Individual Accounts

  • Firsthand Account of the Persecution Suffered by Li Dasen in Guangxi

    Seventy-four-year-old Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Li Dasen was sentenced to three years of imprisonment by a judge at Xingning District Court, Nanning, Guangxi. He was supposed to be sent back to Nanning First Detention Centre on April 2nd, 2008, before being transferred to prison. Due to his high blood pressure, however, he was instead taken to Maoqiao Prison Hospital (now Xinkang Hospital). Afterward, he was sent to the detention centre and detained there for nine months. During that period, he was hospitalised in the Maoqiao Prison Hospital three times. The third occurrence took place on the afternoon of December 26th, 2008, when he lost consciousness. Mr. Li was transferred to prison four days later.
  • The Persecution I Was Subjected to at the Xuzhou Mental Hospital in Jiangsu Province

    After the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) began its persecution of Falun Gong in July 1999, I was taken to detention centres and forced labour camps several times. In 2001, local 610 Office agents (an organisation of special agents just for persecuting Falun Gong) sent several practitioners (including me) to the Xuzhou Mental Hospital. We were injected with unknown drugs as soon as we arrived. The drugs made us feel ill, flustered, and agitated. At night, the doctors ordered us to lie in bed all night long without moving. Anyone who did not obey the order was tied to the bed and injected with additional drugs.
  • A Belated Mother's Day Wish

    Mother was arrested and imprisoned three times for exposing the persecution of Falun Gong. For many nights I cried for mother in my dreams, and when I awakened, tears were all over my face. Every time I telephoned the forced labor camp, my request to talk to mother was rejected because she refused to be transformed [forcibly renounce Falun Gong]. I couldn't write to her or visit her. Later, I found out that they had tortured her into a state of disability. Early in 2009, I went to the forced labor camp to see her. When the heavy gate slowly opened, I was disappointed to see a policeman emerge instead of my mother. After a long interrogation-style conversation, the policeman still did not let me see mother.
  • Falun Gong Practitioner Mr. Jiang Botao Undergoes Violent “Transformation” in Jiamusi Prison

    For the purpose of forcing Falun Gong practitioners to renounce their belief, Jiamusi Prison set up a “strict management team” in February 2011. The brutal persecution started on February 21st. Within 15 days, three practitioners, Qi Yueming, Yu Yungang and Liu Chuanjiang had been tortured to death Mr. Jiang Botao suffered tortures in Jiamusi Prison such as brutal beatings, freezing and sleep deprivation. After he was beaten until he passed out, he would be doused with cold water to wake him up and then the beatings would continue. This violence did not stop until he became delirious and under pressure wrote the so-called repentance statement to give up his belief in Falun Gong.
  • My Seventy-Year-Old Mother Sentenced to a Twelve-Year Prison Term and in Critical Condition

    During the persecution of Falun Gong by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Ms. Gao Deyu, my 70-year-old mother, didn't renounce the practice. She was sentenced to a 12-year prison term on September 14th, 2010 by the Xichang City Court. She was transferred from the Liangshan Detention Centre to the Longquanyi Women's Prison on April 10th. Two days later she was in critical condition. Apparently, she did not meet the "four requirements" when she was taken there, as her blood pressure was far too high. Within a few days of staying at the Jintang Prison Hospital, one of her teeth was knocked out. Her hands, arms, legs, and thighs were bruised as a result of beatings, and they extorted 5,000 yuan from her family.
  • Remembering My Mother and Brother

    My family lives in Wuhan City, Hubei Province. There were five people in our home, including my father, mother, oldest brother, second older brother, and a younger sister. We all practised Falun Gong and followed the principles of “Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance.” Our life was a simple but happy one. We respected, cared for and loved each other. Not long after the persecution began in July 1999, the harmony in this family of five ended. Two are now dead and three severely harmed. The oldest brother is still being held in jail, which has left our younger sister, who has suffered all sorts of abuse, alone with our father, who has lost his sanity.
  • Persecution that I Suffered at the Hands of the National Security Team in Mudanjiang Public Security Bureau

    I was arrested, interrogated and tortured in November 2008 by police from the National Security Team in Mudanjiang Public Security Bureau. The police pulled my arms back, and used ropes to rein them in tighter while insulting me. I suffered both mentally and physically. When I did not say anything, Ma Qun added another rope to increase the pressure. He twisted my hand behind my back, causing me unbearable pain. When they saw that I was close to fainting from the pain, they released the rope and pulled my arms back forcefully. The pain in my arms was very intense.
  • The Persecution of Ms. Zhang Xue and Her Family

    I am a relative of Zhang Xue. Her mother and I have been neighbours for many years. I do not practise Falun Gong, but I have witnessed Falun Gong's wonders and magnificence manifesting in Zhang Xue's family. I have also witnessed the heinous crimes committed by the police, and the terrible behaviour of communist party officials from Qiguan Village. On January 29th, 2011 Zhang Shengyu, Deputy Party Secretary of Qiguan Village and the Fangxia Police Department broke into Zhang Xue's home and took her away. Previously, in 2005 Zhang Xue was arrested by police and detained in Shandong Province No. 2 Women's Forced Labour Camp for three years.
  • Mr. Huang Yuxuan in Critical Condition in Litang Prison; His Wife Requests Release for Medical Treatment

    Mr. Huang Yuxuan, a practitioner from Baise City, Guangxi Province, was sentenced to five years in prison in March 2008, and has been imprisoned at Litang Prison for over three years now. He is currently in critical condition. His wife requested the prison authorities release him for medical treatment, but was turned down without any valid reason. She recounts: "On September 7th, 2010, I was shocked when I saw him at the family visitation because I couldn't recognize him. He was in a wheelchair and looked extremely weak—he could hardly pick up the telephone handset. He was clearly struggling and on the verge of death. Two prison doctors stood behind him holding emergency kits in their hands. This made me scared because I couldn't stand to lose my husband."
  • Ms. Gao Shuqin from Shuangcheng City, Heilongjiang Province Recounts Years of Persecution

    Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Gao Shuqin was a teacher in Wujia Town, Shuangcheng City, Heilongjiang Province. She went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong in late 2000 and has been suspended from work ever since. Her daughter is in high school and her family is living under tremendous political and financial pressure. After the persecution began on July 20th, 1999, officers from the Shuangcheng City Police Department held Ms. Gao at the No. 2 Detention Centre twice, for a total of 79 days, and extorted 20,700 yuan from her. She was also held at a brainwashing facility twice and Wujia Town government officials extorted 2,100 yuan from her.
  • Personal Account of Psychiatric Abuse at Urumqi Women’s Forced Labour Camp

    63-year-old Ms. Zhou Yuelan used to be healthy from practising Falun Gong. Police and the 610 Office (an organisation of special agents just for persecuting Falun Gong) arrested her on September 6th, 2008 and held her in a forced labour camp for 18 months, during which she was subjected to psychiatric abuse. She recounts: "One time someone sprayed my left hand with a liquid. I immediately felt as if there were bugs crawling on my skin, and my hand started to feel numb. When I went to the toilet, I had to use the stall and tap they designated for me and smelled an overpowering odour coming from the toilet. Sometimes I rinsed my mouth with water from the tap, and there was a strange taste. Over time, I started to feel disoriented."
  • Ms. Wang Jinrong Recounts Torture by Officers from the Chifeng City Domestic Security Division

    During a trip to a copy shop to copy Falun Gong lectures on June 1st, 2001, I was arrested by officials from the Domestic Security Division in Chifeng City, Neimenggu Autonomous Region. The police ransacked my home and then put me in a remote beat-up warehouse. There, for four days and three nights, I was severely tortured as they tried to coerce me into giving "confessions." The skin on my wrists was bruised and lacerated, which caused my wrist bones to be exposed for over six months. More than ten people participated in the torture session.
  • Practitioners Brutally Persecuted in Wanjia Forced Labour Camp

    I have been persecuted many times since Jiang Zemin's, [former leader of China and instigator of the persecution] regime started persecuting Falun Gong in 1999. I was detained twice and sent to forced labour camps twice, and both my body and mind have been greatly injured. In Wanjia Forced Labour Camp practitioners were forced to watch videos slandering Falun Gong and write statements to renounce practising Falun Gong. A dozen collaborators (former practitioners, brainwashed against Falun Gong, made to assist in brainwashing and torturing practitioners) tried to “transform” [forcibly renounce Falun Gong] me from dawn to midnight every day. They threw me into solitary confinement, cuffed my hands behind my back, and hung me up with a rope from the ceiling.
  • Cases of Sleep Deprivation Being Used as a Means of Persecuting Falun Gong (Part 2)

    Ms. Liu Deqing, in her 60s, a doctor at the Hailun Health Hospital, Heilongjiang, was persecuted in the Heilongjiang Women's Prison. She recalled, “The guards did not let me sleep for more than ten days. If I tried to sleep, they would use a toothpick and stab me, or beat me with a stick or brush, and they grabbed my hair and smash me up against a wall. I was also kicked and refused use the toilet. If I urinated on the floor, I had to use a cloth to wipe it up.”
  • Changzhou University Graduate Student Arrested, His Mother Requests His Release

    “I am Yi Song’s mother. My son is a Changzhou University graduate student. Because he firmly practises Falun Gong, officers from the Changzhou 610 Office arrested him on March 22nd, 2011 in order to isolate and brainwash him. My relatives and I went to Changzhou a few days ago although we are poor and live in a faraway city. We had hoped to see my son. However, 610 Office director Ji Liming did not listen to my appeal at all but kept publicly cursing me. Just because I am a Falun Gong practitioner, he regarded me as a person who would “harm the safety of teachers and students in Changzhou University” and took video of us. They demanded that we present our identification cards to him and then followed us, which severely infringed upon our human rights."