(Clearwisdom.net)

In 2000, forty-year-old practitioner Ms. Gao Yunxia from the Changshou District of Chongqing City in Sichuan Province was seized by the police when she went to Beijing to appeal on behalf of Falun Gong. Soon after she was released to go home, she was again abducted and taken to the Changshou District Party Institute for brainwashing. The brainwashing class lasted for over two months. In October 2000, the police seized Ms. Gao on a bus in Shijiazhuang City, Hebei Province, as she was on her way to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong again. In the detention center, she was cruelly tortured with such methods as handcuffing and shackling, sitting on the "Transformation Chair"(1), being tied on the "Death Bed," force-feeding, having dirty things forced into her mouth, beatings and other cruel tortures. She was tortured so badly that she couldn't walk or talk normally, and her hands were swollen. Ms. Gao was sentenced to five years in prison because she persisted in practicing Falun Dafa. Now she is being held at the Yongchuan Women's Prison. In the prison, the guards don't allow Ms. Gao to eat or drink for long periods of time. They don't even allow her to go to the bathroom, and so her legs have become so irritated by urine and excrement that ulcers have formed. The guards also often beat her and use fine, tight hemp ropes to cause pain in her fingers and palms. In the winter, the guards don't give her any covers and force her to sleep on the concrete floor.

In September 2004, practitioners from Suihua City in Heilongjiang Province were taken away three times. At the beginning of September, six practitioners were clarifying the facts about Falun Gong in the countryside. When someone who was deceived by the authorities' propaganda slandering Falun Gong reported the practitioners, police seized them. One of the practitioners was Mr. Xu Lihua. On September 5, the Dongfeng Police Station took away Ms. Zhang Xiaoping. On September 23, the "610 Office" from Beilin District Public Security Bureau seized Ms. Dong Shuzhi, who was fifty-seven years old, from the Fourth Division of the Workers and Peasants in the Beilin District. On April 5, 2004, Li Jianfei, Sun Huamin and others from the Suihua City Public Security Bureau illegally went to Ms. Dong Shuzhi's home and took her to the detention center. In September, Ms. Dong Shuzhi handed an appeal accusing Li and Sun of encroaching upon human rights and property rights to the presiding judge. On September 23, officials from the "610 Office" in the Beilin District seized Ms. Dong Shuzhi once more and took her to the Chengbei Jail.

Falun Gong practitioners from Dingzhou City, Hebei Province, still remain in authorities' custody even after completing their sentences. Ms. Ma Yanhong, 64 years old, was from Liujiadian Village in Liuchun County, Dingzhou City, Hebei Province. On February 12, 2001, when Ms. Ma Yanhong returned to Dingzhou City from Shenyang City (Jilin Province), she was seized by the police and taken to the Shenyang City Train Station Sub-Police Station. On February 15, she was held at Dingzhou City Detention Center. On June 20, 2001, she was taken to the "610 Office" brainwashing center. During the detainment, policemen Lu Shujun, Zhou Hui and others slapped her face, forced her to kneel down, handcuffed her, hung her on a tree with hands cuffed behind her back, and used other methods to torture her until she fainted. On August 15, 2003, the Dingzhou City Public Security Bureau took her to another detention center. So far, she has been detained for three years and seven months.

Ms. Duan Lanmei, 59 years old, was from Dadaoguan Street in Dingzhou City. On the evening of May 12, 200, Ms. Duan Lanmei was forcibly taken to the Beicheng District Brainwashing Center in Dingzhou City. On May 14, 2001, she was held at the Dingzhou City Detention Center. During her detainment, the policemen tried three times to force her to abandon her belief, and each time she steadfastly refused to cooperate with the policemen. Policemen Lu Shujun, Zhou Hui, and others slapped her face, forced her to kneel down, hung her on a tree with her hands cuffed behind her back and only her toes touching the ground, and used other methods to persecute her. Her heart disease has consequently recurred. At present she has been illegally detained for three years and four months.

Forty-nine-year-old Mr. Liu Lianqing was from Dasitou Village, Dingzhou City. On July 5, 2001, he was seized by police from the Zhaocun County Sub-Police Station and later taken to the Dingzhou City Detention Center, where he suffered severe torture. On August 15, 2003, the Dingzhou City Public Security Bureau took him to another detention center. So far, he has been held for three years and two months.

33-year-old Ms. Wang Liying is from Dabaoziding Village in Zhaocun County, Dingzhou City. On March 6, 2003, the county officials searched her home and took her and her personal belongs to the detention center. So far, she is still being held there.

56-year-old Ms. Lu Xiuying worked for the Shenli Automobile Manufacture Plant in Dingzhou City. In the evening of December 27, 2001, four policemen from Shenli Automobile Manufacturing plant searched her home and took her personal belongings. They also took her to the Dingzhou City Public Security Bureau. Next day, Ms. Lu was illegally imprisoned at the detention center. As of today she has been detained for two years and eight months.

29-year-old Mr. Zhou Jian (Duan Lanmei's son) is from Dadaoguan Street in Dingzhou City. On May 4, 2002, he was seized by the police from the Dingzhou City Public Security Bureau for making materials that clarified the facts about Falun Dafa. The police punched and kicked him. They also hit his face with the bottom of a shoe, shocked him with an electric baton, and employed other cruel torture methods. In December 2003, he was sentenced to 12 years of imprisonment. He remains imprisoned in the Dingzhou City Detention Center.

On September 29, 2003, police from the West Train Station Sub-Public Security Bureau in Beijing arrested practitioner Ms. Zhang Haixia from Yanjiao, Sanhe City, Hebei Province, as she was handing out Falun Dafa materials to people in Beijing. Later her home was ransacked. On November 1, Ms. Zhang's husband was informed that Ms. Zhang Haixia had been sentenced to two years of "re-education through forced labor" and was being held at the Fifth Division of Beijing City's Women's Forced Labor Camp. On November 5, Ms. Zhang's husband was informed that Ms. Zhang was ill and was staying at a hospital. On November 15, when Ms. Zhang's husband saw Ms. Zhang, she was emaciated, and her legs shook. She was so weak from going on a hunger strike for 18 days that her voice could hardly be heard. On September 15, 2004, Ms. Zhang was transferred to the Kaiping Forced Labor Camp in Tangshan City, where she is still detained today.

Note:

1. "Transformation Chair": a torture method in which a practitioner is bound to a chair with ropes very tightly for a long time.