(Minghui.org)
Name: Song NaiwenChinese Name: 宋耐文Gender: MaleAge: 58City: Qian’anProvince: HebeiOccupation: N/ADate of Death: July 8, 2022Date of Most Recent Arrest: January 22, 2017Most Recent Place of Detention: Domestic Security Office
A Qian’an City, Hebei Province resident was forced to live away from home to avoid constant harassment from the authorities after serving six years for practicing Falun Gong. His health kept deteriorating over the years and he passed away on July 8, 2022, at the age of 58.
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Mr. Song Naiwen used to suffer severe stomach problems and Hepatitis B. He was very weak and couldn’t do heavy labor. Shortly after he took up Falun Gong in 1998, his conditions disappeared and he embarked on a spiritual journey guided by Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance.
When the communist regime ordered the persecution of Falun Gong in July 1999, Mr. Song couldn’t understand why the regime had to suppress such a good practice. He went to Beijing to appeal for the right to practice Falun Gong, only to be arrested and taken back to the police station in his village.
The police chief beat Mr. Song and attempted to shock him with an electric baton. He held Mr. Song in the police station for a few days and ordered him to clean the yard and wash the cars for him.
A month after Mr. Song was released, the police raided his home and confiscated his Falun Gong books. Since he didn’t have any expensive items at home, the police took away his flashlight.
Mr. Song was arrested again on September 9, 1999, and taken to a brainwashing center the next day. There, he was beaten and starved. Because he hand-copied Falun Gong’s teachings, guard Pu Yonglai stomped on him and threw him into the air.
Mr. Song was transferred to the Qian’an Lockup. He and a few other practitioners were beaten and ordered to renounce Falun Gong. An inmate slapped him in the face with a shoe and his blood splashed onto the wall. The inmate kept beating him until he wore himself out.
As Mr. Song still refused to renounce Falun Gong after two weeks, he was taken to the Beiyuan Detention Center, where the inmates were also instigated by the guards to beat him. When they became exhausted, they burned Mr. Song with cigarettes and starved him. The guards held Mr. Song on the ground and whipped his buttocks with a leather belt until his flesh was lacerated. He was released after four months.
Mr. Song was taken back into custody at the Qian’an City Detention Center in the spring of 2000. The guards forced him and the 20 other practitioners detained there to watch propaganda videos smearing Falun Gong. They were also ordered to write statements to renounce Falun Gong. Mr. Song insisted that he wouldn’t give up his faith and was slapped in the face and beaten every day.
Unable to bear the pressure, Mr. Song’s wife divorced him. He was released after nine months.
Not long after Mr. Song returned home, he was arrested again in December 2000 and taken to another brainwashing center. He was forced to do intensive physical training, including running laps while carrying a sandbag on his back. He was also forced to do humiliating movements and wash cars for the guards. He fainted due to hunger, fatigue, and cold weather.
As a result of the relentless torture, his Hepatitis B relapsed. His skin and eyes turned yellow and he could hardly maintain his balance while walking. Fearing that he might die in the brainwashing center, the guards took him to the hospital, but the doctor refused to treat him given his serious condition and his poor financial status. The police thus released him.
Upon returning home, Mr. Song resumed practicing Falun Gong and he recovered in a month without taking any medicine.
After the police learned about his recovery, they kept coming to harass him and detained him a few more times, including a three-month-long detention.
While the harassment slowed down after 2003, Mr. Song was arrested again on December 13, 2005 after being reported for distributing Falun Gong materials.
The police raided his home and interrogated him about where the flyers were printed. He remained silent. In retaliation, the police took off his pants and shocked his private part with two electric batons simultaneously for half an hour. They didn’t stop until it became severely swollen.
After Mr. Song was taken to the Qian’an City Detention Center, the inmates beat him every day, including elbowing his back, slapping him in the face, and whipping his buttocks with a leather belt.
Mr. Song was sentenced to seven years and taken to the Jidong Prison in October 2006. Guard Zheng Yajun forced him to watch videos smearing Falun Gong. As he refused to renounce Falun Gong, the guards ordered the inmates to deprive him of sleep and beat him. When they became tired from the beating, they forced him to squat or stand for long hours. Unable to bear the torture anymore, he was forced to write a statement to renounce Falun Gong against his will. He was forced to do unpaid labor for the next few years. He was released on December 13, 2011.
Despite the hardships that Mr. Song had gone through, the police still wouldn’t let him live a normal life. They kept harassing him and beating him when he insisted on practicing Falun Gong. He was also ordered to report to the police station once every month.
To avoid further harassment, Mr. Song lived away from home and moved from place to place. He was arrested again on July 28, 2013, after being reported for talking to people about Falun Gong. The electric bike he had just bought for 2,000 yuan was impounded and he was not given a receipt for it.
He tried to clarify the facts about Falun Gong, but the police wouldn’t listen. He was taken to a lockup, where he held a hunger strike to protest. Fifteen days later, he was transferred to a brainwashing center and held there for two months.
Mr. Song’s next arrest was on April 11, 2014 while at work. The police slapped him in the face six times in front of the crowd. They searched his dorm and took away his Falun Gong books, 200 yuan in cash, and informational materials. He was detained for 15 days this time.
Mr. Song was arrested one more time in April 2015 after being reported for talking to people about Falun Gong at a local farmers’ market. His home was ransacked again and his Falun Gong books and photo of Falun Gong’s founder were confiscated. Due to his high blood pressure, he was released shortly after.
Two months later on June 12, 2015, Mr. Song ran into a plainclothes officer when he was talking to people about Falun Gong at the same farmers’ market. The police raided his home and took away a photo of Falun Gong’s founder. As he was still found to have high blood pressure, he was exempted from detention.
On June 18, 2015, Mr. Song filed a criminal complaint against Jiang Zemin, the former head of the Chinese Communist Party who ordered the persecution of Falun Gong. He wrote in the complaint, “Jiang’s crime harmed my family and me. To uphold my Constitutional right to freedom of belief, to let more people know about the facts of the persecution, and to prevent the Chinese nation from plunging into a moral abyss, I’m suing Jiang Zemin and demanding that he be held accountable for the harm he has done.”
In retaliation against Mr. Song’s criminal complaint, the police arrested him three times between July and August of that year and held him in custody for a few hours each time.
Mr. Song’s last arrest was on January 22, 2017. The police seized him, claiming he needed to have a physical exam. Against his will, they took a photo of him while holding a sign with his name on it and collected his fingerprints. The police attempted to collect a sample of his blood, but he didn’t let them. Due to his high blood pressure, he was denied admission by the detention center and released in the evening.
The non-stop persecution took a toll on Mr. Song’s health. He had a stroke and began to experience mobility issues. He took a fall in 2020 and became incapacitated afterwards. After being bedridden for two years, he passed away on July 8, 2022.
Practitioners and Family Members in Qian’an City Pressured for Suing Jiang Zemin