(Clearwisdom.net) "As far back as two years ago, I signed my name here, demanding the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to stop persecuting Falun Gong, but the situation has not changed in the least." Watching the Falun Gong practitioners in Berlin in front of the Brandenburg Gate and seeing scenes of the Chinese Falun Gong practitioners suffering torture and live organ harvesting, a passer-by expressed her disappointment. A Chinese lady said to her, "No, the situation is changing, it is just difficult to see immediately from abroad. Please follow me."

Relatives who are suffering persecution in China

The Chinese lady introduced a young man named Zhang Zhentong from Leipzig to this pedestrian. Zhang Zhentong made a special trip to Berlin to take part in the activities this weekend. At the rally, he told everyone about what his wife Wang Xiaoyan had encountered. Wang Xiaoyan is a Falun Gong practitioner. After being illegally locked up for two years and 15 days, she was released from the notorious Masanjia Forced Labour Camp.

Zhang Zhentong was very happy that his wife would not be brutally persecuted again. He said, "I was so delighted to hear my wife's voice again. From the telephone I could tell that our daughter was full of joy because she can be with her mother again."

During the period when Wang Xiaoyan was held in the forced labor camp, Zhang Zhentong, who was far away in Germany, had no way to phone her or communicate by letter. He also couldn't go to China, because as a Falun Gong practitioner, the possibility of being persecuted when returning to China is very real. The eight-year-old daughter could only stay with her grandparents.

A staunch believer

Zhang Zhentong described the torture that his wife experienced in Masanjia: "My wife was often beaten because she refused to give up her belief, and was unwilling to be "transformed"." The guards said to her, 'We know there is no way to transform you.' Once for several days continuously she was chained to a double-deck bunk bed, with one hand on the upper deck, and the other hand on the lower deck. She was simply unable to move. Later she protested by going on a hunger strike, and was force-fed through a tube. The liquid food poured down her throat was mixed with drugs that can damage the nervous system." According to his wife, all of the Falun Gong practitioners who refused to give up their belief were brutally persecuted.

Masanjia has been of ill repute since the beginning of the persecution for its cruel and torturous "transformation" of Falun Gong practitioners. They would carry out frequent brainwashing on every detained practitioner, and the practitioners were forced to watch videos and read books that slander Falun Gong around the clock. As soon as practitioners fell asleep they would immediately be woken up.

The good effect of international support

Zhang Zhentong's wife was forced to do slave labor for at least thirteen hours a day. They had to get up at 6 a.m. and work from 7 a.m. until at least 10 p.m. They had to sew military uniforms, sheets and quilt covers for the army. However, Wang Xiaoyan told the doctors that the guards did not dare to force upon the detained Falun Gong practitioners more overtime forced labor, because the guards had personally received phone calls from abroad and were afraid of being taken to court in the future. Calls from abroad and exposure of their crimes restrained the guards' behavior. Pressure from the international community made for at least some changes at the Masanjia Forced Labor Camp.

CCP escalates the arrests of Falun Gong practitioners before the Olympics

In the last several months, the number of Falun Gong practitioners who have been detained in the Masanjia Forced Labor Camp has clearly increased. "My wife can verify that on the eve of the Olympics, the CCP has intensified its arrests of Falun Gong practitioners", Zhang Zhentong said.

According to a report by the Falun Dafa Information Center, since October 2007 in twenty provinces, large cities and autonomous regions, there have been at least eight thousand cases of Falun Gong practitioners being arrested. Amongst them, it can be affirmed that thirty have not yet been allowed a hearing at a tribunal, yet were sentenced to forced labor for up to two and a half years.

"The long detention terms show that this sort of detention isn't like what the CCP officials claimed, when they said that this was to make sure they could 'carry out a peaceful Olympics'. Falun Gong Information Center spokesperson Waltraud Ng pointed out that "Falun Gong practitioners pose no threat to the Olympics. The CCP is just using the Olympics as an excuse to detain Falun Gong practitioners indefinitely."

July 20th and Hope

Since 1999, July 20th has been a very sad day for Falun Gong practitioners, because even today, Falun Gong in China still encounters persecution. Falun Gong practitioners re-enacted the maltreatment in forced labor camps, torture, and live organ harvesting from Falun Gong practitioners in front of the Brandenburg Gate, urgently calling for an unconditional release of all practitioners in China before the curtain raises for the Olympics. In the last several months there has been a worldwide collection of over a million signatures, which will be handed to the International Olympic Committee.

That pedestrian who had held a doubtful attitude wanted to sign her name again in opposition of persecution. She joined the line by the table waiting to sign her name and said, "Maybe there is still a use to it."