Individual Accounts

  • Mr. Yang Jianpo Arrested Again; His Wife Tries to Reason With the Prison Guards

    On December 28th, Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Yang Jianpo was arrested again. His wife wrote a letter to the prison officers in Jidong Prison in the hopes that they would be able to realize that they were taking part in the persecution of good people. Mr. Yang was arrested before—in 2006—and sentenced to six years in prison. He resisted the persecution and went on a hunger strike for two years and eight months. On September 29th, 2008, he was released and taken home by people from Jidong Prison. When he came back, he was extremely emaciated and weak, and his internal organs were barely functioning.
  • Personal Account of Persecution Told By Chen Shufen in Longxi County, Gansu Province

    Ms. Chen Shufen was persecuted for a long time by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and police because she practised Falun Gong. She was sentenced to forced labour camps twice, where she was tortured and made to do forced labour. She recounts the persecution: "In the No. 2 Women's Forced Labour Camp in Gansu Province, I was forced to wrap disposable chopsticks. The soaking solution was strong and toxic, and could turn all of your hair yellow. My eyes were irritated and could not open, and sometimes I could not even breathe. It would also make people faint. When I finished working, I was reluctant to even eat. In the detention centre I was also hung up three times."
  • Persecution of Ms. Zhang Guoqin from Yushu City, Jilin Province

    Ms. Zhang Guoqin was taken to the Yushu Detention Centre because she insisted on practising Falun Gong. She recounts: "They forced me onto a "tiger bench", handcuffed my arms behind my back and tied my legs together, so that they were suspended in the air. They then put 5kg weights on each of my feet and fastened an iron bar just above my stomach, so that I couldn't move. Zhang then put a dirty rag in my mouth to prevent me from shouting, as he stomped on my feet, beat me with a rubber whip and punched me in the head. I was tortured from the afternoon until late in the evening, when they became tired. The pain was beyond belief."
  • I Witnessed the Torture Deaths of Two Practitioners in Custody

    Mr. Wang Wenju began practising Falun Gong in 2004. He witnessed the healing power of Falun Gong when his wife's diabetes disappeared as a result of the practice. He bravely spoke the truth about the persecution to his students. He was reported and arrested on October 26th, 2004. He was then sentenced to three years in prison. He was taken to Shenyang City around March 20th, 2005, then was transferred to Fushen City Nanhuayuan Prison where he was brutally force-fed when he was on hunger strike and tortured to death on April 27th, 2005, at only 38 years old
  • Ms. Fan Guoxia Recounts the Persecution She Experienced in Harbin Women's Prison

    Fan Guoxia, a Falun Gong practitioner, was arrested on February 6th, 2002 and sentenced to seven years in prison. She has been imprisoned since May 15th, 2003. Ms. Fan recounts the persecution that she has suffered in prison: "The guards put me in solitary confinement using the excuse of SARS prevention. Guard Tao Dandan asked me to her office in order to have a “discussion” with me. She demanded that I say “Checking in.” I refused, as I have committed no crime and do not need to report to the authorities as if I were a criminal. With gloved hands, Tao slapped my face until her hands hurt. She tried to force me into a squatting position but I refused that as well. Every two days Tao ordered somebody to torture me."
  • Persecution Carried Out at Zibo Women's Labour Camp in Shandong Province

    In 2008, during the Beijing Olympics, I was arrested by police and sentenced to two years of forced labour for practising Falun Gong sent to Zibo Women's Forced Labour Camp. During my detention, I was brutally persecuted. I also witnessed many Falun Gong practitioners being persecuted unscrupulously and tortured for refusing to give up the practice. A practitioner was tortured by two female drug addicts, until her whole body was covered with wounds. They beat her day and night, hitting her in the chest and back. This practitioner was locked up every day in a solitary cell. She was forced to stay within an area as wide as a floor tile. She was beaten if she stepped out of this boundary.
  • Please Rescue My Wife and Daughter

    I am all alone at home, a place that used to be warm and full of laughter. My dear wife and daughter, are you still OK? On December 13th, my wife and daughter visited relatives. I lost contact with them at noon. A couple days later I got the heartbreaking news that they had been arrested by police and imprisoned at the Huachuan County Detention Centre. Family members, friends, and I went to the Huachuan County Police Department on December 16th. Officers refused to answer our questions and refused to let us visit. I am thinking about my family and worrying about them every second. I feel great pain and sorrow whenever I think about their suffering in the detention centre.
  • Ms. Song Guilan Crippled as a Result of Persecution, Her Family Harassed

    Ms. Song Guilan, a Falun Gong practitioner from the countryside of Heilongjiang Province, has become crippled as a result of persecution. She recounts: "During an interrogation, they (guards) grabbed my hair and rammed my head into a wall. I was dizzy and my head was buzzing. There were big lumps on my head and I lost consciousness. They notified my family to come get me and take me to the hospital when they realised that I was near death. At the time, I had no feeling in my legs. I was paralysed and unable to walk." After her release, Ms. Song was forced to become homeless to avoid harassment and threats from Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials. Her family was also harassed and threatened.
  • Practitioner Huang Futang in Zibo, Shandong Province Files Charges Against Policemen

    Falun Gong practitioner Huang Futang was arrested in June, 2009 by local police, and was then tortured until he gave a forced confession. Huang Futang was then sentenced to a forced labour camp for over one and a half years, and was sent to Shandong Forced Labour Camp in Zhangqiu on July 4th, 2009. This is the second time that Mr. Huang was sent to a forced labour camp. He was once detained in Qiugu Forced Labour Camp in Boshan for three and a half years. He has filed a lawsuit against the forced labour camp.
  • Witnessing Torture at Masanjia Forced Labour Camp

    I am a Falun Gong practitioner from Liaoning Province. I was taken to the Masanjia Forced Labour Camp in Shenyang City, Liaoning Province by the Dalian Domestic Security Division on September 20th, 2007. In that place, I witnessed the brutal persecution of Falun Gong practitioners. Regardless of the time, day or night, I could hear practitioners' pitiful screams as they were being tortured. Guards used any imaginable torture methods and brainwashed practitioners viciously in an effort to have practitioners renounce their belief.
  • An Appeal from a 65-Year-Old Mother

    In a few short years after the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) began persecuting Falun Gong in July 1999, my family was torn apart. My husband passed away, my daughter-in-law is still detained and being tortured in the Hunan Province Women's Prison, and my son has left home. My daughter-in-law was arrested on February 16th, 2010, in a hotel in Kunming City. She was then taken to Chenzhou City Detention Centre. There, she went on a hunger strike to protest the persecution. As a result, she was cuffed to a bed, brutally force-fed, and injected with unknown drugs until she was near death. When she lost consciousness, the guards pressed hard on an acupuncture point below her nose for more than 20 minutes until she regained consciousness. The inmates all cried in sympathy at what was happening to her.
  • What I Know of Beijing Deputy Mayor Ji Lin's Crimes

    On December 13th, Beijing's deputy mayor Ji Lin arrived at Taoyuan Airport in Taiwan. Ji is active in the persecution of Falun Gong in China. Two hours after landing in Taiwan, Falun Gong practitioners notified him in person that a criminal lawsuit had been filed against him. From 1999 to 2004, during the time when Ji Lin was the County Committee General Secretary at Miyun County and the Political Affairs and Regulations Committee General Secretary of Beijing, Miyun County became the area in Beijing that persecuted Falun Gong practitioners most severely. While he was the County Committee General Secretary at Miyun, Ji personally planned and conducted arrests and torture of Falun Gong practitioners. He was also involved in the examination and approval of each practitioner's sentencing.
  • Ms. Yang Jie Tortured Brutally for Ten Years (Part 1)

    Ms. Yang Jie, 40, from Zhongwei City, Ningxia Autonomous Region, was employed at a life insurance company in Zhongwei. She began practising Falun Gong in 1997. Since the onset of the persecution of Falun Gong by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Ms. Yang was imprisoned in the Ningxia Women's Forced Labour Camp and the Ningxia Women's Prison more often than not. She was tortured and fired for practising Falun Gong twice. To protest the persecution in the detention centre Ms. Yang went on a hunger strike and guards held her down on a bed and brutally force-fed her.
  • Which Law Did I Break When I Told the Truth?

    I am an elderly female Falun Gong practitioner. I would like to tell how the officers from Zhonghualu Police Station and Erzhigou Detention Centre persecuted me. On November 13th, right after I finished shopping at Hualian Supermarket two security guards in the market wanted to check my bag. They pulled me into the security office, where they found Falun Gong informational materials in my bag and called the police. Police interrogated me at the police station and asked for my name and address. I refused to answer all their questions. A policewoman, Wang Dan, did not allow me to use the toilet. I was taken the the Erzhigou Detention Centre. I exposed the fact that the police station and the detention centre arrested me in order to extort money from me. Because of this I was not not given any food. On the 10th night, my health deteriorated. I threw up blood and felt that I could not breathe.
  • An Account of the Persecution Suffered by Ms. Tan Shaowei from Guangzhou (Part 2)

    It was in the middle of the night in a classroom when they tried to pressure me to give up practising Falun Gong. When I refused, they forced me to do a half squat while watching a video that slandered the practice. They also beat me with a pole whenever I failed to do exactly what they ordered. In two days, my arms and legs were all swollen. They also burned a lot of mosquito repellant incense in front of me and forced me to inhale the smoke. If I refused to write the three statements to renounce practising Falun Gong, they were going to torture me more viciously.