Issued by Clearwisdom Net
Content
Due to persisting in cultivating Falun Gong, Shenyang Falun Gong practitioner Gao Yaxian was illegally detained at Masanjia Forced Labor Camp in Liaoning Province. After being tortured for nine months she eventually became paralyzed. To avoid any responsibility, the guards at the camp sent the dying Gao Yaxian to her family members on January 8, 2005.
During the nine months that she was illegally detained at Masanjia Forced Labor Camp, Gao Yaxian persisted in calling out, "Falun Dafa is good." She was locked in a small cell six times, for as long as three months at a time. The police forced Gao Yaxian to wear only an undershirt at minus thirty degrees in the winter, and stay in the "sardine can" (the solitary confinement cell with four-inch-thick foam covering all four walls). She also was forced to stay there in the suffocating heat of summer. Gao Yaxian was repeatedly beaten brutally, handcuffed, forced to sit on a metal chair, and forced to listen to high-volume noise. Nine months of torture caused Gao Yuxian's blood sugar level and fat level to increase. She suffered blood in her urine, loss of control of the bowels and bladder, severe aching in all the joints of her body, and she finally became paralyzed. The warden of Masanjia Forced Labor Camp sent Gao Yaxian to the Fourth Hospital in Shenyang City to be examined. The doctor said, "This patient has high encephalic pressure and her life is in danger at any moment." The police commissar Wang Naimin at Masanjia said, "We did not beat you, and we are not responsible if your life is in danger."
The following is a partial list of the tortures that Gao Yaxian suffered at Masanjia Forced Labor Camp.
1. Being confined in the "sardine can:" In July and August 2004, Wang Yuguan (female), the warden who was in charge of persecution in the cell, along with two other wardens, closed the door and window of the cell and shut Gao Yaxian in a "sardine can" to torture her. This was during the hot summer when the temperature was over thirty degrees Celsius (86oF).
The "sardine can" is the solitary confinement cell with four-inch-thick foam covering all four walls. There is no fresh air inside, and the detainee would soon almost suffocate. Confinement in the "sardine can" caused Ms. Gao to suffer angina five times, but no one there was concerned about it.
2. Being forced to wear the "head mask" torture device: In mid-August 2004, warden Wang Yuguang closed the door and window of the small cell. The temperature of the cell was over thirty degrees Celsius. Every day Gao Yaxian was tortured so severely that her whole body was dripping with sweat. Warden Wang Yuguang took a head-sized "fully enclosed head mask" (this device fits tightly around the head) and put it on Gao Yaxian's head. Gao Yaxian suffered from suffocation and unbearable angina pectoris. Gao Yaxian shouted for ten minutes, then warden Wang Yuguang removed the "head mask."
3. Beatings: During the last ten days of October 2004, warden Wang Yuguang put Gao Yaxian into a small cell without a window. Gao Yaxian did not cooperate. Wang Yuguang brutally beat Gao Yaxian, grasping her hair and handcuffing her tightly. Gao Yaxian's wrists were cuffed very tightly, and her hands became purple and lost feeling due to blocked blood circulation. Wang Yuguang took off the torn clothes from Gao Yaxian and threw them to the ground. Gao Yaxian was not allowed to eat or drink, and was even forbidden from using the restroom for sixteen hours daily (which caused urinary retention and constant toxicosis).
4. Strong noise stimulus: The warden fast forwarded the "high decibel noise broadcasting," which gave off a harsh railing supersonic noise. Some time they also fast forwarded the broadcasting of Shenyang transportation radio station. The deafening noise was played from morning until evening, and lasted almost two weeks. Gao Yaxian was tortured to deafness, and her blood pressure was as high as 210 and as low as 130 at times.
5. Being subjected to freezing temperatures of minus thirty degrees Celsius (-22oF) with only an undershirt: In late November or early December 2004, since Gao Yaxian did not cooperate with the evil and repeatedly shouted, "Falun Dafa is good" for nine months, she was put in a small cell along with other Falun Gong practitioners. There was no central heating in the small cell. Warden Wang Yuguang and two other wardens left the window and door of the small cell open around the clock to freeze the Falun Gong practitioner. The warden forced Gao Yaxian to sit on the iron chair and be handcuffed.
The temperature was thirty degrees Celsius below zero, and the warden removed the cotton clothes from Gao Yaxian and other Falun Gong practitioners. Some Falun Gong practitioners went on a hunger strike for six months or even longer, and they were detained in the small cell from one week to one month at a time. Gao Yaxian only wore thin clothes, and she was frozen for a long period of time. Her stomach ached, and she lost control of her bowels and bladder.
At Masanjia Forced Labor Camp, there are many deaths without the spilling of blood as mentioned above. All Falun Gong practitioners illegally detained at Masanjia Forced Labor Camp have seen this.
Nine months of torture on Ms. Gao Yaxian's body and mind caused high blood sugar level, blood fat, blood in the urine, bowel and urinary problems, unbearable pain in her whole body and all her joints, and paralysis. Gao Yaxian was severely tortured at Masanjia Forced Labor Camp.
Those responsible for Ms. Gao's mistreatment include wardens at Masanjia Forced Labor Camp, small cell warden Wang Yuguang and two other wardens; instigators include the leader of the First Group Wang Xiafeng, polical commissar Wang Naimin and the director of the 2nd Branch Su Jing, and all other wardens involved in torturing Gao Yaxian to paralysis and near death. On January 8, 2005, family members picked up Gao Yaxian to take her home. Masanjia Forced Labor Camp again extorted seven hundred yuan from her family members as an "examination fee."
Falun Gong practitioners Ms. Ma Yanfang, Ms. Meng Qingbo, Ms. Yang Yonglan, and Ms. Liu Guichun are hardworking, outstanding teachers. Yet their homes were ransacked and they were detained, tortured, and sent to labor camps for persisting in their belief in Truth, Compassion, and Tolerance. Their salaries were reduced and they were deprived of their right to work and were eventually fired. Ms. Yang Yonglan and her husband were forced to divorce, and she went into exile.
Ms. Ma Yanfang
Ms. Ma Yanfang was once widely known for suffering from illness in the No. 52 Middle School, her place of employment. Medical treatment could not cure her, but she completely recovered through Falun Gong practice. After the persecution started, two residential Party officials went to Ma Yanfang's home and ransacked it. They found several Falun Gong books, an audiocassette, and two cassette players, one of which was broken. These individuals claimed that Ms. Ma had hung a cassette player from a tree and used it as broadcast equipment. They took her and her husband to the police station, where they handcuffed Ma Yanfang to the head of a metal bed and her husband to the leg of a table.
Six officers from Erdao Police Department arrived at 10 o'clock. One of them made Ms. Ma stand in front of him and asked, "Who else do you know that practices Falun Gong?" Ma Yanfang said she didn't know anyone.
After Falun Gong practitioners broadcast the video, "Self-Immolation or Staged Act?" on the Changchun Cable TV network, Jiang Zemin issued an arrest quota for 6,000 Falun Gong practitioners. He said that law administrators would be demoted or fired if they didn't finish their "assignment." The police tortured every arrested practitioner to get more names. When the police officer interrogating Ma Yanfang heard she didn't know anyone, he struck her in the temple. She took a few steps back and nearly fell down, could not stand steadily, and her body shook. The police officer forced her to kneel and then kicked her until he grew tired. He handcuffed her with her arms behind her back to the metal bed at midnight.
They also interrogated Ma Yanfang's husband, who tried to reason with them. He confronted the police for arresting and interrogating people. The police remained silent. A few more officers arrived from Erdao Police Department at around 3:00 p.m. the next day. One officer named Ma Jun picked up a wooden stool from the floor and hit Ms. Ma Yanfang with it. She was handcuffed to the bed, so she tried to shield herself with her left foot. She missed and the stool hit her forehead and face. The officer hit her repeatedly. Ms. Ma's face swelled instantly, and officer Ma Jun claimed that Ma Yanfang had kicked him. He put the stool down and kicked her leg, from the thigh to the ankle, and said he would break her leg. Tears and sweat rolled down Ma Yanfang's face. When she was eventually taken to a detention center and examined, her left leg was purple and swollen. Ma Jun also tightened the handcuffs to the maximum setting until they cut into her wrists. Her hands swelled instantly. Her hands were still numb a year later, and she lost feeling in her thumbs. Ma Jun hit Ma Yanfang in the head with a pillow until the pillow burst and the stuffing spilled all over her and the floor. Ma Jun then hit Ms. Ma Yanfang in the face over and over.
After the beating, Ma Jun said to another officer, "That's just how
she
is," meaning he could not get any information from her. He then said he
would humiliate her so she that could not return to work. Ma Jun and
another officer paraded Ms. Ma Yanfang through the 52nd Middle School
during recess. Two students greeted her and asked, "Ms. Ma, what's
wrong?"
The police told them to go away. They went to the south
building, but the school principal was not there. They then went to the
Education Administration Division. Many teachers saw Ma Yanfang in
handcuffs. They asked her, "Did they hit you?"
The police also went to Ms. Ma Yanfang's office in the north building. Officer Ma Jun turned Ma Yanfang's desk upside down and ordered someone to bring her daughter from her class. The daughter started crying when she saw her mother had been beaten and was handcuffed. Ma Jun took the daughter aside and asked, "Do your parents practice Falun Gong?"
After parading Ms. Ma Yanfang around the school, the agents took her back to the police station. They released her husband, whom they had handcuffed to a table leg for one day and night. They photographed Ma Yanfang, put her in a police car, and drove her to the 3rd Detention Center in Changchun City. They withheld all of her salary after the arrest. Her paralyzed mother-in-law and her daughter were left home with no one to take care of them, as her husband often leaves the city for work reasons. The entire family was devastated by her detention.
Ma Yanfang was held in a cell with 70 other people in the detention center. For meals, they provided her only with plain turnip soup and half-cooked buns made of corn flour that is usually used as pig feed. She was given two such meals a day. More than ten people slept in their clothes in a 21.5 sq. ft area with curtains serving as quilts. Several people had to share one curtain. The Falun Gong practitioners were forced to sit in rows on wooden planks during the day and be prepared for interrogation at any time. Ms. Ma was interrogated twice and held in the cell the rest of the time. The head inmate and guards swore constantly. Ma Yanfang went on a hunger strike after more than 20 days of illegal detention. The guards took her to a hospital and force-fed her. They inserted a tube into her nose and fed her milk, which she vomited. The guards used her clothing to wipe away the milk and blamed her for "throwing up too much." After the force-feeding, Section Head Su ordered the inmates to put Ms. Ma in handcuffs and shackles and connect them together so that she could not straighten her body. They then put her in a solitary confinement cell.
The school authorities incited hatred among the students and staff toward Ma Yanfang following her arrest. School Party Secretary Sun Guizhen spread a rumor that lots of Falun Gong flyers were found in Ma Yanfang's home. Sun Guizhen helped the police to sentence Ma Yanfang to three years of forced labor. Ms. Ma Yanfang's family had her released on bail more than one month later with tens of thousands of yuan they had borrowed.
After her release, Ms. Ma petitioned the school officials many times to have her job reinstated, but the officials gave her the runaround. One month later, school principal Liu told her that she could resume her work only if she wrote a guarantee statement. Ma Yanfang said, "I didn't violate any laws. I was arrested at home. I have the right to believe in Falun Gong. The whole school knows that I was cured of illness through Falun Gong practice." Ms. Ma was then fired, and her life became very difficult. Officers from the police station and the street Party Committee frequently harassed her at her home and kicked her door. They went to her home several times a day and often took her away to fulfill arrest quotas so they could earn bonus money from the ruling regime. The head of the street Party Committee said, "I simply don't believe that I can't open her door." He sent people on a stakeout outside Ma Yanfang's home. They watched the family's every move, which severely disrupted the family's normal life. The entire family eventually went into exile to avoid further persecution.
During the large-scale arrests in Changchun in 2002, more than 5,000 Falun Gong practitioners were arrested within ten days. Even Ms. Liu, who was in her 70s then and hospitalized at the time, was arrested. At least eight practitioners were tortured to death. some practitioners were sentenced to forced labor and prison, and numerous practitioners are detained to this day.
Ma Yanfang and her family have moved many times in the last four years. They never talk to their neighbors or open their door, fearing arrest. They are afraid of acquaintances and of stalking police officers. They don't even dare to turn on the light at night or speak loudly. They are even more afraid when someone knocks on the door. The school security officers and police station regard Ma Yanfang as a "major target." They persecuted her whenever they received a secret order from above. The police also followed her daughter, who was then attending high school. They tried to arrest her and also went to her former home many times and harassed the neighbors.
Party Secretary Lu from the 52nd Middle School headed a group of people that drove to Ma Yanfang's home in August 2003. They told her colleagues that they were bringing her back to work, but they were actually trying to arrest her. Ma Yanfang was living in exile. The police obtained the mobile phone number for Ma Yanfang's husband. They called him and demanded that Ms. Ma report to the police station. The school officials also repeatedly reported her to the police.
When Ma Yanfang was still working, the school officials initially didn't know that she practiced Falun Gong, so they didn't report her to the police. A colleague eventually reported her, and the officials began harassing her. They demoted her from teaching advanced classes to teaching average classes and they added several other classes to her workload. In the end they claimed that they would not let her teach any class if that was necessary to force her to stop practicing Falun Gong. Ma Yanfang went home each day at noon to cook for her mother-in-law, and the school officials claimed she did the Falun Gong exercises every day at noon. They sent people to watch and follow her. After her arrest, her students cried and boycotted the class. Some students went to her daughter and requested that she return to teach them. One boy who dislikes studying said to Ma Yanfang's daughter, "If your mother comes back to teach us, I promise I will study hard." Some students said at the beginning of the school year that they could accept a change in any other teacher except Ms. Ma. They were not aware that Ma Yanfang was suffering cruel persecution.
Ms. Liu Guichun
Ms. Liu Guichun believes in Truth-Compassion-Tolerance and in being a good person. She has been brutally persecuted over the past seven years and is closely watched at work. The door guard makes daily reports to school officials of the time she enters and leaves the school. Three school officials watch and follow her during lunch and forbid anyone to have contact with her. The principal scolded one teacher many times, saying to her, "If you talk to Ms. Liu one more time, we'll reduce your salary and lay you off." He made the same threat to seasonal workers. In this way, they completely isolated her.
No. 52 Middle School Party Secretary Sun Guizhen often phoned Liu Guichun's husband saying, "Your wife is going to Beijing. Falun Gong has scheduled activities and they are trying to stir up trouble." Sun Guizhen also went to Ms. Liu's husband's workplace and harassed him. He could no longer take it and retired early to monitor his wife at home. He was willing to take the several hundred yuan a month pay cut in exchange for some peace. Each time Sun Guizhen calls or harasses him, he beats his wife.
The school forced Liu Guichun to leave her teaching position at the beginning of school in August 2000, but they allowed her to work in the laboratory. They cut her salary by 30 percent. Liu Guichun's husband was furious when he learned this and screamed at her and their daughter to get out of the home. Ms. Liu nearly suffered a nervous breakdown. She took her daughter and rented a home. Her husband went to her temporary residence and was verbally abusive toward her. The landlord was scared and evicted Liu Guichun and her daughter later that night. Liu Guichun and her daughter wandered the streets. She was so devastated she thought of committing suicide, but she immediately thought, "We believe in Truth-Compassion-Tolerance. We must not kill, and suicide is a sin, too. I must live, no matter how difficult it is." Her husband was tormented by regret during his wife's absence. He calmed down and looked for her everywhere. He was worried about his wife and daughter's safety, saying that his wife was an extraordinary and wonderful person. He found them after a month. They were emaciated.
In 2002, Party Secretary Sun and the president of the Workers' Union and Party secretary from the Education Bureau Yang went together with numerous police officers to Liu Guichun's home in August in an attempt to arrest her. Her husband confronted them saying, "Ms. Liu can no longer come home due to your pressure and harassment. What did she do that is against the law? Why are you arresting her? Show me the evidence. Officials such as you are very good at lying and persecuting people. It'd be great if you could act like my wife."
The officials left without achieving their goal. Liu Guichun's husband originally thought that if he retired and supervised his wife at home he would be spared further coercion, but he was proven wrong. After his wife went into exile, her salary was completely withheld, and her husband suffered a nervous breakdown. He decided to divorce her. Liu Guichun was also stifled under psychological and financial pressure. She said to him, "I agree [to the divorce], but you must understand that we are both victims and that Falun Gong is being persecuted. The authorities are causing our pain. There is nothing wrong in me speaking the truth, and there is nothing wrong with being a good person. I won't force you to suffer with me." Her husband eventually changed his mind, and there was no divorce.
Party Secretary Lu led a group of people who drove to Liu Guichun's home in August 2003. No one was home, so they called her husband, saying they wanted to talk to Ms. Liu and would not make her write anything. Her husband said, "I don't trust you! You are so good at lying." Lu said, "School principal Liu and I swear on our reputations. Just ask Ms. Liu to come talk to the principal at school, or you can decide on a location. We will pay her salary after the meeting."
He said many other too-good-to-be-true things. Liu Guichun's husband later went to school and Lu said, "We'll pay her after Ms. Liu writes a guarantee statement." The husband asked, "Didn't you say that she didn't have to write anything? Why are you saying this now? Your words are unreliable. You didn't want to pay her but in fact you want to score political points by making her write a guarantee statement before the Communist Party's conference." He left and went home.
Party Secretary Lu called him later and asked him to go to school again. Lu and Education Bureau Party Secretary Yao both said, "If you could only ask Ms. Liu to write a guarantee statement, we will process her retirement one year early." They gave the husband a form to fill out. When he went home he tried to coerce his wife into writing a guarantee statement. She told him, "It's a trap," but he didn't believe her. He even hit her. She said to him, "Read the form." He took a close look and saw that it was a "Voluntary Resignation Form." He called and confronted the two school officials who said, "Oops, we gave you the wrong form. Come back [and we'll give you the correct one]." He went back but the officials again changed their words. He asked to speak with principal Liu, but was turned away. He eventually learned that they simply wanted to arrest his wife. Liu Guichun's husband experienced the officials' hypocrisy firsthand.
In the past several years the school officials had demoted Ms. Liu from the classroom to the laboratory. One official then spread the rumor that she was trying to blow up the building, so they changed her work assignment again. They made her work full time but only paid her a mere 200 yuan a month. The CCP Secretary Sun Guizhen once said, "Because you practice Falun Gong, our school didn't win the title 'Advanced CCP Unit' at the end of the year, so we didn't get the 800-yuan bonus."
Ms. Meng Qingbo
In the past few years, teacher Ms. Meng Qingbo, who follows Truth-Compassion-Tolerance, has endured severe psychological and financial persecution.
She was walking in a park one weekend in mid-April 2000 when the police took her away. They claimed she was disrupting the social order and held her for 15 days. Her daughter was 12 years old then, and no one was there to sew her school uniform. When Meng Qingbo's husband worked night shifts, her 70-year-old father had to come over and stay with the young girl to calm her fears. After Meng Qingbo was released, her daughter said to her, "Dad and I went to the custody center several times but we couldn't get inside. We walked around the walls and we always left disappointed. Dad and I cried on our way home." Meng Qingbo's mother, who was in her 70s, was sick and collapsed when Ms. Meng was taken away. After her release, the school no longer permitted Meng Qingbo to teach. The officials made her work at other duties full time but paid her only 200 yuan a month.
At the end of 2001, school Party Secretary Sun Guizhen and principal Song went to Meng Qingbo's home and tried to take her to a brainwashing center. They said to her, "The brainwashing center is great! You'll change your ways within two months." She said, "It's a prison! If you think it's a great place, then you should go there. Don't back people into a corner."
Meng Qingbo had to continue doing odd jobs at the school. Sun Guizhen fabricated many accusations against her and reported that she was an "important target." She was harassed whenever the government felt threatened. Sun Guizhen and the police went to Ms. Meng's home twice to arrest her. She could no longer work due to the harassment. Her family went into exile. Her salary was withheld. Sun Guizhen went to the home of Meng Qingbo's mother-in-law trying to arrest Meng Qingbo, but she was not there. Sun also tried to go to Meng Qingbo's mother's home but he didn't know the location. He then harassed Meng Qingbo's husband at work and pressured him to stop working and look for his wife.
After the family left home, Meng Qingbo's young daughter could not take the pressure and said, "Mom, I would rather die than go to school." She dropped out of middle school.
The family spent each day in fear. When they visited Meng Qingbo's mother-in-law, the old woman feared police arrest and wouldn't let them stay long. Meng Qingbo's family never turns on the light at night and trembles when someone knocks on the door.
Lu, the newly appointed school Party secretary, went to Ms. Meng's husband at the end of September 2003 and promised, "on his honor," that they would not arrest her and that she should return to work. Her husband thought, "How can a Party secretary lie?" He believed Lu and tried to convince his wife to go back to school. She told him that it was a trap but he refused to believe her. He threatened to divorce her, and Meng Qingbo had no choice but to leave the home of her mother-in-law (they lived with her mother-in-law). Her husband was completely shocked when he found out later that the school officials were in fact working with the 610 Office to arrest his wife. He realized his mistake and didn't go through with the divorce.
Ms. Yang Yonglan
Ms. Yang Yonglan used to suffer from heart disease, a duodenal ulcer, ulcerative colitis, rheumatoid arthritis, Meniere's disease, and many other conditions. Medications did not help her, but Falun Gong practice completely cured her and gave her abundant energy. She could handle the heavy workload associated with teaching a graduating ninth grade class. Ms. Yang was a department head and a leading professional in certain subjects in Changchun City.
Yang Yonglan went to Beijing at the end of 1999 to appeal for justice for Falun Gong after Jiang's group began persecuting Falun Gong. She tried to defend Falun Gong through her firsthand experience. She asked a police officer in Tiananmen Square for the location of the Bureau of Letters and Appeals. The officer called for a police car and arrested her. He sent Ms. Yang to a detention center and took her back to Changchun nine days later. The police took her money and claimed to use it to buy sleeper seats on the train, but Yang Yonglan ended up being handcuffed next to a seat on the train and was detained for 15 days in Changchun. The city police department agents interrogated Yang Yonglan. The officers made her squat, with her arms stretched out in front of her, until she was shaking and sweating. After her release, Party Secretary Sun Guizhen went to Ms. Yang's home and demanded to know if she would continue to practice Falun Gong. He threatened to fire her if she persisted.
Yang Yonglan went back to Beijing to appeal again in April 2000 and was arrested in Tiananmen Square. She was taken back to Changchun and held at a custody center.
Ms. Yang held a hunger strike to protest the persecution. She was sentenced to one year of forced labor on the ninth day, when she was extremely weak. She was sent to Heizuizi Forced Labor Camp of Changchun City. Camp Group Head Zhu shocked Ms. Yang with electric baton(s) soon after she entered the 6th Group office. He sent her to a group, where a female inmate kicked her and told her not to look at or speak to anyone. Three months later Yang Yonglan was sent to the 2nd Group, where she was forced to do slave labor from 4:30 a.m. until past 10:00 p.m. each day. People in their 50s and 60s were made to carry and collate book pages and were assigned quotas which they had to fulfill. They had to constantly move their arms. Their fingers bled, their arms swelled, and their chests hurt. The guards attacked people verbally and physically if they paused even briefly.
Yang Yonglan endured abuse at the labor camp for one year. After her release she tried to return to work but Education Bureau officials refused to arrange work for her. They made her stay at the Education Administration Division where everyone could watch her. They also didn't pay her a single penny for the first four months of work. She could not afford to take the bus to work. The school is quite a distance from her home, so she had to ride a bike. Some workplaces have policies whereby they pay their employees a basic salary during the time that they are held at labor camps, but the No. 52 Middle School and the Education Bureau didn't follow the policy and didn't even pay Yang Yonglan for the work she did after she was released.
Yang Yonglan was arrested again on March 11, 2002, during the large-scale arrests in Changchun. She was tortured in Changchun City Police Department. She was bound to a metal chair. The police put bullets between her fingers, handcuffed her arms behind her back, beat and kicked her, blindfolded her, wrapped her head, and dragged her to a basement at Jingyuetan. There, Ms. Yang was immobilized in a metal chair: her legs and feet were affixed to the chair, and the police yanked her arms, which were handcuffed behind her back, downwards. She felt as if her arms were being torn out of their sockets. They also shocked various parts of her body with electric batons. Her neck and face were covered in blisters. Ms. Yang was tortured for a whole night. Her clothes were soaked with tears and sweat and she was incontinent. The burn scars on her chest finally healed one year later. On another occasion, Ms. Yang was interrogated in the middle of the night and was tortured again in the same basement. She was shocked once more with electric batons.
The slave labor was lengthy and onerous in the labor camp. Sometimes the detainees were assigned to make miniature dolls that were sent out for export every 15 days. It was assembly-line work. People who dress the dolls had to stretch their fingers from morning until night. After a while their thumbs swelled and hurt so much that they could not be touched and could not bend. The work each person completed was written on the wall. The guards beat and insulted those who didn't finish on time. When there was less work, or when Jiang Zemin issued a secret order, the guards would try to force the practitioners to write guarantee statements. Threats, sentence extensions, verbal and physical assaults, and brainwashing were all part of the persecution. The guards made practitioners watch TV programs and read false information that slandered Falun Gong.
Guard Liu Lianying once tried to force Ms. Yang Yonglan to write a guarantee statement by shocking her with electric batons. When she collapsed on the floor he ordered her to take some nitroglycerin tablets and continued to shock her. Ms. Yang faced the daily possibility of being tortured to death.
Falun Gong practitioners were brought together on holidays. Inmates assigned to watch the practitioners followed them all the time. The practitioners were made to sit for a whole day with their necks straight. They had to sit like that the entire length of the holiday. The guards supported the inmates, who refused to let the practitioners speak without permission. The practitioners were not allowed to use the restroom, which caused some of them to soil their garments. The group head reported any practitioners that looked at other people.
After her three-year term expired, Yang Yonglan's sister and her sister's husband arrived in a car to pick her up. Right after she had finished the dismissal procedure and stepped out of the front gate, officials from the Erdao District 610 Office, the district police department, and from the Education Bureau and the No. 52 Middle School were waiting outside. They took Ms. Yang to the Xinglongshan Brainwashing Center.
Since the Party began persecuting Falun Gong, Ms. Yang Yonglan had spent five New Years in detention.
Yang Yonglan's parents, both in their 80s, waited anxiously for their daughter's return home. They became bedridden from worry and anguish. Her mother got up ten days later and insisted on visiting her daughter at the brainwashing center. She cried and said, "If I don't see her now, I probably will never see her again."
Falun Gong practitioners are individually detained at the brainwashing center. There is a one-way glass partition on the door that allows guards to look inside but the practitioners cannot look out. Strict physical constraints are placed on the practitioners, who are forced to sit for a whole day with their legs stretched out straight. Yang Yonglan crossed her legs once to take a break. The guards entered the room and said she was doing a Falun Gong exercise and told her to straighten her legs. She said, "It's in people's nature to change positions. Is it against the law to cross my legs?"
Yang Yonglan's husband was devastated by her repeated detentions. He worried about their daughter studying in another province and also about his wife in the brainwashing class. He couldn't eat or sleep well. When he went home, he turned on all the lights and the TV [to help dispel the frustration]. He suffers from severe stomach disease but can't afford surgery. He is also afflicted with increasingly severe insomnia. When he couldn't fall asleep he wandered the streets and went home when he was exhausted. He suffered a near nervous breakdown and had proposed divorce. Yang Yonglan agreed to relieve his suffering. She left him and their daughter, leaving them all of their worldly goods. One time during winter break, her husband took their daughter and visited Yang Yonglan. They bought a 60-yuan meal, but soon after they started eating, several police officers approached them and began insulting Ms. Yang. Her husband and daughter ran away in fear.
Yang Yonglan received only a few months' pay between 2000 and 2005. She was also frequently detained. Her husband became the major breadwinner. He had to pay for their daughter's tuition in high school and in college. He also bought many things when he went to visit her. At first he could not afford the 10,000-yuan tuition for his daughter. He was 50 years old and suffering from a severe stomach ulcer, but he sold his blood twice and received 1,000 yuan in compensation, which he used to pay for part of the tuition.
Sun Guizhen said to practitioners Ms. Liu Guichun and Ms. Meng Qingbo, "All teachers in the Erdo District who practice Falun Gong must travel to Sijiazi." But when Ms. Liu and Ms. Meng arrived at Sijiazi they were the only teachers there and were held there indefinitely. Several days later, Education Bureau Party Secretary Zhou Chengchun went to Sijiazi. Liu Guichun and Meng Qingbo asked to talk to him. He refused, and insulted them. The two practitioners said, "It's illegal to detain people without evidence. We want to go back!" Zhou Chengchun said, "If you leave, we'll fire you." Zhou Chengchun and Sun Guizhen pulled the practitioners back. After pulling on the two practitioners, Sun Guizhen could not lift her arm(s). Her health deteriorated and she is now bedridden. During the time she worked as Party secretary, she actively followed Jiang's group in persecuting faculty members who practice Falun Gong. She has now received karmic retribution. Ms. Liu Guichun and Ms. Meng Qingbo were denied their titles as senior advanced teachers after school officials were pressured by the Education Bureau officials.
In the past several years, these four teachers had large portions of
their salaries withheld. The Education Bureau and school officials
conspired to withhold at least four years' worth of these teachers'
salaries. The practitioners have lived under tremendous pressure, both
financially and psychologically.
Ms. Zhao Wei is 25 years old. She is from Jilin City. She started practicing Falun Gong in 1998.
On November 4, 2006, Zhao Wei was arrested by Longtan and Tuchengzi Police Stations, and Longtan National Security Bureau in Jilin City. The policemen handcuffed Ms. Zhao and ransacked her home. It happened when a neighbor of Ms. Zhao's was passing by her residence and saw that the lights were on. The neighbor wanted to see who was inside. But before the neighbor even knew it, the policemen dragged her inside Zhao Wei's home and started to interrogate her. After that, the policemen let the neighbor watch them ransack Ms. Zhao's home claiming that she could be their eye witness. They took Zhao Wei's desktop computer, laptop, two printers, two color printers, a copy machine that was worth over 10,000 yuan, 2,800 yuan cash, two savings account booklets (with over 2,000 yuan of savings), and some other items. Those who were involved in arresting Zhao Wei included Ai Yuedong and Wang Qiupo.
On November 5, 2006, Zhao Wei was detained at Tuchengzi Police Station. When her family members rushed to the station, they saw that Zhao Wei was being closely monitored by a policewoman. At about 9:00 p.m. that day, Zhao Wei was transferred to Jilin City Detention Center. Although Zhao Wei had already been detained, the policemen still kept harassing her neighbor. They even went as far as ransacking the neighbor's residence, but did not get what they were looking for. On November 6, two policemen went to Zhao Wei's neighbor again, claiming that they needed her at the police station to identify a person. They repeatedly emphasized that it was part of the legal procedure.
Zhao Wei refused to cooperate with the guards at the detention center. She held a hunger strike to protest against the illegal imprisonment. The guards and the doctors of the center brutally force-fed her. They even force-fed her with hot pepper-laced water.
Longtanzi Local Police Station |
Jilin Detention Center |
At least three Falun Gong practitioners in Daozhen County, Guizhou Province, were illegally arrested at the beginning of July. Chuang Qiang and Ms. Wang were each sentenced to four years in prison. Practitioner Tu Jian has been detained for nearly three months. Practitioners who see this news, please help rescue these practitioners.
Daozhen County's full name is "Daozhen Ethnic Qilao and Miao Autonomous County." It is located on the border of Sichuan Province and Guizhou Province. Before the persecution began, there were over 36 practitioners in the region. Afterwards, the local authorities actively persecuted practitioners. Under pressure, many practitioners gave up cultivation. The determined practitioners who remained had difficulty contacting practitioners in other areas. Because they are so isolated, the arrests above did not become known to other practitioners until several months later. This has been the only news about the Daozhen County practitioners in recent years.
In Chinese, "Daozhen" means a place where people speak the truth. However, practitioners in this area who cultivate "Truth-Compassion-Tolerance" are being persecuted for exposing the truth about the situation there. As a result, it is difficult for locals in the region to get the facts about Falun Gong and to learn about the current wave of withdrawals from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its affiliated organizations. The officials there are also deceived and doing things to stymie practitioners' efforts. The arrest of these few practitioners has paralyzed the truth clarification efforts in this area. We hope that practitioners overseas will call the local officials and clarify the truth to them. We hope practitioners everywhere can help send forth righteous thoughts and rescue the arrested practitioners.
The 2nd Women's Branch of Masanjia Forced Labor Camp was
specifically established for the
persecution of Falun Gong practitioners. The Chinese Communist Party
regime views the facility as superior, complete and up-to-date.
At this time, nearly 200 Falun Gong practitioners are imprisoned inside this camp. Fifty to sixty stout and hefty prison guards are stationed inside this No. 2 Women's Forced Labor Camp. From September 1, their mandate is to achieve 100% "transformation" of those practitioners who refuse to cooperate with the evil and renounce Falun Gong or wear a prison uniform. In the wake of this mandate, their persecution and torture methods have been most cruel and inhuman; day and night, violent and brutal techniques are used. The "transformed" person is forced to cook meals for the police even late at night.
The sound of beating and cursing is deafening. The torture and persecution methods applied to those that refuse to renounce Falun Gong are most cruel, and include placing practitioners on the "dead person's bed", "squatting the trumpet", and being forced to listen to recordings of defamatory materials that slander Falun Gong as well as Master Li. To add to the chaos and confusion, those whom the police "transform" collaborate and conspire with the police to intensify the torture of steadfast Falun Gong practitioners.
The most brutal torture method is "the great hanging" method. One hand is handcuffed to the upper rung of one bed while the other hand is handcuffed on the lower rung of another bed; with the legs tied, both shoulders are fully extended, one higher than the other, making it impossible to stand or squat. This torture method is extremely uncomfortable; the victims are not allowed to eat or drink, nor visit the restroom. Most soil their pants. Practitioner Wang Guiping was hung in this position for over thirty hours; her wrists were bleeding and badly bruised. Unable to withstand the torture, she was compelled to write the three statements renouncing the practice.
In another torture method, the subject is tied up on a dead person's bed to undergo forced drug injections. Practitioners including Shi Guirong and others were tortured by policeman Ma Qishan and Doctor Cao by the great hanging method. Ms. Shi was then tied up on the dead person's bed to undergo forced drug injections. Since she refused to cooperate with the evil, the torturers put a spring in her mouth to pry it open to force-feed the drugs. The drugs were highly concentrated. They also said the forced drug feeding would "invalidate her practice."
The two collaborators Zhao Yonghua and Yuan Suzhen are cooperating with the evil in the vicious persecution of practitioners who are firm in their belief. As soon as a group is forced to accept "transformation," another group is sent in to continue the "reform". For those who refuse to be "transformed," the torture methods are vicious and unimaginable. Practitioners are hung up by ropes, pulled up and let fall repeatedly to the ground. They also tie up practitioners on the dead person's bed to undergo forced feeding. A policewoman with the surname Chen barbarically performs forced feeding on practitioners. She deliberately inserts the forced feeding tube into the practitioner's nose and down the stomach with such force that the tube is covered with blood when it is taken out.
Several "reformed" people also help the guards to monitor every move and action of Falun Gong practitioners. At the end of the day's hard labor, normally after 9:00 p.m., the guards usually allow the practitioners to retire to their beds. These collaborators instead continue to force practitioners to work until midnight. There were no exceptions for any of the practitioners that were sent there for persecution. The persecution techniques include slandering Falun Gong and Master Li by referencing material from Falun Gong books out of context on a non-stop basis, forcing practitioners to listen, and compelling them to write the "three statements" to accept "transformation." If practitioners refuse, the persecutors continue their slandering tactics without respite on a rotational basis until midnight, to wear out the practitioners.
Among the practitioners that were persecuted, the oldest was 67 years old. Within the Women's Second Reeducation Center, the 1st Group was disbanded. The 2nd Group detained several dozen people, while the 3rd Group had more than one hundred. Every day the detainees were fed moldy corn flour noodles, black steamed buns supplemented with less than half an earthen bowl of vegetable soup made out of rotten vegetables. Sand and other materials were routinely found in the soup.
At this time, persecution is still taking place inside the 2nd Women's Branch of Masanjia Forced Labor Camp. Falun Gong practitioners Shen Yuelin, Xin Suhua and others are confined there and being brutally persecuted. We call on all kindhearted people to voice their concern and provide support to stop this evil persecution and rescue all the practitioners that are illegally detained inside the Masanjia Labor Camp and other labor camps throughout China.
On October 24, Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Luo Siying, 56 years old, from the Dadong District, Shenyang, Liaoning Province, was illegally arrested from her home by the police from the Heping District National Security Team. She is now imprisoned in the Shenyang Jail.
Ms. Luo was an accountant at the Shenyang Chinese Medicine Factory and is now retired. She began to practice Falun Gong in 1996. On the first day that she practiced Falun Gong her body felt healthier. From this experience she knew that this cultivation practice was effective. Studying the principles of Falun Gong and cultivating her heart and mind, she became more kindhearted and selfless. At her company, she completed her tasks carefully and conscientiously, fulfilled her duties, worked hard, and was not upset by criticism. Ms. Luo followed Falun Gong's principles. When she had a disagreement with others, she looked within for her own problems. When meeting with conflict she looked for her own shortcomings, considered others more, and became a person who always thought about others. Ms. Luo's outlook on life was greatly improved and at the same time she obtained a healthy body. Her longstanding bout with hepatitis B disappeared without treatment.
Last October, another practitioner was arrested. The police searched her belongings and obtained Ms. Luo's telephone number. On the evening of October 24, five officers from the Heping District National Security Team went to Ms. Luo's home. At that time, Ms. Luo's husband was repairing a door, and the door was open. These five people rushed into the room. They showed Ms. Luo their IDs, and then they began to search the place. They arrested Ms. Luo and confiscated Falun Gong books, pictures of Master, a computer, an MP3 player, leaflets, and other personal belongings.
Ms. Luo had a happy family. Her husband works at the Educational Department and is an honest person. Her daughter, Linlin, graduated from a university and works as a technician in a big company. She is a good daughter. This family has now been broken up, and their happiness is only a memory.
The 28th of October was Linlin's marriage celebration day. When the relatives and friends came to attend the wedding ceremony found out that Ms. Luo had been arrested just before her daughter was to be married, they were shocked and condemned the Chinese Communist Party's tactics.
Note: The following is a shortened version of a longer and more detailed article that appeared on the Minghui website, the Chinese version of Clearwisdom.
On November 16, 2006, Falun Gong practitioner Zhang Guodong, who worked at Yilan County Water Bureau of Heilongjiang Province, was sent to the Wanjia Forced Labor Camp. The county police sent him there and gave him an eighteen-month-sentence.
On the morning of September 28, Zhang Wenguo and Song Yuzhe from the National Security Group of Yilan County Police Department arrested Zhang Guodong while he was at work. The person second in command of the Wuguocheng Local Police Station also participated in the arrest. Officers also searched Zhang Guodong's home.
On October 19, Zhang Wenguo and Song Yuzhe put Zhang Guodong in a room. His clothes were pulled over his head and three officers from the Harbin police department beat him. They threatened that they would arrest his wife and younger sister.
On November 3, Zhang Guodong was sent to a place called Xiaoshulin (meaning Little Forest) located somewhere in Harbin City for further persecution. Zhang Guodong had reported the abuse and torture he endured during his previous arrest to the Procuratorate. This current arrest was in retaliation. Angry police officers forced Zhang Guodong to sit in a torture-chair for 48 consecutive hours. They told Zhang Guodong: "Two people who practice Falun Gong have already died in this torture chair. We don't mind to have you as an addition."