1, Chinese Communist Regime Sentenced another 32 Practitioners in Beijing Before the Chinese New Year;
ááá More to Be Sentenced

AFP reported on February 1, 2000 that 32 Falun Gong practitioners were sentenced in Beijing to 4 months to 7 years in jail. These 32 practitioners were secretly put on trial separately in two groups on January 28. A Hong Kong Information Center for Human Rights said that about 300 practitioners would be secretly sentenced before the Chinese New Year (Feb. 5)

According to a newly released practitioner, these 32 practitioners had been detained in the Dong-cheng district detention center in Beijing. Among them, Li Xiao-mei and Li Xiao-bin, who are sisters living in Beijing, were respectively given 6 years and 7 years in jail for selling books of Falun Gong. The others were punished mainly for holding up banners on Tiananmen Square in October and November of 1999. Most of them were from outside Beijing.

Currently, practitioners are contacting the family members of these 32 practitioners and help them hire attorneys to appeal.


2, Practitioners Calling the Hotline on "the Issue of Religions and Beliefs" Were Interrogated

During the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, held from January 27 to 29, a hotline was set up in Beijing to invite people's opinions on "the issue of religions and beliefs". Some practitioners in Beijing called in about Falun Gong. Especially on January 28 and 29, many practitioners called the hotline to talk about the government's injustice against Falun Gong.

The hotline made a detailed record of the callers' names, addresses and phone numbers. On the second day, practitioners who called were interrogated by local police officers. The police officers demanded them to reveal where they got the news about the hotline, who told them the news, and who asked them to call etc.

The police authorities are intentionally violating the legal rights of citizens.


3, Practitioners from Huai-rou County of Beijing Resumed Group Practice and Got Arrested

Several days ago, 14 practitioners from Huai-rou county of Beijing were arrested when practicing Falun Gong exercises in front of the local super market. 9 were arrested on the first day and another 5 were arrested on the second day. They had resumed the group practice of exercises since the middle of January. Among arrested practitioners, those who had gone to Beijing to appeal might be sentenced.


4, Brutal Persecutions in Hei-long-jiang Province;
ááá Member of Political Consultative Congress Sentenced to Three Years of Forced Labor

About 16 practitioners from Mi-shan City of Hei-long-jiang Province were sent to labor camps for going to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong. After those practitioners who had gone to Beijing to appeal were escorted back to their hometowns, male practitioners would be brutally beaten up. In order to get released, they must write a pledge that they would give up Falun Gong and denounce Falun Gong and pay a penalty of 6,000 to 10,000 Yuan. They would be sent to labor camps if they refused to do so.

Ms. Wang Jun-hua, a state official and a member of the political consultative congress in Mi-shan City, was given three years of forced labor "education". She was first arrested on September 24 just because she told the police that she would continue to practice Falun Gong. She was then detained for 64 days without any legal formalities. On the eleventh day after she was freed, she was again arrested for refusing to promise not to go to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong. She was sentenced at the end of December 1999 without any legal formalities. Her family members have not received any written notice about that.

In addition, about 29 female practitioners from Ji-xi City of Hei-long-jiang Province were sent to labor camps. The number of male practitioners is unknown.

5, Practitioners from Dong-yin City of Shan-dong Province Attempted Group Practice;
ááá Many Got Arrested

Practitioners from Dong-yin City of Shan-dong Province planned to hold a group practice at 9am of January 29 in the Xi-shui Park. The police got the news beforehand so that many practitioners were monitored and were not able to come. Therefore, only about 50 practitioners showed up. At 8:40am, the police cars arrived. Some police officers took photos of practitioners. They forced practitioners to stand near a wall. The practitioners still tried to tell the truth about Falun Dafa to the police. After reading the notice issued by the Ministry of Public Security and Ministry of Civic Affairs, the police then took all the practitioners away. Some practitioners might be detained. There is no further information.

6, Practitioners Still Being Detained for Not Being Able to Afford Financial Penalty;
ááá One Practitioner's Home Robbed by Police

Yu-mei Liu and her daughter Zhi-li Liu were escorted back to their hometown on December 5, 1999 after being arrested in Beijing. They have been detained in the Nan-su Town of Lai-xi City, Shan-dong Province without any legal formality, and they have not been released because they could not afford the financial penalty of 10,000 Yuan (about the annual income of an average Chinese worker). During the detention, they suffered inhumane treatments. They were forced to run, and would be beaten if they could not run. They were also forced to squat down on a very narrow plat and would be kicked if they failed to do that.

Jie Liu was escorted back on November 23, 1999 and detained in the He-li Wu-jia Town of Lai-xi City, Shan-dong Province. He has been detained until now because she could not afford the penalty of 10,000 Yuan (about the annual income of an average Chinese worker). His home was ransacked under the excuse of searching his ID cards. The police seized 2,700 Yuan from his home and took away a farm-use three-wheel motor vehicle (about 2,000 Yuan) without leaving any receipt.

7, Unimaginable Sufferings in Detention Center of Lan-zhou City, Gan-su Province

Many practitioners are being detained in the Xi-guo-yuan Detention center of Lan-zhou City only because they wanted to practice Falun Gong in order to be good people by following the principle of truthfulness, benevolence and forbearance. What they are suffering in the detention center is unimaginable. Every three of them are required to peel off a large bag of seeds. They have to squat down from 7am to 12noon. They could not sit, kneel and stand up. After the lunch, they have to continue the work until they finish. They are not allowed to sleep before they finished the forced labor.

Their hands are cut from peeling the seeds and become bloody. Some of them have been detained for three months. Everyday, they have to suffer the abuses from the cell heads.

A partial list of the suffering practitioners: Li-lin Xi, Yan-hong Xiao, Feng-ru Zheng, Hui-nan Zhu, Yuan-gui Xin, Bao-sheng Li, Yong-qiang Yao, Jun Ma, De-sheng Wang, from Yin-chuan City of Lin-xia, and Xiang-dong Lu from Tong-xin County of Lin-xia. The last three have been "officially" arrested.

From July 22 to July 23, 9 workers (6 males and 3 females) from The Third Wool Factory of Lan-zhou City were detained respectively in the Xi-zhou district guesthouse, security section of The Third Wool Factory, the guesthouse of The Third Wool Factory for up to 32 hours.

Jin-mei Zhang was detained for 6 days in the police department of Lan-hua from November 10 to November 16. She was detained for 15 days in Tao-shu-ping detention center of Lan-zhou from November 17 to December 3. She was again detained for 24 days in the police department of Lan-hua from December 4 to November 28. She has been detained there since January 18, 2000.

Jin-yu Bai has been detained in the police department of Lan-hua since January 18, 2000.

8, Hundreds of Practitioners from Qin-huang-dao City, Hebei Province Went to Beijing to Appeal;
ááá Some Walking, Some Bicycling.

More practitioners from Qin-huang-dao City are going to Beijing to appeal after they were released from the detention center. Because they could not afford the train tickets, practitioners from Qing-long county walked to Beijing; some practitioners from Qin-huang-dao City bicycled to Beijing. This time, about 200 to 300 practitioners went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong.

Practitioners continued to practice Falun Gong exercises in the detention center. In some cells, practitioners would be beaten up by the cell heads as soon as they practice. One cell head even broke off the broom by beating them and then demanded them to buy a new one. They were slapped on face with leather shoes. The director of the detention center used the club to beat the practitioners and then took them to the water room and let the cold water drilling on their bare feet. Practitioners still continued to practice Falun Gong exercises under such harsh circumstances.

Yi-zhen Li, Zhi-mei Du and another two practitioners had been illegally detained for more than three months. Regardless of all these, more practitioners are going to Beijing. The police officers of the detention center said, "We could not arrest all practitioners. Everyday, there are practitioners going to Beijing."

Category: Accounts of Persecution