(Minghui.org)

Name: Xu Ji’anChinese Name: 徐吉安Gender: MaleAge: 77City: NanchangProvince: JiangxiOccupation: TV station broadcasting employeeDate of Death: 2019Date of Most Recent Arrest: 2010Most Recent Place of Detention: Nanchang City No.1 Detention Center

A Nanchang City, Jiangxi Province resident was subjected to repeated harassment and incarceration for upholding his faith in Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since 1999. Mr. Xu Ji’an was tortured and given toxic drugs while in custody. The mental and physical trauma took a toll on his health and he passed away in 2019. He was 77.

Mr. Xu Ji’an

Taking Up Falun Gong

Mr. Xu, born in November 1942, worked at the Jiangxi Province TV Station broadcasting department before he retired in 2002. Before he took up Falun Gong in January 1999 at the age of 57, he suffered many ailments, including tuberculosis contracted when he served in the army in his 20s, a heart condition developed in his 30s, as well as chronic bronchitis, gastritis, and insomnia. He was so weak that he couldn’t do any household chores. The physical torment also caused him to have a bad temper. He often fought with his wife and sometimes had conflicts with his neighbors. 

By practicing Falun Gong, Mr. Xu not only regain his health, he also became a more peaceful person. He said he finally knew what it felt to live a happy life. 

Arrested for Appealing for the Right to Practice Falun Gong

After the Chinese communist regime ordered the persecution of Falun Gong in July 1999, Mr. Xu was repeatedly arrested and detained.

He went to Beijing in August 2000 to appeal for the right to practice Falun Gong and was arrested after filling out a form at the Beijing Appeals Office. He was sent back to Jiangxi the next day.

Mr. Xu was arrested in Bazhou City, Hebei Province on October 2, 2000, while en route to Beijing to appeal again. He was held at the Bazhou City Detention Center for seven days and then taken back to Nanchang, where the police handcuffed him to a metal chair. The handcuffs were so tight that they cut into his wrists and caused him tremendous pain. He was then taken to the Nanchang City No. 3 Detention Center. During his nine days of detention there, he was forced to make products without pay.

Drug Administration in Brainwashing Center and Psychiatric Hospital 

On January 24, 2001, the 2001 Chinese New Year, Mr. Xu was taken by two supervisors at work to a brainwashing center, where he was watched by staff members around the clock. As he refused to renounce Falun Gong after one week of brainwashing, he was transferred to the Jiangxi Province Psychiatric Hospital.

In the psychiatric hospital, he saw another Falun Gong practitioner, Mr. Liu Yijun, who worked at the Nanchang Infectious Diseases Hospital. Mr. Liu was attacked and beaten by the patients in the psychiatric hospital. 

When Mr. Xu’s wife and children visited him, he happened to be doing the Falun Gong exercises. Influenced by the communist regime’s demonizing propaganda against Falun Gong, his wife slammed the table and shouted, “Why didn’t the hospital do anything to stop him from practicing Falun Gong?”

Since then on, the hospital intensified the persecution of Mr. Xu and began to inject him with nerve-damaging drugs. As he strongly resisted the injections, the hospital ordered the patients to tie him up on the bed. The injections lasted two weeks. They caused Mr. Xu to feel uneasy all over. He couldn’t stop trembling and was troubled by a persistent unsettled feeling.

A month later, his employer transferred him to another brainwashing center. Over twenty Falun Gong practitioners had been taken there by their respective employers. They were forced to read books slandering Falun Gong and watch propaganda videos every day. Brainwashing “experts” also talked to them one by one and tried to coerce them into renouncing their faith. Mr. Xu was held there for one month and four days.

Police Torture and Interrogation

Several officers broke into Mr. Xu’s home on May 14, 2008 and took him to the Nanchang National Security Bureau. They questioned him about whether he knew a certain practitioner from Poyang County, and where the practitioners in Poyang received the Falun Gong materials they were distributing. 

As Mr. Xu remained silent, the officers forced him to stand against a wall, blew cigarette smoke into his face, and forced him to do a half squat while holding his arms above his head. The torture lasted a few hours. At night, they handcuffed him to a bed, rendering him unable to move.

The head of Yuzhang Prison came to the interrogation room one night, threatening to take Mr. Xu to prison if he didn’t give them the information they wanted. Luo Yong, the director of the Nanchang National Security Bureau, also interrogated Mr. Xu. When Mr. Xu tried to clarify the facts about Falun Gong, Luo became infuriated and hit him on the head. Another police director also repeatedly struck Mr. Xu with his briefcase. Mr. Xu started a hunger strike to protest the persecution.

A few days later, Luo and several other police officers worked on Mr. Xu again. They closed the windows, pulled down the shades and started another round of interrogation. They first forced Mr. Xu to stand against the wall and blew cigarette smoke into his face. Then they took off his socks and forced him to stand on ice blocks. Next, they hung him up by the wrists for half an hour, causing excruciating pain to his wrists. His arms were numb for two months afterwards.

Mr. Xu later noticed that his food from the cafeteria was always brought to another room first, before being given to him. He then realized that the guards probably were adding toxic substances to his food.

Mr. Xu was later transferred to a detention center. His family was extorted for over 10,000 yuan in exchange for his release. 

Continued Harassment and Eventual Death

While visiting another Falun Gong practitioner in March 2009, Mr. Xu was reported by that practitioner’s daughter and arrested. The police interrogated him and beat him. Upon finding Falun Gong materials on him, the police took him to the Nanchang City No. 1 Detention Center. Despite the cold weather, the inmates forced Mr. Xu to take cold showers. He developed severe diarrhea as a result. He was released a week later. 

One day in the summer of 2010, it began to rain when Mr. Xu was distributing Falun Gong materials in a suburb of Nanchang. He took cover at a house and gave the family’s child a DVD. The child’s father came over and said to him, “I’ve noticed you a long time ago.” He then called the police, resulting in Mr. Xu being arrested. 

As Mr. Xu refused to answer the police’s questions but instead tried to clarify the facts about Falun Gong, the police chief slapped him in the face and shouted, “If I arrest you again, I will put you in a bag and toss you into the river.” 

The local police harassed Mr. Xu another time in mid-April 2017. They searched his home for his computer and questioned him as to whether he browsed the Minghui website. The police came again on May 10 and searched his home again.

Due to the mental distress from the frequent harassment and damage to his body caused by abuse and previous forced drug administration, Mr. Xu struggled with generalized pain, swelling in his legs and he developed a hunched back. He passed away in 2019, at the age of 77.