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Tang Jianguo and his son Xiong Chao are both Falun Gong practitioners in the Hanyang District, Wuhan City, Hubei Province. Police arrested them at their home seven months ago. Recently, the police extorted 50,000 yuan from their family and released them. Xiong Chao remains in a coma. During their detention, police tortured Xiong Chao inhumanely in front of his father. They shocked him with electric batons, burned his face with cigarettes and stabbed him with needles. More details follow.

Tang Jianguo and his son, Wuhan University student Xiong Chao, were arrested from home on November 7, 2005 when they were about to go out. Several police, including plainclothes police agents, rushed into their home, seized them and took them to the Yaojialing Detention Center for interrogation under torture. Tang Jianguo and Xiong Chao were very firm in their belief and resisted the evildoers. The police detained them in separate cells. It was not until April 2006 that the father and son were able to see each other again.

Tang Jianguo clarified the truth to others inside the detention center, so authorities forbade him further contact with others and locked him up in solitary confinement. They called in his daughter to help with the so-called "ideological reform work." Tang Jianguo told his daughter to have a clear understanding of her path and be firm; he also asked her to continue to do what remained to be done and do it well. In March 2006 Tang Jianguo was transferred to the Erzhigou Detention Center and lost contact with his daughter.

Tang Jianguo met his son Xiong Chao at the Erzhigou Detention Center. Xiong Chao was by then only semi-conscious from torture. Police tortured Xiong Chao in front of Tang Jianguo every day. They grabbed Xiong Chao's hair and shook his head incessantly until Xiong Chao lost consciousness. Then they shocked him with electric batons, burned him with cigarettes and stabbed him with needles until he regained consciousness. They tortured Xiong Chao repeatedly like this. Their purpose was to force the father and son to write "guarantee statements" that they would not practice anymore and would not contact other practitioners. Tang Jianguo and Xiong Chao refused to give in. Tang Jianguo consoled Xiong Chao that victory is in sight if he can be persistent in his belief! That's how they endured the tortures for three months.

State Security of Wuchang District spies and staff in the Political and Security Group from Wuhan University and agents from the 610 Office in their neighborhood were involved in the persecution of Tang Jianguo and Xiong Chao. A stranger once called Tang Li by phone and told her brother Xiong Chao was dead.

Many practitioners were tortured beyond recognition in that detention center. Some lost consciousness during the beatings. Sometimes the police urinated on them. Some of them were hung up by the police and wrapped in a cotton blanket. The police then struck them savagely with clubs and iron chains.

On July 1, Tang Jianguo and Xiong Chao were taken to an interrogation room. Authorities demanded 50,000 yuan from their family for their release. On July 5, they were transferred to Wuchang District Detention Center and threatened that they would be transferred somewhere else if their family members failed to pay the extortion demanded. On July 6, Tang Jianguo's son-in-law and other relatives went to buy their release. The authorities extorted 53,000 yuan from them before releasing Tang Jianguo and Xiong Chao and ordered their family and relatives to monitor them closely and forbid them to go out within three months or to attend any Falun Gong activities; otherwise, they would not return 40,000 yuan in "bail." They didn't give any receipt for the remaining 13,000 yuan and claimed it was payment for their living costs during the detention.

Xiong Chao is still in a coma. Tang Li's whereabouts are unknown. Tang Jianguo's son-in-law sold all valuables including household furniture and appliances to rescue Tang Jianguo and Xiong Chao; however, it was far from enough. Luckily, with the help and financial support of all their relatives, Xiong Chao and his father were released and left that living hell. When they returned home, the Street Committee members and staff from the police station took turns harassing them at their residence. Their residence is still under surveillance.

Ma Zhiwu was a staff member in the sub-bureau office of the railroad system in Yinchuan City. He was illegally arrested in Beijing when he went to appeal for Falun Gong in September of 1999. Because he didn't want to give up his practice, he was persecuted at the Yinchuan Detention Center. The abuse he had to endure included beatings, being hung up with his hands cuffed behind the back, being forced to wear heavy torture instruments and other tortures. He was unconstitutionally imprisoned in a forced labor camp for three years. Since he protested the persecution by going on a hunger strike in the labor camp in 2000, he was then unlawfully sentenced to six years in October 2001. He then experienced persecution in the Wuzhong Prison.

Ma Zhiwu suffered from all kinds of torture during seven years imprisonment. For example, he was brutally beaten numerous times by policemen or other criminals using leather tubes, pickaxe handles, rubber sticks and/or electric batons. He was forbidden to fall asleep continuously for two weeks. Other tortures included two months of being hung up with hands cuffed behind the back, hanging up in the air, sitting on a tiger bench, baking under the hot sun for a long time, having bricks tied around the neck, tying sand bags on the lower legs, being put in shackles, violent force-feeding, and other abuses.

Ma Zhiwu went on a number of hunger strikes and refused to drink water more than ten times to protest the persecution. The total strike time amounted to over two months. The police in the Wuzhong Prison awarded points and reduced the sentence of criminals who supported the persecution and carried out the tortures on Ma Zhiwu. According to what the released prisoners said, in less than one year, prisoners, as a group, beat Ma Zhiwu brutally on four occasions. In order to cover up their wrongdoings, for the past two years the police prohibited Ma Zhiwu's family member from visiting him. They also threatened the prisoners who were about to get released, "No leaking of prison secrets." They prevent even a word of truth about the persecution to reach the outside. In the meantime, they prevented prisoners from Yinchuan City from getting close to Ma Zhiwu.

Ma Zhiwu's wife is Falun Gong practitioner Sun Yajuan. She has had a difficult time making a living for herself and their young daughter. Some evildoing persons often illegally rushed in and searched her house. To force her to give up the practice, police from the West Garden station in Yinchuan took away Sun Yajuan's two-year-old daughter on Nov. 20, 2001, as blackmail and to threaten her

Within a two-year period, Sun Yajuan went back and forth between Wuzhong Prison and the Yinchuan Prison Management Bureau many times, but her request to see Ma Zhiwu was denied without reason. His daughter met her father in prison only a few times over these seven years.

Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Qin Peng was studying in Qinghua University for his Masters degree, and had been illegally imprisoned in Hebei Gaoyang Forced Labor Camp. He was taken away on September 30, 2005, and his whereabouts are unknown. They did not even give him time to take any clothing with him. More details follow.

Qin Peng ranked eighth from the top in the MBA entrance exam in Qinghua University Economic Management Institute in1999. He won many awards, such as "Outstanding Student" and "Outstanding Student Cadre" when he was in the university. In October 1999, Qin Peng was illegally arrested when he attended a Experience Sharing Conference. In June, 2000, he was arrested when he practiced the Falun Gong exercises in a public place. Later he was forced to leave Qinghua University. In the early morning of January 1, 2001, police from Zhongguancun Police Station burst into Qin Peng's home and took him and his wife Wang Wen (Falun Gong practitioner) and their baby son who was not even one year old. Qin Peng was then illegally sent to a forced labor camp for two years, and was tortured in the third group of the Beijing Tuanhe Labor Camp.

In June, 2003, only a few months after being released, Qin Peng was asked to go to the Qinhua University to defend his thesis, but he was arrested there instead. He was tortured in Beijing City Police Station and Bejing Reeducation Through Labor Bureau for one year. He was tied to a bed, beaten mercilessly while sitting on an iron chair, and exposed to freezing temperatures, etc. Qin Peng was later transferred to Hebei Gaoyang Forced Labor Camp in September, 2004, where he was tortured by police chief Yang Zemin, political instructor Li Jun, Fang Bao, Chang Jinniang, and others who used hand operated telephone and handcuffs as torture devices.

I am from Qingshui Village, Guanjiazui Township, Qidong County, Hunan Province. I am 67 years old. Before I started to practice Falun Gong in 1998, I had several diseases, such as the after-effect of a brain concussion, stomachache, leg and lower back pain, periodontosis, which made my gums bleed often, and several undiagnosed diseases. I took a lot of medicine; however, my diseases still couldn't be cured. My health condition was getting worse. A fortuneteller told me that I would die before I was 60 years old. I believed the fortuneteller's words, since I had been sent to hospital emergency rooms twice and my weight had dropped to 60 kilograms.

After practicing Falun Gong, I conducted myself strictly according to the requirements in Master's books. With improved morals, I became a better person. In less than half a year, all my diseases were cured and my weight increased to 68 kilograms. I've helped a lot of people since I've practiced Falun Gong. All my villagers remarked, "Falun Gong is good."

However, beginning on July 20, 1999, the corrupt gang led by Jiang Zemin, started to persecute and torture Falun Gong and the practitioners without any reason. Many people were cheated, deceived, and poisoned by the lies and slander fabricated by the state-controlled media. In July 2002, I clarified the truth by writing a 6-page letter to the Political Security Section of  Qidong County Police Department, telling about the benefits that I obtained from practicing Falun Gong. In less than 10 days, Li Wei, from Qidong County Police Department, Zhou Shanpu, and Zhang Boyun, both from the Qikuang Police Station, came to my home, illegally arrested me, and sent me to the Qidong Detention Center. Li Wei called my son and asked him to come to the Qidong Detention Center. My son was extorted out of about three thousand yuan, including 400 yuan living expense for my detention. After 15 days, I was released.

Around October 20, 2004, while two fellow practitioners and I were clarifying the truth at Shaodong County, we were reported to the Jianjialong Police Department. Two policemen came to arrest me. One of them used stones to hit me, making my head bleed. In the police car, after they tied me up with ropes, a policeman punched one of my legs fiercely with his fists.

When the police car arrived in Shaodong County Police Department, I found my leg was so swollen that it was about 50 percent larger than the other one and had turned a purple color. My leg was so swollen, I could not get out of the car without two policemen's support. After preparing my documents, they sent me to a detention center. I was assigned to the 12^th Group. In the evening, the guards arranged for five people to savagely beat my head, ears, and ribs. They asked me if Master Li was good or not. I said, "Good. He asks us to become good people, and uplift our moral quality. Our diseases are all cured." They beat me even more cruelly and asked me again, "Is the Tiananmen Square self-immolation and murders by Falun Gong practitioners real or not?" I said, "The self-immolation and murders are both fake. They were created to defame Falun Gong." Again, they started to fiercely beat me. In this way, they repeatedly beat me and then asked me questions. When their hands started to ache from beating me, they beat me with their shoes. After about one hour, a guard stopped them. I did not surrender during the entire period.

After a couple days, a perpetrator said to me, "Originally, you had a healthy body. Now, what kind of shape are you in? Will you practice Falun Gong or not?" He told me to sign a guarantee statement in order to leave detention, otherwise, I may die there. I said, "There is nothing wrong with being a good person. I won't give up my practice." After several days, I could not see or hear clearly, as my face was so swollen and disfigured from the beatings.

At the 40^th day in the detention center, while waiting for the guard to open the door in the morning, I fainted and fell to the ground. It scared all the other prisoners in the room. The perpetrators felt that my life was in danger and requested the guards to transfer me to the 14^th Group. Since all the people imprisoned in the 14^th Group are sick patients, and there was no labor work assigned, I agreed to the transfer. However, after I arrived at the 14^th Group, the perpetrators ordered me to have a shower with cold water; I refused to do it. The perpetrators seriously beat me again.

With the help of my relatives, I was released after being imprisoned for 45 days.

At the 12^th Group of the detention center, I suffered from a mental collapse and my face was disfigured from the serious beatings. When the guards saw that my life was in danger, they requested a policeman from Jianjialong Police Department come and interrogate me. After the interrogation, the policeman asked me to sign the verbal report and I did it. When he read the report to me, I found that some of the content was related to the anti-government issue. But he left immediately, before I had a chance to ask him about it. Later, when I went back home, this document was mailed to the Qingshuitang Police Department.

I started a hunger strike for four days to protest the fact that Falun Gong was falsely categorized as an anti-government organization. The guards just left me alone. They were afraid to be held responsible for my death. After I left the detention center, I understood that the police department extorted five thousand yuan from my family, including one thousand yuan for my living expense in the detention center.

In May 2005, while traveling to Wuhan City, Policemen from Qingshuitang Police Department, including Liu Fangzhi, ransacked my home. Within an hour, they took away Master Li's picture, Falun Gong books, lecture audiotapes, two sets of exercise audiotapes, and some experience sharing materials.

At 3:00 o'clock in the morning on July 18, 2006, four police cars full of police stopped at Zhujiatun Avenue in Zhuqi Village of Qili Township at Shulan City of Jilin Province. About twenty police came out of the cars and went to the home of Falun Gong practitioner Zhu Yi. They knocked the door but no one answered, so the police jumped over the fence and broke into the house through windows. They dragged Mr. Zhu Yi away. When Mr. Zhu's wife tried to stop them, a police pointed a gun at her and said, "I'll shoot you if you make any more noise." Mr. Zhu Yi shouted "Falun Dafa is good!" The police covered his mouth to stop him. The police also searched Mr. Zhu's home, took away some Falun Gong books and left a big mess. Mr. Zhu is currently jailed at Xiangshui Reservoir in Jishu Town of Shulan City (currently called Guxiang Welfare Home, see photo) where he is forced to undergo brainwashing.

Guxiang Welfare Home (formerly Xiangshui Reservoir Hotel in Jishu Town of Shulan City)

Around 2 o'clock in the morning on July 18, 2006, Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Feng Chen in Fate Town was awakened by knocks on his door. Eight police broke in and dragged Mr. Feng away. Mr. Feng is currently jailed at Xiangshui Reservoir in Jishu Town of Shulan City (currently called Guxiang Welfare Home, see photo) and subjected to forced brainwashing.

On the afternoon of July 18, 2006, Nancheng Police Station and Tiedong Police Station sent police officers to Falun Gong practitioner Cao Guiru's work unit. The officials of the work unit did not know their intent and complied with their request to call in Cao Guiru from home. Cao Guiru was taken away and jailed at the Jishu brainwashing center.

On the same day, 610 Office police also went to Falun Gong practitioner Xu Wenguo's home in Pingan Town. They tried to take away Mr. Xu, but Mr. Xu managed to escape later. Mr. Xu has had no choice but to abandon his home in order to avoid arrest.