The Facts of the Persecution of Falun Gong  -- March 17, 2007

Issued by Clearwisdom Net

Content


  • Ms. Xuan Hehua from Yuanlin County, Hunan Province Forced to Become Homeless

  • Crimes Committed inside Nanmusi Women's Forced Labor Camp in Zizhong City, Sichuan Province



  • Ms. Xuan Hehua from Yuanlin County, Hunan Province Forced to Become Homeless

    Ms. Xuan Hehua, 55 years old, is a retired worker from Agricultural Machinery Company in Yuanlin County, Hunan Province. Before she met with Falun Gong in 1997, she had suffered from serious gastric diseases. After she started to practice Falun Gong, all those diseases disappeared without any medication. In addition, she also improved her character. She benefited from Falun Gong both mentally and physically.

    Ms. Xuan has been persecuted many times since the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) started to persecute Falun Gong on July 20, 1999. In November 1999, when she went to Beijing to appeal on behalf of Falun Gong, she was taken by the national security police from Yuanlin County back to the county detention center where she was held for 30 days.

    In October 2000, Ms. Xuan was arrested by National Security police when she was on her way to appeal for Falun Gong and was held for 15 days in the county detention center.

    In February 2001, Ms. Xuan was sentenced to a four-year imprisonment by the court of Yuanlin County simply because she made a banner that read, "Falun Dafa Is Good." She was held in the Women's Prison of Changsha City and was severely tortured. In February 2005 when she was released from the prison, she was so emaciated that she could not lift her arms.

    In July 2005, Ms. Xuan was again arrested by local police when she was distributing truth-clarification materials and was held in the local detention center for 15 days.

    In March 2006, Ms. Xuan was reported to the police when she sent the "Nine Commentaries on Communist Party" to officials of her work unit. On May 16, 2006, policemen Xiang Zhengming from the National Security Department of Yuanlin county and Lai Songqiu and Deng, deputy heads of the West Region Police Station of the county, took Ms. Xuan out of her bed to arrest her. She received a suspended trial and an announcement that the local prosecutor was suing her four months later.

    Ms. Xuan was forced to become homeless to avoid further persecution in October 2006. She had to leave behind her mother who is over 80 and bedridden.


    Crimes Committed inside Nanmusi Women's Forced Labor Camp in Zizhong City, Sichuan Province

    From the outside, Nanmusi Women's Forced Labor Camp in Zizhong City, Sichuan Province, seems like a beautiful place. Entering the gate, one sees green trees set in a lovely landscape However, that is just for the visiting guests to see. The place is actually a wicked concentration camp where Falun Gong practitioners are persecuted.

    There are eight squadrons in Nanmusi Women's Camp. Among them, the 7th and the 4th Squadron are just for persecuting practitioners. Currently, over 50 practitioners are still suffering brutal persecution there.

    There are three types of persecution applied to practitioners: "harsh persecution," "initially transferred," and "proceeding to the workshop." The most severe persecution is the "harsh persecution." The practitioners suffering from "initially transferred" and "proceeding to the workshop" are transferred to the "harsh persecution" if they persist in practicing. Each practitioner is monitored by three or four criminal prisoners, and every word and action are recorded. These prisoners have been specifically trained for this purpose. They get points and reduced sentences for persecuting Falun Gong practitioners; if they do not, they themselves are punished. Thus, they all put in their best efforts.

    The main persecution tactics include brainwashing, taking away all personal freedom, subjecting practitioners to very poor living conditions, intense forced labor, and torture, sometimes resulting in disability or even death.

    1. Brainwashing

    Brainwashing methods include the following elements:

    a. Doing the Falun Gong exercises, studying and memorizing Falun Gong books and Master Li's writings are all prohibited.

    b. Forcing practitioners to practice some vicious form of qigong for an hour every morning. The practitioners are verbally abused or beaten if they refuse to do it.

    c. Forcing practitioners to write the Three Statements ("statement of repentance," "statement of assurance," "exposing and criticizing [Falun Gong])," and the so-called "idealogical realization").

    d. Forcing practitioners to learn what they call the Buddhism and Christianity books, as well as things that are slanderous to Master Li and Falun Gong. For those who cannot read, inmates who used to be practitioners but were "transformed" read the books to them.

    e. Forcing practitioners to curse Master Li and Falun Gong.

    2. Personal freedom taken away

    Practitioners are not allowed to freely speak or move and are not allowed to talk to visitors about the persecution they are experiencing inside the labor camp. They are punished if these rules are violated.

    3. Poor living conditions

    According to prison rules, each inmate should get 300 yuan to spend on living expenses, but only 100 yuan is handed out. The only food available to practitioners is watery soup, boiled vegetables, and food that has gone bad. The prison deliberately ignores food hygiene rules and withholds meals. In 2003, for a whole week practitioners were not allowed to wash or shower and had to eat with their hands.

    4. Persecution through intense forced labor

    There are five types of labor: embroidering flowers on fabric (such as bedsheets, curtains, and table cloths); b. making toys; making ornamental items for clothes; making artificial pig hairs; and carrying and transporting goods (to and from the trucks). Every person has a fixed amount of labor they must perform, and they are not allowed to stop or sleep until it is finished. If they finish early, they must help those who are slower. Works starts at 7:30 a.m., and finishes at 11:00 p.m. (in 2005 it was even worse - they got off work every day at 2:00 a.m.). Even taking out an hour and a half for the three daily meals, the amount of time worked each day is as many as 13.5 to 15 hours.

    5. Torturing until permanently disabled or dead

    Jail time is extended and punishment meted out to practitioners who do not cooperate with the unreasonable demands of the guards, including those who refuse to be "transformed," who refuse to write the Three Statements, who are found practicing the Falun Gong exercises or who are caught reading Falun Gong materials, and those who do not finish their work assignments. Punishment includes brutal beatings, which has caused permanent disability or death. The main torture methods the guards use include: forcing practitioners to face the wall and making them stand up for long periods of time, forcing them into the full lotus position and tying them up with rope; stomping on practitioners, burning their breasts using lighted matches or cigarettes, stinging practitioners' breasts with rubber bands, assaulting their private parts with a toilet brush, brutally beating practitioners using brooms or clothes hangers, shocking them with electric batons, and and locking them in small isolation cells.

    6. Specific incidents of persecution against Falun Gong practitioners

    In 2004, because a practitioner from Chengdu City refused to be "transformed," the guards ordered several criminal prisoners to strip her and assault her vagina with a brush. All the inmates heard her cries.

    In 2004, because Ms. Yang Zhengru from Deyang City sang the song, "Falun Dafa Is Good," she was shocked with an electric baton until she lost consciousness.

    In 2003, Ms. Luo Ruizhen from Luzhou City refused to be "transformed." The guards ordered 32 prisoners to follow her everywhere and take turns brutally beating her until she lost consciousness.

    In 2003, a practitioner was beaten to death in the original 7th Squadron. To officials, the death was reported as "due to sickness." After this incident, every prisoner was forced to sign an agreement not to expose the fact that this practitioner was beaten to death. If not, her sentence was increased.

    In 2006, Ms. Wang Qinghong was brutally beaten by criminal prisoners because she refused "transformation."

    In August of 2006, because Ms. Yang from Guang'an City would not submit to being "transformed," she was tortured brutally and became emaciated. The guards ordered prisoners to stab her with needles until she was paralyzed. In 2006, Ms. Yang Shaopei from Chengdu refused to be "transformed," so she was tortured so badly she suffered a mental collapse. Her face was full of scars from the constant brutal beatings.

    Ms. Tong Guoqing from Yueshan City refused to be "transformed," and she was forced to work for the entire day every day, and was often brutally beaten. She was tortured badly and became very thin and bony.

    In 2005, Ms. Ye Peiqi from Wutongqiao District, Yueshan City, escaped this den of monsters but was later captured again. She was brutally beaten and became mentally disturbed. Her sentence in the labor camp was extended by a month.

    7. The labor camp also persecutes the criminal practitioners who are sympathetic toward practitioners.

    During the Chinese New Year period in 2006, there was a criminal prisoner from Xichang City in the 3rd Squadron. Her labor assignment was to make toys, and she did not participate in torturing Falun Gong practitioners. Unable to finish her labor assignment, she was verbally abused and endured brutal beatings. She couldn't endure it and committed suicide, but the guards reported that she died because of sickness.

    The labor camp has hidden all the above crimes from the public eye. They have tried to not let any information pass to the outside. Whenever practitioners are tortured, it is always done in secret rooms, so the screams and crying are heard but not witnessed. In order to not let any information out of the prison, practitioners are forced to say "We are okay," to any visitors and are not allowed to ask for help. Before visitors come, the practitioners are drilled on how to respond to questions. For the practitioners who reach the end of their sentences but still refuse to be "transformed," they are not released, just transferred to other areas or prisons.