(Clearwisdom.net) Local officials in Zhengding County, Hebei Province have brutally persecuted Dafa practitioners who went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Dafa using beatings, torture, arbitrarily extended detention, fines, ransacking of homes, imprisonment and sentencing to forced labor camps without trial.. They even hired local gang members to go to Beijing to prevent local practitioners from making their peaceful appeals there. They told the gang members, "Before you say anything, break their legs if you catch any of them." They illegally sentenced a dozen practitioners to either prison or a forced labor camp. In order to be able to sentence the practitioners to harsher terms, they bribed the higher authorities. In addition, they paraded the practitioners who had been to Beijing through the streets to publicly humiliate them. Those who continue to practice while in detention, had their hands shackled behind their back for over 50 days around the clock; they could not take them off even when they ate, slept, or used the washroom. They even forced the former Deputy County Head and current Vice-Chairman of the local political consultative commission, Shang Kunfen, who is also a Falun Dafa practitioner, to live on the street to avoid arrest. After practitioner Zhao Fengnian was tortured to death, they buried his body beside a railway to cover their crimes. Only after local residents found out about it were they exposed.

The following are more of their wrongdoings:

1. After Shang Kunfeng, a local official and Falun Dafa practitioner, was forced to leave home to avoid arrest, they still wouldn't stop persecuting him. Local officials and police kidnapped his wife (Vice-Chief of the Retired Cadres' Bureau) and made her go with them to Beijing, Baoding City, and Shijiazhuang City to harass Shang's relatives and friends in order to find out about Shang's whereabouts. Shortly before the Spring Festival in February 2002 [Chinese New Year Holiday], they took Shang's wife, niece and nephews into custody and made them disclose the address where Shang was staying. Shang managed to escape their arrest, but he lost 1000 Yuan [about two months salary for an average Chinese urban worker] in cash, his ID, Falun Dafa materials and banners. Shang could no longer stay in Hebei Province and had to go somewhere else to avoid further persecution.
2. When they found out Shang's address, they monitored people coming in and out and arrested another practitioner. He was tortured to force him to give out information before being sent to a brainwashing center. He is still being detained.
3. In April 2002, they ransacked practitioner Fan's store and his home, illegally detaining him and torturing him for no reason.
4. Shortly before May 1, 2002, for several days and nights, local officials put the home of practitioner Wen Fenglan (female), from Shijiazhuang City, under surveillance in an attempt to arrest her. They suspected Wen was involved in passing Dafa materials to practitioners in Zhengding County. Wen had left home to avoid arrest. They harassed her family members. Wen is a 60-year-old housewife and her husband, Xin Guochang, is the former Director and Party Secretary of Shijiazhuang Auto Company, North Section, and a Falun Dafa practitioner. They threatened, "We will send Wen to a forced labor camp once we catch her." She was sentenced to 5 years in jail in 2000 by local officials.
5. In July 2001, local officials suspected a practitioner from Xinle County named Du was involved in transferring Falun Dafa materials. The practitioner was forced to leave home. They then took his father into custody and tried to make him tell where his son was, but to no avail. Later, Du's wife was forced to leave home as well. The family's clinic was closed down and they have lost their source of income.

We would like to warn these local officials: treat the practitioners with kindness, please. Cherishing Falun Dafa is cherishing your own life.