The wife of imprisoned Falun Gong practitioner Yang Jianpo recounts the dramatic changes he and his family experienced after beginning the practice of Falun Gong. Since the beginning of the persecution in 1999 Yang Jianpo has been repeatedly arrested, imprisoned and tortured. His family has also suffered greetly during this period. In 2006 after being imprisoned and tortured, Yang was described as in 'critical condition' from a number of disorders. Nevertheless, he was sentenced to six additional years for 'disorderly conduct'. His wife has called for his release, but is not allowed even to see him.

By Mr. Yang Jiangpo's wife

My husband Yang Jianpo is forty-five-years-old and is in the porcelain business. We live in Langfang City. He used to practice martial arts and was very good at it. He would frequently fight people. Local industrial and commercial companies, the tax bureau, the police department and local ruffians regarded him as tyrant and none of them wanted to stir up trouble with him. He developed many bad habits. He was held in a detention center three times for fighting.

I was very ill at the time and raising two young children, and my husband was almost never home. We fought more and more as time went on, and we were on the brink of divorce. With this mental anguish and my illnesses, I lost hope for life and almost developed suicidal thoughts.

By a lucky chance, Yang Jianpo came upon and learned Falun Gong and the true meaning of life. From that point on, he changed into a different person. He gave up all his bad habits, from being a tyrant that nobody dared to mess with to being a forbearing and conciliatory man who wouldn't fight back when he was beaten or sworn at. He began to pay his taxes, and our family conflicts were resolved. The story of my husband's huge change after he started to practice Falun Gong was spread throughout Langfang area. I was amazed at Falun Gong's power after I witnessed my husband's enormous change. I also came into Falun Gong and we were very happy.

We went to Beijing in September 1999, just wanting to say "Falun Dafa is good!" Yang Jianpo was immediately sent to Wanzhuang Forced Labor Camp. He was forced to work extended hours every day, subjected to physical torture, and shackled on the death bed. Because he firmly believed in Falun Gong, he was later transferred to the notorious Gaoyang Forced Labor Camp. In order to "transform" him, guards shackled him in a field on the "earth ring" for two and a half months. Without shelter in all sorts of violent weather, he was deprived of water and food and exposed to the baking sun. He had no protection from mosquitoes and bugs of all sorts and could not move at all. At night, he was taken into the interrogation room and tortured. Yang Jianpo did not give up, and he continued abiding by the principle of "Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance." In July 2002, he walked out of this living hell with dignity.

On March 30, 2003, my husband was arrested by the police from the 1st Section of Fengrun District Police Department when he was in Tangshan City, Hebei Province. They confiscated all his belongings, including 6,000 yuan. When Tangshan City Police Department was notified, two policemen arrived, one named Gao Wei who was the driver, and the other reportedly a section director.

They tied my husband to an iron chair, and used a hand-cranked-telephone which generates electrical current to shock him. They connected wires to all of his fingers, and when they shocked him, the pain was beyond description. He felt his heart was broken into pieces and his body ready to explode. They took turns torturing him. He was deprived of sleep and tortured day and night for three consecutive days.

After this, he was sent back to Fengrun Detention Center, where he began a hunger strike to protest the brutal abuse. Director Wu ordered the guards to beat him. They stripped him each time they beat him. His buttocks were badly mutilated, and his shorts stuck to his body and would not come down when he used the bathroom. After 38 days of torture and in critical condition, only then did the police release him.

On February 20, 2004, the police from Guangyang District, Langfang City broke into my home and arrested my husband and Zhang Junhui, who happened to be visiting my husband at the time. Both were sentenced to a labor camp. My husband began a hunger strike which lasted 108 days. He lost a significant amount of weight, going from 90 kilograms (198 lbs) to 40 kilograms (88 lbs).

On February 23, 2004, my son went to Guangyang District Police Department to ask for his father's release. He asked why the police had raided his home and arrested his father. The police said, "Our leader is not here so we cannot give you an answer. Come back tomorrow morning."

The next day, Gao Chenggang, leader of the National Security Team, met with my son. My son said, "Immediately release my father. You didn't have any right to raid my home and arrest my father. Return all the confiscated goods including the computer, printer, tape recorder and DVD player. Return all the material my father used for his business, which totals 20,000 yuan alone, plus the 10,000 yuan in cash." He continued, "You even took the 100 yuan given to me as a lunar New Year gift from my piggy bank and my sister's 5,000 yuan which was her tuition. Your behavior is unlawful." Gao Chenggang replied, "I don't care where your money or belongings come from--they are all confiscated." And he threw my son out of the bureau.

When my in-laws heard that their son was arrested again they became extremely anxious and could not eat or sleep. Over the years through the many arrests, both our parents suffered extreme anxiety and terror. My seventy-four-year-old father would often wake up crying in the middle of the night. He later developed a cerebral infarction and was sent to the hospital for emergency care. We could not live a normal life over these few years. Our children were raised by their grandparents.

Over the last eight years, I was arrested 18 times. I began a hunger strike each time and was carried out by stretcher or by other people. I was tortured to the point of extreme weakness. I could not work, and there was no income whatsoever. Our four-member family had to rely on our parents and siblings to get by. The 20,000 yuan for our children's tuition was accumulated by many family members.

From 1999 until today, authorities confiscated a total of 80,000 yuan, consisting of cash, belongings and vehicles. Also, on February 20, 2004, while we were running a fast food restaurant, the police from from Guangyang District arrested my husband without cause and confiscated 30,000 yuan from the business. He was sentenced to a labor camp without any legal proceedings, and our business was forced to close. We lost thousands of yuan.

On February 5, 2006, Yang Jianpo and another Falun Gong practitioner, Cao Baoyu, were arrested while clarifying the truth with a government official. They were tortured to a critical state and were sent to Guangyang District People's Hospital by Guangyang District 610 Office staff. On April 27, 2006, Cao Baoyu was persecuted to death. My husband Yang Jianpo was diagnosed with an electrolyte imbalance, heart disease, generalized muscle atrophy, and pulmonary failure. The hospital sent out many notices about his critical condition. Without any legal procedure or documentation, my husband was sentenced to six years in prison for "disorderly conduct" by the legal system in Langfang City. He is held in Jidong Prison in Hebei Province.

My husband began a hunger strike to protest the illegal verdict. It has been one year and eight months! We were notified many times that he was in critical condition and could pass away at any moment. But Jidong Prison refused to allow family members to visit him. From reliable information we learned that Yang Jianpo was in the Prison Hospital Internal Medicine Ward and forced-fed eight times a day. He is also on a ventilator. The hospital is waiting for the "upper level" officials to make a decision whether to pull the plug or not.

As his family member, how can I stand by and do nothing while our loved one is persecuted to death? His elderly parents were hospitalized many times due to the severe pressure, yet we cannot appeal anywhere, nobody takes responsibility, and everyone says, "It is the 'upper level' that makes the decision."

This is my request: Immediately stop persecuting Falun Gong! Immediately release my husband Yang Jianpo who is in critical condition! Immediately release all illegally detained Falun Gong practitioners!

Ms. Deng Hui, 45 years old, is a Falun Gong practitioner from Suining City, Sichuan Province. She was injured when she was very young and her hands and feet were disabled. Since she started practicing Falun Gong in 1996, she has strictly followed the Falun Gong principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance in her daily life and is a good citizen. However, the Chinese Communist Party has never stopped brutally persecuting Falun Gong practitioners over the past eight years.

On June 28, 2007, the police and the 610 Office in Suining City conducted a mass arrest of Falun Gong practitioners. At around 8:00 p.m., Ms. Deng's home was ransacked. A computer, a printer, and other related equipment, as well as some Falun Gong truth-clarifying materials, were confiscated. Ms. Deng was arrested and taken to Yongxing Detention Center.

On August 27, the officials from the 610 Office took Ms. Deng Hui and another five practitioners to the notorious Nanmusi Women's Forced Labor Camp in Zizhong County, Ziyang City. The persecution against them was intensified. This move was made without any legal procedures.

On August 28, 2007, because Ms. Deng refused to be "transformed", the guards instigated the criminal inmates to beat her severely. They kicked the lower half of her body so much so that they broke her left thigh bone and she lost consciousness many times.

However, the guards cursed her and accused her of faking. They made the other inmates drag Ms. Deng to a brainwashing session every day and forced her to watch a video that defames Falun Gong. The guards still brutally tortured her even though she was in unbearable pain. Ms. Deng's leg became so swollen that she was unable to move. Afraid of being held responsible, the labor camp called her family members to come and get her. Ms. Deng was threatened into telling her family members that she had caused the injury herself.

On September 8, 2007, after the guards had extorted 8000 yuan from her family, the labor camp released Ms. Deng for medical treatment.

According to medical records from the Chuanshan District Chinese Medical Hospital in Suining City, Ms. Deng's left femur was broken and festering. Despite an operation, which cost her more than 20,000 yuan, she is still not able to move and cannot take care of herself today.