[Beijing] Practitioners Visiting Labor Camp To Request Release Of Detainees Were Also Detained
On the morning of June 12, at least 100 practitioners from various regions of Beijing voluntarily went to Daxing Jail to visit the practitioners serving forced-labor or under illegal detention there and requested their unconditional release. As a result, some practitioners were intercepted on their way to the jail and put into police vehicles. Some got arrested at the gate of jail when they were about to leave after filing their request. Many practitioners were sent to the Daxing detention center and were detained in separate cells. Some practitioners refused to enter the jail because they believed they had done nothing illegal. They got beaten up afterwards by the police and guards. All practitioners on the spot spoke out loudly, "Stop! It is illegal to beat up people!" The police then disciplined a little bit. Among the detained practitioners, most were women. There were also seniors and children.
[Beijing] Urgent Situation In Tuanhe Jail: Lives Of Practitioners At Stake
According to credible sources, a sizable number of practitioners are being detained in the Tuanhe Jail. Many of them have been on hunger strike for many days. So far, practitioners known to be on hunger strike include Jia Xiulan, Wang Wei, Li Wanqing, Li Fengyi, Tian Ke, Sun Hong, Qiu Yanyan, Zhong Xianghong, Zhang Yongqiang, Chen Daqun, Sun Jinxia, and Lu Hongqi etc.
The prescheduled family visits on June 12 were also cancelled. Currently the jail is on a curfew. These practitioners' lives are seriously endangered. We call upon all levels of government departments to pay attention to the issue, so that no more "Mei Yulan" event will happen. [Note from editor: Ms. Mei Yulan died of forced-feeding in a jail in Beijing on May 23, 2000]
[Beijing] Information About A Female Practitioner Is Blocked After Protracted Hunger Strike
Hou Liwei, female, 32, got detained in the Chaoyang District Detention Center on April 23 after attempting to unfurl a Falun Dafa banner on the Tiananmen Square with 5 other practitioners. On May 30, she received a notice of one-year forced-labor that had been issued on May 18, for refusing to write a "repentance" pledge. On June 6, she was transferred to Tuanhe Jail. She started to abstain from food and water since June 1 to request the release of all detained practitioners.
Now nobody is allowed to visit her including her family members. The current situation of Ms. Hou is unknown. Her family members are extremely worried..
[Sichuan Province]
On May 20 (Saturday), several hundred practitioners shared their experience in a park while touring around. At around 10:30am, all of them got arrested by the police who suddenly showed up. They were sent to the Qingyang Drug-Stopping Center of Chengdu City. After registration, they were picked up by their local police station. Some practitioners refused to tell the police their names and therefore got detained in the Drug-Stopping Center.
Those practitioners who were picked up by their local police station were given 15 days of administrative detention under the accusation of "disturbing social orders". Some of them were given criminal detentions. The family members of some practitioners were also punished.
[Hefei, Anhui Province] Reports From Hefei
[1] On May 15, the West District Court of Hefei held a trial of practitioners Wu Yunrui, Jiang Feng and Yang Jingfang. Wu Yunrui, former deputy director of the Anhui Provincial Tourist Bureau, refused to show up at the court in order not to provide the state news media an opportunity of fabricating stories to slander Falun Dafa and Teacher Li Hongzhi. However, the police carried Wu Yunrui, who had been tortured to loss of walking ability, onto the police vehicle and drove him to the Court. During the trial, Mr. Wu Yunrui kept his eyes and lips closed so that the TV station could not do the live broadcast.
[2] Police From Hefei Deceived Practitioners and Sent Them To Labor Camps
On May 23 after Anhui Province issued a document of so-called "helping and educating Falun Gong practitioners", the persecution against Falun Gong practitioners in Hefei (City) has been gradually escalated. Many police stations deceived practitioners and sent them to labor camps for forced-labor.. For instances:
1. Shushan police station of Hefei deceived the couple of Li Yun out of their home in the name of "having a conversation" and then put them into two separate vehicles. The police sent Li Yun's husband, a non-Falun Dafa practitioner, back home after driving around for a while. Li Yun instead was sent to an "education class" and lost personal freedom. Later she was directly transferred to a labor camp for one year of forced-labor.
2, Ms. Zhao Ronghua from the district supervised by the Hepinglu Police Station of Hefei City got arrested while practicing Falun Gong outdoors on April 19. Her cassette player was confiscated. At around 8:00am of May 25, the police informed her to pick up her confiscated cassette player. At that time, it was raining. Ms. Zhao Ronghua went to the police station with a pair of slippers and an umbrella. At around 1:00pm of the same day, her family members received a notice that she had been sent to a labor camp and they were asked to send her some daily necessities.
3, A dozen other practitioners including Zhang Shuying, Li Shiying, Hu Guohua, Zhou Aifeng, Pei Jieyun and Li Yun, etc., had similar experiences. They were directly sent to labor camps after being cheated into the police station in the name of "having a conversation".
4, Practitioner Kong Dewen, who was fired by the Wanjiang Factory, went to Fuyang to find some temporary work. The police station of Fuyang informed Kong Dewen to fill up a form. As soon as Kong Dewen arrived at the police station, he was escorted back to Hefei and then was sent to a labor camp.
[3] Up To 66 Practitioners Are Held In The Provincial Women Detention Center
Not a while ago, the women detention center escalated the physical abuses on practitioners. They forced practitioners to work 16 hours a day. Once they were found practicing Falun Gong, the detention center would instigate criminals to tie them up with ropes and abuse them physically and verbally.
Ms. Lu Daozhen from the Meiling Factory had been tightly roped for practicing Falun Gong and not allowed to sleep. She had also been put into a separate confinement which was too small for her to stand up.
The family members of Professor Wu Xiaohua from the Institute of Architecture came to visit her after she had been detained for 3 months. They found out that she had many black and purple spots on her arms, a clear signal of protracted physical abuses.
Practitioner Bo Yun who had been given forced-labor for about half a year once fainted and fell to the ground because of the overloaded work.
Whereas the practitioner's tolerance could not win the guards' self-discipline, practitioners had gone on hunger strike and work strike for five times and finally gained a relative lenient environment for learning and practicing Falun Gong. It was said that the visiting interval of practitioners had been changed from twice a month or once a month to once every three days. Moreover, the labor camp changed the punishment from heavy-duty labor to "education classes".