Issued by Clearwisdom Net

By Nie Chunling, a Falun Gong practitioner in China

During the nearly eight years of the persecution, thousands upon thousands of Falun Gong practitioners have been persecuted without being able to appeal for their rights. There is no justice in China. Today, the day when the international human rights conference is being held, I'm calling on the world's people to help my husband, Yang Jianpo, who has been tortured and who has been on a hunger strike for more than 400 days at Hebei Jidong Prison. He is now in critical condition and on life support. I'm calling on International Human Rights organizations and all kind people in this world, "Please help to rescue my husband and all Falun Gong practitioners who are suffering torture at the hands of the CCP's minions. Please join us in condemning the severe human rights violations and atrocities committed by CCP officials."

My husband, Yang Jianpo, 45, owns a business and lives at Jiningli District 11-3-101, Rongfu Street, Langfang City, Hebei Province. He began to practice Falun Gong in 1998. Before that he fought with people and had been three times detained for fighting with others. After practicing Falun Gong, he understood the true meaning of life and he completely changed. He changed his behavior and began a new life.

On July 20 1999, Jiang's gang banned Falun Gong. We were puzzled and went to Beijing to appeal on September 5, 1999.

My husband and I were arrested on October 28, 1999. My husband was detained for 53 days and then sentenced to three years of forced labor. He was taken to Langfang Wanzhuang Forced Labor Camp. Because he refused to give up his belief, he was taken to Gaoyang Forced Labor Camp in Hebei Province.

He was tortured in various ways in these places. During the 53 days in the detention center, he was in handcuffs and could not go to the restroom by himself. He was tortured even more cruelly after he went on a hunger strike. In Wanzhuang Forced Labor Camp, he was forced into heavy labor and worked 20 hours daily. He was beaten with wooden sticks. In Gaoyang Forced Labor Camp, he was handcuffed to an iron ring on the ground outdoors. He suffered blazing sunlight during the day and mosquito bites at night. The guards inserted an electric baton into his mouth to shock him. They did not release him after he had served his sentence. He went on a hunger strike for 60 days. Eventually, he was released, but not before he was at death's door. After his release, he was arrested another two times, simply because he told others how he was tortured and mistreated.

On the evening of March 30, 2003, police arrested him in Tangshan city, Hebei province. He was taken to Fengrun District Police Station, Branch 1. The police confiscated his belongings, including 6,000 yuan in cash. They tied him to a chair and shocked him repeatedly with a 110V hand-crank telephone. They tortured him for three days and deprived him of sleep. After three days, he was taken to the Fengrun District Detention Center. Director Wu told police to beat him until his buttocks were covered with blood. He was released after 38 days, but not before he was near death.

On the afternoon of February 2004, police from Guangyang District Police Department of Langfang City broke into our home and arrested him again. They took him to Tangshan Kaiping Forced Labor Camp that day. After arriving at the labor camp, he again went on a hunger strike. His body weight dropped from 90kg to 50 kg. When he was released he weighed only 40 kg.

After Jianpo's mother heard that her son was arrested she felt deep mental pain. She could not eat or sleep. During the past several years, my husband and I were arrested again and again. Both of our elderly parents constantly worried and felt deep panic. My father, 74 at the time, often sits up at night and cries. He developed a stroke and had to stay at a hospital for more than a year. Then he passed away. Our parents took care of our children.

During the past several years, I was illegally detained 18 times. Every time I was released after hunger strikes and when I was in serious health condition. Each time I had to be carried through the prison doors. I was very weak and I could not work. Our family of four had to live on our parents, brothers and sisters' support. Once, the police confiscated more than 20,000 yuan, the tuition for our children's school we had received from relatives and family members.

From 1999 to 2006, local police confiscated our cash, personal property and vehicles worth more than 80,000 yuan. In addition, on February 20, 2004, Guangyang District police arrested my husband at home and stole goods worth more than 30,000 yuan from our family food store. They broke into our safe and took everything they could lay their hands on (I don't remember what was in it, as we hadn't been at home for several years). My husband was taken to a forced labor camp. Our family store had to close. We lost more than 10,000 yuan.

With help from relatives, we took out a loan and bought a van for transporting goods. The loan came to 110,000 yuan. We decided to sell our house in April 2005, so we could pay off the loan. But our identification cards were confiscated by Langfang City Guangyang District police and they refused to give them back. We had to apply for new identification cards, however, before we received the new cards from the police station, Guangyang District Police Department confiscated them. We were unable to sell the house without legal papers and our family had suffered another loss.

At the end of November 2005, my husband was transporting fruits to Inner Mongolia. In Inner Mongolia he was detained by Zhanglanqi Habaga police for three days because he clarified the truth to others. This cost more than 7,000 yuan.

On February 5, 2006, my husband Yang Jianpo was arrested once again when he reported to local officials Mr. Wang Shaoqiu's family economic problems. Mr. Wang was illegally detained. My husband has been on hunger strike from the first day of his detention. He was protesting the human rights violation committed by police. Four months later, when he was extremely weak, Langfang local officials secretly handed down a six year sentence without due process. He was detained at Tangshan Jidong Prison. At that time our family was running a clothing business. Because of the arrest of my husband, our family suffered more than 10,000 yuan in losses.

On May 28, 2006, we received a notice from the central hospital of Jidong Prison, Team No. 4, Fengnan District, Tangshan. At that time, Langfang City Hospital, Central Hospital, and Guangyang District Hospital had issued several critically ill notices. My husband could not take care of himself. Under existing law, critically ill inmates have to be released from prison. But they did not obey the law and imprisoned him anyway.

In June when we visited him in prison, he was brought out by inmates in a cart. His eyes were unfocused and he could barely talk. He was skin and bones. His hands and feet were cold and he was extremely pale. He also felt chest pain.

We were very worried. His elderly parents could not sleep those days. On November 30, 2006, I went with my nephew and brother in law to Jidong Prison and we asked to visit him. They refused, claiming that I did not have a proper identification card and my relatives were not direct family members. We asked how my husband was doing. Li Zhengyun, the political commissar of the hospital, dodged the question and said, "Same thing." Other officials tried to avoid us, and they even called local police to take us away.

I went with our children to Jidong Hospital more than ten times and asked for my husband's release. They neither released him, nor would they let us see him. Whenever we asked about his condition, they responded, "Very well," and "We will notify you if anything goes wrong." Before the new year 2007, police rushed to our home and asked me to sign some document for "release on bail for medical treatment." May be they thought he was near death. They said they would bring him in a few days. But, he was not released. After the Chinese new year, on February 27, I took two children with me and we went to Jidong Prison and requested a visit, which they denied. I asked why they had not brought him home as promised. Hao Baoxin, the leader of Team No. 4 said that Yang Jianpo was indeed in critical condition before the new year. But then doctors treated him and he was all right. They asked me to go home. Actually, he was lying. We heard that my husband is now on life-support. He could not live if the oxygen pipe is removed. But they did not care.

My husband Yang Jianpo is not a criminal. Telling the truth is not a crime. I'm revealing the crimes the Langfang police have committed to all international human rights organizations and groups, and to the world's people. I'm calling on all the world's people to help my husband and all Falun Gong practitioners who are illegally detained be released. We are extremely worried about their well-being, especially since we learned that the CCP minions have been removing and selling organs from live practitioners.

The international human rights conference is being held now. I hope it will be able to protect human rights and improve the situation. By exposing the facts of the CCP's persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China, we hope the whole world will realize how evil the CCP really is, condemn the CCP's evil acts, uphold justice, and rescue practitioners who are being persecuted by the CCP's minions, including my husband Yang Jianpo, who has been on hunger strike for more than 400 days and is near death.

Since the persecution began on July 20, 1999, about 1,000 Falun Gong practitioners have been detained in Weiningying Forced Labor Camp in Benxi City, Liaoning Province. This labor camp is one of the dark dens that has been praised by the Chinese Communist Party Justice Department as having the highest rate of "transformation" of practitioners. Practitioners persecuted there have been from inside and outside of Liaoning Province. Steadfast practitioners from different places inside Liaoning Province in particular were severely persecuted.

From 2005 to 2006, a special building was built to persecute practitioners, and thousands upon thousands of yuan went towards persecuting Falun Gong. Now about 18 to 19 practitioners are detained there and are monitored every day. The guards refuse to allow family members to meet with the steadfast practitioners. Heavy labor and starvation, plus torture, make it feel as though one day is one year.

At the very end of the room where criminal inmates are held, there is a small solitary cell called the "Stretch Torture Chamber," used to torture practitioners who have not been "transformed." One practitioner was stretched for over 100 days, and his face was swollen very large. When released, he was close to death and so was sent away. Another Shenyang practitioner surnamed Zhang (given name unknown) was stretched for 28 days. The chief of the management section, Meng Lixin, directed the persecution in person.

About 14 or 15 practitioners have been sent away from the labor camp. It has been claimed that they have been sent to the Shenyang Base, but no one really knows where they were sent.

The following is information about the situation of several Falun Gong practitioners who have been arrested and subjected to persecution in Xinhua Forced Labor Camp, Mianyang City, Sichuan Province.

Mr. Wang Fang, over 50 years old, is from Leshan City, Sichuan Province. He was a geology prospecting technician. Mr. Wang was twice illegally arrested and detained at Xinhua Forced Labor Camp. His second arrest lasted for one year and six months. Mr. Wang was arrested while at work. To extort a confession from him, the local police tortured him overnight. They instigated criminal prisoners to repeatedly beat him and he lost consciousness many times. Wang Fang resisted the persecution by going on a ten-day hunger strike in the forced labor camp. The police deceived him by letting him go home, but arrested him again several days later. His wife is also a Falun Gong practitioner and she was arrested at the same time. She is currently illegally detained in Yangmahe Women's Forced Labor Camp in Jianyang City, Sichuan Province.

Mr. Lu Chunbin, in his forties, is from An County in Northern Sichuan Province. He was an employee in the business field. He has been arrested and detained in Xinhua Forced Labor Camp twice and the second time, he was fired from his job. During the long period that he was detained, Mr. Lu was tied up, hung up with his arms behind his back, and brutally beaten. However, none of the methods and tactics used have worked against him. Thus, he was put in isolation and was detained there alone for a long time.

Shao Changming lived on Sanshimi Street, Wusheng County, Guang'an City, Sichuan Province. He is over 50 years old and was a math teacher. He was illegally sentenced to three years in prison. Mr. Shao was arrested while he was teaching in class. Three months later, his father, who was over 80, was also persecuted. He passed away in grief and indignation.

Mr. Gou Guangwu is from Jinfo Village, Tongjiang County, Bazhong City, Sichuan Province. He is 65 years old and has retired from working in the forest. He was illegally sentenced to a year and a half in prison. Along the several dozens kilometers of roads across two counties and three areas, Mr. Gou wrote and posted 29 notices resisting the persecution. The authorities monitored and tracked him for three months. Eventually, Mr. Gou was illegally arrested by police while he was at home.

Mr. Xie Xinlu, in his forties, is from Xichang City, Sichuan Province. He was a carpenter. Due to a so-called "rule violation", Mr. Xie has been tortured in isolation for several months. He has been beaten, forced to stand and squat, and forced to run for over 200 laps in the room, while being monitored by criminal prisoners. He is not allowed to go to sleep before midnight. However, Mr. Xie still holds his beliefs firmly and resists the persecution. After these several months of abuse, he has become extremely thin and weak.

Mr. Xu Qiang is from Simianshan, Jiang'an County, Yibin City, Sichuan Province. He is 22 years old, and has been practicing Falun Gong since he was 16. He has experienced all kinds of torture, including brutal beating and other physical punishments. He was forced to wear thick winter clothes in the summer when it was over 40 degrees Celsius (above 105 Fahrenheit). Although he is only 22 years old, he has been very strong and firm during his detention in prison. The police have tried to deceive and lull him by allowing young criminal prisoners near his age to pretend to be friends with him. After some time, he saw through their wicked tactics and firmly resisted the persecution with fellow practitioners.

Mr. Xu Hongjun is from northeastern China and is over 40 years old. He owned some business in selling drinks. He was illegally arrested in Sichuan Province on October 1st, when someone reported him while he was clarifying the truth in public. After his arrest, he was tortured in isolation for an entire month. Every day Mr. Xu suffered from all kinds of physical torture and was not allowed to sleep before midnight. After a month, his feet were badly swollen and his body was very thin and weak. He had to be supported by the criminal prisoners to walk.

Mr. Song Jinyin is over 30 years old. He was a computer technician. The first time he was illegally arrested, he was detained for 3 years in Deyang City Prison, Sichuan Province. The second time, he was illegally detained for 3 years and then his detention was extended by 3 months. Although Mr. Song has been arrested twice, he is still firmly resisting the persecution. He was shocked with electric batons, brutally beaten, and suffered much torture by the guards. His time in prison was extended for three more months and he was put in isolation. The person who reported him got a 3-month reduction in his prison term. The criminal prisoners who monitor him also are tortured by police. The police purposely stir up suspicions and inner conflicts within the prisoners to create an atmosphere of terror, so that the criminal prisoners will closely follow orders in the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners.

There is another Falun Gong practitioner whose name is unknown. He is over 40 years old. He was transferred to Xinhua Forced Labor Camp from Yibin City Detention Center. He was put in isolation to be tortured for several months and suffered from all kinds of tortures including being brutally beaten. The criminal prisoners who monitored him had be changed many times. This practitioner is extremely weak, but he is still strong in his faith and firmly resists the persecution. No one yet knows his name [Editor's note: Because of the Chinese Communist Party's policy of implicating and harassing family members and work units, Falun Gong practitioners often refuse to give their names when arrested].

At 9:10 a.m. on March 15, 2007, Laiyuan Court illegally tried Falun Gong practitioner Li Yanping from Houquanfang Village. The prosecutor accused Ms. Li of committing a crime "against the CCP and government" because police had found copies of the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party in her home. The prosecutor refused to admit her statement into evidence, that the police obtained their evidence by use of violence. Li Yanping's claim is true; she has three witnesses.

When Li Yanping proclaimed her innocence, saying she was merely practicing her faith and asking how to deal with the police violence issue, the court officials stopped her. She also stated during the trial that her health had deteriorated due to the persecution and that she could barely eat. The judge stopped her again. The trial adjourned in 40 minutes.

Nearly 100 Falun Gong practitioners went to the court for the trial. The courtroom was so full that many stood in the hallway. When Li Yanping was handcuffed and confined in the police car going to the detention center, many practitioners requested her unconditional release. Many women practitioners tearfully told the police the truth. Some officers were moved and listened carefully. The attorney finally asked the practitioners to let the police car go; it left among calls "Falun Dafa is good!"

Although the judge knows that all Falun Gong practitioners are innocent, he does not dare to release them due to pressure from the CCP. He said he "need(s) to ask for instructions from a higher authority." This is another demonstration of a trial being a mere formality or show. There is no true legal system in place in China. The CCP controls the police like dummies or robots. They cannot uphold the dignity of law, nor can they uphold their own dignity.

The Laiyuan Prosecutor's Office has sent seven Falun Gong practitioners to prison since 1999, charging them with "obstructing law enforcement with illegal activities."

The relative of a policeman who works at the Beijing Women's Prison remarked in a casual chat that Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Zhou Zi was brutally stepped on and kicked by the leader of the Tenth Prison Section, Zheng Yumei, for refusing to wear a name tag. Afterwards, Ms. Zhou was transferred to a strictly controlled unit for further persecution, under the "crime" of "criticizing a police officer." When Zhou Zi protested and requested an investigation into the matter by a prison administrator, the administrator instead covered up for Zheng Yumei as a result of party connections and corruption. Ms. Zhou is currently on a hunger strike to protest the persecution. The relative of the prison police also commented, "The prison prohibits such information from being released to the public. I do not know any more, but the Women's Prison is truly dark and corrupt." More details of this story follow:

Falun Gong practitioner Zhou Zi, former teacher at Beijing Technical Instrumental School, was forced to quit her job in January 2000 for refusing to give up her practice of Falun Gong. In July 2000, she was illegally detained for a month after practicing the exercises outdoors. In January 2001, Ms. Zhou was arrested on Tiananmen Square while validating Falun Gong and was illegally detained for half a month. In May 2001, she was forced to leave home and live in exile in order to avoid further persecution. On March 27, 2003, Ms. Zhou was illegally sentenced to seven and a half years of imprisonment by the Haidian District People's Court. In July of that year, she was arrested and taken away to the Beijing Women's Prison.

In the Third Prison Section, Ms. Zhou suffered severe persecution after refusing to be brainwashed and refusing to be "transformed". For six months, she was only allowed to sleep for a single hour every day. She was also prohibited from having family members visit and even from contacting them through letters or by phone. A police officer surnamed Xu barked at Ms. Zhou, "We have a ton of ways to 'transform' you." In the winter, Zhou Zi was forced to stand while the perpetrators splashed cold water on her; in the hottest period of summer, she would be brought under the sun and burnt until an entire layer of skin fell off. Each time, Ms. Zhou would be forced to stand for three days in a row. She almost fainted on several occasions, and both her legs were severely swollen.

Sometime in June 2006, Zhou Zi was transferred to the notorious Tenth Prison Section for further persecution. A police officer shouted at her, "Since you are against the Chinese Communist Party [CCP], we won't let you wear CCP clothes," and he tried to forcefully remove her clothing. With the support of several other practitioners, the policeman was stopped. In order to force Ms. Zhou to be "transformed", they tried to use underhanded means. Not only did they prohibit Ms. Zhou from sleeping, they prohibited everyone else in the team from eating, sleeping, etc. so as to incite hatred against her on the part of the other inmates. The authorities instigated the convicts to torment Falun Gong practitioners, encouraging them to beat them and spit on them. Some Falun Gong practitioners were severely injured from this abuse. Later, when the authorities realized that they could not achieve their goal of forcing practitioners to renounce Falun Gong, they made the entire team kneel down in front of Ms. Zhou to force her into saying, "I will not practice anymore." They were told that otherwise, they would not be allowed to stand up.

From November 2005 to December 2006, Zhou Zi was imprisoned alone, with two prisoners monitoring her. She was prohibited from seeing family members and other Falun Gong practitioners. In late July, 2006, after Ms. Zhou refused to submit to the demands of wearing a prison name tag and performing slave labor, the leader of the Tenth Prison Section, Zheng Yumei, personally came up to her and shouted, "I don't care if I even lose my job because of beating you." She took off her police uniform and started beating Ms. Zhou brutally. Ms. Zhou was then transferred to the strictly controlled unit and imprisoned in a small cell.

Zhou Zi began a hunger strike sometime around February 26, 2007, demanding that the prison investigate and punish policewoman Zheng Yumei. Currently, the Beijing Women's Prison has already begun a new round of persecuting practitioners. Practitioners Li Guiping and Liang Zhansheng are also imprisoned in the strictly controlled unit together with Ms. Zhou.