(Clearwisdom.net) Mr. Yan Haibo, a practitioner from Hanzhuang Village, Zhanggang Township, Xiong County, Hebei Province, was arrested several times for appealing for Falun Gong. At the end of July 2002, Mr. Yan was kidnapped and taken to the Xiong County Police Station, where he was severely tortured. Later he was detained for two and a half years at a forced labor camp, where the cruel torture continued. He died on March 31, 2005, at the age of 33.
Prior to practicing Falun Gong, Mr. Yan Haibo suffered from lumbar vertebral disk protrusion, rheumatoid arthritis, and swollen limbs. After practicing for five months, all of his diseases disappeared. When the persecution began on July 20, 1999, Mr. Yan went to Beijing to appeal and was later sent back to Xiong County, where he was detained for three days. On July 27, he went to Beijing again and was sent back to Xiong County the next day. This time he was fined 5,000 yuan and detained for another 15 days.
In October 1999, after then-president Jiang Zemin had declared Falun Gong illegal, Mr. Yan went to Beijing again. He was sent back and jailed at the Xiong County Detention Center for six months. When he was released, the police ordered him to pay 3,000 yuan. Even after he returned home, the local police frequently harassed him.
At the end of July 2002, Mr. Yan was practicing the Falun Gong exercises at a friend's house when someone reported his activities to the local police. He was arrested and taken to the Xiong County Police Station, where he was brutally tortured. The Political and Security Team Leader Yang Ziaotong and several police officers beat and tortured him for 24 hours. Mr. Yan was severely injured. He was then sent to a labor camp for another two and a half years.
Mr. Yan's physical health was not good to begin with. While at the Baoding Labor Camp, he was brainwashed and forced by the labor camp police to give up practicing Falun Gong. Mr. Yan was severely stressed mentally and physically. He was often ill and very weak.
An eyewitness said that in July 2003, the labor camp guards, following orders from their superiors, forced the practitioners detained at the labor camp to take a "psychological test" to see if they had been successfully brainwashed. Before the "test," the guards and the collaborators, who had already been brainwashed, colluded to try to make these practitioners give up Falun Gong through intimidation and flooding them with propaganda. When the labor camp officials didn't get the answers they wanted, they didn't allow the guards to go home for two weeks and demanded that the guards continue the persecution 24 hours a day. If the brainwashing was not successful, the practitioner would be beaten. More than 30 practitioners were required to stand for long periods of time, were beaten with fists and clubs, were kicked, and were shocked with electric batons. Two practitioners were hung by their hands for more than one month.
Mr. Yan Haibo was released on October 21, 2004. Just six days later, the Xiong County 610 Office took him away to another brainwashing class. He was detained for six days and wasn't released until he had signed a letter to promise to stop practicing Falun Gong. After that, he lost his strength and looked pale. Because of the constant, long-term pressure from such terror tactics, Mr. Yan's spirit was broken. He couldn't study the Falun Gong books or do the exercises. He almost gave up practicing.
By late February 2005, Mr. Yan's physical health had deteriorated beyond repair. A hospital in Beijing diagnosed him as having kidney failure, cerebral edema, and hemorrhaging in the eye. He died on March 31, 2005 at the age of 33.
Category: Deaths
