Latest News from China - 08/17/2000

[Hebei Province] Human Rights Violations in Laishui County of Hebei Province

August 10, 2000, over 60 practitioners (most of them were females) from Laishui County went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong. After they were picked up by the local government, they were detained in the yard of the Communist Party School of Laishui County. The local government used sticks, clubs and steel rope etc to beat up practitioners.

Practitioner Lu Yufang, female, 43 years old, and many other practitioners from Dongguan Village, were wounded all over the body. Practitioner Liu Quanying, female, 37 years old, the deputy director of the County Appealing Office, and Zhang Er (female, 50 years old, an employee from the decorated clothes factory) have been sent to the detention center and they are not allowed to be visited by their family members. The tortures against practitioners are still going on.

Around July 21, 2000, 10 practitioners got detained in the detention center; 5 of them were detained for going to Beijing to make appeals, and the other five was arrested because the local government was afraid that they might go to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong.

The Detention Center of Laishui County Tel: [phone].
The chief of the police department, Tan Shuping, Tel: [phone].
The secretary of the Discipline Inspection Committee of the police department, Liu Yuehua, Tel: [phone].
The Political Security Section of the police department, Liu Haichun, Tel: [phone].

July 2, 2000, Zhang Jixian (female, 50 years old), a practitioner from the Wayao Village, got detained in the local Chengguan Township Government and was monitored by some assigned people because the local government feared that she might go to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong. Around July 21, practitioner Cao Xiaoling (female, 50 years old) and another 7 practitioners from Dongguan Village got detained in the Chengguan Township government. They have not been released yet. They all suffered cruel tortures because they refused to give up their beliefs.

The Secretary of the Chengguan Town, Hu Yuxiang, Tel: [phone].
The police station of the Chengguan Town Tel: [phone].

Wei Fenglan (female, 42 years old), a practitioner from Xianglongan Village of Songge Town, and dozens of fellow practitioners were brutally tortured in the County Military Training Field for about one month. In addition, she was fined 5,000 Yuan. In this April, the local village government detained several practitioners from the neighboring village (Wangge Town) including Zhao Liangui, because they got together at a practitioner's home to chat with each other. Ms. Wei went to the local government to tell the communist officials that they were committing wrongdoings by detaining those innocent practitioners. She then was arrested again and tortured for another 10 days and was imposed a fine of 3,000 Yuan. In this July, the Township government detained her and another practitioner again. In the beginning, the government ordered their family members to send them food. Later, the government did not allow them to do so. On the night of July 19, 2000, they two escaped by digging a hole under the railing door when the guards were sleeping. They then went to the Tiananmen Square to expose to the world the injustice against Falun Dafa, and got detained afterwards in the county detention center.

The Secretary of the Songge Town, Ji Jianzhong, Tel: [phone].
The police station of the SonggeTown Tel: [phone].

[Hebei] The Sufferings of a female practitioner from Shijiazhuang City

I am from Shijiazhuang City of Hebei Province. On July 30, 2000, I went to Tiananmen Square to practice Falun Dafa, in order to verify the righteousness of my belief. The police took me to the Qianmen Police Station. I refused to tell them my personal information such as name and address. The Beijing police thought that I was from Shandong Province judging from my tone, so they transferred me to the Liaison Office of Weifang City of Shandong Province for further handling. I told the police that I was not from Shandong Province, neither from Weifang City, but the police refused to listen to me. Upon arriving the Weifang Liaison Office, they started to search my bag carefully for money. Later, they stripped me off to search for money. They did not let me wear my clothes until they found the money. Then 4 people, 2 males and 2 females, started to "interrogate" me. As I stood there, a person gave me a kick and I fell down. He then pulled me up by holding my hairs, another man seized me by the back of my neck, and meanwhile, twist my hands to the back, and asked me how old I was. I told him that I was 44 years old. He then asked me where I came from. I did not answer him. They then bumped my head against the wall. I still refused to answer him. He then put me on a bed facing downwards. Then, He stepped on my back and pulled my upper body backwards as far as he could. I was almost choked to death. He did that for three times. He even said that he would strip my clothes, but I still refused to tell him where I came from. He then pulled me down to the ground. His right hand seized the back of my neck, and his left leg stepped on my thigh firmly and moved back and forth. I felt extremely painful. I told him that he should not torture us like this since we had nothing wrong. He said, "You could go to appeal. The higher authorities told us to do so." They continued to torture me. They plugged a lighting cigarette into my nose and forced me to smoke it by covering my mouth. After I finished smoking one cigarette, they plugged another one into my nose [Note from Editor: Falun Gong advocates clean living including no smoking]. They also used the head of the cigarette to burn my nose tip and mouth and tortured me like this for over 20 minutes. Another two practitioners also suffered the tortures.

[Jiangxi Province] The Difficult Situation of a Widowed Practitioner and Her 9-Year-Old Son

Tan Jihong, female, 34 years old, was a former employee of the Jiangling Cooperation Company. Her husband was also a former employee of the same Company and died of myocardial infarction in last February. They had a 9-year-old son.

On July 20, 2000, Ms. Tan Jihong was given an administrative detention of 15 days for practicing Falun Gong outdoors. During her detention, the police station of Jiangling ransacked her home without any legal approvals. They moved all her stuff out of the apartment and forced her relatives to take them away and then locked the apartment.

When Ms. Tan went back to work, the officials in her workplace fired her without any reason and without any legal procedures. When she questioned them why they did that to her, they could not give her an answer.

Now, Ms. Tan Jihong and her 9-year-old son have nowhere to stay, nor do they have any income.

[Hubei] Jinmen City Police Department Applied for 120,000 Yuan Funding from the Financial Department for Persecuting Falun Gong practitioners

On July 15, 2000, a lot of practitioners in Jinmen City were put under surveillance by their workplaces, because the communist authorities were afraid that they might travel to Beijing to make appeals. Practitioners were forced to eat and sleep in their workplaces and were under surveillance 24 hours a day. The Provincial Police Bureau even dispatched some officials to inspect the handling of Falun Gong practitioners. The detained practitioners did not get released until July 22, 2000.

Last December, the Dongbao Sub-police Station of Jinmen City applied for 120,000 Yuan funding from the Financial Department in order to arrest the practitioners who went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong. They used the taxpayers' money to persecute good people.

[Shandong] Human Rights Violations against Practitioners from Shengli Oil Plant

Practitioners who were sentenced with forced labor included:

Zhong Siping, male, 1.5 years of forced labor, now detained in the Luoyang City of Henan Province.
Zhu Qingxi, male, 1.5 years of forced-labor, detained in the Luoyang City of Henan Province.
Shi Yi, female, 2 years of forced-labor, detained in the Women Labor Camp of Jinan City of Shandong Province.
Zhou Tianrong, female, retired, 3 years of forced-labor, detained in the Women Labor Camp of Jinan City of Shandong Province.
Wang Haiyan, female, 2.5 years of forced-labor, detained in the Women Labor Camp of Jinan City of Shandong Province.
The husband of Yuan Zhaoxia, male, 2 years of forced-labor, detained in the Wang Village of Shandong Province.

The practitioners who had been given criminal detention included Shi Yi, Zhou Tianrong, Yang Jianjun, Wu Zhenglan, Zhang Aiquan, and Zha Aiping. Zha Aiping has been detained illegally by the Power Supply Section of Shengli Oil Plant for half a year and has not been released yet.

Two practitioners had been detained in the Bafenchang Mental Hospital and have been released.

Moreover, practitioners had been fined, beaten up, and had their homes ransacked etc. for continuing to practice Falun Gong and going to Beijing to appeal etc.