(Clearwisdom.net)

Ms. Zhu Yujun, a Dafa practitioner from Shulan City, was arrested illegally and has been on a hunger strike for over one month now. After suffering numerous fainting spells, she was sent to a forced labor camp but the camp refused to accept her. She is on the verge of death. Her elderly mother went to the Public Security Bureau many times asking for her release, but the Political and Judiciary Committee refused to release her. Around November 8, the mayor of Shullan, Zhang Zhimin, refused to sign a release form. Because they wanted to extort more money from her, they continued to detain her.

The police in Qianan City, Hebei Province frequently used a variety of means to torture Dafa practitioners, such as using leather belts and the bottoms of shoes to slap them, using sarcasm and slanderous remarks to insult them, putting them in shackles which are intended for death row inmates, hand cuffing them if they practice the Falun Dafa exercises, hanging them on an iron gate for extended periods, and not allowing them to use the restroom. These were things frequently done to the practitioners. Dafa practitioners went on hunger strikes to protest the abuse and were force-fed. Police used tools to open their mouths and to pry apart their teeth. Some practitioners' mouths were torn and bruised so badly that they bled profusely. The feeding tube often pierced their esophagus causing problems with breathing. Their bodies were severely injured from the forced feeding causing thick black blood clots and sustained coughing and chest pain. Their bodies sustained a tremendous amount of torture.

The police in the Shuanghe Forced Labor Camp in Qiqihar City, Heilongjiang Province viciously persecute Dafa practitioners. If Dafa practitioners do not cooperate with them, they are tied up on a "tiger bench"* day and night for several dozen days. The number of days keeps getting longer, and they keep prolonging the duration of the torture. The Dafa practitioners' lives are in grave danger. We are asking people with righteousness to extend your helping hands to rescue them.

On February 4, 2000, Dafa practitioner Li Ziumin from Shijiazhuang was arrested and detained in Youyidajie Police Station because she participated in a group practice. Her family's property was illegally confiscated. On March 13 of that year, the eighth day of her hunger strike, the Qiaozi Public Security Bureau sentenced her to 3 years of hard labor and on March 15 her work unit dismissed her. During her three years of hard labor in Shijiazhuang Labor Camp, she was inhumanely tortured so badly that both her mind and body suffered severe injury. Unable to stand the vicious accusations and pressure, her husband was forced to divorce her and take their son away. On April 5, 2003, she was released and went to live with her parents since she couldn't support herself. On November 14, 2003, Yuhua Police Station in Shijiazhuang again arrested her for no reason. Her whereabouts are unknown.

An understanding of "solemn declaration"** of one Dafa practitioner: Whenever I read the Minghui website, I did not want to read about the facts of persecution and "solemn declarations" since I had a similar experience. I was afraid of being persecuted again and could not face my own fear. However, after I finished reading a fellow practitioner's declaration yesterday, I found my shortcoming and disparity. I enlightened to the deeper meaning behind falling down and standing up again. To write a declaration is to honor Dafa and to be responsible to the Fa; it is not just washing away my own wrongdoings. Also, the purpose of writing a "solemn declaration" is to expose the evil propaganda of so called "being transformed." It is also to let the evil know that coercion can't change a person's heart. In some degree it suppresses and eliminates the evil elements. The negative influence due to my huge mistake is being rectified and also my mind returned to its rightful place after having been forcibly brainwashed.

* Tiger Bench - the victim is tied to a bench, thighs held down, legs straight, and feet pushed up by a stack of bricks, causing hyper-extension and sometimes breaking the knees backwards.

** A "solemn declaration" is a person's public statement declaring to the world that whatever he or she has done or said under duress or deception that was against Falun Dafa is null and void. Most of these statements have come from Falun Dafa practitioners in China who wished to express regret that, in the face of physical torture and brainwashing, they signed documents renouncing Dafa and guaranteeing not to practice again. Also, as more and more people in China learn the truth about how they have been deceived and lied to by the Jiang regime, many non-practitioners are also submitting "solemn declarations."