Summary of Other Articles and News - April 18, 2004

(Clearwisdom.net)

Facts of the Persecution

1) Linyi City, Shandong Province Falun Gong practitioners Xu Zengheng and his wife Guo Jiaping were illegally held and fined by authorities after appealing to higher authorities in Beijing on behalf of Falun Gong. Afterwards, Mr. Xu was again abducted twice, and the police tried to brainwash him. When Mr. Xu appealed for Falun Gong in Beijing for the third time, the police abducted him. This time the police tortured him with beatings, punches, kicks and thrashings with a rubber stick. They also hung him up to extort confessions from him. Mr. Xu was sentenced to three years of "re-education through forced labor." After he returned home, though, he was once more abducted and taken to the Linyi City Brainwashing Center and persecuted for a month.

2) Sanmenxia City, Henan Province patrolman He Ziying from the Patrol Department of the Public Security Bureau was a firm Falun Dafa practitioner. At the end of March 2004, he suddenly disappeared from his company- the Patrol Department. So far, there has been no further information about him. When Mr. He vanished, his baby was less than a year old. Afterwards, his family frequently went to the Public Security Bureau to inquire after him, but the Patrol Department of the Public Security Bureau always answered that Mr. He had vanished by himself and they had nothing to do with the incident.

3) Police from the Shuanghe Forced Labor Camp of Qiqihar City, Heilongjiang Province, have tortured Falun Dafa practitioners both physically and psychologically for several years. They have persecuted practitioners physically by means of beatings, torture, starving, strenuous slave labor and sleep deprivation, and they have used psychological torture such as cursing, extending sentence terms, forcing practitioners to watch videotapes that defame Falun Dafa, and brainwashing. The police have asked the practitioners' family members to visit the camp to plead with practitioners so as to change their minds and get them to renounce Falun Dafa. Furthermore, the police have even sowed discord amongst wives and husbands and tried to make them divorce. To be able to meet the requirement and qualify for certain benefits, labor camps need to meet the required "transformation rate" (number of practitioners who renounce Falun Dafa), so on February 15, 2004, guards of the Shuanghe Forced Labor Camp of Qiqihar City began simultaneously torturing 30 practitioners who firmly refused to renounce Falun Dafa. The methods of torture applied to these practitioners include: handcuffing, fettering, squatting half-way down, "riding airplanes" (1), sitting on "iron chairs" (2) for long periods and shocking with electric batons. Practitioner Ms. Cheng Chunmin is determined in her belief of Falun Dafa. Her life is in danger after repeated tortures.

4) Jintang County, Chengdu City, Sichuan Province Falun Dafa practitioner Li Wenhua was held at the Xicheng District Detention Center in Beijing and suffered through many tortures just because Mr. Li had journeyed to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong on October 22, 1999. Later, he was transferred to the Jintang County Detention Center and persecuted for over three months. The police also extorted over ten thousand yuan (3) from his family. On August 28, 2000, when Mr. Li was handing out Falun Dafa truth-clarifying materials to pedestrians, a person who had been deceived by the authorities' malicious propaganda on Falun Gong reported him to police, and the police abducted him again.

5) My name is Li Panzhen, and I am a 53-year-old Falun Gong practitioner from Chengdu City, Sichuan Province. After the persecution of Falun Dafa began on July 20, 1999, I went to Beijing to appeal, and the police there abducted me. Later I was taken back to and held at a local detention center for 15 days. After returning home from the detention center, the officials often monitored and harassed me. At the end of December 2000, I went to Beijing again to appeal for Falun Dafa, after which I was seized and transferred back to Chengdu City, where I was held in the Lotus Village Detention Center. I was then sentenced to a year of "re-education through forced labor" at the Munansi Women's Forced Labor Camp. Since the completion of my sentence, the authorities have still strictly monitored me. On May 23 of 2003, the police from the Shahebao Sub-Police Station kidnapped me and held me in their station for two days, and then they took me to the Chengdu City Detention Center. By going on a 28-day hunger strike against the persecution and fortifying myself with righteous thoughts, I openly walked out from the Chengdu City Detention Center. Since then, the authorities have been monitoring me around the clock.

6) My name is Wang Chunmei. I am a 41-year-old female practitioner from Baomazi village, Guma County in Luan Town. In mid June 2000, because I practice Falun Gong, I was abducted by the police and held at the Xinglongzhuang County Sub-Police Station for 15 days. The police illegally confiscated my property and fined me 2,000 Yuan. During the 15 days, in order to force me to make a confession, they tortured me very cruelly. Every day the police tortured all of us practitioners and deprived us of sleep. During the daytime, they forced me to do heavy labor and stand for long periods of time. In the evening, they would have me to read materials that slandered Falun Dafa.

Criminal Deeds of the Authorities

On March 16, 2004, Xiasi Village Falun Dafa practitioner Ms. Zhang Shufang from Xiagezhuang County, Laixi City, Shandong Province, was abducted and taken to the Xiagezhuang Police Substation by policemen, who also went to her home to confiscate her property. Police chief Qiao Shoufu and director Dong Zhenqi had the policemen use cruel torture to force confessions from her, so her body was soon very swollen and covered with bruises. The police should have released Ms. Zhang on April 1 since her 15 day detainment period had passed. However, Shen Tao and others took her directly to Xinzhuang Brainwashing Center of Wangcheng County, Laixi City for brainwashing.

(1) "Riding an Airplane": In this torture, the head is bent down until it cannot go down any further, while the hands are pulled up and held up to the highest point. The hips have to point up. One is forced to keep this position unchanged for a long time. The body in this position looks like the shape of an airplane, which explains this torture's nickname.

(2) "Iron Chair": The iron chair is made of iron pipes. Victims are restrained on the iron chairs with both arms and legs tied for a long period of time. Illustration at http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2002/1/9/17577.html

(3) Yuan: Chinese currency, the monthly salary for an average Chinese urban worker is about 500 yuan