Brainwashing, Illegal Detention and Imprisonment, Inside the Labour Camps, Individual Accounts, 6-10 Office

  • Ms. Luo Minhu from Kunming, Yunnan Province Arrested by Police, Son Seeks Justice

    Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Luo Minhu was arrested in June of last year by local police, and her arrest was later retroactively approved by the Procuratorate. Ms. Luo's son decided to appeal for his mother because he believes that she has not done anything wrong by practising Falun Gong, and that the police have no legal basis for the arrest.
  • 610 Office Agents from Huining County, Gansu Province Panic after County Residents Receive Invitations to Trial

    Five Falun Gong practitioners from Huining County, Gansu Province were arrested in September 2011 as they were speaking with villagers about Falun Gong. The practitioners have now been held for more than five months in a detention centre. Huining County Court officials scheduled a trial for them on February 28th, 2012. In response, local practitioners widely circulated an invitation to county residents to attend the court proceedings. People who received the invitations were pleasantly surprised and expressed their willingness to attend the court hearing. This has caused the 610 Office agents (an organisation of special agents just for persecuting Falun Gong) who were instrumental in trying to persecute these practitioners to panic. When the practitioners' families talked to the judges, the court personnel repeatedly said that they didn't want to accept and hear the case, but the county 610 Office ordered them to do so.
  • Sentenced to 19 Years for Tapping into a Television Network to Broadcast Programmes Exposing the Persecution, Mr. Sun Zhaohai Tortured in Lanzhou Prison

    Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Sun Zhaohai was arrested in 2002 for tapping into a television network in Lanzhou City to broadcast programmes that explained the facts about Falun Gong. He was later sentenced to 19 years in prison and is now in Lanzhou Prison, Gansu Province. He has been in solitary confinement since August of 2010. He has been severely abused and tortured.
  • Ms. Hu Zhongtian Arrested while Visiting a Friend in Shanghai

    Shanghai Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Hu Zhongtian, in her 30s, went to visit Ms. Zhang Yi and was arrested by the police on February 2nd, 2012. Ms. Zhang was unaware that Ms. Hu had been arrested the day before. Officers approached Ms. Hu trying to seize her bag but she resisted. Ms. Hu was pushed to the ground and her hands were pinched and bloody. She was then handcuffed and forced into a police car. Her current whereabouts are unknown.
  • Mr. Song Tiemin Tortured in Suihua Forced Labour Camp, Two Teeth Knocked Out

    Mr. Song Tiemin was arrested two years ago for practising Falun Gong and served two years of forced labour in Suihua Forced Labour Camp. Two of his front teeth were knocked out when he was being tortured. Mr. Song finally returned home after suffering two years of detention. He recovered with his family's love and care, but the shadow of the physical and mental torture he endured in the labour camp has not gone away. He has woken up in the middle of the night with scenes from the labour camp in his head. There are still thousands of Falun Gong practitioners in China suffering like Mr. Song.
  • Four Female Practitioners from Ruichang City Sentenced

    Falun Gong practitioners Ms. Yao Fenglan, Ms. Zhang Daidi, Ms. Han Yuming and Ms. Zhou Meili were arrested by local police while putting up flyers exposing the persecution of Falun Gong in Ruichang City on July 11th, 2011. Three months later, on October 12th, they were put on trial by authorities at Ruichang Court. Three human rights lawyers were hired to defend them. The practitioners' lawyers won long applause from everyone in the courtroom with their defence argument. However, on December 16th, the judges at Ruichang Court sentenced the practitioners to three years of imprisonment.
  • Mr. Liu Qingwei, Ms. Mai Weilian from Dianbai County, Guangdong Province Sentenced to Prison

    Falun Gong practitioners Mr. Liu Qingwei and Ms. Mai Weilian were arrested on August 6th, 2011 by police. They were taken to a brainwashing centre, and are now critically ill from undergoing persecution. Their families requested their release; however, police department officials transferred them to the Dianbai No. 1 Detention Centre. They were sentenced to four, and three years in prison, respectively. The families finally saw Mr. Liu and Ms. Mai in the courtroom after several months of detention, since they hadn't been allowed to visit them in the detention centre. Mr. Liu Qingwei was emaciated, and his face swollen. Ms. Mai Weilian was also emaciated and had a dark complexion.
  • Letter from Torture Victim of Gangbei Prison, Tianjin

    Practitioner Mr. Fan Jianming, who had direct experience of being tortured by warden Zhang Shilin, including the floor anchor torture, was recently released from Gangbei Prison, where he was tortured for nine years. The following is his appeal to the Justice Division. He states: "Falun Gong practitioner Mr Li Xiwang was tortured to death from being shackled to the floor anchor for ten days (I was a victim of this torture myself). Mr. Zhou Xiangyang's family was trying to appeal to the local justice department about the torture he was experiencing in the prison, but they not only refused to investigate, but connived with the prison to obstruct a lawyer's visitation to Mr. Zhou. Mr. Zhou's wife Li Shanshan was sentenced to two years of forced labour because she had been working on her husband’s appeal."
  • Attorney Defends Zhang Weizhong--Gallery Member Gives Thumbs Up

    In June 2011, Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Zhang Weizhong was arrested. On December 15th, a hearing was held at Fengrun District Court. His attorney pleaded innocent for his client, and drew admiration from the gallery in the process of presenting his defence. Zhang Weizhong has been detained for six months, and his family and relatives are calling for his immediate release. Prior to this hearing, Zhang's wife was sentenced to four and a half years of imprisonment for practising Falun Gong. She is currently being detained at Shijiazhuang Women's Prison. Zhang Weizhong's son, who just started high school, and his 70-year old mother have no source of income without him.
  • Two Women Practitioners from Yuzhou City, Henan Province, Sentenced

    Two Falun Gong practitioners from Yuzhou City, Henan Province, 49-year-old Ms. Li Qiaocun and 59-year-old Ms. Li Meirong, were sentenced to four years and five years of imprisonment, respectively. Both practitioners have appealed. Ms. Li Qiaocun and Ms. Li Meirong were arrested on the morning of July 26th, 2011, as they posted information about Falun Gong and the persecution on utility poles along the roadside in Yuzhou City. Police officers took them to the Yuzhou City Detention Centre.
  • Ms. Zhang Guifang Sentenced to Prison

    Daqing City Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Zhang Guifang, in her 60s, was sentenced to three years in prison at the end of 2011. In February 2011, Ms. Zhang Guifang and Ms. Yang Zhanli were out walking when two cars drove up from behind and blocked their way. Six men jumped out of the cars, grabbed the two elderly women, and dragged them toward the cars and took them to the Ranghulu Police Sub-Bureau, where they claimed that someone had reported them. They searched the women and found Falun Gong DVDs and brochures. Ms. Zhang was taken to the Harbin Women's Prison on January 13th, 2012, and is currently in the prison hospital.
  • Firsthand Account: Ma Yingquan Tortured in Hegang City Brainwashing Centre

    Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Ma Yingquan was arrested on August 20th, 2011, by the local police and taken to a brainwashing centre, where he was brutally beaten and tortured. He recounts: "Zhang Zilong brought in an electric baton and told Zhao Jiabin to handcuff me behind my back. They shocked me for a long time while I was restrained and powerless. I could not move at all. I screamed because of the pain. They took off my clothes and started to shock me with the electric baton all over my body, including my inner thighs, genitals, belly, ears, most of my head, face, upper and lower lips, and throat. They especially shocked those areas of my body where the flesh is sensitive. They tortured me this way for a long time."
  • Farmer Ms. Liu Xiuqing Held in a Forced Labour Camp in Dagang, Tianjin

    Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Liu Xiuqing was arrested on January 11th, 2012, by local police as she distributed New Year's pictures bearing messages about Falun Gong in the neighbouring village. She was later sentenced to forced labour and taken to the Banqiao Forced Labour Camp. On the same day Ms. Liu was arrested, police officers ransacked her home without a warrant. They took brochures exposing the persecution of Falun Gong and other personal belongings. They also questioned her husband, demanding to know when she started practising Falun Gong, where the materials came from, and the names of the people she frequently had contact with, in an attempt to fabricate charges against her.
  • Ms. He Qiuling, 54, from Xian Arrested, Her Mother Kicked While Visiting Her

    When Ms. He Qiuling went to a village to explain the facts about Falun Gong, a Chinese Communist Party (CCP) staff member reported her to the police, and she was arrested and taken to a brainwashing centre in June 2011. Ms. He's elderly mother, who is in her 70s, went to visit her daughter. A group of people surrounded her. The director searched her body, then kicked her to the ground. Ms. He’s mother was very distressed. Ms. He was subsequently sent to the Shaanxi Women's Forced Labour Camp.
  • Ms. Dai Qiongxian's Account of Persecution in Yunnan No. 2 Women's Prison

    On August 26th, 2008, Ms. Dai Qiongxian was arrested by Chinese Communist Party (CCP) authorities while she was handing out Shen Yun performance DVDs that showed the beauty of traditional Chinese culture, which has been systematically destroyed by the ruling communist regime over the past 60 years. On March 4th, 2009, Ms. Dai was put on trial without her family being notified. She was sentenced to three years in prison. Since then, she has endured brutal persecution in the Ninth Prison District of Yunnan No. 2 Women's Prison. Prior to the 2008 arrest and subsequent sentencing, Ms. Dai was arrested in 2000 and sentenced to forced labour and was brutally treated in Yunnan Women's Forced Labour Camp.