(Clearwisdom.net) On September 19, 2001, four female Falun Dafa practitioners who were working in the fields were summoned to the village police station. The police told them that they only needed to answer a few questions and then could go home. The interrogation started as soon as they arrived at the police station. The officers continuously asked questions about their practice of Falun Dafa and going to Beijing to appeal. The police chief said, "Just compile some documents and send them off. They don't have to go to the city police department, just take them straight to the detention center." So as a result, these practitioners were unlawfully detained without any legitimate reason.

One of the practitioners was a nursing mother. They were about to take her away when the other three practitioners cited a law prohibiting the detention of nursing mothers. So, she was left behind. Later we heard that the village police station made her family pay a sum of money before releasing her. During that night, the other three practitioners were sent to the detention center. September nights in northeast China are very cold, and these practitioners were only wearing thin clothing.

When they arrived at the detention center, they were told that the reason for their detainment was because they had written a letter calling for the government to awaken its kind heart. Practitioners asked the official, "Our country's laws allow citizens to voice their opinions. After learning Falun Dafa, we have benefited both mentally and physically. What is wrong with telling the government about our personal experiences? But now, Jiang Zemin is running a totalitarian regime, if anyone has a different opinion, he will suppress them and even send them to jail. Is this what human rights in China is like? You all know the letters that we wrote were about awakening the government's kind heart. Is that the wrong thing to do?" The guard had nothing to say in rebuttal, so he said, "These days, where can you get justice?"

The practitioners started a hunger strike to protest against the unlawful detention. However, on the second day of their hunger strike, the officials at the detention center became angry and transferred the practitioner whom they saw as a leader and detained her at the forced labor camp. At the same time, they threatened the other two practitioners that if they continued to hunger strike, they would also be sent to labor camp. On the ninth day of the hunger strike, the doctor said after examining the practitioners that they were on the verge of death. They must be immediately sent to the hospital or sent home. But the officials declared that they could only return home after October 1, the Chinese National Day. They said that who cares if the practitioners die, there would be no police present if they were taken to the hospital. Finally, these lawless officials told the practitioners the truth, "There's nothing big going on. It is almost October 1, and we are afraid you may go to Beijing. That's why we locked you up so that we can have a carefree holiday." In order to be "carefree," they illegally detained these practitioners for 15 days. These so-called "public servants" never thought about the detainees' or their families' welfare during the holiday.

However, things did not end there. After October 1, the Politics and Law Committee and the detention center called the village police station to send the practitioners back home. The village police then tried to extort 2,000 Yuan, approximately four months' salary of an average urban worker in China, from each of the practitioners' families. Their families refused to pay, so the practitioners were detained for another 8 days.