Issued by Clearwisdom Net

In July 2006, Jilin Prison officials began denying Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Zhang Hongwei's family's visitation rights for three months.

Mr. Zhang Hongwei refused to give up practicing Falun Gong and was savagely tortured at the Jilin Prison. He was held in solitary confinement for two years and five months, during which the guards immobilized him in a bed and further tortured him with a method called the Big Hang Up. [1] They brutally beat him, and his current condition is critical. He was diagnosed with type III tuberculosis of the lungs, pleurisy and heart disease. The Prison Administration Bureau also rejected Zhang Hongwei's application for medical parole, because Zhang Hongwei's lungs are not perforated. They then denied Zhang Hongwei's family's right to visit him. Wang, an officer in the Education Section, said Zhang Hongwei could no longer eat. Perhaps this is the reason the prison authorities do not allow family visits.

Falun Gong practitioner Zhang Hongwei

Zhang Hongwei's mother-in-law took Zhang Hongwei's child to Jilin Prison on July 14 to see him. The authorities told them that they were not allowed to visit for three months. When asked who made the decision, the officials said the prison did. Zhang Hongwei's family called the Education Section, Prison Administration Section and the head of the prison, but no one answered the phone. The Education Section and the group where Zhang Hongwei is held both said that the section head, the guards and the group head were not available. Other family members went to the prison and waited outside the office building. They saw the guards from the group where Zhang Hongwei was held, and they also saw Wang Yuanchun from the Education Section. Wang Yuanchun said the reception office didn't allow visits because the family had said something that they were not supposed to say on their previous visit to the prison. The "inappropriate" thing the family uttered that led to the barring of visitations turned out to be the word "cultivation."

Liu Wei, deputy head of Jilin Prison

Wang Yanling, head of the reception office at Jilin Prison

The family went back to the prison on July 17, but was again turned away. The family talked to Liu Wei, deputy head of the prison, and asked to see Zhang Hongwei's x-rays. Liu Wei said, "The family doesn't have the right to see those." The family confronted Liu Wei about locking Zhang Hongwei in solitary confinement for two years. Liu Wei denied it and said, "Don't believe rumors."

The family went back to the prison on July 19 and asked Liu Wei to repeal the visitation ban. The family asked, "Why can't we meet with Zhang Hongwei?" Liu Wei said, "You know very well what you said." The family said, "We only mentioned the word 'cultivation.' It's a word that exists in Buddhism and Taoism, why can't Falun Gong practitioners say it?" Liu Wei said, "A prison has its rules. I'm just following the laws of this country." The family said, "Show us the laws you are referring to." Liu Wei said, "You have no right [to see those laws]." The family said, "If you didn't detain him in solitary confinement for two years while you physically and verbally abused him, would he currently be in such a critical physical condition? The public regulation for guards states that you are not allowed to physically or verbally hurt detainees, abuse them, or subject them to corporal punishment." Liu Wei said, "We didn't beat him." The family said, "If you say you didn't beat him, let's bring Zhang Hongwei out right now and ask him." Liu Wei said, "You have no right to do so."

Wang Dehui, head of the Punishment Division at the Jilin Province Prison Administration Bureau

Zhang Hongwei's application for medical parole was delivered to the prison administration bureau after May 1, 2006. Around May 20, 2006, Zhang Hongwei's family went to Wang Dehui, head of the Punishment Division at the Jilin Province Prison Administration Bureau. They went to talk to him for four days, but he refused to approve it. On the fifth day, the family petitioned Bai Xuejie at the Punishment Division, but he said, "We may not approve medical parole. There are documents that set requirements for us. We can only approve it if his lungs are perforated or if he coughs blood." The family asked, "Wouldn't he be near death if he was in that condition? Who will take the responsibility if something happens to him?" Bai Xuejie said, "No one!"

The family asked Wang Dehui the next day whether he has approved the application. He replied, "I'm telling you that I didn't approve it! Go ahead and sue me!" Zhang Hongwei's wife said, "My father passed away because the Judicial Bureau didn't approve his application for medial parole." Wang Dehui said, "That has nothing to do with me." The family said, "We'll hold you responsible if anything happens!"

Song Wenhua, Zhang Hongwei's father-in-law, in critical condition

Song Wenhua died from illness because the prison administration bureau didn't approve his application for medical parole

Zhang Hongwei is in grave condition and can die at any time, and yet the Prison Administration Bureau and Jilin Prison still refuse to release him. They used all kinds of excuses to deceive his family. Liu Wei, deputy head of the prison, refused to let the family look at Zhang Hongwei's chest x-rays and said, "You have no right." Zhang Hongwei's family is his legal representative, and they have the right to know Zhang Hongwei's situation when his life and personal freedom are threatened. Liu Wei is responsible for Zhang Hongwei's illness and will be held accountable for the injuries and subsequent consequences the prison has caused Zhang Hongwei.

[1] Big Hang Up: During this torture, Falun Gong practitioners' hands are handcuffed and then pulled from behind the back and hung up on a hook high above the ground. The feet are made to hang just above the floor. Practitioners that are hung up frequently have reported passing out from the pain.

Qiu Xi'e was a Falun Gong practitioner in Miluo City, Hunan Province. In June 2006, she was arrested and taken to Hubin Brainwashing Center in Yueyang City by the 610 Office of Miluo City. She was persecuted for more than twenty days there, and she died on July 9, 2006. The following account describes what she suffered before she died.

Ms. Qiu Xi'e, a 69-year-old retiree from Miluo Steel Cube Factory at Hunan province, was a Falun Gong practitioner. In December 1999, on her way to Beijing to clarify the truth, she was arrested and detained by lawless Chinese Communist Party (CCP) members. For refusing to disclose her name and address, she was beaten so viciously that she could not open her swollen eyes. Then she was illegally detained for more than twenty days by the police department of Miluo City. In addition, the 610 Office and the Political Security Department of Miluo city fined her 9,000 yuan.

In 2002, Qiu Xi'e was arrested in her home and persecuted for more than twenty days by Tan Xiankang, the chief of Miluo City State Security Department, and Wu Yuxian, the ex-chief of same department. They fined her a few thousand this time.

On April 25, 2004, while distributing truth-clarifying materials, Qiu Xi'e was turned in by the Tianheng Supermarket and arrested by the State Security Department. Tang Xiankang interrogated her unlawfully and slapped her face twice when Qiu yelled, "Falun Dafa is good!"

In 2005, Wu Yuxian, the ex-chief of the State Security Department, arrested and detained Qiu for a month after someone informed him about Qiu's distributing truth clarification fliers.

In March 2006, someone reported that Qiu had distributed truth-clarifying flyers in Gupei County, and she was illegally arrested and detained for nineteen days by Peng Weining, the deputy chief of Gupei Police Station and the chief of Miluo State Security Department. After being released, Qiu was blackmailed that either she could submit thousands of yuan to the City 610 Office, or she would be sent to the brainwashing center. She has been arrested and put under persecution seven times.

In mid-June of this year, Qiu was arrested and taken to Hubin Brainwashing Center in Yueyang County by Yang Zhongshu, Zhuo (surname), chief and deputy chief of the City 610 Office, together with Chen (surname) from Chengguan County. Qiu was forced to watch the video about defaming Falun Gong. In less than a month, she lost consciousness after being put under intense pressure. On the night of July 8, she was sent to Yueyang Second Hospital for emergency rescue, but it was too late, as she passed away the next morning. When her families and the public in her neighborhood demanded compensation, the City 610 Office paid 100,000 yuan and claimed that Qiu had died from a stroke.

Mr. Li Jinyu from Guojiazhuangzi Village, Zhaoyuan City, Shandong Province started practicing Falun Gong in 1996. Before then, doctors had told him he had little time to live, and he was waiting to die in a hospital. After he began practicing Falun Gong in 1996, he miraculously recovered. In the fall of 1999, he went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong. In the Dongying sector of Beijing, he was arrested by police and taken back to Zhaoyuan City for brainwashing at the police detention center. Later on, he was persecuted many times, causing great damage to his body and mind. He died on December 21, 2000.

Ms. Wang Guilan, 70, a practitioner who lived on Fifth Street, Zhuozhou City, Hebei Province, was arrested and taken to the Shuangta Police Station. Police officers from the station and the Shuangta Residence Committee participated in the arrest. Because she refused to give up practicing Falun Gong, they beat Ms. Wang and later transferred her to the Nanma Brainwashing Center to be "transformed." After they blackmailed her for approximately 3,000 yuan, they released her with her family member's guarantee that she would stop practicing. Even then, the authorities did not stop harassing and threatening her. Wang Guilan passed away in 2005.

Mr. Liang Yanjun and his wife Wang Shumin resided on Fifth Street, Zhuozhou City, Hebei Province. They both were steadfastly practiced Falun Gong. In 2001, officers from the Shuangta Police Station and the Residence Committee and national security agents from Renhe District arrested them. Mr. and Mrs. Liang were held and persecuted in a detention center. Because they refused to give up cultivation practice, they too were transferred to the Nanma Brainwashing Center for forced "transformation." After being threatened and harassed for a long time, their former illnesses reappeared, and Mr. and Mrs. Liang left this world in June 2005.

Ms. Wang Guiqin, 73, who lived in Baoan Village, Nongfeng District, Shuangcheng City, Heilongjiang Province, started practicing Falun Gong in 1998, and her daughter also practiced. Since July 20, 1999, Nongfeng District' police officers have harassed her family and arrested her daughter. They caused serious damage to her daughter's body and mind. She died in April 2004.

Ms. Han Wenfeng, 64, who resided in Nongfeng Village, Nongfeng District, Shuangcheng City, Heilongjiang Province, started practicing Falun Gong in 1996. After she began the practice, illnesses she had for many years disappeared. Twice, she went to Beijing to appeal to the government to stop the persecution of Falun Gong. The first time she went was in February 2000. She was imprisoned in the Shuangcheng City Detention Center for one month and blackmailed for 2,000 yuan. The second time was in November 2001. The authorities arrested her and imprisoned her in the Shuangcheng Detention Center for five months. They released Ms. Han after she paid a 2,000 yuan ransom. Due to severe persecution, her previous illnesses relapsed. Ms. Han passed away in December 2005.

Mr. Chen Shoucai, 65, resided in Nongfeng Village, Nongfeng District, Shuangcheng City, Heilongjiang Province. He started practicing Falun Gong in 1998, and many of his illnesses disappeared. Once the Chinese Communist Party started persecuting Falun Gong, Party members frequently harassed him. Also, his daughter was imprisoned. Because of the extreme pressure that caused great damage to his body and mind, he died in May 2004.

Harbin Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Meng Qingying is a retired Russian Language teacher at Harbin 28th middle school. Ms. Meng had already been practicing Falun Gong for some time before the persecution began on July 20, 1999 and her health was always good. In September 2005, she was reported to the authorities by someone when explaining the facts about the persecution. She was later seized by the Daoli police department and forcefully sent to labor camp for a year. According to the law, an over 60 year-old person should not be sentenced to a labor camp, but the Chinese Communist Party has no regard for law or humanity when it comes to the persecution of Falun Gong. Thus the 67-year-old Ms. Meng was sentenced to labor camp anyway.

As soon as Meng Qingying arrived at Wanjia labor camp, the guards tried to forcefully "reform" her. They forced her to recite the "13 regulations" and "oath" which are slanderous to the founder of Falun Gong and Falun Gong. Ms. Meng firmly safeguarded Falun Gong and refused to accept the instruction from the evil. Labor camp guards Wu Hongxun forced her to sit on an iron chair for four days. The persecution caused edema of her leg and foot but Meng Qingying still did not submit. Later, the guards covered her head and gagged her mouth, hung her up with some heavy items tied to her feet, then beat her with an electric baton, causing her to lose control of her bowels. When Yu Fangli, a female guard, looked into Meng's trousers, she even lied and tried to shame her by saying that Ms. Meng had a skin disease and needed to change her clothes. The guards used an electric baton to shock Meng Qingying, causing her skin to bruise and turn purple.

Meng Qingying has already turned 68 years old in 2006, but Wanjia labor camp still continues to persecute her. Since April 2006, Meng Qingying has been diagnosed as having serious brain stem injuries and blockages in her spine several times by the medical college hospital, but Wanjia labor camp still does not release her and continues to persecute her.

The guards participating in the persecution include Wu Hongxun (training center unit chief), Wu Baoyun, Guan Jie, Yao Fuchang, Yu Fangli.

On July 20, 1999, Jiang Zemin's regime started to persecute Falun Gong. The Forced Labor Camp at Tieling City in Liaoning Province followed the orders of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the 610 Office, and in November 1999 set up a team to illegally detain female Falun Gong practitioners who went to Beijing many times to appeal for justice for Falun Gong.

After the Women's Team of Tieling Labor Camp was set up, over 20 female Falun Gong practitioners were illegally detained there, including Li Yuqin, Liu Shuyuan, Jia Liwen, Jin Shuzi, Xu Lanfang, Sun Hongyan, Gao Hongguang, Xu Caiyan, Hu Ying, Jin Zhenyu, Tan Qi, Chen Yuzhi, Zhang Shuxia, Zhang Hua, Zhang Yan, Liu Bing, Chen Qi, Wang Caiyan, Yin Loping, Li Wending, Ren Fenghua, Dai Jing, Chen Ying, Liu Fei, and Liu Jun. During their illegal detention, Falun Gong practitioners were frequently verbally abused. Shortly after being taken to the labor camp, all of the female practitioners were forced to take off their clothes, leaving only their underwear on or sometimes nothing at all, in the name of searching for Falun Gong books and new articles.

The director, surnamed Li, female guard Wang Zhibin, and other staff of Tieling Labor Camp followed the secret directives from the CCP Central Committee, which state: "If Falun Gong practitioners are beaten to death, there will be no consequences, and the bodies will be cremated directly without identification." They brutally tortured the detained Falun Gong practitioners. One day in December 1999, Wang Zhibin dragged Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Liu Bing, who was practicing the Falun Gong exercises, into the duty room and handcuffed her. Shortly after, another practitioner, Ms. Jin Zhenyu, was also taken to the duty room for insisting on practicing the exercises. Wang Zhibin held an electric baton and asked them, "Do you know what this is? Today I will let you personally experience it." She put a few bottle caps on the table and used the electric baton to shock the bottle caps. The electric discharges made the bottle caps jump on the table with a lot of sparks. Wang Zhibin then used the electric baton to shock the front and back sides of Ms. Jin Zhenyu's hands, and forced Ms. Jin to hold the electric baton in her hand. Wang Zhibin kept shocking Ms. Jin Zhenyu and angrily shouted, "Will you still continue practicing?" Ms. Jin Zhenyu firmly answered, "I will practice." Wang Zhibin wildly shocked Ms. Jin until she exhausted herself. Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Liu Bing witnessed this incident. Next, Wang Zhibin asked Ms. Liu Bing, "Will you still continue practicing?" Ms. Liu Bing said, "I will practice." Wang Zhibin then shocked Ms. Liu. On the second day, Wang Zhibin also dragged practitioner Ms. Gao Hongguang to the duty room and used an electric baton to shock 'her hands. When Ms. Gao refused to give in, Wang pressed her onto a chair and violently shocked 'her neck.

Wang Zhibin often told practitioners about the orders the camp had received from the Central Committee of the CCP, saying: "If you die here, people outside won't ever know it. Our superiors have told practitioners, 'If we guards beat you to death, we don't need to take any responsibility. Your death is nothing.'" Under such an inhuman, genocidal policy, the guards unscrupulously tortured Falun Gong practitioners.

One day in December, the director of the labor camp said that the guards were not being ruthless enough when torturing Falun Gong practitioners, requiring him to monitor them personally. He had the guards perform the orders from above and use torture to "transform" Falun Gong practitioners, and ordered the guards to "give a good performance." Director Li then sat nearby to watch Wang Zhibin and other female guards torture Falun Gong practitioners. They locked up Falun Gong practitioners in a room to keep them from escaping. Then they took practitioners one by one to a small room, locked the door and tortured them. They used electric batons to shock practitioner Ms. Jia Liwen's breasts, torso and back to force her to give in and renounce Falun Gong. However, Ms. Jia was very steadfast. After the guards became tired of shocking Ms. Jia, they started to shock Ms. Liu Shuyuan, Ms. Xu Lanfang, and others. Ms. Jia Liwen, Ms. Liu Shuyuan and Ms. Liu Lanfang were in their 'fifties and they were shocked until they were barely conscious. Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Chen Yuzhi was also over 50 years old. Wang Zhibin first used one electric baton to shock her breasts, torso and arms, and asked her, "Will you still continue practicing?" Ms. Chen Yuzhi answered, "Yes." Wang Zhibin then started to use two electric batons to shock Ms. Chen's breasts and back. Wang kept shocking Ms. Chen until Ms. Chen passed out.

At that time, among the detained practitioners, there were a mother and daughter, Ms. Jin Shuzi (mother) and Ms. Jin Zhenyu (daughter), and two pairs of sisters: Ms. Liu Fei (elder sister) and Ms. Liu Jun (younger sister), and Ms. Zhang Hua (elder sister) and Ms. Zhang Yan (younger sister). When the guards tortured one of these practitioners, they would force her family member to witness and hear her cries of agony. Wang Zhibin dragged Ms. Jin Zhenyu into a small room. At that time, 27-year-old Ms. Jin Zhenyu was extremely weak due to the long-term illegal detention in Beijing, weighing only about 40 kilograms' (approximately 88 pounds). Several policewomen pressed her against a chair and Wang Zhibin used the electric baton to wildly shock Ms. Jin's neck, sometimes holding the electric baton on one spot for a long time. They also forced Ms. Jin's mother to stay outside and listen to the sound of the electric shocking, using this cruel method to try to force the mother and daughter to give in. When Jin Zhenyu did not even cry, Wang Zhibin felt helpless before Director Li. Wang became more extreme and continued shocking Ms. Jin until her' neck became red, swollen and covered in bruises. Next, they also forced Ms. Liu Fei and Ms. Liu Jun into the small room. When they tortured Liu Fei, they forced her sister Liu Jun to watch it, and then had Liu Fei watch them torture Liu Jun. Ms. Zhang Hua and Ms. Zhang Yan had been detained in Beijing for several months, where they had received all kinds of torture for refusing to report their names. At Tieling, several guards used electric batons to shock them continuously for 3-4 hours, and also detained Zhang Yan in a small cell.

The Tieling Labor Camp followed orders from above to draw up a list of detained practitioners' names, marking an "X" next to the names of those who continued practicing Falun Gong and a check mark for those who had stopped. Those with an "X" were continually tortured. One particular means of torture was known as "standing against the wall." 'This method involved forcing people to lean their heads against a wall while their bodies remained away from the wall, their feet facing straight ahead. The labor camp also forced practitioners to perform excessive labor in order to further pressure them to give up their belief. During the cold winter, the labor camp forced female practitioners to dig a large ditch using pickaxes. At that time the soil was frozen solid, and some of the supervising guards' feet became badly frozen. The practitioners doing this work were so exhausted that they could not even straighten their backs, but the guards still kept shouting at them and forced them to continue.

The labor camp often forced practitioners to attend meetings, where they were intimidated by having to listen to announcements of orders from the Central Committee, such as, "Falun Gong (practitioners) are to be physically eliminated." The 610 Office continued criticizing the labor camp for being too "lenient" on practitioners, and ordered the labor camp to put iron bars on the windows and use cloth to block out all light, leaving practitioners detained in the dark, feeling hopeless and constantly under torment. At the same time, the Tieling Labor Camp forced them to undergo brainwashing sessions, as well as sing songs with lyrics such as, "Communism is good," and, "There would not be a new China without the Party." If anyone refused to sing these songs, they were tortured.

Ms. Yu Jingxia, a Falun Gong practitioner from Shijiazhuang City, is currently detained in the 3rd Group of the Hebei Women's Prison located at Tongzhi Town, Luquan City. Because of her faith in Falun Gong and firm refusal to be brainwashed and "transformed", she has suffered long-term physical and mental torture. She is very weak, suffering from edema and heart disease. She frequently has difficulties in breathing and her life is in imminent danger.

The prison authorities assign four criminals to monitor Ms. Yu in turns 24 hours a day. They stare at her all the time even when she is sleeping. When she was arrested, she showed symptoms of heart disease. The prison authorities know that she needs to be sent to a hospital for surgery, but they only let her receive infusion treatment in the prison. Her family members are very worried and have tried in many ways to request for her to be released on bail for medical treatment. But the prison authorities have obstructed them by every means.

Guards Sun and Gu from the prison are very cruel. Sun was the head of the 3rd Group and Gu was the team head. Sun had prohibited Ms. Yu's family from meeting her and sending her things for over six months. Even when the head of the prison and the political head allowed Ms. Yu's family to meet her, Sun still prevented them from seeing her. Under her family's continuous requests, she finally allowed them to meet Ms. Yu in June. Sun even more strongly objected to Ms. Yu's release on bail for medical treatment. She claimed that she couldn't take the responsibility.