[Minghui Net]
[Benxi City, Liaoning Province] Vicious Policemen Forcibly Take away Two Falun Dafa Practitioners, One of Whom is Pregnant
Falun Dafa practitioner Li Yanfang, female, is 25 years old. On February 27, 2001, while she was working in a private nursing home, several vicious policemen rushed in and took her away along with another practitioner for no reason. The practitioners are imprisoned at the Benxi Detention Center. As she is pregnant and in a delicate condition, we hope people from all walks of life pay attention to this matter and help secure her release.
[Yongnian County, Hebei Province] The Criminal Offenses of Some Policemen in Persecuting Falun Dafa Practitioners
Falun Dafa practitioners clarify the truth of Falun Dafa peacefully and kindly to the Government and to the people of the world. Even though the regulations allow only a 1 to 15 day detention according to Item 6 (2) of the Punishment Regulations for Public Safety, Police from Yongnian County illegally send Falun Dafa practitioners to a forced labor camp for three full months. They do this repeatedly. The police also illegally impose fines of 500-5,000 Yuan RMB [Approximately one tenth to one year's income for an average urban worker] for over cases without giving any receipt. The policemen put this money in their own pockets.
Under the direction of Jiang Zemin's order of "Defaming Falun Gong practitioners politically, making them impoverished economically, and torturing them physically", the police would rather persecute practitioners who refuse to be "reformed". They would rather break up a family and see people die than let one single practitioner go free. The following 21 practitioners have been sent to a forced labor camp.
Liu Haifeng from Heying Village, 2-years of forced labor.
Hou Xiaoxia from Shibeiwang Village, 1-year of forced labor.
He Shiguo from Beihujia Village, 2-years forced of labor.
Li Bianqun from Chengou Village, 2-years of forced labor.
Liu Lianxiang from Duliugu Village, 2-years of forced labor.
Xie Kuanjin from Duliugu Village, 1-year of forced labor.
Liu Zhuxiang from Touye Village, 3-years of forced labor.
Wang Junying from Ligou Village, 2-years of forced labor.
Yang Yuxiu, 1-year of forced labor.
Li Lihong from Duliugu Village, 1-year of forced labor.
Qiao Gang from Chengguan Town, 3-years of forced labor.
Yan Jinling from Dongtou Village, 2-years of forced labor.
Wang Chunhua from Beidu Village, 1-year of forced labor.
Yang Penglian from Xizhuang Village, 1-year of forced labor.
Liu Shufen from Mingguan Town, 1-year of forced labor.
Hou Shuangqin from Mingguan Town, 1-year of forced labor.
Zhao Suyun from Mingyang Village, 1-year of forced labor.
Cheng Yinfeng from Mingyang Village, 1-year of forced labor.
Li Xiangting from Qilidian Village, 1-year of forced labor.
Xia Meiyun from Mingyang Village, 1-year of forced labor.
Zhao Lanfeng from Mingyang Village, 1-year of forced labor.
The following Falun Dafa practitioners have been jailed for criminal charges:
Zhu Limin, Li Jianhua, Zhao Zhenjing, Cheng Limin, Qing Yun, Zhang Ju'an, Liu Qingde, Liu Zhihua, Cheng Peiju, Zhang Yongfang, Li Jianmin, Zhang Chunfeng, Liu Jianfeng, Zhao Daiping, Gao Hongde, Wang Minjing, Gong Shuangqin, Li Xianghui, Zhang Hongqi, Zong Min, and Wu Lanjun -- a total of 44 cases.
The following Falun Dafa practitioners have been jailed for administrative charges:
Lu Lifen, Zhao Chuanjie, Zhao Chuanke, Zhang Jinxing, Cheng Xiaoping, Li Lijuan, Liu Siqi, Zhao Caixia, Dong Meirong, Li Qinzhong, Hao Yingpo, Yue Sheguo, Li Zhenzhong, Gao Diangui, Hao Zhishun, Bian E, Zhang Feng'e, Hou Lanqin, Zhou Meiling and others -- a total of 69 cases.
Wang Shixian is the former director of the 610 Office [a government office specfically in charge of Falun Gong related issues] and deputy secretary of the Politics and Law Committee. When on duty and during political sensitive days, Wang Shixian, Liu Chaobin (political secretary of the Department of Police), Chen Jushan (head of the Politics and Safety Division) and others ordered local government officers and their staff to watch practitioners, eavesdrop on the rooftops of practitioners' homes at night, monitor practitioners' homes 24-hour a day, and detain the practitioners in so called "transformation classes". This greatly infringes on the normal life of practitioners and their families.
Wang Shixian contemptuously stated to the practitioners in a "transformation class", "If you have 10,000 Yuan, we will impose a fine of 9,900 Yuan on you. We let you keep 100-Yuan so that you can eat corn gruel to stay alive. We will take away all electronic appliances worth anything from your home."
Sometimes when he talked with practitioners, he said, "What is accepting a bribe? Having a few bottles of wine, or a few cartons of cigarettes is not called accepting a bribe." Thus he illegally took money and valuables from practitioners' family members during political sensitive days when Falun Dafa practitioners were brutally persecuted. Wang become so rich from the illegal income that he was able to bribe the higher authorities into giving him a promotion. Thanks to his brutal persecution of practitioners, Wang is now the director of the Planning Committee, a prestigious position. This is how officials are rewarded for ignoring the law!
Wang, Liu and Chen bribed officials in Beijing with feasts and gifts in order to keep their official positions and to get promotions. They bought a list of names of Falun Gong practitioners who went to Beijing to appeal from Yongnian County at the price of 2,000 Yuan RMB (about $240) per practitioner, which encouraged Beijing police to randomly arrest Falun Gong practitioners in order to make money.
They imposed a fine of 500 -- 5,000 Yuan (about $60 -- $600) on each of the practitioner's family, causing tremendous distress.
Those three individuals are guilty of the most horrible crimes.
Under the authorization of Wang Shixian, 21 practitioners had been sent to labor camps, 44 practitioners were illegally arrested and detained while 69 others were detained on an administrative charge (as opposed to criminal charge which is more severe in sentences).
Liu Chaoshan from Handan City, was the commissar of the Public Security Bureau of Yongnian County. In order to get a promotion sooner, he intentionally persecuted Falun Gong practitioners. He was very subtle and harsh in his ways of persecuting practitioners. In collaboration with Wang and Chen, he illegally sent 21 practitioners to labor camps, detained 44 practitioners, and detained another 69 practitioners on an administrative charge.
An erratic and volatile man when drunk, Commissar Liu would slander Falun Dafa and beat on Falun Gong practitioners in detention centers while under the influence. In one of the coldest snowstorms during this year's Spring Festival, he forced female practitioners to stand out in the cold without any coats for almost an hour. When some practitioners were practicing the Falun Gong exercises, Liu ordered the director and guards of the detention center to drag anyone caught practicing the Falun Gong exercises out into the snow and make them stand there barefooted. More than 20 practitioners went on a hunger strike for four days to protest their illegal detention. He incited guards to be unsympathetic towards the practitioners, maliciously and sarcastically saying, "Starve them for another ten days or half a month, they have cultivation energy on their bodies to help them."
In Beijing, Liu and his associate, Wei, turned the Yongnian Liaison Office in Beijing into a den of fiends where they tortured Falun Gong practitioners. When they were sending practitioners from Miyun Detention Center under escort, they asked the practitioners in the car if they would still practice Falun Gong. If a practitioner said that he would continue to practice, they would strike his head with a leather belt, resulting in swellings all over the practitioners' head. Wei vigorously pressed on the swellings with his hand, asking the practitioner if it was painful. Wei felt it was amusing to increase the practitioners' suffering. While passing Tiananmen Square in the car, Wei caught the practitioners' neck with a leather belt saying, "You can't escape as I did." In the Yongnian Liaison Office in Beijing, Liu and Wei took turns kicking practitioners in the neck and chin, each practitioner enduring their awful torture. Liu was then restricted and tied to a bed because he was kicking the practitioners too intensely. They also stole the practitioners' money and pagers, saying, "Send them to wolf cote (detention center)."
Ignoring procedures, Lui randomly decided the re-education term of the practitioners, extending their terms at will. On certain days, Liu illegally searched practitioners' homes and confiscated property without any valid documents. He often stole food from the practitioners' homes and money and property from their families.
Chen Jushan was the director of the political security division of Yongnian County. Wang, Liu and Chen worked in collaboration with each other.
Chen Jushan often lead political security personnel to search practitioners' homes without any documentation. They forcibly removed all Falun Gong books and other materials, as well as television sets, VCRs, tape recorders, and other household materials.
In one detention center, a 19-year-old female practitioner had refused to have her picture taken. Chen then ordered police to beat her up and force her to her knees to have her picture taken.
Chen also lied about the detention center itself. When he heard that upper authorities were coming to inspect the detention center, he rushed to have rooms cleaned all the while monitoring the inspectors' location. When he learned the inspectors' car was close, he forced practitioners to listen while he read a book slandering Falun Dafa, as well as some negative reports he had collected from different newspapers, intending to impress the inspector with all the "good work" he was doing, and hide his crimes of torture against Falun Gong practitioners.
Chen also bribed practitioners' family members indirectly. In a top-grade cigarette and wine store, a family member of a practitioner would purchase well-known brand name cigarettes and wine. They would then only asked the store for the receipt without taking any merchandise. Chen, or one of his family members would then come to take the merchandise, or exchange it for cash. Chen told the public that he had never received any bribes. However, he was not the only one who received bribes in this fashion.
Chen, the political instructor Yu Kaohui, driver Yu Xianfeng, and Chen Xiaoyang all took turns interrogating practitioners. They would also slap their faces and kick them. A family member of a practitioner said: "The officials of the Political Security division don't go home to have lunch, instead they wait for someone to 'invite' them to go out."
Falun Gong practitioners who had been released asked for their stolen money to be returned, as well as their watches and bags. However, nothing has been returned so far.
In prison, Falun Dafa practitioners resisted the evil forces with their firm beliefs. Among the practitioners, Wang Jun from Ligou village and Li Bianqun from Chengou village went on a hunger strike for 17 days after they were imprisoned for going Beijing to appeal. Every day police guards fed them forcibly once through the nose. The police also cuffed them with handcuffs several times. Nevertheless, the practitioners are determined and never give up their beliefs. Practitioner Liu Zhihua was detained for posting Dafa statements to clarify the truth to the public. Liu went on a hunger strike with a plea for unconditional release. However, after a dozen days the police did not take care of this matter. A 19-year-old female student was put in handcuffs and shackles for just writing the words "Falun Dafa is good" on the wall. Last year, some practitioners were detained in the cold winter and for over 6 days there was no water supply in the detention center. The practitioners had to wash their faces with snow. Most of the practitioners suffered from passing blood in their stool. The wards would throw snow into the restroom if the practitioners spent a slightly longer time in there. Whenever they were not happy, the wards would yell and swear at the practitioners. The wards even closed the only window through which light came in and kept the practitioners in dark during daytime for two days.
Hereby, we warn the handful of vicious police, wards, and prison doctors who carried out the brutal force-feeding not to be tempted by temporary interests. Otherwise they will harm themselves, their relatives and friends in the long run. At the same time, we hope that family members and relatives of police officers will advise the police to stop doing wicked deeds and avoid ruining their own future.
[China] Jiang Zemin's Accomplices in Local Government Repeatedly Detain a Female Falun Dafa Practitioner
My name is Li Jiguang (pseudonym), female, 48 years old. I was an employee in a factory, which was shut down completely in 1997 due to its poor performance. I became homeless and jobless and started wandering. I went to Beijing in February 2000, to appeal to clarify the truth of Falun Dafa. Police from XX police substation of XX City sent me to a detention center for a 15-day detainment. After 15 days, the police interrogated me and said that my term of detention would be extended 2 months if I insisted on practicing Falun Gong. Since I am single without a fixed residence, the police were afraid of losing control of me if they released me. They worried that if I went to Beijing again, they would be implicated and punished by bonus or salary reduction. Hence they detained me illegally for almost 7 months (from February 23, 2000, to September 12, 2000).
In July 2000, the temperature outside was as high as 40 C (104 F). The detention center was over-crowded and the cells did not have ventilation. I felt dizzy and nauseated because of the lack of oxygen for a long time, and became very thin. The detention center notified the police substation to take me home but it was ignored. Practitioner Zhang Tieyan from Lamadian Chemical Factory of Heilongjiang province died from lack of oxygen. Many practitioners who had similar symptoms had been taken away. However, the police substation authorities, in order to maintain their own interests and have less pressure from their higher ups, would rather have me die in the detention center than take me go back home. They didn't come to pick me up until September 12, 2000, when there were very few Falun Gong practitioners left in the detention center.
I was escorted to the local government office directly. The policemen in charge of the area and staff from the local government office forced me to write a guarantee letter. Later they called in my sister and brother-in-law. Under their threat my brother-in-law wrote a guarantee trying to help me. But the authorities were not satisfied yet. They again forced me to write a guarantee. I refused. They then threatened to send me back to the detention center or a labor camp. I said, "Wherever you send me, I won't write the guarantee."
Since I didn't have a work unit to take care of me, Yu XX, the secretary of the area XX party committee was in charge of supervising me. It was his decision to detain me for nearly 7 months so that his personal interests wouldn't be affected by punishment from his higher level authority.
On January 20, 2001, I went to my sister's home to visit my mother for it was near the Chinese lunar New Year's Day. In that evening while I was washing clothes, Director Xu and Deputy-Director Wang of the local government office and two police officers went to my sister's home. They first verified my name and then asked if I insisted on practicing Falun Gong, and I answered yes. Then four of them dragged me downstairs and did not allow me to put on a warm coat. I was wearing only thin trousers, a light sweater and slippers on my feet; even worse, the pair of slippers was lost on the way. I was thrown into a vehicle barefoot and taken to the local government office. I refused to write statements of guarantee, repentance, and criticism. They were angry and detained me for two days in the office. On January 22, Wang Yong and two other staff members of the office went to search the storage room in the factory where I worked, and found a hand-written article --"Fellow Practitioners, How Much Longer Are You Going to Remain Silent?" On the same night, they sent me to the detention center for a 15-day detention. When the term ended, Wang Yong came to interrogate me. I expressed my determination to practice Falun Dafa. And immediately my detention term was extended for two more months.
On February 17, 2001, Director Dong of the Political Safeguard Team accompanying two officers from the district asked me to have a conversation with them. They said, "We hope that you have had an adverse understanding on Falun Gong after this period of self-examination. It is the best for you to write a guarantee letter or statements criticizing Falun Gong. Then you can go home to visit your mother and take care of her." I replied, "I don't have any adverse understanding, nor will I write any guarantee. Police forcibly brought me here when I visited my mother before New Year's Day." Upon hearing this, they interrupted me and yelled obscene words at me. I found out that they wouldn't allow me to clarify the truth, so I remained silent. They saw I was quite determined, and ordered me back to my cell.
On April 10, 2001, a ward called me over and told me that the district authorities would like to have a talk with me; among them one had been here the last time. At the beginning, this officer was fairly polite, "Secretary Yu of the district party committee asked me to come to visit you. Your mother is over 80 years old. How come you don't want to take care of her? By writing a guarantee letter, you can go home and take care of her to fulfill your duties." I replied, "It's not that I don't want to take care of my mother; it's that the local government authorities won't allow me to do that. I don't want to stay here either, and it's the local government authorities who dragged me out of my home to separate me from my mother and to detain me here." He interrupted me immediately; "This is absolutely not true!" I said, "You didn't allow me to speak out the truth last time, and even yelled at me." He still refused to acknowledge. Only then did he start to listen to my account of how I was taken here from home. He didn't believe me. I told him, "Six of the Falun Gong practitioners in the same cell I am in were brought here from home. As long as one acknowledges practicing Falun Gong, he will be detained." They asked me to write a guarantee, repentance or criticism statement; I refused. I am still being detained beyond my detention term.
[Mianyang City, Sichuan Province] Cruel Torture --- the Truth behind the so-called "Transformation" of Falun Gong Practitioners in Xinhua Forced Labor Camp of Mianyang City
My name is Xu Tao (pseudonym). I am 27 years old and from Panzhihua City, Sichuan Province. I was sentenced to one year of forced labor for traveling three times to Beijing to clarify the truth of Falun Dafa. I was released in January 2001 from the Xinhua Forced Labor Camp of Mianyang City.
I now disclose the truth of the brutal persecution and so-called "transformation" in the labor camp.
On May 9, 2000, I and two other Falun Dafa practitioners from Panzhihua City, were sent to Xinhua Forced Labor Camp. Upon arriving at the "New Arrivals Education Brigade," we were listed as the "stubborn conservative elements." The prison guards arranged for two criminal prisoners to keep watch over each of us for 24 hours a day. We were not permitted to talk with other Falun Dafa practitioners, nor with other inmates, or to practice Falun Gong exercises. Of course, the adverse environment of the camp is beyond the imagination of most people. To validate Falun Dafa, we got up each night at midnight to practice Falun Gong exercises. Although we were not affecting other people's rest, the criminal prisoners tackled us to the ground, and held us down.
On the worst night, the prison guards bullied us, just to torment us. Both of my hands were tied to a stone pole. Another practitioner was tied tightly from behind, a practice known in the camp as "tying the warning rope." Practitioner Fang Liang's hands were hung over an iron bar used for drying clothes in the sun, and it was high enough that his feet could not touch the ground. Frequently, the criminal prisoners would brutally beat and kick us. One practitioner had gone into shock for about ten minutes, due to fatigue from the torture. It was not until then that the prison guards of the "New Arrivals Education Brigade" finally let us go. Later, they took turns individually interrogating the three of us, but could do nothing in the face of our determination to spread Falun Dafa and our frankness in dealing with them.
On the next day, the prison guards adopted more vicious means to "reform" us by posting slogans, writing an informational bulletin, and forcing over one hundred prisoners, who did not know any better, to shout slogans. Every morning and afternoon they forced three of us to stand on the stage as the targets of "criticizing and denouncing" by the brigade. One prisoner refused to shout slogans and was taken to the stage as another target of "criticizing and denouncing." At that moment, I raised both of my hands to do "Holding the Law Wheel in front of the Head" [a hand and arm position in the second of five Falun Gong exercises]. Two prisoners immediately rushed to the stage and beat me to the ground. It was noisy and I heard somebody yell, "Beat him to death!" Perhaps my action moved the heavens, because it suddenly became very cloudy and began raining heavily. This ended the public criticizing meeting in a hurry.
The next morning, I was sent to the Brick Making Plant of the Fourth Brigade of Xinhua Forced Labor Camp. It was the third step in the so-called "transformation." That is when even more spiteful persecution began.
To the locals, the Fourth Brigade of Xinhua Forced Labor Camp is known as the "demon unit" because the prisoners there are tortured like the mythological demons in burning hellfire. The Brick Making Plant of the Fourth Brigade is the largest brick-making plant in Sichuan Province. Each prisoner there works a minimum 10-hour shift, and some work for as long as 24 hours at a time. All of the work is excessively heavy physical labor. Many prisoners mentioned the so-called "civilized management" practices, which were adopted March 1, 2000. Before that, if one did not work hard enough, the overseer and prison guards whipped him with horsewhips. All acts that may be unlawful in the outside world are legal there. For example, nobody could sue the camp over the issues of violence, because it is a violent organization within the government. Incidents of self-inflicted pain and self-mutilation occur frequently among the prisoners. However, forcing the prisoners to endure long hours of heavy labor, as slaves, is the way that the Xinhua Forced Labor Camp chooses to make profits.
The temperature in the brick kiln is as high as over 70 C (158 F). The prisoners have to pay for their own protective clothing and thermally insulated gloves. Some prisoners, who do not have enough money to buy the necessary items, have resorted to tearing off the sleeves of their shirts to use as gloves. What was worse was that most of the large iron carts for brick transportation had two misshapen wheels, resulting from overloading. The weight of one cart, loaded with bricks, was around 650 kilograms [1,430 lb]. I witnessed the prisoners of the brick kiln group wearing water-soaked, winter overcoats to enter the kiln to get bricks, even in the summer. Hot steam could be seen rising from the wet overcoats, after about five minutes. I was forced to enter the kiln to get bricks and was sweating heavily after just a few minutes. My body became seriously dehydrated, and it felt as if my internal organs were being scorched. Later, due to my physical weakness, the stronger criminal prisoners forced me to transport some of their bricks. One cart of bricks weighs over 500 kilograms [1,100lb], which was ten times my body weight. Finally, I became too exhausted to move the cart. The criminal prisoners swore at me. The severe abuse I suffered was mental as well as physical abuse. I still tremble with fear when recalling the experience.
It was in those moments, that the prison guards always took the opportunity to try to persuade me to write a letter of "repentance," in order to escape the physical hardships, but I always refused. However insurmountable the hardships seemed, I was confident that I could endure them, in the absolute conviction that practicing Falun Dafa is a righteous way.
Upon returning to the dormitory in the evenings, it was my job to clean sports ground (something like the track and field ground) because I was under special control. Several other practitioners and I were punished by being forced to stand in the sports ground from 8:30 P.M. to midnight, before being allowed to go to bed. At 4:00 A.M. the next morning, we were driven up to the sports ground, to clean it again. At 5:30, we would have breakfast. Half an hour later, although it was still dark, we began the "inhuman mechanical work" again.
At the workplace one day, I heard the following news: Practitioner Tong had fainted. The previous Falun Dafa assistant from Leshan City, He Youjia, had been forced to write a letter of repentance. Practitioner Huang Tiancai from Miyi, of Panzhihua City, could not withstand the torturous 24-hour workload and wrote a letter of "repentance." Upon hearing all this, I had only one thought in mind - that I should not fail because I am a Falun Dafa practitioner.
After a week or two of having poor nutrition and a heavy workload every day, I eventually became too weak to work. Later, I began both a hunger strike and work strike to request being allowed to practice Falun Gong. In June 2000, I was transferred back to the "New Arrivals Education Brigade."
I hope that all people of righteous mind will come to understand Falun Dafa and do whatever they can to help stop Jiang Zemin's rampant persecution against kind-hearted Falun Gong practitioners.
A Falun Dafa practitioner
March 30, 2001
[Miyi County, Sichuan Province] Authorities Persecute Falun Dafa Practitioners
Miyi County, in Sichuan Province, has a population of 200,000. As far back as 1994, the Falun Gong Assistance Center was established and registered with the local authorities. From that time until the crackdown, all Falun Gong activities had been operating in compliance and cooperation with the government. So people at all levels of the local government were familiar with the local Falun Gong practitioners, and knew they were all good citizens.
After July 22, 1999, the County and its lower level government began to persecute Falun Gong practitioners under pressure from the central government and high-level bureaucrats. Several hundred practitioners were detained or put into "Forced Transformation Classes." Ten of them were sentenced to labor camps and nine practitioners received imprisonment. The names of the jailed practitioners follow. Their terms are all 1 to 5 years imprisonment, unless otherwise specified.
Zhou Chengjui, a 55 year old female and resident of Chelian Village, Miyi County; 8 years imprisonment.
Zhang Jiarong, a 37 year old female and resident of Section Four, Dianshuo Village, Panlian Town; 5 and a half years imprisonment.
Song Jun, a 34 year old female, and Wang Yuanping, a 56 year old male, both residents of Chelian Village, Miyi County.
Zhuang Deling, a male over 60 years old; and Zhang Zhenghuan, a female over 50 years old. Both are residents of Bingu Town.
Zhang Hongying, a 35 year old female and resident of Guibang County.
Li Yingqi, a 38 year old male and resident of Caochang County.
Zeng Shihua, a 36 year old male high school teacher in Pingshan County.
There are still more than ten practitioners being detained in Miyi Detention Center who had been arrested while posting truth-clarifying materials on December 14, 2000.
When Zeng Shihua was returned from Beijing, after having appealed the first time, he then "reformed" as a result of being subjected to extreme duress. The authorities videotaped him and aired it on television. Some time later, Zeng Shihua recognized his error and went to appeal in Beijing for a second time. He is now serving a sentence of three years imprisonment, but this time he is steadfast.
There are more examples like his, in which statements and actions made under duress were later retracted. Such is the case with Chen Zhengzhi and Fan Meisheng, of Bingu County, and Zen Fumeng of Yakou County, Sichuan Province. As the Teacher says, "Coercion Cannot Change People's Hearts" (published on March 4, 2001), http://clearwisdom.net/eng/2001/Mar/06/JingWen030601.html .
[Shenyang, Liaoning Province] Authorities Plan to "Reform" More Practitioners Around May 1st
Zhangshi Forced Labor Education Center of Shenyang City has organized four teams of "educators" and plans to "reform" practitioners of all districts around May 1st. The practitioners currently detained in Zhangshi Labor Education Center want all other Shenyang City practitioners to be aware of the last-ditch struggle, and to advise them not to be easily taken in by these minions of deceit. They also remind the other practitioners to more diligently study the Fa (the Great Law and Principles) in order to further increase their understanding.
[Laishui County, Hebei Province] Practitioners Forced into Long Hours of Daily Production Work
In the temporary detention centers of Laishui County, the authorities have detained many Falun Dafa practitioners, and are forcing them to work over ten hours, every day. Those practitioners, whose hands had become so frostbitten that they could not move them, were maliciously handcuffed, shackled and beaten by the guards. Some practitioners could not endure the torture, and they unwillingly wrote "letters of guarantee" and appeared on television, admitting to having been "reformed." Since they had written the "letters of guarantee" and had been seen on television, their family members came to the detention centers to ask for their release. But the authorities said that although they had been "reformed," they still could not be released until bail was paid, in the amount of 5000 Yuan RMB (about ten months salary for an average urban worker in China).
To date, there is at least one practitioner who has remained in one of the temporary detention centers for as long as 10 months.
[Tangshan City, Hebei Province] Police and Transportation Company Open Illegal School to Extort Practitioners' Money
The so-called "Transformation School" (in the former Textile University) for Falun Gong practitioners is a dreadful place, jointly established by Tangshan Municipal Police Bureau and the Tangshan Municipal Transportation Company. The school itself is not a law-enforcing entity, but it is the place that is used for beating up practitioners and extorting money from them. Although it is called a "Transformation School," it is, in fact, little more than a prison. Every practitioner detained there was forced to pay 1500 to 2000 Yuan RMB every month, until they "reformed" themselves. After one is "reformed," one still has to pay another 5000 Yuan for bail, before being allowed to go home. If a practitioner is employed, the school would ask their work unit to pay the school first, and then let the work unit deduct that amount from the practitioner's future salary.
This so-called school actually gives very few classes. Most of the time, the practitioners are locked in solitary confinement in tiny cells, which are monitored by five or six guards in succession. All activities, such as eating, drinking, using the toilet and sleeping, are done in the cell, which is locked and curtained from the outside. The light in the room must be on 24 hours and the guards will randomly check on the practitioners from the outside. There is no freedom at all; no visiting is allowed, and the practitioners are completely isolated until they have "reformed."
The guards variously use silly, obscene and contemptible methods in dealing with the practitioners. They brainwash, break down, and browbeat practitioners into a state of utter confusion. They fabricate rumors and cheat them. The practitioners must listen to and agree with whatever is said, or they will be punished.
Lu Zhijian (recorded from pronunciation), a 29 year old female, has a bachelor degree and worked at Tangshan Steel Design Institute of Hebei Province. Her work unit abducted her and sent her to this so-called "transformation school." To protest the illegal persecution, she has refused water and food since she was detained in the school. She is very weak now but the school still refuses to release her.
Lu has been beaten up and cursed many times by the "educators and teachers" because of non-cooperation with their attempts to make her renounce Falun Gong. The "educators and teachers" also brought Lu Zhijian's mother to the school, in an attempt to persuade Lu to comply with their demands. They threatened her mother that if Lu died of dehydration and/or starvation, they would simply claim that Lu had died from practicing Falun Gong. Their aim is to cover up their savage means of coercion and also to shift the blame to Falun Gong.
Recently, the school has been under decorative reconstruction, to prepare for a visit from provincial leaders. The school's schedule for organizing "transformation classes" is booked up for the next two years. Before the so-called school, practitioners had usually been sentenced to jail, detained with indefinite terms, and sent to labor camps or mental hospitals. Now the trend has become the illegal, prison-like "transformation school." The truth is that the authorities use this school to extort money for their own personal interests. In China, a normal employee with a good salary can receive 500 to 1000 Yuan every month, while many others are dismissed from their jobs and have no incomes. This "transformation school" collects 1500 to 2000 Yuan per person, per month, until such time as one has become "reformed". After becoming "reformed," one still has to pay another 5000 Yuan for bail. This seems like such a good business, but we must ask where the money goes. Is the money being used to invest in economic development?
Since last August, more than 80 practitioners have been detained at this school. A little over 60 people have been "reformed," but on CCTV Channel 4, the school claimed its "reform rate" to be "100%."
The nefarious people responsible for this persecution, and the contact information:
"Falun Gong Transformation School" (formerly, the Textile University Branch School)
Jianguo Road, (500 meters east of overpass bridges)
Phone: 86-315-3713316
Principal Ying (the previous Office Director of Tangshan Municipal Transportation Company)
Zhao Zhi (from Tangshan Steel Plant)
Educator Zhang E'ning (previously a school teacher in Tangshan City, who had twice attended the Teacher's lectures.)
