(Clearwisdom.net) Mr. Gong Yibin, a Falun Gong practitioner from Hubei Province, was in Beijing on December 4, 2008, for a class reunion. On the 5th, he and his former classmates went to tour the capital. When they got to a street several bus stops away from Tiananmen Square, a policeman stopped and searched them. The officer looked at the personal identification of each one and asked Mr. Gong, "Have you practiced Falun Gong?" Mr. Gong said, "Yes, I have." The police then searched him and found Dafa materials in his bag. Mr. Gong was forced into the police car and has been held in the Dongcheng District Detention Center of Beijing ever since.
Mr. Gong is 40 years old and is a senior engineer at China Petroleum Gas Compressor Factory in Wuhan City, Hubei Province. He is the technical backbone of the factory and every year he has been selected as the "model worker." He follows the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance and enjoys helping others. His wife does not have a job, so his family needs him, and his factory also really needs him.
Three top officials from Mr. Gong's factory, including the director of the Security Department, hurriedly went to Beijing the same day Mr. Gong was arrested. They used all their connections in Beijing and spent a significant sum of money to try to get Mr. Gong out of the detention center. They stayed in Beijing for two weeks, and finally the Detention Center agreed to let the security department director visit Mr. Gong once. During those two weeks, one of the top officials from Mr. Gong's factory, three officials in the security department, and two top officials from the Tianmen City Security Guard negotiated with the detention center, but those in charge at the detention center used the excuse that Mr. Gong would not admit his "guilt" and thus refused to release him. On January 7, 2009, Mr. Gong was illegally sentenced to two years in a forced labor camp.
