcomers team, as many as 60 people had to sleep on a one-board bed during the night. Once you got up to go to the toilet, you could not find any place to sleep when you came back. We worked as slaves until 10:00 p.m. and sometimes until the early morning hours of the following day when there was a lot of work to be done. No matter what time we finished work, we still had to get up at 5:00 a.m. the next morning.

    Officer Feng asked me questions and was not satisfied with my responses, so he threw a key-panel at my head. I saw stars. This officer often ordered criminals to wash clothes for him and to polish his leather shoes. Sometimes he brought clothes from home and told criminals to wash them as well, ironing them with a canteen filled with hot water and folding them meticulously.

    Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2006/9/12/137623.html