Latest News from China - 02/25/2000

• Help! Pregnant Woman Still in Custody [Chengdu]
• Suppression on Falun Gong Intensified before "Two Conferences" [Beijing]
• Ms. Li Yu-ning Detained in Mental Hospital [Beijing]
• Practitioners Paraded Through Streets [Da-zhou]
• Over 400 Practitioners in Detention [Changchun]
• Hunger Strike in Ba-li-pu Detention Center [Changchun]
• Exhausting "Transformation Class" Without Content [Chengdu]
• Practitioners Praised by Cell Mates and Police [Chengdu]
• Practitioners Arrested for Discussing in a Park [Guanghan]

[Chengdu, Si-chuan Province] Help! Pregnant Woman Still in Custody

Ms. Zhu Xia, who is pregnant for 8 months, is detained alone by the Guang-rong district police station. The contact number of the police station is 011-86-28-765-6434. She is about to give birth but the police refuse to release her. We appeal to all international human rights organizations, media and kind-hearted people to pay attention

The Yin-men-kou police station phone number is 011-86-28-752-9986. The address is Yin-men-kou Overpass, 2 Lunar Road, Chengdu City, Si-chuan Province.

[Beijing] Suppression on Falun Gong Intensified before "Two Conferences"

The Beijing Bureau of Public Security issued an internal document on arresting "active" Falun Gong practitioners in large scale before the Conference of the National People's Congress and the Chinese Political Consultative Conference ("Two Conferences"). Yesterday, all police stations held a meeting planning on how to arrest those "active" practitioners in large scale, how to investigate the initiators and organizers who wrote appealing letters to the National People's Congress, and how to closely monitor internet "activists", especially those who send Emails to the National People's Congress.

[Beijing] Ms. Li Yu-ning Detained in Mental Hospital

Several days ago, the police arrested Ms. Li Yu-ning at her home. Ms. Li had appealed to the government and got arrested many times. This time, she was arrested for suspected involvement in collecting signatures for the open letter to the National People's Congress. This time, the police sent her to the An-ding Hospital (a Mental Hospital).

The detailed situation is unknown. Journalists are welcome to interview her.

[Da-zhou, Si-chuan Province] Practitioners Paraded Through Streets

On January 27, the local governments of Da-zhou City and Xuanhan County etc roped those practitioners who had gone to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong on a truck, together with those convicted criminals, and parade them through all the streets.

Li, a practitioner from the remote mountain area of Xuanhan County, went to Beijing with two other family members to appeal for Falun Gong. After they were escorted back, they were forced to sign the pledge that they would take responsibilities if their other family members went to Beijing to appeal.

[Changchun, Ji-lin Province] Over 400 Practitioners in Detention

On February 19, the police in Changchun arrested many practitioners. They continued to arrest practitioners for 3 days. Over 400 practitioners are being detained in Ba-li-bao detention center. 16 of them are in male cell. The number of practitioners in female cell is unknown. 3 couples are being detained. Apparently, the authorities are implementing the "severe attack" on Falun Gong, which was scheduled to start in the mid February.

[Changchun, Ji-lin Province] Hunger Strike in Ba-li-pu Detention Center

Recently, many practitioners from Ji-lin Province have gone to Beijing to appeal. Usually, they would be detained for 15 days. Currently, the Da-guang detention center of Changchun City is full. Starting from February 19, arrested practitioners would be detained in the Ba-li-pu detention center. About 40 practitioners have started hunger strike. Some have been on hunger strike for 5 days. Up to today, the longest one has been on hunger strike for 9 days. (They have been on hunger strike in Da-guang detention center for some days and are continuing their hunger strike after being transferred to Ba-li-pu detention center.) Today, a practitioner on hunger strike was given injection. The hunger strike is still going on [Provided by a practitioner who just got released from Ba-li-pu detention center, February 25, 2000].

The previous hunger strike in Da-guang detention center ended on February 16, 2000, because the officials in Changchun City went to visit the detention center and released all those who had been on hunger strike for many days. Those who had been on hunger strike for a short time were all transferred to Ba-li-pu detention center.

[Chengdu, Si-chuan Province] Exhausting "Transformation Class" Without Content

The 18 practitioners in the "transformation class" held in the Chai-dian-zi of Jin-niu district of Chengdu City reported by Minghui Net on February 21 were released on February 15. After one day, they were again detained in the Yin-men-kou police station for further "transformation". Now the police station has run out of "educational materials" for "transforming" them, but the police still demand them to go to the police station every morning 9am and leave 6pm. They would not be released from the "transformation class" until they promised that they would not practice Falun Gong, not go to appeal, and not gather with other fellow practitioners. The family members and workplaces of these practitioners have been exhausted by the police.

[Chengdu, Si-chuan Province] Practitioners Praised by Cell Mates and Police

Practitioners detained in the Zhi-yang jail continue to study and practice Falun Gong even in the harsh environment. The police and criminals all commended Falun Gong practitioners because they worked very hard during the forced labor without complaints, and they were very kind to others.

[Guanghan, Si-chuan Province] Practitioners Arrested for Discussing in a Park

On February 20, more than 200 practitioners from Guang-han came to the Qiao-tou park where they used to practice the exercises together. They exchanged their experiences in the past half-year. At 3pm, 2 practitioners came with some materials. Two police officers rushed over immediately to rob the materials. They also called other police officers to come over to help them. These two practitiorsn were dragged into the police van. We all went to the police van and told the police with our kind hearts, "we just want to be good people. We do not struggle for fame, interest and do not get involved in politics." Twenty of us recited "Lun Yu" and other articles. We asked them kindly, "Falun Gong practitioners are all striving to be good people. Why do you arrest us?" Some practitioner asked the police whether they had read "Zhuan Falun" or not and whether they knew about the facts about Falun Gong. The police could not answer and said, "You should talk to the higher authorities."

That day, it was a traditional holiday, so more and more people gathered around us. In order not to interrupt the traffic, and to be considerate for others, we had to clear the way and let the two fellow practitioners being taken away. 10 minutes later, 9 other practitioners including Luo Zheng-ming were also taken away.

On February 21, a practitioner from Guang-han, Ms. Ding Chen-xiu, got arrested on her way to Beijing.