Article from German Newspaper Badisches Tagesblatt: Two years In Hell

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Baden – Xiong Wei’s smile is back. Starting with January the 5th 2002, she had lost this smile until now. Plain clothes police had arrested her in Beijing and sentenced her to two years in a forced labour camp without due process. This Falun Gong practitioner regained her freedom on January the 4th and has returned to Germany on September the 29th of this year.

Please participate in gaining freedom for Xiong Wei (Photo: Gernsbeck)

Xiong Wei’s friends, as well as the International Society for Human Rights (ISHR), became active in gaining her freedom as soon as they heard about her arrest. Chancellor Gerhard Schröder of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) presented the former head of state and head of the communist party Jiang Zemin, during his Aril 2002 state visit in Germany, with an appeal letter, requesting the freedom of all imprisoned Falun Gong practitioners, including Xiong Wei.

This thirty-three year old had strong connections with Germany. The daughter of a pediatrician and an engineer commenced her studies in the School of Economy at the Technical University of Berlin. She graduated in 1999. She was employed soon after at Buderus’s Berlin and Wetzlar operations, and then transferred to China.

Xiong Wei had a difficult time in the beginning to adjust to the rigors of study in Germany, and suffered both physically and mentally. She found peace and harmony both within and without after learning Falun Gong. These teachings are based on a traditional Chinese cultivation school and the principles Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance.

Falun Gong is now practised by millions of people in sixty countries. Estimated numbers in China are between seventy and one hundred million. In 1999, the former head of state Jiang Zemin banned Falun Gong, as he perceived it a threat to the regime. The Chinese Meditation School’s principles could not be reconciled with communist ideology. Since that time, Falun Gong has been brutally persecuted.

Her life often could be described as a walk through hell: shocking with electric batons, brainwashing and rape, while witnessing others being tortured to death.

Xiong Wei endured agonising interrogation and torture, sleep deprivation, standing for hours at a time, or squatting.

She said during the interview with our newspaper that, “Generally, forced brainwashing and re-education through coercion are the norm, along with the demand to document in writing or verbally the politically-correct attitude by Falun Gong followers. Then, sleep deprivation followed if one expressed the truth.”

She produced sweaters and scarves for export from 7:30am to 10pm daily without a break. Sometimes she was forced to work until after midnight. Food was given twice a day. They were fed mostly dumplings, strongly salted Chinese cabbage sprinkled with maggots, and twice per week they were given celery that was over-salted.

Xiong Wei survived the agony. The excellent German-speaking Chinese lady is certain that “the international appeals in the form of internet publicity and postcards to the Chinese regime saved her from even worse treatments.” She has decided to find a job in Germany and at the same time, from deep gratitude to her benefactors, be active in the human rights struggle.

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