(Minghui.org) While going through customs at Beijing Capital International Airport on May 21, 2013, Li Yue, a Chinese student studying in the U.S., was arrested along with her then-fiancé by agents from Beijing Domestic Security Office.
The couple had planned to go back home to get married, but instead spent the first few weeks of their vacation in separate places being grilled by police. Under pressure and intimidation, Li Yue agreed to spy on her fellow practitioners and provide intelligence on Falun Gong activities upon her return to the states.
Now that Li Yue is back in the U.S., she has decided to tell the world what happened during and after her May trip to China. Below is her personal account.
We Were Arrested Right at Beijing International Airport
After scanning our passports, the customs officer told me and my now-husband that there was some problem with our luggage and had us taken to two separate rooms.
In my room, I saw 7-8 male agents from Beijing Domestic Security Office who appeared to be there just for me. One of them held a camcorder to videotape everything going on.
One agent in a checkered shirt waved an arrest warrant in front of me and warned me to cooperate with them. He (Agent “A”) also asked for my baggage claim number.
Later that night they got orders from some higher-ups and went into action. They blindfolded me and put a surgical mask over my mouth. I knew my husband was also taken away at the same time, but to a different location.
I couldn’t see or ask anything with my eyes and mouth covered, but it seemed the drive took about 20-30 minutes. When we got to the destination, it was already midnight. I later found out it was an apartment building in a residential area close to the airport, since I often heard planes flying over.
The apartment they kept me in had a living room, two bedrooms, and one other room used for interrogation. As soon as we got there, they led me to the interrogation room and sat me down on an iron chair. The chair seat was not a flat surface, but covered with slats. My bottom hurt a lot after long periods of sitting. There was also a lockable table that could be flipped over. Agent “B” wanted to lock the table but changed his mind after I protested, saying I did nothing wrong.
They usually treated men in a much harsher way. My husband later told me Agent “C” slapped him on the face ten times when he was taken to his location. Agent “A” admitted he once force fed prisoners. I also read many reports that detailed the torture of male practitioners or democracy activists at the hands of Chinese police or prison guards.
During the first few days, they kept all the curtains drawn at all times, and I could only tell day from night by looking at the wall clock. All the windows had frosted glass so people couldn’t see the inside clearly.
Iron Chair: Torture instrument used on practitioners
Shortly after I was driven to the apartment, they brought in my luggage. When I refused to give agents “A” and “B” the passcode for the luggage, they just pried it open.
I had with me four copies of Zhuan Falun, several bookmarks and amulets, my e-book, laptop, cell phone, IPod, IPad, several flash drives, and a portable hard drive, all of which they confiscated. Unfortunately my electronic devices contained all kinds of information about Dafa activities I was involved in. I still had the ticket I used to attend the most recent Fahui (practitioners’ experience sharing conference) and they took it also.
They kept me on the iron chair during the day and allowed me only a few hours of sleep at night. They didn’t allow me to shut the door to sleep and usually woke me up in the middle of the night to resume their interrogation.
They wanted to know every detail on Dafa activities I ever attended in the U.S. I managed to keep silent during the first three days of my detention, but little by little my resolve wavered, and I just wanted to get out of the situation as soon as possible.
Starting on the fourth day, I began to tell them everything they wanted to know.
What I Told Them Under Pressure
When they saw my Fahui ticket, they became intensely interested and asked me the following questions: When and where did I attend the latest Fahui; who did I go to the Fahui with; where did I stand in the Falun Dafa march; how did I book my flight and hotel; how much was the total cost of my trip; did I receive any money from anyone to make the trip; and what did Master say at the Fahui?
I gave all the answers they wanted except for the last one. I told them to read Minghui to find out what Master taught at the Fahui since I couldn’t remember clearly.
They wanted to know the details of my local Fa-study groups in Lawrence and Kansas. I told them when and where we usually held our group study and who were usually present. I also revealed what kind of Dafa activities we had participated in.
When they searched my makeup bag, they found a piece of paper on which I had a password written down. Our local practitioners had an internal website that was password-controlled. Fortunately the password I had with me was an old one, and I told them it was no longer valid.
I answered no when they asked if I had ever attended meetings with only 10 attendees. I gave the same response when they asked if I had ever visited Dragon Springs Temple.
In the next few days, they copied all the phone numbers stored in my cell phone and made me identify which ones belonged to practitioners.
I also provided them with my passwords for four programs: Skype, QQ, my email account, and Renren Net (a Chinese social media network). They recorded all the contacts I had there and again asked me who were practitioners. As a matter of fact, I kept touch with practitioners both inside and outside of China and now these agents knew their contact information.
They also thoroughly examined my other electronic devices, especially my flash drives and portable hard drive where I stored all my Dafa related information.
They discovered that my husband and I worked as translators for the Sweden and Finland pages for Nordic Epoch Times . We got involved in the project in the summer of 2012 through a few practitioners in China. Those practitioners later dropped out of the project after Minghui published “ Editorial: Overseas Disciples Should Not Interfere with Disciples in Mainland China” . Early this year I just learned two of the practitioners got arrested, and one of them had his laptop confiscated.
Despite the setback in China, my husband and I, as well as a few fellow practitioners in Sweden and the project’s coordinator, still worked together through Skype.
Since I had everything on my hard drive, the agents learned who were still working on the project, what pen names they used, who worked together as translator-polisher pairs, and the sources of our news items.
I had very detailed information on the telephone broadcasting project saved in my hard drive, and they wrote everything down. They knew we had different platforms for different purposes, such as a manual dial platform, RTC platform, and urgent rescue platform. They saw that practitioners used Skype to receive assignments, make phone calls, offer feedback, and share experiences with each other. They also took note of Skype accounts of several coordinators and people who were on my “contact list.”
When they saw pictures of me promoting Shen Yun, they asked how practitioners in Kansas promoted the show. Who was the organizer? Was the Falun Dafa Association involved? I told them we just did home delivery of Shen Yun flyers and they were not satisfied. I answered there could be other forms of promotion activities unknown to me.
They wondered what theater we used for this year’s Shen Yun show and what hotel performers stayed at. They also asked what I did on the day of the show and if there were many people coming to watch the show.
After digging out my pictures taken during the 2012 New York Fahui and Washington D.C. Fahui, they asked me to identify those in the same pictures with me.
During the first ten days of my detention, they gradually extracted every piece of information I knew. After they determined I had told them everything, they began to force me to watch DVDs defaming Dafa.
Then they had me write a summary to sing the praises of the Chinese Communist Party. They also forced me to write statements to denounce Dafa and to guarantee to work with them. I did all this against my will.
They finally released me on June 7. Again, they blindfolded me before driving me home in the middle of the night so nobody would see them.
What They Demanded of Me before My Release
They returned my confiscated belongings to me (except for my Dafa books). They promised to allow me back to the states to continue my study, but demanded I spy for them.
They told me to do all Dafa-related activities as usual and keep attending group Fa-study, translating for Epoch Times , going to Fahuis, and taking part in the telephone broadcasting project.
However, they required I report to them on a regular basis. In order to facilitate the communication between them and me, they set up a “126” email account (“126” is an email provider in China) for me and gave me a new cell phone to use.
They told me to keep my current passwords to Skype, QQ, Renren Net, and my email account so they could log in as often as needed to check on my fellow practitioners. I had to inform them if I wanted to change any of the passwords.
They also taught me how to respond to my fellow practitioners’ inquiries upon my return to the states. My abduction had been reported on the Minghui website, so the agents worried my fellow practitioners might wonder what I did while in custody.
They instructed me to not let anyone (including my husband or my parents) know about the spying job I was to do for them. They threatened to fire my parents from their jobs should I reveal to them what happened to me.
They had thought to let me contact practitioners in China that I knew, but later killed the idea for some unknown reason.
Though they sent me home, they never loosened their grip on me. Agent “A” and the female police officer I saw in the apartment came to have a talk with me every Monday in a hotel close to my home. They did this for about 5-6 weeks, each time in a different hotel. Before my return to the states, they asked to see me two days in a row. Basically they wanted to know what I did the previous week and whether I had any contact with my husband.
Speaking of my husband, he was detained in Beijing for three days before being sent back to his hometown in Langfang, Hebei Province. He was held in Langfang Detention Center for one week and then transferred to a brainwashing center.
What “Assignments” They Gave me upon My Return to the States
After I came back to the states, Agent “A” and the female police officer contacted me on Skype and gave me seven assignments:
• First, tell them the home address of our local Dafa coordinator.
• Second, try to collect information on our local telephone project (we used a particular program to do the project and only certain practitioners approved by the coordinator had access to the software. I told the agents I didn’t have access.)
• Third, verify information on a practitioner outside of China who was active on Renren Net.
• Fourth, contact a practitioner at New Tang Dynasty Television and ask if there was any internship opportunity for me. The agents wanted to find out everything about NTDTV. Agent “A” admitted it was their top priority to “crack open” NTDTV.
• Fifth, go to our local Fa-study group and report to them what was going on there.
• Sixth, attend whatever Fahui available and provide them with what I observed there.
• Lastly, give them my new home address and my new cell phone number.
They also did something to my laptop while I was in Beijing. I had a layer of protective film on the monitor and I noticed it had been removed and reattached. I was pretty sure they installed some sort of spyware on my computer. Actually, I had no doubt they did this to all my electronic devices. I also knew that my, my husband’s, my parents’ and my in-laws’ phones were all tapped. I wouldn’t be surprised if they checked and monitored everyone I knew.
Warnings to Practitioners Outside of China
I’d like to remind practitioners outside of China to pay attention to safety. Don’t think you’re completely safe since you’re not in China. Many spies disguise themselves as students or business people and mingle with practitioners. They show up at Dafa activities just like you. Some of them even sneak into practitioners’ homes and steal important Dafa information.
So please do not risk going back to China. Don’t think you’re fine since you were not bothered the last time you visited China. Once they think the time is ripe, they will arrest you the next time you go back to China. Chen Yonglin, former Chinese diplomat in Australia, once said there were several thousand spies in Australia alone, and I’m sure there are even more in North America. Many Chinese Students’ Associations in well-known U.S. universities get funding from the Chinese Embassy.
Warnings to Practitioners inside China
I also want to warn practitioners in China, especially younger people, to not disclose your true personal information on Renren Net. Never post your pictures, school address, home address, or hometown information on Renren Net.
They have collected quite a lot of information on practitioners active on Renren Net. So I strongly advise against disclosing one’s true identity on Renren Net. While I was detained in Beijing, they asked how I found practitioners on Renren Net to include in my “friends” list. I told them that, by looking at the messages posted, I’d be able to tell practitioners from non-practitioners.
My point is that spies could pose as practitioners to befriend you and do damage in the future.
I know some of you do not have a strong sense of safety and sometimes use cell phones, QQ, or Skype to contact each other. Those programs are not safe at all. QQ was specifically designed to monitor everyday Internet activity in China, so it is extremely unsafe for practitioners. I suggest everyone cancel their QQ account and never use it again.
Your ID card has electronic chips, and it will disclose your whereabouts when you carry it around. Your cell phone is also a GPS device that the police can use to track you down.
Even when you use your computer at home, you want to make sure to unplug the Internet cord before you transfer files from flash drives or portable hard drives to your machine. With the computer hooked to the Internet, the police can find out everything through their spyware. But if you do it locally on your computer without Internet connection, the damage would be minimized.
If you ever had your computer confiscated by the police, throw it away, since the police would have have installed spyware in it.
As for Skype, it’s best to apply for a new account once in a little while and to not use the same account for long.
List of Beijing Domestic Security Office Agents Involved in My Arrest
Agent “A”: around 5’10; heavy build; round face; and short hair. He claimed to have a surname of Li, but I don’t trust him at all. All the names these agents use are fake. They all have multiple passports with different names. He and the female police officer mentioned earlier were involved in my detention from start to finish.
Agent “B”: I only saw him the first two days. He is also around 5’10 and wears no glasses.
Agent “C”: very tall (6’) and strong; very short hair; with glasses. He was very cruel and always locked me in the iron chair when it was his turn to interrogate me. He was the same person who slapped my husband in the face. This man was also very hypocritical. After I answered all the questions, he became much nicer to me and even reminded me to take care since the weather was getting colder.
Agent “D”: around 6’; with dark skin. Agent “A” called him “Dragon Spring Temple expert.”
Agent “E”: around 5’10; heavy build; pale skin
Agent “F”: 40-50 years old; dark skin; heavy build; seemed to be nicer compared to other agents
Agent “G”: around 5’10; in his late 40s; he told me his child was in college; appeared to be kind but you could tell he was trying to extract information from me
Agent “H”: around 5’10; he appeared to be the boss of the 7-8 agents at the airport. I only saw him on the day of my arrest. He had a very harsh tone and once told Agent “A” to not talk nonsense to me and to just deal with me as usual.
The female police officer: very tall (around 6’); strong build; pale skin. She always asked what I thought of this or that.
There were two other women who dressed like police officers but didn’t really look like one. The last few days of my detention, they took turns watching me, getting me meals and water. They kept an eye on me when I slept. As a matter of fact, there were at least one male and one female officer watching me sleep every night of my detention.
List of Langfang Domestic Security Office Agents Involved in My Husband’s Detention
My husband told me about all this.
There was one man surnamed Wu who appeared to be a police chief. Another one named Geng Jun (but again this could be a fake name) was a section chief. There was also a female officer surnamed Xu who was also a section chief.
A former practitioner surnamed Wang, who had enlightened along an evil path, was asked to work on my husband. She is from Xingtai, Hebei Province, and is around 50 years old. She appeared normal when just talking about everyday people’s stuff but changed into a totally different person when it came to Dafa. She would add her own things to Master’s teachings.
Two days before our return to the states, she was still brainwashing my husband from 8 in the morning until 10 at night. On the day of our departure, she talked to my husband for a whole morning.
She boasted she had “worked on” a total of 1,000 practitioners, 300 of whom she talked to one-on-one. She said she’d work on me next time I went back to China.
