Issued by Clearwisdom Net

Falun Gong Practitioners Ms. Shen Zili and Ms. Xu Hongmei from Qiqihar City in Heilongjiang Province have been on hunger strike without water for 33 days in an effort to regain their freedom. In the afternoon on February 13, 2007, police officers put handcuffs and foot shackles on them and took them to the municipal hospital. Since that day, they have been in critical condition. Both of them have periodically lost consciousness, and have lost control of their bladder and bowels. They suffer from electrolyte imbalance and low blood pressure; they vomit whatever they eat, including blood. They are emaciated, and may lose their lives at any moment.

Ms. Shen and Ms. Xu's families have asked everywhere for help. They went to Qinglongjie Police Station and Longshan District Police Department to demand the release of their family members. The police officers were rude and Gong Yanhui, the chief of Qinglongjie Police Station, claimed their family members would be brought to trial very soon.

On the afternoon of January 13, 2007, when Ms. Shen, Ms. Xu and Ms. Hou Yajing visited Ms. Hou's residence, police officers broke into the residence, arrested them and took them to Qingyujie Police Station. Police officer Yi Zhanhui dragged Ms. Xu from the 4^th to the ground floor, then applied different torture methods and did not stop until she lost consciousness. Yi Zhanhui poured cold water on her face to wake her up and then continued with the torture. Then, they locked her into an iron cage.

Police officers from Qingyujie Police Station tied Ms. Shen with tape to a chair. Then, they grabbed her hair and hit her head against the wall until she lost consciousness. After she regained consciousness, the torture continued.

No matter what kind of cruel torture method they used to force a confession, they did not succeed. They attempted to get names and information on other practitioners, but Ms. Shen and Ms. Xu remained silent. Ms. Shen and Ms. Hong were tortured for 10 days. As they were very weak they were taken to the police hospital. During that time, people without conscience had Ms. Xu's daughter's teacher and a person who appeared to be a manager come to the hospital to persuade her to give up her beliefs. This unusual meeting harmed her young child tremendously.

On January 23, 2007, Falun Gong practitioners Dong Liantai and Tian Hua from the Dancheng Township, Shuangcheng City, Heilongjiang Province, tried to visit illegally detained relatives at Wanjia Forced Labor Camp. The gate of the camp was closed and they had to turn back without seeing their relatives. However, a camp guard had spotted them and reported them to the police who then arrested the practitioners.

On the same afternoon, the officers from Wanjia Forced Labor Camp and Xinnong Town Police Station of Daoli District, Harbin City, arrested four other practitioners, including Miao Xiubo and Jiang Yahong while they were waiting for transportation in Xinnong Town. Three officers, including Liu Zhaoping, pushed the four practitioners into a corner of a grocery store and told them they were under arrest. They did not give a reason or explanation for the arrest or produce a warrant. There were many bystanders at the scene. The police rushed the four practitioners to Xinnong Town Police Station and called in four guards from Wanjia Forced Labor Camp. One of the guards (female) viciously and repeatedly slapped practitioner Miao Xiubo's face threatening that she would make Miao Xiubo's face swell up.

After all the beating, scolding and threatening, the guards searched the practitioners and confiscated their watches and 200 yuan from Mia Xiubo. The police hit practitioner Jiang Yahong's head so hard that the pain continued for a long time. The four practitioners were unlawfully detained at Xinnong Police Station for 12 hours. Liu Zhaoping was the person in charge; his signature appears on the paperwork. At about 2 a.m. the next day, without following due process and lacking any evidence, the police took the six practitioners (Dong Liantai, Tian Hua, Mia Xiubo, Jiang Yahong, and two others) to the Guxiang Administration Detention Center in Harbin.

Some of the local practitioners learned about the illegal arrest, but they had no idea where the practitioners were. The next day, Xinnong police extorted 550 yuan in bribes from the practitioners' families, and promised to release them. After receiving the money, the police claimed the practitioners were involved in serious crimes and refused to release them.

A few days later, the police from Shuangcheng National Security Group broke into the practitioners' houses to search them. Jiang Yahong's father had to be hospitalized because he was so upset. The practitioners' families went looking for them at Xinnong Town Police Station and were told to go to Daoli District Police Station. When Jiang Yahong's family got there, they were rudely turned away.

The practitioners' families are from a rural area near Shuangcheng City, about 200 miles away from Harbin City. They had never been to a big city like Harbin and did not have much money. They were faced with the difficult problem of looking for their loved ones in Harbin. Five days later, they were finally able to locate them at the Administration Detention Center.

When the families asked to see the practitioners, the 610 Office director at the Center did not allow Dong Liantai's wife to see her husband because she is a practitioner too. After the families protested and argued that the arrest was illegal, the police finally approved a visit. The families were each asked to pay 430 yuan to cover the cost of the practitioners' meals. Everybody paid this fee, except for Zhang Fengrong's family. The families were also asked to pay 80 yuan to be allowed to meet the practitioners in the dining area, whether they ate or not. Only three members of each practitioner's family were allowed to see the practitioners.

The director of the detention center told Ms. Jiang 's family that she was on a hunger strike and asked them to persuade her to start eating, otherwise the center would force feed her. However, the family realized that Ms. Jiang was not on a hunger strike but was unable to eat because she had been brutally beaten at Xinnong Police Station, suffering injuries that caused her to sometimes vomit blood. Another practitioner grew ill a few days after she was viciously tortured for five hours on the Tiger Bench. The practitioners' families are very worried about them.