Latest News from China - 04/18/2001

[Dalian City, Liaoning Province] Dafa Practitioners Beaten in Drug Abuse Center Illegally detained practitioners were body-searched as they entered the drug abuse center and were forced to read the "Six Prohibitions." [the Center's rules] Practitioners Gong Guowei, Lin Kun, and Tao Wei were forced to stand for several hours facing a wall for refusing to read it. After breakfast, practitioners were forced to watch the "reformed" persons' "reports" in the hall. They punished those who closed their eyes or refused to watch by making them stand for a long time. After lunch, practitioners were forced to walk "goose-steps" or go through military training. They also launched a psychological siege upon the practitioners. In the evenings, they arranged for the "reformed" persons to distort Dafa and delude practitioners. The practitioners were forced to write "guarantee" letters; otherwise their family members were not allowed to see them. Two households in Zhuanghe [the place name] with four people and two people respectively, all of whom are practitioners, were illegally detained in the Zhuanghe police station. They were also beaten black and blue for doing the exercises in a group. Also, they were sent to the drug abuse center for going on a hunger strike. Without any shoes, they were only wearing slippers when they arrived. The drug abuse center accumulates wealth by illegal and corrupt means. Practitioners had 2,000 Yuan extorted without any legal procedure as soon as they entered the center. The guards threatened that they would send practitioners to Masanjia labor camp [one of the most vicious lamp camps] if they refused to be transformed. They said, "In Masanjia, they will throw you female practitioners into the male prison and let those male prisoners transform you. The male prisoners can get their sentence commuted if they succeed in transforming you, so they would stop at nothing!" Besides this kind of mental abuse, they also forced practitioners to work sixteen hours a day. [China] An Order from the Politics and Law Committee: Fifty Percent of All Dafa Practitioners In Labor Camps Must Be Transformed Before May 1 According to internal news, the Central Government's Politics and Law Committee issued an order that labor camps in every province and city throughout the country must transform at least fifty percent of all Dafa practitioners held in labor camps before May 1, 2001. During this period, the guards should not take Sundays off and whoever fails to accomplish this task will be fired. The directors of all labor camps should report the number of transformed practitioners to Beijing before April 20; those who fail to transform fifty percent of practitioners will be dismissed from their posts or fired. [China] Words Such As "True Nature" and "Truth" are Forbidden on Websites Recently, when I tried to submit an article in the forum of a well-known website of China, I found that besides the formerly forbidden words like "Falun" and the name of the head of XX party, words like "truth," "true nature," and "fact" are also forbidden. [Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province] Dafa Practitioner Zhang Li's Life in Danger From Hunger Strike Dafa practitioner Zhang Li (female) from Guangzhou city, 40 years old, a junior college graduate, attained Dafa in January 1997. She went to Beijing many times to safeguard the Fa after July 20, 1999. On June 11, 2000, she was arrested and sent to the Tiananmen Police Station for unfurling a banner at Tiananmen Square. She was beaten so badly that her left arm was fractured. On February 11^th of this year, she was arrested by police while distributing truth-clarifying materials in Dongguan City. Currently, she is being illegally held in the detention center of this city. In order to protest the illegal detention, she has been on a hunger strike for over a month. The police broke one of her teeth when force-feeding her and her face is black and blue. Presently Zhang Li's life is in danger; her family asked to take her to the hospital on bail but they refused. We hope UN human rights organizations will pay attention to this matter. [Benxi City, Liaoning Province] Dafa Practitioner Li Suhua is Near Death On April 16, 2001 Dafa practitioner Li Suhua (female) illegally detained at the Ajialing Detention Center of Benxi City, was tortured by the guards until nearly dead. The guards who persecuted her carried her back to her home. They paid no attention to her fragile condition, and swaggered off, leaving her there to die . As this matter happened during the UN Human Rights Commission Conference period, we appeal to the UN Human Rights Commission to pay attention to the brutal persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in Mainland China. [Shanghai City] Distributing Falun Dafa Truth-Clarifying Materials, Falun Gong Practitioner, PhD Student Arrested Since October 16, 2000, Dafa practitioner Liu Xueyan (male), a Ph.D. student at Fudan University, Shanghai City, has being illegally detained. He was validating the truth of Falun Gong to people. Because of his good behavior both in study and morality, Liu Xueyan receives scholarship almost every year. He is also a good-natured person and has been more self-disciplined since he learned Falun Gong. His family was very proud of him, but now with this shocking news of his arrest, his parents are in such sorrow. They are the ones who know their son best. How can they accept this cruel turn of events? Cases like this are countless in China. His girlfriend, Chen Huijing, and classmates Jiang Bin and Guo Shenhong, were also arrested. We hope the Human Right Commission of the United Nation would concern themselves with this issue. [China] Teacher Protected Me from the Danger Recently when I was preparing Falun Dafa truth-clarifying materials at home, I saw a golden Falun [the law wheel]. I told my family: "Look, there is a Falun!" Then, a practitioner called me and asked me to deliver some material to a certain place. I promised to do so and hung up the phone. However, I began to feel sick and very uncomfortable. I also felt a strange sensation on my face. I realized this could be a hint for me not to go out, because it would be too obvious if I carry so much material. But, I thought, since the practitioner would be waiting for me, I should still go; I just need to be more careful. The uncomfortable symptoms were still there and I went downstairs very carefully. Before I stepped out of the stairway entrance, I stayed there for a moment. I saw a police car in front of our building. Two police officers were talking to each other. They had their backs to me. I came back to reality. All those former symptoms disappeared. I realized that Teacher was protecting me. It was not incidental that the police car was parked right in front of our building. There was actually a parking space just next to our building, but it was occupied by a neighbor. If the police had parked at that parking space, I would have stepped out without noticing the police car and I would have been caught right then and there. After a while, that practitioner called me and asked why I did not arrive. After I explained what had happened, she told me that she was tailed the day before when she visited me. She did not get rid of those policemen tailing her until she was about to reach my house. Therefore we realized that this area was suspect. Teacher is always safeguarding us. [Hengdong County, Hunan Province] Public Security Officers persecute Falun Gong practitioners Since December 2000, the Public Security officers of Hengdong County, Hunan Province have illegally arrested Falun Gong practitioners and demanded that everyone pay a fine of about 10,000 Yuan. [about US$1,200, monthly average salary in China is about $60] [Guangdong Province and Hunan Province] Local Authorities of Guangdong Province and Hunan Province are "Transforming " Falun Dafa Practitioners with Tough Measures Recently, "Office 610" [a special government office set up by Jiang Zemin, the president of China, to persecute Falun Gong practitioners] of Haizhu District in Guangzhou City lured over 10 Dafa practitioners to a secret place for forcing their so-called "transformation" [to illegally persuade Falun Gong practitioners to give up the practice]. Several people surrounded each practitioner to perform the so-called "transformation." They announced that those practitioners who do not give up practicing would be directly sent to a labor camp. Since April 2001, all the cities and counties in Hunan Province have received a tough review of their ordered duty of arresting and detaining a specified number of Falun Gong practitioners. Those who cannot meet their quota of arresting and detaining a certain number of practitioners will be financially punished or fired. Since then, more than a thousand people (Falun Gong practitioners) have been arrested. When they could not catch the practitioners, they arrested the practitioners' family members and tortured them to get to the practitioners. They even used explosives to blow up practitioners' doors and dragged the practitioners away with them. [Boli County, Heilongjiang Province]Persecution of Practitioners Liu Yumei (female), a practitioner of Boli County in Heilongjiang Province, was detained because she went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Dafa. When Liu Yumei was preparing to go to Beijing in March of this year to appeal again, supervisors in her work place, the No.7 Middle School, reported her to the police. She was then illegally detained in a labor camp and was sentenced to 3 years' forced labor. Li Jianbo is another practitioner from Boli County. Li publicly revealed the police brutality and persecution perpetrated on Falun Gong practitioners. Once, a practitioner was arrested because he distributed Falun Dafa truth-clarification materials. They forced him to confess and he finally said that it was a practitioner with the family name Li who had provided him with the materials. The police then immediately arrested Li Jianbo. But it was later verified that it was not Li Jianbo. To cover up their crime, and as an excuse for, the illegal arrest, they went to Li Jianbo's house and confiscated a sofa mattress. They produced this mattress as evidence that Li practiced Falun Gong at home. With the same excuse, they then sentenced him to 3 years in a labor camp. [Dalian City, Liaoning Province] List of Names of Dafa Practitioners Persecuted in Dalianwan Town, Ganjingzi District Zhangjing (female), when getting on the bus to Beijing, at the bus terminal on September 28, 2000, refused to curse Master Li. She was therefore illegally sent to the drug detoxification/rehabilitation center, held there for 40 days and was fined 2,900 Yuan. They sentenced her to 2 years of forced labor at the Dalian Labor Camp. Yu Shumin (female) was fined 3,000 Yuan by the Frontier Defense Police for going to Beijing in September 1999 and was illegally held for over 10 days. In April 2000, she was again sent to a drug detoxification/rehabilitation center and incarcerated there for over 30 days. In July, she was sent to Masanjia Labor Camp for presenting Falun Dafa truth-clarifying materials to the head of the bureau [of her workplace]. Liu Xingwang (male) is held in the Dalian Labor Camp for going to Beijing to appeal for Falun Dafa. Zhang Rong (female) was illegally detained for 15 days by the Frontier Defense Police for going to Beijing in September 1999 to appeal for Falun Dafa and was later held in a mental hospital for over 30 days. Her family spent 5,000 Yuan [about US $600, average monthly salary in China is about $60] for bailing her out. In March of 2000, she went to Beijing again and was fined 5,000 Yuan and locked up for over 10 days. In June, she was held in a drug detoxification/rehabilitation center for fifteen days. Later, she was illegally held captive for over a month in a detention center. Her house was also ransacked. Du Yunhong (female) was illegally detained for 10 days by the Frontier Defense Police for going to Beijing in September 1999 to appeal for Falun Dafa. In March of 2000, she went to Beijing again and was kept prisoner for over 10 days. In July, for 15 days she was illegally detained in a drug detoxification/rehabilitation center and later sent to a detention center and interned there for over a month. Tao Wei (female) was illegally detained for 10 days by the Frontier Defense Police for going to Beijing in February of 2000 to appeal for Falun Dafa. In April, she went to Beijing again and was confined over 10 days. Because her family is poor, her house was mortgaged to the Frontier Defense Police in lieu of the cash fine she was unable to pay. In July, she was illegally imprisoned in a drug detoxification/rehabilitation center 15 days and later was sent to a detention center and detained for over a month there. Her house was ransacked repeatedly. Sha Hongzhen (female) was sent to a drug detoxification/rehabilitation center by the Frontier Defense Police in April 2000 and was unlawfully kept there for over a month. Afterwards, her work unit at Dalianwan Cement Factory fired her. In June, she went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Dafa and was fined 5,000 Yuan and without benefit of legal procedure detained for over 10 days. Her house was ransacked. Zhou Liying (female) was illegally imprisoned for 10 days by the Frontier Defense Police for going to Beijing in September 1999 to appeal for Falun Dafa. In March of 2000, she went to Beijing again and was fined 5,000 Yuan and detained over 10 days. Yin Jinzhi (female) was fined over 2,000 Yuan, an act of extortion, by the Frontier Defense Police for going to Beijing in 1999 to appeal for Falun Dafa. In June of 2000, she went to Beijing again and was fined 5,000 Yuan and detained over 30 days. Liu Fengying (female) was fined 2,000 Yuan by the Frontier Defense Police for going to Beijing in 1999 to appeal for Falun Dafa and was held 5 days by her work unit. In June of 2000, she went to Beijing again and was fined 5,500 Yuan and jailed for over 10 days. Yu Chengmin (female) was fined 2,000 Yuan by the Frontier Defense Police for going to Beijing in 1999 to appeal for Falun Dafa and was unlawfully detained 5 days by her work unit. In June of 2000, she went to Beijing again and was fined 6,500 Yuan and kept in confinement for over 30 days. Tao Lijuan (female) was fined 5,000 Yuan by the Frontier Defense Police for going to Beijing in April 2000 to appeal for Falun Dafa and was detained over 10 days. Wang Ziwen (female) was fined 2,000 Yuan by Beijing's "People's Appealing Office" for going to Beijing in January 2000 to appeal for Falun Dafa. Wang Lin (male) was illegally detained for 10 days by the Frontier Defense Police for going to Beijing in April 2000 to appeal for Falun Dafa. His motorcycle at home was confiscated. In June, he was illegally sent to a drug detoxification/rehabilitation center and was detained there for over 10 days. Later he was interned for over a month in a detention center. One day in 2001, during the middle of the night, a Frontier Defense Police officer climbed over the wall of his house and took him away again. He has been detained since then, location unknown. His house was ransacked. Wang Shuai (male) was fined 5,000 Yuan by the Frontier Defense Police for going to Beijing in June 2000 to appeal for Falun Dafa. He was transferred to a detention center after first being held captive for 4 days. His house was ransacked. Liu Xianzheng (male) was fined 5,000 Yuan by the Frontier Defense Police for going to Beijing in June 2000 to appeal for Falun Dafa. He was detained over 10 days. His house was ransacked. Cheng Qiang (male) was fined 5,000 Yuan by the Frontier Defense Police for going to Beijing in June 2000 to appeal for Falun Dafa. He was transferred to a detention center after having first been held captive for 10 days. Xia Shuzhen (female) was illegally sent to a drug detoxification/rehabilitation center by individuals from the Dafangshen police station for refusing to write the "guarantee" statement in September 2000 [The "guarantee statement" means that Falun Dafa practitioners guarantee that they will not again go to Beijing to appeal, will no longer practice Falun Dafa and will not associate with other Falun Dafa practitioners]. She was detained there for over 30 days and was fined 2,000 Yuan. Xia Mei (female) was illegally detained for 20 days by officers from the Dafangshen police station for going to Beijing in January 2000 to appeal for Falun Dafa. In June, she went to Beijing again and was illegally imprisoned for over 50 days. She was fined a total of over 12,000 Yuan. Teng Yumei (female), for practicing Falun Dafa, was fined over 10,000 Yuan by people from the Dafangshen police station in January 2000 and was illegally detained for 18 days. In September, she was illegally kept prisoner for over a month in a drug detoxification/rehabilitation center and fined 2,000 Yuan for refusing to write the "guarantee" statement. Sha Fuyun (female) was fined 8,000 Yuan by Dafangshen police station in February 2000 and was illegally detained for over 20 days. In September, she was illegally detained for over a month in a drug detoxification/rehabilitation center and fined 2,000 Yuan for refusing to write a "guarantee" statement. Sha Jinhua (female) was fined 8,000 Yuan by officers from the Dafangshen police station in February 2000 and illegally detained for over 20 days. In September, she was illegally jailed for over a month in a drug detoxification/rehabilitation center and fined 2,000 Yuan for refusing to write a "guarantee" statement. Liang Mengxiang (female) was fined 8,000 Yuan by Dafangshen police station in February 2000 and was illegally detained for over 10 days. In September, she was illegally detained for over a month in a drug abstention center for refusing to write a "guarantee" statement. Shi Lianrong (female) was illegally jailed, for over 10 days, by officers from the Dafangshen police station in January 2000, for doing the Falun Dafa exercises at a practice site. In September, she was illegally imprisoned for over a month in a drug detoxification/rehabilitation center and fined 2,000 Yuan for refusing to write the "guarantee" statement. Chen Meijuan (female) was illegally incarcerated for over 20 days by "public servants" from the Dafangshen police station in January 2000 for doing the Falun Dafa exercises at a practice site. In September, she was illegally detained for over a month in a drug detoxification/rehabilitation center and fined 2,000 Yuan for refusing to write the "guarantee" statement. Wang Chunxia (female) was illegally sent to a drug detoxification/rehabilitation center by officers from the Dafangshen police station, was kept there unlawfully for over a month and additionally fined 2,000 Yuan for refusing to write a "guarantee" statement in September of 2000. Director of Dafangshen police station: Wu Yan Telephone number: 011-86-411-7600246 Pager: 011-86-411-3626666 call 23035 Political Instructor: Qi Wenxiang Telephone number: 011-86-411-7600246 Pager: 011-86-126-1810296.