The Facts of the Persecution of Falun Gong  -- Feburary 4, 2007

Issued by Clearwisdom Net

Content

  • Mr. Yan Weihong in Critical Condition at Urumqi Prison; His Wife Forced to Leave Town

  • Beijing Women's Forced Labor Camp Denies Family Visits for Ms. Zhang Lianying for Three Months

  • Zhang Xiurong Brutally Tortures Falun Gong Practitioners at Masanjia Forced Labor Camp

  • Supplementary Information on the Persecution of Mr. Zhou Jiangang, Paralyzed at Qinduankou Prison, Hubei Province



  • Mr. Yan Weihong in Critical Condition at Urumqi Prison; His Wife Forced to Leave Town

    On the evening of February 17, 2006, Mr. Yan Weihong from Taiyu Community in Urumqi City, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, was arrested by officials from the city's 610 Office and local police station. He was later sent to the Manas County National Security Group. He was heavily sentenced to four years in prison. Mr. Yan is being held at the the 5th Prison of Urumqi. He has been on a hunger strike since the beginning of his detention and is very weak and in critical condition.

    In 2006, Mr. Yan and his wife worked together in the cotton fields along with another couple from Shihezi City, Wang Xinmin and his wife Wang Fang. Later, Mr. and Mrs. Wang were arrested in Aksu City for placing banners in a public area. Xia Yi (male), an officer from Aksu City Police Department brought Mr. and Mrs. Wang to implicate Mr. Yan Weihong. As a result, Mr. Yan was also arrested.

    In order to collect trumped-up "evidence," the police went to Mr. Yan's home and conducted numerous searches but ended up with nothing. The police turned to threaten Mr. Yan's wife who had a one-month-old baby. They eventually tricked her and took her to Manas County National Security Group, where the officers tried to force her to admit to her husband's involvement in distributing Falun Gong materials. She refused to say anything and was cruelly beaten by three officers. One of the officer's last name was Lu.

    Mr. Yan Weihong is being held in the 5th Prison of Urumqi to serve a sentence of four years in prison. The authorities have denied his family any visits, ostensibly because Mr. Yan has not been following prison regulations. Mr. Yan has been on a hunger strike since his arrest. He is very weak and in critical condition.

    His wife has been forced to leave town with her young infant. Their whereabouts are unknown.


    Beijing Women's Forced Labor Camp Denies Family Visits for Ms. Zhang Lianying for Three Months

    Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Zhang Lianying of Beijing was persecuted and "illegally detained" in Beijing Women's Forced Labor Camp. To protest, she started a hunger strike and refused to wear the labor camp uniform. Ever since April 2006, when Zhang Lianying was detained in the camp, the perpetrators in Beijing Women's Forced Labor Camp exhausted all vicious methods to torture Zhang Lianying. Later, they transferred Ms. Zhang out of the Sixth Team and put her into the Collective Team. They isolated Ms. Zhang from other practitioners and subjected her to more severe persecution.

    On January 10, 2007, Zhang Lianying's husband Niu Jinping went to the camp's administration section to ask to visit his wife. Zhang Lianying's youngest daughter cried outside the camp, "Mom, I miss you! I want to see my mom!" However, the labor administration head refused their reasonable request, saying, "Zhang Lianying refused to wear the camp uniform and has been a bad influence."

    Zhang Lianying's family and young children were deprived of their rights to visit, to have their mail forwarded to her and to make phone calls to her. The family has so far endured three months without making contact with Ms. Zhang. Her family is now quite anxious.

    Background Information

    On June 14, 2005, when Zhang Lianying was nursing her daughter at home, dozen of agents from Xiangheyuan Police Station intruded and illegally arrested her. On June 30, 2005, they "illegally sentenced" Ms. Zhang to two years and six months of forced labor.From August 2005 to mid-October, while detained in the 9th Group of Tuanhe Dispatch Division in Beijing, the perpetrators there never stopped verbally abusing and humiliating Ms. Zhang. Later in October 2005, she suffered from brutal beatings at the dispatch division. The beatings injured her face in several places, leading to one 3-centimeter long scar (1.2 in.). Her face was disfigured, and she had difficulty walking. Ms. Zhang was absent-minded and her life was in danger. In spite of her absent-mindedness, Zhang Lianying proposed to sue the persecutors for their mistreatment of her, but officials from Beijing Labor Camp Bureau, from the dispatch division, and from the Procuratorate simply ignored her charges. The abusers still have not been punished.

    In February 2006, eight prisoners savagely beat Zhang Lianying at the 10th Group of Beijing Forced Labor Dispatch Division. She was again severely injured, hospitalized and closely monitored for 50 days beginning February 27, 2006. The reason for her being beaten resulted from her shouting, "Falun Dafa is good" and refusing to wear the camp uniform. Ms. Zhang's face was badly bruised from being beaten. Her feet were poked by sharp objects and had some black points. She could not move her lower back and could not turn around. Her left leg was very swollen. 

    Zhang Lianying's husband Niu Jinping, as well as their youngest daughter, then almost three years old, had no visiting privileges, no phone calls and no mail for their loved one for over seven months, since the dispatch division denied all attempts to see her beginning on February 17, 2006. The dispatch division and the camp officials intended to hide the criminal acts of the persecution of Zhang Lianying from her family and the outside world. On May 21, 2006, Ms. Zhang's husband intervened on her behalf. He appealed to the international community during a visit of the Vice President of the European Parliament and exposed what happened to his wife. In late September 2006, due to outside pressure, the labor camp resumed family visits, mail and phone calls for Ms. Zhang.

    From the time when Ms. Zhang Lianying was transferred to the Women's Labor Camp on April 20, 2006, to the time when she stopped her hunger strike in September 2006, the officials at the labor camp extorted several hundred yuan each month from her husband Niu Jinping, amounting to 4,000 yuan in total.

    Mr. Niu Jinping, carrying his daughter, petitioned dozens of bureaus in the Beijing judicial system. He got a cold reception or ignorance, and time after time threats from the Chinese Communist Party police, agents from the 610 Office, and the community committee. He recently went to Beijing City Intermediate Court, the labor camp bureau, Tuanhe Supervision Section, and other official bureaus to expose, try to prosecute the perpetrators and to submit appeals.



    Zhang Xiurong Brutally Tortures Falun Gong Practitioners at Masanjia Forced Labor Camp

    Zhang Xiurong is the 37-year-old female group leader at the 2nd Branch of Masanjia Forced Labor Camp. She was promoted to the position in 2000 for her ruthless brutality and effectiveness at brainwashing and "transforming" Falun Gong practitioners. For her efforts, Zhang Xiurong received CCP's "Model Worker" award in the province. For the past seven years, Zhang has focused all her efforts on persecuting Falun Gong. Along with officer Wang Naimin, she planned and executed a wicked plot to cast eight female practitioners into the male section of the prison. Her police I.D. number is 2108051. Zhang Xiurong is number 8,657 on the list of the perpetrators of the persecution posted on www.fawanghuihui.org.

    The following are some of the crimes Zhang Xiurong has committed in the persecution of Falun Gong:

    Exposing Practitioners to Freezing Temperatures

    In December of 1999 Zhang Xiurong locked practitioner Ms. Li Ping from Jinzhou City, Liaoning Province in a basketball court all night. It snowed heavily that night, and the next morning the earth was covered with a blanket of white. Zhang looked out the window but couldn't see Ms. Li (the guards live in fear of losing practitioners, a they could be fired from their jobs). Zhang and some others quickly went outside and dug Ms. Li out from a pile of snow. They carried her into the building and she eventually regained consciousness after warming up for a while. Several days later Ms. Li was sent to the 1st Branch to perform forced labor.

    Later that winter Zhang took Ms. Li outside in the cold again and left her there for a long time. Her facial muscles became stiff and she couldn't make expressions. Her arms and legs were numb and she couldn't walk. Zhang tortured Li Ping many times, and she also had some collaborators torture her in different ways, including using electric batons, brutal beatings and pulling her hair. Male guards also participated in the torture. Later Ms. Li was sent to the 1st Women's Branch, and she was one of eight female Falun Gong practitioners that were cast naked into the male section of the prison.

    In November of 1999 Zhang forced practitioner Ms. Wang Yanxia of Xingcheng City to stand outside in the snow. Ms. Wang was wearing only a single layer of clothes and single-sole shoes. Her face and eyes were purple from the extreme cold. She stood suffering alone in the cold wind. Since then Ms. Wang was often seen chained to a pipe in the restroom or handcuffed in some corner. Her eyes and face were always purple. Zhang was worried that Ms. Wang would scream and people would notice so she stuffed a dirty bathroom cleaning rag into Ms. Wang's mouth, then she had the collaborators use a three-foot section of a mop handle and some whisk brooms to beat Ms. Wang about her head, face and body, causing bruising and swelling. Group Leader Wang Naimin often called her to the office and tortured her with electric batons. Once he stripped her and shocked her entire body.

    In November of 1999 Zhang forced practitioner Ms. Li Liming to stand in the bathroom wearing only a thin shirt and underpants with her hands stuck out of the window. Zhang also ordered her to kneel on the floor and bark like a dog. When Ms. Li refused, she was sent to the 1st Branch for forced labor. When Ms. Li Liming was seen again in 2002, her skin was dark and sallow, her hair was nearly all white and she'd lost a front tooth; she looked like a completely different person.

    Practitioner Zou Guirong Ordered to Commit Suicide; Practitioners Tortured with Electric Batons

    Zhang Xiurong, Wang Naimin, Huang Haiyan and Wang Shuzheng tortured practitioner Ms. Zou Guirong with four electric batons from 1:00 p.m. until almost 4:00 p.m. Ms. Zou, barefoot and wearing only a sleeveless vest, was forced to sit on the cold concrete floor. They shocked the soles of Ms. Zou's feet, arms, legs and back. They ordered convict Rao Aijing to swing Ms. Zou around by her hair while they continued to shock her. They laughed insanely, screaming, "This is so much fun, it's more fun than watching monkeys at the zoo!"

    Wang Shuzheng poured a cup of water on Ms. Zou's feet and then shocked her. After this torture there wasn't a single unmarked spot left on Ms. Zou's neck, face, arms, or feet.

    On October 17, 2000, Ms. Zou revealed the facts of the persecution she'd suffered to the outside world. Zhang Xiurong and some other officers and collaborators held Ms. Zou down and slapped her face. She was left bleeding from the corners of her mouth. Zhang locked the door from inside and told Ms. Zou, "Didn't you tell people you'd been tortured at Masanjia? Today you'll find out what it's like when I torture you!" Zhang was wearing hard-soled leather shoes, and she kicked and beat Ms. Zou brutally. She kicked Ms Zou's legs and the pit of her stomach. She found a padlock in a drawer and smashed Ms. Zou in the face with it. Ms. Zou's face was black and blue from the beating. Zhang choked Ms. Zou three times. Finally Zhang produced a blade and ordered Ms. Zou to commit suicide. Ms. Zou refused, so Zhang forced the blade into her hand and tried to stab her with it. The next day Zhang angrily summoned Ms. Zou to the office and beat her again. Even more frightening was the day that Zhang took Ms. Zou to a room, opened the window and ordered her to jump. Ms. Zou Guirong was eventually tortured to death at the end of April 2002.

    In May 2000 Ms. Su Juzhen and nine other Falun Gong practitioners in the 1st Women's Branch were sent to the 2nd Women's Branch to be subjected to experimental forced brainwashing. Zhang handcuffed Ms. Su's hands behind her back to a metal bed with her feet off the ground in an upside down position. Qiu Ping, the head of the 2nd Group and secretary Wang Shuzheng shocked Ms. Su with electric batons. They injured her so severely that she couldn't walk anymore, and there were burns all over her hands. They forcefully administered drugs that caused nerve damage and psychological problems. When Ms. Su was released, her eyes were dull and she had severe memory loss; she couldn't walk, feed herself, or even use the restroom without assistance. Ms. Su Guizhen passed away at 8:30 a.m. on April 8, 2006.

    Beating and Torturing Practitioners, Zhang Told Them, "All I Care About is the Appearance; I Don't Care if You Are Truly Transformed or Not, as Long as You Have Signed the 'Three Statements.'"

    Zhang Xiurong and others tortured Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Li Yanjun continually for three days and nights. Ms. Li was beaten and shocked with electric batons. Her body was so badly injured that it was hard to look at.

    In July 2000 Zhang Xiurong and the others continuously tortured Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Ge Chunling for more than twenty days. She was deprived of sleep and water, and wasn't allowed to use the restroom. In May 2001 they were again refusing to allow her to go to the restroom, which caused her body to swell and her heart rate to decrease. Though Ms. Ge was extremely weak, she was still forced to labor excessively.

    In the end of September 2000, Zhang angrily ordered Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Zhao Shuhuan of Shenyang to be taken to the restroom. They forced Ms. Zhao to the floor and made her crawl back and forth with her hands supporting her body and her legs straight. Zhang Xiurong called it, "The head of the dragon touches the tail of the dragon." One night Zhang took Ms. Zhao to the bathroom and forced her to sit with her legs double-crossed (in the lotus position) and used rope to tie up her legs. Then Zhang and some others began to torture Ms. Zhao. Chen Xiaoyu slapped Ms. Zhao's face repeatedly and slammed her head into the wall so hard that some of the bricks were damaged. Zhang told her, "You will beg me to let you die!" Zhang Xiurong and the others tortured Ms. Zhao day and night.

    In the middle of November 2000 they took Ms. Zhao to the restroom to torture her again. They took off their shoes and used them to hit Ms. Zhao in the face and head. They took turns hitting her and shoving her head into the wall. They continued to torture Ms. Zhao like that until the rest of the camp started to get up the next morning. Ms. Zhao's head was swollen and deformed and there were bruises all over her face. Her head was almost twice its normal size and she was unrecognizable. The persecutors were afraid that people would see Ms. Zhao, so they made her squat facing the wall. When Zhang saw Ms. Zhao's condition she shouted at the others for not knowing how to torture her properly. Zhang Xiurong told them to hit her in the body instead of the head to conceal the wounds, so they started kicking her instead. They took off Ms. Zhao's pants, and six of them started pinching her legs and digging their nails into her skin. They insulted Ms. Zhao as they tortured her, then they sat on her neck. Ms. Zhao's legs were covered with oozing wounds that were soon infected. The pain was unbearable.

    One morning Zhang Xiurong called Zhao Shuhuan to the on-call room and she and some others began to beat her. Ms. Zhao was kicked to the floor, and her torturers began to kick her legs. Her infected wounds began to seep, and there was a bad smell. Her legs were swollen black and blue and were as stiff as boards. Even so, they wouldn't let Ms. Zhao go. They held her down and took her pants off, and started pinching her again.

    Captains Zhang Xiurong and Wang Qiuju prepared wooden sticks and a metal spoon. They ordered the others to hold Ms. Zhao down on a chair and held her nose so she couldn't breathe. When she opened her mouth to breathe, they stuck the spoon into her mouth. In doing so, they dug a deep cut into Ms. Zhao's tongue. They said, "This spoon is way too soft, go find a harder one." Zhao went limp and almost passed out. Ms. Zhao was tortured this way repeatedly and was force-fed four times. Captains Zhang Xiurong and Wang Qiuju told Ms. Zhao, "We won't let you die, but we'll make you wish for death. We'll torture you and let you suffer alive."

    On the afternoon of May 27, 2005, Zhang Xiurong called Ms. Zhao Shuhuan to the office and ordered her to take her shoes and socks off and sit on the ground. Zhang shocked the soles of Ms. Zhao's feet, her legs, her upper body, and her lips and scalp with two electric batons. Then she threw down the electric batons and grabbed Ms. Zhao's hair, swinging her back and forth. Zhang slapped her violently in the face for more than forty minutes. Zhang punished Zhao Shuhuan by forcing her to bend over with her arms parallel to her legs. Ms. Zhao wasn't allowed to rest her hands on her knees or bend her legs. To increase her suffering, Zhang ordered her to touch the floor with her hands. Ms. Zhao was forced to stay in that position the whole morning.

    In June 2002 Zhang ordered some inmates to tie up a practitioner, saying, "Hit her hard, I'll take responsibility for everything! Anyone who refuses will have their sentences extended!" They hit the practitioner in the midsection for more than twenty minutes. The practitioner's clothes were stripped off and her shoes couldn't be found after the beating. She was thrown to the floor wearing only her bra and underpants. She couldn't bend her waist. Later she was taken to a solitary compartment and handcuffed to a pipe. She was very cold that night in the dark and wet cell, and they didn't let her sleep.

    One day there were visitors to the camp, so Zhang Xiurong, Zhou Jian, Yang Xiaofeng, Zhang Zhuohui, and team leader Wang Xueqiu pulled Shenyang Falun Gong practitioner Li Dongqing off her bed and dragged her to the office. They snatched away her pen and notebook and started to beat her and prick her hand with the pen. Afterwards they locked her up in a secret room to hide her from the visitors because she kept a record of the torture. She was kept in the room for about three months.

    At the end of 2003, Zhang Xiurong and team leader Qi Fuying ordered collaborators to beat practitioner Chen Yufeng, from Shenyang, at midnight. They grabbed her hair and slammed her against the heater. The beating lasted until five in the morning, when Ms. Chen finally fainted. They woke her up and continued to beat and verbally abuse her. They hit her head and pulled her hair. Jiang Chunxiang found hair all over the floor when she swept up the next morning. Chen Yufeng's head was covered with bumps. Later she was taken to the first floor where the torture continued.

    On December 1, 2004, Zhang Xiurong grabbed practitioner Liu Yuzhi's hair to force her to wear a card on her chest. Liu Yuzhi started to vomit, so Zhang wiped it up with Liu Yuzhi's clothes.

    In 2004  Zhang and a few team leaders broke into practitioner Xu Qingyan's room and sealed her mouth with tape. Team leader Xiang tied Ms. Xu's hands to the bed. Xu Qingyan felt tightness in her chest and nausea, and she blacked out with her head and left leg on the floor. When Ms. Xu woke up, she was covered with cold sweat and her face was as white as a sheet. She was handcuffed and not allowed to use the toilet or eat until eight at night. She was kept this way for a few days and was later sent to a psychiatric hospital for further persecution.

    In early September 2004, Xu Qingyan was handcuffed in the shape of a cross to an iron frame in the storeroom for nine days. She wasn't allowed to sleep. The small, windowless storeroom was triangular in shape and located under the stairs. It was hot and stuffy in the room. She couldn't stand upright, her body leaned forward and her arms were handcuffed behind her. The pain was unbearable. When Zhang saw her, she humiliated her. Ms. Xu's legs and feet became very swollen.

    On December 1,  Zhang Xiurong and team leader Zhang Zhuohui beat Xu Qingyan in the face and then locked her up in a solitary compartment, where she was tortured for nine days. Xu Qingyan's limbs became red and swollen, her joints were painful, and she couldn't walk without help. One elderly practitioner who was also locked up in a solitary compartment was heard crying while being beaten.

    Zhang Xiurong beat practitioner Li Yanjun, from Xingcheng, with a broom until the broom broke. More than thirty practitioners in the same cell were also tortured. Physical tortures like these defy enumeration.

    In June 2004 Zhang Xiurong, Dai Lihong and Ma Xiaodan verbally abused and beat practitioners. They handcuffed practitioners' hands to a bench and wouldn't let them sleep for seven days.

    On December 1, 2004  Zhang and a team leader tied up practitioner Liu Yuzhi, beat her and yanked her hair while holding her down. They wouldn't stop even when white foam came from Liu Yuzhi's mouth, and they continued to kick her. They took her from her cell at half past four in the afternoon until well after 9 p.m. to torture her.

    Around 2002 Zhang Xiurong, Dai Lihong and Yang Xiaofeng had collaborators beat Zhuanghe practitioner Ms. Wang Dandan. They tied her up in the sitting meditation position and made her sit on the floor for two or three hours in winter.

    Zhang Xiurong and Wang Xiuju often sent the guards on errands while they tortured practitioner Yang Yuejun. When the guard returned he would find Ms. Yang beaten black and blue. To hide the truth from the other practitioners, they wouldn't let Yang Yuejun return to her room for more than ten days. Prison guard Wang Xiuju hung up Yang Yuejun with a rope with her head down half a chi (a traditional unit of length) off the floor. Afterwards, Yang Yuejun suffered mental problems and was always seen staring blankly.

    In 2005 Zhang Xiurong ordered the prison guards to hold a practitioner down and put a prison uniform on her. They handcuffed the practitioner to a heating pipe. Some practitioners were locked in a storeroom where there was no window, light or fresh air. The door was tightly closed so no one would find them. On Zhang Xiurong's orders, prison guards tortured Falun Gong practitioners who refused to renounce their beliefs. The duration of the torture varied from ten days to a few months.

    Zhang Xiurong, Tang Yan and several prison guards viciously beat Falun Gong practitioner Xin Suhua, from Benxi, until she fell to the floor. Prison guard Wang Zhengli continued to kick her after the others had stopped, until Ms. Xin couldn't speak anymore. Xin Suhua was put in a solitary cell many times, once for twenty days. She was handcuffed day and night on a chair and deprived of sleep. Xin Suhua's hands and feet became numb and she couldn't use them for several days.

    On November 8, 2005, all the Falun Gong practitioners of the 2nd Group removed their prison uniforms in protest of the illegal detention and torture. In retaliation, they were all beaten and abused, and weren't allowed to use the toilet for three days.  Zhang Xiurong, team leader Zhao Jinghua, Shi Yu and Tang Yan called practitioner Wang Shufen to the on-call room and said, "If you want to use the toilet you must wear the uniform."
    Wang Shufen told them, "I have loose bowels."
    They shouted, "Bad luck!"
    Then the four of them beat Wang's head. Wang Shufen is more than fifty years old, and they beat her to the floor.

    On the morning of November 20, 2005 the guards tried to cut He Guirong's hair, but she wouldn't let them. The political commissar ordered the guards of the 2nd Group, including Zhang Xiurong, team leader Zhou Qian, Xiang Liqui, Shi Yu, Zhao Jinghua, Fei Feng, Ma Xiaodan, Zhang Zhuohui, Li Xiuling, Li Shujuan and another four male team leaders to beat He Guirong. They beat her so hard that she was rolling all over the floor. Afterwards, they cut her hair and handcuffed her and locked her up in the storeroom for many days. They finally stopped torturing Ms. He after they forced her to wear the uniform.

    The May 5, 2006 of the lunar calendar, the Falun Gong practitioners in the 2nd Group again protested the unlawful persecution. They shouted, "Falun Dafa is good!" in unison in the dining hall. Duty team leader Dong Shuxia immediately began to beat practitioner Zhang Shuzhen, who was then handcuffed and dragged to the team leader's office. Group Leader Zhang, Xiang Jili and Dong Shuxia tied Zhang Shuzhen to a heating pipe and beat her until they were tired.

    Vicious Policewoman Zhang Xiurong


    Supplementary Information on the Persecution of Mr. Zhou Jiangang, Paralyzed at Qinduankou Prison, Hubei Province

    Since Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Zhou Jiangang from Wuhan City, Hubei Province was sent to the Qinduankou Prison on November 2, 2006, he has been tortured so brutally that he has been rendered severely paralyzed. He is paralyzed from the neck down and can only move his eyes and mouth. Even after Mr. Zhou was tortured so badly, the prison guards still restrained his feet with rope.

    Mr. Zhou Jiangang was detained in solitary confinement. The prison installed monitors to watch him 24 hours a day. Only three inmates are allowed to see him to take care of him.

    Now, Zhou Jiangang can only take in liquids, and has lost control of his bladder and bowels. Because of the paralysis, he cannot turn over and his body is covered with blisters. There is a big hole on his thigh. To cover up their crimes, the prison forbade his wife and relatives to visit him and lied to his family members.

    At the beginning of 2007, the CCP authorities videotaped Zhou Jiangang and attempted to cover the truth about his situation and plan another round of propaganda.

    Related article: /emh/articles/2007/1/26/82051.html