March 17, 2002

(Clearwisdom.net)

I am a female Dafa practitioner from Sichuan Province. I would like to tell the world about the persecution I personally experienced and the evil I witnessed. It is my wish that through this, people in the world out of a sense of righteous indignation, could come to understand Dafa and see the value of "Zhen-Shan-Ren" (Truth-Compassion-Forbearance).

In July 1999, the government illegally banned "Falun Gong." As a practitioner who has benefited from Dafa physically and mentally, I went to clarify the truth to the government. However, what I got was a round of beating and profane outburst from the law enforcement personnel.

The head of Shizhushan Detention Center in Leshan City personally undertook to whip a female practitioner himself, cursing her as he did so. The whip used was 2 meters long, 3 inches thick and 3 inches wide and made out of rubber. It is capable of inflicting severe injuries immediately. Even now, that female practitioner's legs are still severely scarred. Another 40 some female practitioners, each guarded by a male police officer, were beaten by them. Several armed policemen whipped one practitioner with leather whips and violently kicked her with their leather shoes. Her legs were fractured from the brutality and still painful today two years later.

The police, the hired thugs of the security unit along with a number of convicted criminals in Nanmusi Female Labor Camp in Zizhong ganged up to persecute Dafa practitioners. The female practitioners were treated to a combination of obscenity and brutality. They took pleasure daily in beating and cursing at Dafa practitioners. The law-enforcement personnel also instigated and gave free rein to the convicted criminals with substance abuse problems to persecute Dafa practitioners. Once when the people from a TV station came and asked to film us doing the "broadcast exercises" so as to show that we had all been "transformed" (renouncing Falun Gong) in an attempt to deceive the viewing public, immediately, more than one dozen practitioners practiced the Falun Gong exercises instead to demonstrate that we had not been "transformed." When the TV reporters left, they immediately put on a different facial expression and stipulated that if anyone wanted to practice Falun Gong she would have to sit cross-legged from 7 a.m. to 12 midnight and would not be allowed to straighten her legs. However, the practitioners paid no attention to them and straightened their legs after sitting cross-legged for one hour as normal. When they saw this, they forcibly crossed the practitioners' legs again regardless of how much pain they caused. The detention center officials stood nearby and swore at us. They tortured us like this repeatedly. It was bad enough to be forced to sit crossed-legged from dawn to dusk, but later they also tortured the practitioners by forcing them to stand up straight for a long period of time, not allowing them to go to the washroom or sit down to have their meals. The convicted criminals often beat us but they told us quietly, "We know that what we are doing is bad, and you are good people and have no addictions. We do this only to reduce our prison sentence. The police here told us to do this."

Nanmusi Female Labor Camp persecuted Dafa practitioners with cruelty beyond description. Those who insisted on practicing Falun Dafa were not even allowed to speak. Each practitioner was constantly surrounded and monitored by two to three criminals. They were not allowed to use the toilet and had to file a report if they really had to go. Not until the practitioners had filed several reports and the police felt they were tortured enough, were they allowed to use the toilet.

In July and August, the police shut the practitioners in a room, not allowing them to go outside all day long. Practitioners were forced to sit up straight and not allowed to move or speak. Practitioners were forced to sit on plastic chairs for long periods of time, causing their buttocks to develop sores. Practitioners were not allowed to bathe for two weeks, and then 7 or 8 practitioners were only allowed half a basin of water to wash their faces. The same water was then used to wash their feet. When the practitioners' families came to visit them, the practitioners were not allowed to see them. Yet the police would tell the families that the practitioners didn't care about them and did not want to see them. The practitioners were not allowed to make or receive phone calls. They were also threatened that they wouldn't be able to go home unless they were "transformed." Many practitioners who wanted to go home had to accept brainwashing against their wishes.

Several officials and guards surrounded an over 50-year-old Dafa practitioner and hit her with police clubs and shocked her with electric batons in addition to punching, kicking and swearing at her. They forced her into painful positions under the burning sun for a long period of time and only allowed her to sleep for 4-5 hours or less each day.

One warden ordered a criminal prisoner to beat Zhang Zhiqing, a nearly 60-year-old Dafa practitioner with an iron rod until Zhang passed out. Zhang's backside was severely injured by the beating.

Instigated by an official, four criminal prisoners beat a female practitioner violently with a bundle of 4 bamboo sticks in turn while swearing at her, and did not stop the beating until they were all too tired to continue. After the beating, this practitioner had a high fever, and her body and hands were covered with cuts and bled profusely. Seeing her being beaten so brutally, many practitioners protested by holding a hunger strike, demanding that the officials stop persecuting her. As a result, those on hunger strike suffered violent force-feeding.

Several criminal prisoners stripped down a female practitioner and forced her to stand in front of a mirror, mocking and humiliating her until the next morning.

Dafa practitioner Wang Hongxia always stood up to safeguard Dafa whenever someone slandered Dafa. Each time, several wardens and guards would beat her violently. She is one of those who have been persecuted most seriously.

The prison did not release one Dafa practitioner when her imprisonment term was due, just because she refused to give up her belief in Dafa. Her mother came to the jail to ask for her daughter, saying, "My daughter has become a better person after having practiced Falun Gong. She is jailed for having appealed for the people. As an ordinary person, I do not accept what you are doing. If you continue to persecute my daughter, I will go the province to submit my charges against you." Li Fengqi, another Dafa practitioner, was sentenced to 1 ? year imprisonment and her term was due as well. Her father wanted to see her for the last time before his death. However, a warden told her that she would not be released until she was "transformed." Li Fengqi said that she could not lie to the people and accuse the righteous Fa of being anything else. Thus, the prison prolonged her term by 4-5 months. By the time she was released, her father had already passed away.

In addition to the mental and physical tortures, the persecutors have been extorting a large amount of money from Falun Dafa practitioners. Those who went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong would be taken back by the local policemen. They would take a flight to Beijing. Whether they would fly back or take a train back depended on how much money the practitioner had with him. Dafa practitioners have to pay all the fees for the round trips. After having returned, the police fined the Dafa practitioners from several thousand to ten thousand Yuan (the average monthly income is about 500 Yuan for an average worker in China). Some practitioners did not have any money. The police would then ask family members to pay for the expenses and the fines, and they do not provide any receipts. The police and legal service departments have made large amounts of money from Falun Dafa practitioners. Some of them even said that they would not have a chance to take an airplane if practitioners did not go to Beijing to appeal.

Some Dafa practitioners refused to pay the trip expenses by saying, "If you force me to pay, I will take an opportunity to go to Beijing to appeal again and accuse you of extorting money from me. I will not pay the fines either. As long as I have a chance to go out, I will charge you with imposing a fine illegally."

There are so many examples of the similar cruel persecutions. In Nanmusi Forced Labor Camp, numerous Dafa practitioners held hunger strikes. We could write a book for each practitioner's experience of being persecuted in Nanmusi. How could just a few pages tell all the crimes of persecution toward Dafa practitioners?

We hope the government will send someone to investigate the persecutions we have been suffering, and immediately release all the innocent Dafa practitioners. As a Dafa practitioner, I witnessed the cruel persecution toward Dafa practitioners conducted by law enforcement personnel, security team guards, and criminal prisoners.