The Facts of the Persecution of Falun Gong  -- March 22, 2007

Issued by Clearwisdom Net

Content


  • Mr. Ma Xiao from Lingyuan City, Liaoning Province Died As a Result of Persecution

  • Jidong Prison Denies Visits by Mr. Wei Haiwu's Wife and Subjects Her to Brutal Mistreatment



  • Mr. Ma Xiao from Lingyuan City, Liaoning Province Died As a Result of Persecution

    Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Ma Xiao, 59 years old, was a peasant. He lived in Lingbei Village, Lingbei Town, Lingyuan City. Mr. Ma regained his health after he started practicing Falun Gong in 1996. He was a well-liked person known for his kindness. He conducted himself according to Falun Gong's requirements.

    After the Chinese Communist Party started persecuting Falun Gong on July 20, 1999, officers from Lingbei Police Station arrested him several times. Mr. Ma was illegally sentenced to three years in prison in 2001. He was held in the 3rd Prison of Shenyang City and also in the 2nd Branch Masanjia Forced Labor Camp in Shenyang City for three years.

    Banners urging people to withdraw from the Chinese Communist Party appeared at public locations in Lingbei Township in June 2005. Authorities from Lingbei Police Station asked around who had posted the banners. One person said, "Ma Xiao is the most well-known [Falun Gong practitioner] in this area." The officers went to his home to arrest him, but he was away. In June, he encountered the police on the street. They arrested him, put him in a police car, and took him to a detention center.

    Mr. Ma was arrested again on June 30, 2005, by Li Xinghai and other officers from Lingbei Police Station. They arrested him and sentenced him to three years of forced labor. He was held in Dayingzi Labor Camp in Chaoyang City, where he was tortured until he vomited blood and was in critical condition. The labor camp authorities were afraid of being held responsible, so they sent him home in February 2006. Ma Xiao never recovered and died on February 18, 2007.


    Jidong Prison Denies Visits by Mr. Wei Haiwu's Wife and Subjects Her to Brutal Mistreatment

    Xinshi District Court sentenced Mr. Wei Haiwu of Baoding City, Hebei Province, to four years in prison. He is currently in the 16th Squadron of the 2nd Detachment of Jidong Prison in Tangshan City and has been hunger striking to resist the persecution. In an attempt to brainwash him into renouncing Falun Gong, prison guards subjected him to sleep deprivation, forcing him to stand for long periods of time and slapping him on the face. He has suffered both mentally and physically. For the past six months, his wife has requested to visit him, but the guards denied her each time because she too practices Falun Gong.

    Again on February 7, 2007, Mrs. Wei requested to see her husband and waited at the reception desk until past 11:00 a.m. When Wu Peidong, head of the Education Section, came out she asked him, "Why can't I see Wei Haiwu?" He replied, "I just don't want to let you see him," and went back into his office. Mrs. Wei was then stopped by an armed security guard at the gate. At around noontime, Mrs. Wei stopped two people on their way to the cafeteria and explained her situation. They then called Wu Peidong. Wu told Mrs. Wei that there were regulations prohibiting her from seeing her husband. When she asked to see the documents, he brushed her off saying, "Do I have to show you everything!?"

    At that moment, a vehicle without any license plate parked by the reception room. Three people came out of the car and Wu Peidong told them to take Mrs. Wei away. When one of them tried to drag her away, Mrs. Wei told them that she used to have a lot of illnesses that disappeared after she practiced Falun Gong. Also, that she would have a heart attack if she got upset. The person stopped when he heard that.

    A plainclothes policeman in his 40s, accompanied by Wu Peidong, then dragged Mrs. Wei into the vehicle. When she got into the car, she started to have a heart attack. Her body began shaking, but the police ignored her. They drove her to a makeshift hotel and left her there. The hotel owner saw that Mrs. Wei was very ill and suggested that they take her to the hospital. However, Li Changmin, the chief of the Security Section of the 2nd Detachment, and his subordinates ignored the hotel owner. They took Mrs. Wei and threw her roughly onto the cement floor saying, "This has nothing to do with us." Then they left.

    The hotel owner brought a blanket and a cup of hot water for her. After a while, she felt better.

    The next day she decided to take her case to the Jidong Prison Administrative Affairs Department. She met a section head named He, who made a phone call and rudely said, "It was the right thing to do to not let you see Wei Haiwu. It would not be good for his 'transformation.' If we had let you see him, we would have violated the rules of the prison." Mrs. Wei asked, "How about taking me away by force and leaving me when I was having a heart attack? Was that the right thing to do?" He responded, "Yes." When Mrs. Wei said, "You are persecuting us by jailing good people," he jumped at and swore at her. Then he called two people to push her towards the stairwell.