The Cruel and Long-Term Suffering of Tangshan Dafa Practitioners

Zhang Baohuan is a twenty-nine-year-old middle school teacher at the Second Middle School of Kailuan, Hebei Province. The "610 Office" [An agency specifically created to persecute Falun Gong, with absolute power over each level of administration in the Party and all other political and judiciary systems] staff of her school searched her dorm and found a lot of Falun Dafa articles on November 13, 2001. She was later illegally arrested and sent to the First Detention Centre of Tangshan. Zhang was not allowed to sleep on the very first day she was there. They forced her to stand day in and day out for fifty-seven days. But she held fast and wouldn't give in to the pressure. Five female cell leaders beat her badly until she was bruised all over and a piece of skin near her mouth was torn off. The Detention Centre Chief encouraged the five torturers, exclaiming "Good job! We need to couple of threats with the promises." Zhang was again forced to stand day in and day out, without sleep, for over a month close to the end of February 2002. She was sent to a brainwashing session at Tangshan Textile College this summer and is still in detention.

Liu Baoqin is a fifty-two-year-old worker at the Tangshan Government Press. After publishing a declaration in January of 2001 that her so-called "Guarantee" [to not practise Falun Gong any more] was now void, she had to leave her home to avoid further persecution. She was followed, kidnapped and sent to the Tangshan Second Detention Centre by local police on July 20, 2001. Because she had exposed the brutal torture committed by police, she was put in heavy shackles for more than ninety days, which caused numbness and severe leg pain. Liu was later sent to a brainwashing session at Tangshan Textile College because she steadfastly continued to believe in Falun Dafa. After being detained and tortured for sixteen months, she is now in very poor health.

Li Yingnan (Liu Baoqin's daughter) is a twenty-four-year-old elementary school teacher. In April of 2001, she was forced to leave her home under constant threats by the "610 Office" at her school. After travelling to Tiananmen Square to peacefully appeal in late November of 2001, she was captured and sent back to the Tangshan First Detention Centre. On the very first day she was in the Detention Centre, she was brutally beaten and cold water was poured on her head by cell leader, Wang Xiuyu (a drug dealer). She wasn't allowed to sleep for a month and has since been punished on several occasions by being made to stand without sleep. The Chief of the Women's Jail, Zhang Xin, threatened that she would be thrown into a male cell, naked, as a way to try and force her to give up her belief. Li Yingnan was later sent to a brainwashing session at Tangshan Textile College in June 2002 for further persecution. She is still under illegal detention.

Zhou Guirong, a fifty-year-old Dafa practitioner, was illegally captured from her workplace and sent to the Second Detention Centre on July 15, 2000, simply because she told the truth and said that she still practised Falun Gong. In May 2002 she was transferred to a brainwashing session at Tangshan Textile College. She has been detained for two and a half years.

We are calling for attention to this persecution from all governments, human rights organisations and all kind people around the world. Please help to stop the vicious persecution in China by Jiang's regime and to release all the illegally detained Falun Dafa practitioners.

http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2002/12/12/29634.html