[Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province] Practitioners Held in a Harbin Labor Camp Are in Critical Condition After Holding Hunger Strikes for 26 Days
On March 29, 2001, some practitioners held at the Wanjia Labor Camp in the city of Harbin started a group hunger strike in protest of their illegal detention. Since then, more and more practitioners have begun to participate in the hunger strike. The practitioners who have been on hunger strikes the longest have not eaten anything for 26 days now. They now look like skeletons. The only parts of their bodies that seem to have any life in them are their bright and shining eyes. The officials at the labor camp have made phone calls to their families asking for their medical histories. It is difficult to know what they are planning to use that information for.
Practitioner Han Shaoqin is in the Intensive Care Unit of a local hospital after being on a hunger strike for 10 days.
A side note - more than a dozen practitioners are being detained at the Harbin City #3 Prison.
[Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province] Please Help Rescue Dafa Practitioners Who are Being Detained at the Wanjia Labor Camp
In the beginning of April 2001, Minghui Net reported that more than 100 Dafa practitioners illegally detained at the Wanjia Labor Camp started a group hunger strike to protest their illegal detention. In addition, Minghui Net also published "Solemn Statements" from some practitioners who are detained at the labor camp declaring their firm faith in Falun Dafa. When the guards at the Wanjia Labor Camp read the accounts, instead of taking steps to correct what they had done, they began a new wave of persecution and torture in an attempt to find out how the accounts from the labor camp were sent to the outside world. They started to hand out even more severe punishment to those practitioners who were on hunger strikes.
According to reliable sources, the officials at the Wanjia Labor Camp treated the practitioners a little more leniently while the United Nations Human Rights Commission was taking place in Geneva. The families of the practitioners were allowed to visit them at any time, and also were allowed to speak to them freely during those visits. But as soon as the conference was over, the officials immediately went back to their old ways, and once again started to forbid the practitioners from receiving any visits from their families.
[Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province] The Authorities at the Wangjia Labor Camp Force Visitors to Curse Falun Dafa
The 26th of April was an official family visitation day at the Wanjia Labor Camp. I had been there several times before to visit practitioners detained there. But on that day, I noticed that the labor camp officials started a new policy. They had prepared a written statement attacking Falun Gong, and told the families of all the practitioners detained at the labor camp to read that statement out loud. After reading the statement, the family members had to sign a form filled with words smearing Falun Gong if they wanted to see their loved ones. The guards also refused to forward any personal item to those practitioners whose family members refused to comply with the requests.
I personally saw a guard drive out a thirteen-year-old girl who refused to curse Falun Gong. I was driven out for the same reason. A ten-year-old girl originally had not wanted to say anything against Falun Gong, but the guard told her, "If you want to see your mom, you have to do what we say!"
[Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province] Occurrences at the Wanjia Labor Camp
1. On the family visitation day at the Wanjia Labor Camp, the policewoman in the reception room asked every visitor to declare that he or she was not a practitioner and answer "Yes" to two questions that condemned Falun Dafa and the Teacher. In addition, every visitor was required to put a check mark on the registration form filled with words slandering Falun Gong. Even those visitors who knew the guards personally had to follow the same procedure.
2. The authorities at the labor camp have divided the jailed Dafa practitioners into three groups. Those who wear dark-green jumpsuits are "relatively well reformed." They have permission to move around freely inside the labor camp. Those who wear sports jackets and pants are "less well reformed," compared to the first group, but the guards normally do not beat or verbally abuse them. Sometimes the guards even joke around with them to impress upon them how well they are being treated. Members of the third group wear their own street clothes. They are the practitioners who insist on practicing Falun Gong, and have been savagely beaten because of it. Every one of them has endured a great deal of pain and suffering. Pan Xuanhua and Liu Dongyun are two practitioners who belong to the third group. They started a hunger strike with other practitioners on April 5.
3. From time to time before, in the middle of a perfectly normal conversation, the policewoman in the reception room would suddenly say, "I am going to die soon." Several times in the past, other guards in the labor camp have pointed to the practitioners and said, "They are reaching Consummation, and we are going to die!"
[Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province] Stories From the Wanjia Labor Camp
1. Those Who Look Kind Are Falun Dafa Practitioners
The Wanjia Labor Camp has initiated a new policy forcing the visitors to curse Falun Gong and Master Li before they are allowed to visit their loved ones. A woman went to visit a member of her family who is detained at the labor camp. The woman happened to be a devout Buddhist, so she wouldn't say any bad words against anyone or anything. The policewoman on duty kept asking her over and over again whether she was a Falun Gong practitioner. The visitor kept insisting that she was not a practitioner, but the guard refused to believe her. The visitor asked the guard what made her so sure, and the guard replied, "You look so kind. So you must be a Falun Dafa practitioner."
2. The Secret Surveillance
I went to the Wanjia Labor Camp to visit some fellow practitioners detained there. Many officials from the provincial government were holding a meeting there because the practitioners had started a group hunger strike several days earlier. The guards told me, "Just wait outside patiently. We don't know right now if they are allowed to have visitors." I spent the whole morning waiting, and started to chat with an old woman who was selling pickled eggs at a small food stand outside the labor camp. She asked me repeatedly whether I was a Falun Dafa practitioner. I did not answer her directly. I just asked her why she was so interested in knowing. She said, "You have such good manners when you speak. All Falun Dafa practitioners speak with good manners." I said, "So you think they're good people! Why don't you start practicing Falun Gong then?" She replied, "They're pretty good people. But the higher-ups now don't let people practice Falun Gong. Being locked up is no fun at all!" At that moment, a guard walked by the food stand holding an unlit cigarette in his hand. The old woman ran toward him with a box of matches, and told him in a low voice, "I have not seen any Falun Gong practitioners today!"
[Heilongjiang Province] The Heilongjiang Province Communist Party School Persecutes Falun Dafa Practitioners
Yin Anbang, an employee at the Heilongjiang Province [party name omitted] Party School, was taken from work at the end of February to a drug rehabilitation center, where he was forced to attend a special "reform" class for those practitioners who work in various government agencies in the province. While forced to attend the class, his supervisors broke into his desk at work and found some Falun Dafa materials. They reported their findings to the police department. As a result, Mr. Yin was moved from the drug rehabilitation center to a police station, where he remains to this day.
A few days ago, a security guard arrested a practitioner (who happened to be an older woman) for distributing Falun Dafa flyers in the residential area around the Heilongjiang Province [party name omitted] Party School. She is being detained in the local police station.
[Shenyang City, Liaoning Province] Shenyang Police Officer Blackmails Falun Gong Practitioners
To the Shenyang City [party name omitted] Party Internal Affairs Committee,
I am writing to report a corrupt [party name omitted] Party official who not only accepts large bribes but also blackmails people for money.
Li Mi, the head of the Political and Security Division of the Kanping County Police Department, has taken advantage of the families of many local Falun Gong practitioners. After practitioner Du Guiying was arrested, Li Mi told her husband Li Ke that if he was given a bribe of 19,800 Yuan, he would not send her to a labor camp (the average monthly income in China is 500 Yuan). Li Ke was desperate to save his wife so he scraped together enough money to pay Li Mi. Yet his wife was still sent to a labor camp.
Li Mi took 1,000 Yuan from Zhang Xuechen, whose wife Zhang Guohui is detained in a local labor camp for practicing Falun Gong. He also took 2,000 Yuan from the brother of Zhao Xiaorong, who is also detained in a local labor camp.
Note: Li Ke is an employee of the Kangping County Treasury Department. Zhang Xuechen is an employee of the Kanping County Local Militia Office.
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[Acheng City, Heilongjiang Province] The Local Police Persecute Falun Gong Practitioners
The Acheng City Bus Station has a large sign in the middle of its lobby, which states "No Falun Gong practitioner is allowed to board the bus!" Each passenger has to curse Falun Gong before he or she is allowed to get on the bus. The police have placed portraits of Mr. Li Hongzhi on the ground in front of all the entrances and exits to the bus station. Regardless of whether he is a practitioner or not, anyone who refuses to curse Falun Gong or step on the portrait of Mr. Li is arrested immediately and sent to the local police station.
The local police have confiscated the ID card of every single person who has ever practiced Falun Gong, including those who have vowed to give up Falun Gong. This has made it very inconvenient for many people, as a valid ID card is required for anyone who needs to travel outside of the city or check into a hotel room. The city government has applied intense pressure on all the local work units, and ordered them to fire anyone who practices Falun Gong. Some work units have even fired people who are not practitioners themselves, but have relatives (especially parents) who are Falun Gong practitioners. One such example is a practitioner who used to work in the Acheng City Postal Commission. He and his children (who do not practice Falun Gong) have all been fired just because he is a Falun Gong practitioner.
[Yichun City, Heilongjiang Province] The Police Persecute Falun Gong Practitioners
In April of 2001, the police from the Yichun district of Jinshantun tried to force the local practitioners to sign a piece of paper filled with words attacking Falun Gong. Those who refused to do so were all arrested, including Chen Guiqiu and two other practitioners who wrote "Falun Dafa is good" on the paper.
The guards at the Yichun labor camps have used a variety of methods to torture the practitioners while trying to force them to give up Falun Gong. They have hit the practitioners with electric batons, not allowed them to sleep for long periods of time, and force-fed them after the practitioners have held hunger strikes to protest their illegal detention. In addition, the guards have also promised to reduce the terms of those inmates who beat the practitioners. The following are a few examples of the crimes that have been committed against the Falun Gong practitioners:
- The guards hung the practitioners up in the air and beat them brutally. When the practitioners went unconscious, the guards would pour cold water on them, and start to beat them again when they regained consciousness. Because of the brutal beatings, some practitioners were forced into writing letters of remorse and pledges promising to give up Falun Gong.
- The guards ordered inmates to put several layers of plastic bags over the heads of practitioners. They only removed the bags when the practitioners fainted. As soon as the practitioners regained consciousness, they were asked to write pledges promising to give up Falun Gong. Those who refused to do so were put through the same suffocation torture multiple times.
- Some practitioners were forced to remain standing while facing the wall for five days and nights without being allowed to get any sleep at all. As a result, their legs became totally swollen, and they could barely walk when they were finally taken back to their cells.
- Some practitioners who refused to give up Falun Gong were placed into iron cages after being brutally beaten.
Practitioner Lu Chenglin, a well-regarded person in the community, has been tortured to death.
We ask international human rights organizations to investigate the suffering of Falun Gong practitioners in China.
Here are the names of two police officers who have persecuted Falun Gong practitioners:
Meng Xianhua is the Deputy Chief of Jianshantun District Police Department. His cell phone is 86-1303-9684622, and his home number is 86-0458-3733667.
Zhang Xingguo is the head of Political Security Division of the Jiangshantun District Police Department. His cell phone is 86-13039661006, and his home number is 86-0458-3732801.
[Shenzhen City, Guangdong Province] Many Shenzhen Practitioners Were Forced to Flee Their Homes After Being Placed on the Police Blacklist
The Shenzhen police arrested a number of local practitioners around "sensitive dates" such as April 25, April 30, and May 1. As a result, many Dafa practitioners who are on the blacklist of the local police department have been forced to flee from their homes, and have no choice but to live on the street. Those arrested are being held at the Nanshan Detention Center. Their families are not allowed to send them any personal items, including money to buy personal necessities inside the detention center. All contact between the practitioners there and the outside world has been cut off.
The telephone number of the Nanshan Detention Center in Shenzhen is 86-0755-6971574.
The head of the detention center is named Wang Rongyuan.
[Daye City, Hubei Province] The Local Police Persecute Falun Gong Practitioners
Nearly all the Daye City practitioners who persist in practicing Falun Gong were detained around May 1, and forced to attend a "reform class." The local policemen often beat and tortured Dafa practitioners while the "class" was in session. When the "class" ended, those who refused to be "reformed" were sent to the Shayang Labor Camp.
[Raoyang County, Hebei Province] Police Persecute Falun Gong Practitioners
On July 9, 2000, nine Dafa practitioners from Raoyang County went to the Office of Appeals in Beijing to speak out on behalf of Falun Gong. We were promptly arrested, and taken to the basement of the Hengshui City Office in Beijing by policemen from Raoyang County who were stationed in Beijing. The policemen asked us to squat down, and confiscated all the money that we had on us (about 1,000 Yuan). They even had the audacity to curse us for having so little money with us. Shortly after July 20, the Raoyang County Police began to break into the homes of practitioners to conduct searches, and arrested all practitioners who had Zhuan Falun and short articles written by Mr. Li Hongzhi in their homes. Three practitioners were taken to the County Police Station, and were handcuffed to the hot water pipes while their families scrambled to come up with a fine of 3,000 Yuan each to bail them out.
[Raoyang County, Hebei Province] The Authorities Send a Practitioner to a Labor Camp for the Second Time for Merely Requesting to Have Her ID Card Returned
My name is Cheng Fang (a pseudonym). I used to work in a factory in Langfang City before I was "downsized." In October of 1999, I was arrested for going to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong, and sentenced to one year in labor camp. My older sister had some connections, and paid 14,000 Yuan to get me out of the labor camp. But I lost all my personal freedom. Security guards from my old employer kept a close eye on me all the time.
Last year, while the People's Congress was holding its annual meeting, my former employer forced all of us who persisted in practicing Falun Gong to attend a "reform class." They confiscated our ID cards, hoping to stop us from going to Beijing (a valid ID card is required to purchase any train or plane ticket). Shortly before April 25, 2000 (the anniversary of the big sit-in in Beijing), I was sent to a detention center for 50 days. I was only released after I started a hunger strike in protest of my illegal detention.
The factory used to pay me a small living allowance. But the payment stopped while I was detained in the local detention center. I had no other source of income, and needed to withdraw money from my savings account at the bank to support myself. But the bank required a valid ID card for the transaction, so I went to the head of the factory to ask him to return my ID card. He refused to give it back to me. I went to see him several times, but he just would not return my ID card. I had no choice but to go out and get a couple of odd jobs to support myself, and I was followed by security guards from my former employer the whole time. On July 19, 2000, I was sent to the local detention center for no reason, and went on another hunger strike for seven days before I was released. I then went back to the security department of my former employer to ask for my ID card again. The head of the security department not only refused to give me back my ID card, but he also began to assault me verbally and physically. He then called the city police department, and sent me to labor camp for the second time without notifying my family at all.
