(Clearwisdom.net) Falun Gong practitioners Ms. Qin Jiamin, Ms. Li Daqiong and Ms. Zhang Daqin, from Xigao Township, Guanghan City, Sichuan Province, have been persecuted for many years by the local police, because of their persistence in following the teachings of Falun Gong. During 2000 through 2003, they were beaten and brutally tortured. Below are accounts of their persecution.

Persecution of Ms. Qin Jiamin

Before Ms. Qin Jiamin, 38, practiced Falun Gong she suffered from many illnesses including gastritis, laryngitis, rheumatism, and insomnia. She also had a poor relationship with her mother-in-law. In 1998, when she began Falun Gong practice, her illnesses disappeared within a week. Three months later, her mother-in-law told others, "Falun Gong is good. After practicing Falun Gong, my daughter-in-law has become a really respectful person."

In late December, 2000, Ms. Qin went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong, but was arrested and sent back to her hometown. As soon as she arrived at the village government offices, a large man slapped her across the face and pushed her into a small room. She was then beaten and sworn at. Liu Anrong, a county official, removed Ms. Qin's clothes, leaving her in only her thermal underwear. Ms. Qin was pushed to the ground, and several people began ruthlessly beating her with tree branches until they tired. The floor was scattered with broken branches.

The following day Ms. Qin was sent to a brainwashing center. She and thirty other practitioners, all wearing only thin clothing, were forced to stand outside. They were made to stand there all day and night, and were only allowed to leave to use the toilet. For four days they weren't allowed to stand close together, not allowed to sleep or sit down, and not provided with any food. Ms. Qin refused to write a guarantee statement to renounce her belief in Falun Gong and so was forced to stand barefoot outside in the courtyard day and night in freezing temperature. Her feet became very swollen. When Li Yubo, the village party secretary, asked her about her views on the self-immolation incident on Tiananmen Square, she said, "My Teacher tells us that it is wrong to kill, not to mention commit suicide." Li Yubo slapped her face. Then Jiang Bo, an officer from Xigao Police Station, took her away where no one could see, and ruthlessly beat her about the face. After spending more than a month in the brainwashing center, she was sent to the Guanghan Detention Center for 16 days. When she was returned to the village government, they forced her to sweep the streets and ordered her family to pay 200 yuan before they would release her. Her family refused, and so she was detained until mid-March 2003.

On October 11, 2003, policemen Li Yubo, Chen Changzhi, Jiang Bo, and Bao Xingyue sent Ms. Qin to the Guanghan Hexing Brainwashing Center. For two days and nights, she was not allowed to sleep or sit down. They beat her about the head and poured cold water on her. When she tried to do the exercises, they beat her again. When Ms. Qin went on a hunger strike to protest the persecution, they tied her to an iron bed and force-fed her with salt water and milk. Two of her front teeth were knocked out in the process, and her nose and mouth were bled from the forced feeding. During her hunger strike, six people held her down on a bed, while a physician named Gao, injected some unknown drug that made it difficult for her to breath. They threatened to put her in prison if she refused to write a guarantee statement. She was released after being tortured for 49 days.

In July 2008, before the Beijing Olympics, she was arrested again and sent to the Nanmusi Women's Forced Labor Camp for one year.

Persecution of Ms. Li Daqiong

Ms. Li Daqiong was a paralyzed and illiterate woman before she began practicing Falun Gong in August 1998. Within three months of beginning the practice, she was able to read and her illnesses had disappeared. She could also walk, as if she was light as a feather. She followed Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance as her guiding principals, and took the initiative to apologize to her mother-in-law for their poor relationship.

In December 2000, Ms. Li took 450 yuan that she earned from selling vegetables, and went to Beijing in attempt to tell the government of her personal experience since learning Falun Gong. For this she was arrested, stripped naked and searched. They took her money and imprisoned her in a police station in Beijing for one day. Local police officers Jiang Tianxing and Li Zhanqiang then took her back to Guanghan City.

At the Xigao government office, Dai Wenyong, the commune secretary, Zhu Zonghuai, the deputy secretary, and seven policemen violently beat her with bamboo canes and wooden sticks. While beating her, they shouted, "Who told you to go to Beijing?" They kept on beating her until she passed out. There were broken bamboo canes and wooden sticks scattered on the floor.

After being detained in the local government office for three days, she was transfer to the Xigao Brainwashing Center. For four days, she was not given any food, they stopped her from doing the exercises, and deprived her of sleep. They forced her to stand outside in the courtyard in an attempt to force her to stop practicing Falun Gong. Ms. Li told them about the goodness of Dafa and refused to be "transformed." They then sent Ms. Li to the Quanghan Detention Center and held her there for 15 days. Upon returning to the commune, they forced her to do road repair work for over twenty days before being released.

In 2001, a dozen county officials and policemen went to her home, where they confiscated Dafa books and truth-clarifying materials.

In 2003, while Ms. Li was harvesting crops in her field, county officials Zong Guoshu, Cai Huacui, and several police officers came to arrest her. Ms. Li started to run away and they went after her. When she ran to the end of the road, which was blocked by a river, she jumped in. The gang of officials searched along the side of the river until eight o'clock that evening. Ms. Li was forced to leave home. County officials and police officers went to her parents' home to search for her. They imprisoned her nephew in the police station for two days. After six months of wandering, Ms. Li returned home.

In 2007, during the 17th Party Congress, county officials sealed the door of her home and kept a lookout for her for over fifteen days.

During the 2008 Beijing Olympics she was arrested again.

Persecution of Ms. Zhang Daqin

Ms. Zhang Daqin was arrested by officers from the Guanghan Riot Police, when she was doing exercises at Guanghan Qiaotou Park. They forced her to stay outside under the baking sun, and then tried to make her write a guarantee statement, promising not to practice Falun Gong. Police officers and officials from Xigao Township detained her for one day and didn't give her any food. Dai Wenyong, the party secretary, slapped her across the face. Ms. Zhang refused to give up practicing Falun Gong and so they detained her for another fifteen days.

On July 20, 2000, Ms. Zhang and a dozen practitioners were detained for one evening and then were sent to Xigao Agricultural School and detained there for another three days. They were forced to clear the grass and clean the toilets at an old persons' home.

In late December 2000, Ms. Zhang went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong. On December 31, while in Beijing, she was arrested by Li Hanqing, a local police officer and Li Chuanqiang, a policeman from Beijing. After being detained for one day, on January 2, 2001, she was sent back to Guanghan. When she had been searched, she was forced to stand in a circle along with other practitioners. Dai Wenyong, the commune secretary, along with some police officers, used bamboo sticks to beat them, in an attempt to extort so-called confessions from them. The practitioners were savagely beaten and their skin was ripped and bleeding. The police took photos of them the following day and then sent the practitioners to the Guanghan Detention Center, where they were detained for a month. On March 20, 2001, Li Jun and Jiang Tianxing, agents from the Guanghan 610 Office, sent Ms. Zhang to the Xinhua Forced Labor Camp for two and a half years, because she refused to give up her belief in Falun Gong.

In June 2004, Kong Xiangmeng, head of Xigao Township, along with branch secretaries Mou Qijun and Cai Yejun, and Bao Xingyue, a police officer, forced Zhang Daqin to write a guarantee statement promising to not practice Falun Gong. In 2007, during the Party 17th Congress, they monitored her movements all day and restricted her personal freedom.