On July 21st and 22nd of last year, more than one hundred Falun Dafa (Falun Gong) practitioners from Laishui County, Hebei Province caught on their way to petition in Beijing were escorted back to the county. Dozens of practitioners were detained in the detention center. On the afternoon of July 22nd, 15 practitioners were handcuffed and video taped, and 7 were detained on criminal charges. On the evening of July 25th, a public arrest meeting was held in Laishui County Cinema. The 7 practitioners were brought to the meeting, handcuffed and wearing a large sign "suspected criminal" hanging from their necks. During the meeting, it was announced that 6 of them were being expelled from the Communist Party, and some were fired from their positions. The atmosphere at the meeting suppressing Falun Gong was just like that of the ones cracking down on the traitors to the Communist Party. Despite this, the practitioners from both the Public Relations Bureau and the Food Commerce Bureau handed in their "resignation letters" one after another and went to appeal in Beijing. In the mean time, many practitioners were forced to attend the re-educating class arranged by the county and the town governments. No one could go home if he or she failed to write a guarantee denouncing Falun Gong. Without such a guarantee, he or she would be detained in the detention center for a long term.
On Sept 21st, a couple who was detained for more than 2 months were transferred to a highly guarded center. On Sept 23rd, they were taken to the Culture Square along with several other practitioners to be exposed to the public in a parade. There was a big sign, "suspected criminal," hanging from each practitioners neck. They were handcuffed and kicked to a kneeling position by the policemen. They were then detained with criminal charges. This was verified by the on-site news report of the Laishui Television Broadcasting Station.
Despite the more and more severe suppression, Falun Dafa practitioners were still determined to go petition in Beijing at the expense of their homes and careers. Around the time of the 50th anniversary of the National celebration, another five practitioners who were arrested in Beijing were sent back to the county detention center. They were frequently dressed in inmate uniforms, handcuffed, and some were bound with ropes and cruelly beaten up in the basement of the security bureau. On the morning of Oct 2nd, the president of the county government was directly involved in, organizing another beating and torture event. In the mean time, the Laishuis National Guard base held a forced re-education class. The Security Bureau, the Procuratorate and the Court of Justice took turns around the clock, being in charge of the compulsory conversion class. They used all kinds of insulting terms and beatings to force practitioners to call out slogans that curses our Master (Li Hongzhi, the founder of Falun Gong.) There were more than 60 people in that class which lasted for one month. The people in charge completely lost their humanity and the concepts of right and wrong.
At the end of December, family members of the 7 practitioners detained in a long-term facility were finally allowed to bail them out at a price of 5,000 Yuan RMB ($600, 10 months average wage in China). Even the very poor family had to come up with 2,000 Yuan RMB. The officials refused to give receipts for the money they received, and forced us to write down in our guarantees that the money was "voluntarily submitted" to them.
In March 3 practitioners from Zuchongzhi Middle School went to petition in Beijing. They were detained for 15 days after they were arrested and sent back to Laishui. They were subsequently expelled from school. One of them was beaten and fined 5,000 Yuan RMB.
On April 1st of this year, 10 practitioners practiced Falun Gong openly at the Laishuis Cultural Square. They were arrested and detained. There were 14 more arrested later due to the practice as well. On April 7th, Laishui Communist School held, again, a forced re-education class. Anyone in the county who admitted still practicing Falun Gong was sent, along with the practitioners, to the detention center. Their torture was so brutal and inhumane as to be comparable with that of the German Nazi in the World War II and the Cultural Revolution in China. The people from The Security Bureau, the Procuratorate and the Court of justice used their evil tactics to treat the practitioners, respectively. Some stripped the practitioners clothes and bound them with ropes; some forced the practitioners to kneel on the ground and put wooden boards on the practitioners legs and then they stepped on the wooden boards. Some whipped the practitioners until the leather whips and wooden sticks were broken, some used cigarettes to burn the practitioners mouths, etc The Deputy Director of the county Communist Party Committee, Sun Guijie, participated in the torture by whipping the female practitioners himself. One female practitioner, a peasant, was taken away from her home. They tied her up with ropes until she passed out. They then loosened her and tightened her again and again, seven times until she completely lost consciousness. Her family finally bailed her out, for 3,000 Yuan RMB (2,000 for the county, 1,000 for the town). Since July 21st of last year, she has been fined for more than 10,000 Yuan RMB.
More than 50 people were taken to the re-education class in the Communist Party School; most of them were fined 2,000 to 3,000 Yuan RMB per person before they could be allowed to go home by the county and town officials.
There were 3 female practitioners who were tortured by being tightened by ropes on the 6th day of their hunger strike. They were detained and did not allow to go home until they were on the verge of death because of the hunger strike plus the torture. There were also other practitioners who were expelled from their work, confined at home, and severely beaten, forced to hand in their resignation letters and had to live a life away from their hometowns. It is not possible to include all the detail here. To our best knowledge, among practitioners who were forced to quit their jobs, there was one teacher who had been awarded as an "excellent teacher on Chinese literature" in Zuchongzhi Middle School, along with many other awards. During his detention, the principal of his school gave him a raise for his excellent performance at work. Another example is a member of the Hebei provinces Writers Committee, who has written the book "Bibliography of Zuchongzhi" (Zuchongzhi was a famous ancient scientist).
In the spring of this year, three practitioners were arrested and sent to the re-education class held by the County Communist Party School after they went to Beijing to appeal. They were not only tortured physically, but also their homes were searched and all of their valuables were confiscated including all of their foods. All doors and windows were broken. In addition, they were fined. Facing the broken home and the people worse than bandits, one victim said helplessly: "In order to survive, I have no other choice but to baby-sit to make some money to feed on myself."
Since July 21st of last year, each county has frequently been arresting Falun Dafa practitioners illegally. Some were detained for more than one month. Not only they were not allowed to work and live as usual, but also they lost their freedom. Whenever the local government suspected that we might gather or go to appeal on a certain day, we would be illegally detained, beaten up and shouted at. As time went on, we had countless such encounters. We are not sure when we would regain our freedom?
Since this July, each county started illegally detaining practitioners again. Anyone who dared to say that they still practiced Falun Gong was taken away from their home to the county and not allowed to go back home. Female practitioners from Songgezhuang town were locked up in a small dark room and could not eat for several days, or given the chance to use the bathroom. They were not treated as human beings at all. On July 19th, the police arrested 5 practitioners at their homes. They are now detained in the detention center and no visitors are allowed. We have appealed for the decision on this case, but no officials cared. The 15-day limit has passed on the arrest warrant, and they still will not release the practitioners.
Above were collected and reported by the practitioners in China
August, 2000
