(clearwisdom.net)

Part 1: http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2004/4/22/47297.html

(V) Fabricating Lies and Brainwashing the Public

Jiang Zemin has been vicious in his control of the persecution of Falun Gong. The persecution was solely built upon fabricated lies, defamation, and entrapment aimed at demonizing Falun Gong. He used all government-controlled media to incite hatred, create terror, deceive and poison the minds of people who did not know the complete facts about Falun Gong. Jiang did all these things for no other reason than to justify and gain support for his persecution of Falun Gong. During the past several years, Jiang's political group fabricated many lies such as attributing 1,400 deaths to practicing Falun Gong, claims of the founder having a luxury house, falsely claiming Falun Gong espouses committing suicide, falsely claiming sensational murders committed in China were by Falun Gong practitioners, covering up the evidence regarding jumping out of the buildings that was actually due to police force, creating propaganda that claimed Falun Gong had an anti-government agenda and was anti-China, and finally staging a self-immolation at Tiananmen square to terrify the public and blame Falun Gong. The Chinese Central Television (CCTV), specifically in its program Focused Topic, did not hesitate to take up these false stories and use them as effective propaganda to target and deceive large segments of the public.

1. Masterminding Propaganda and Demonizing Falun Gong

Jiang Zemin is not only the mastermind and chief architect behind the persecution of Falun Gong, but is also personally responsible for directing this campaign and being the vital link in sustaining the persecution. He has not tried to conceal his actions. He fabricated wild rumors and wasn't beyond staging horrifying incidents to frame Falun Gong. For example, on October 25, 1999, Jiang claimed when on a state visit to France, that "Falun Gong is a cult" during an interview with reporters from the influential newspaper, Le Figaro. He fed the propaganda he created against Falun Gong, outright lies such as "over 1,400 people died from practicing Falun Gong." He defamed Falun Gong by pinning strong political labels that create alarm in Chinese society by falsely claiming Falun Gong was "anti-society, anti-science and anti human" etc. He went as far as to smear Falun Gong, widely known in Chinese society to practice a high moral standard, with the feared Japanese cult "Aum Shinrikyo."

In September 2000, during an exclusive interview with Mike Wallace on CBS' "60 Minutes", Jiang made irresponsible remarks and invented stories about Falun Gong. He used the program as a platform to defame the reputation of Falun Gong by making wild claims that Falun Gong practitioners believe in strange reincarnation and doomsday theories, all of which are not espoused by Falun Gong nor are found in the teachings. However, he dared not state these lies publicly in China where Falun Gong was widely known and liked by over 100 million people of all levels of society.

2. Staging of the Tiananmen Self-Immolation, Creating Excuses for Escalating the Persecution

By the second half of 2000, Jiang Zemin's brutal persecution had become more difficult to sustain. Therefore, to hold on to power and to assure his political survival as the Party Head, Jiang's political group did not hesitate to stage horrific incidents so they could justify the continuation of the persecution. On the afternoon of January 23, 2001, officials loyal to Jiang's persecution policies staged and directed the Tiananmen Self-Immolation tragedy. Jiang wanted to assure that this incident would provoke and incite in people hatred against Falun Gong. His driving reason for plotting such a horrific incident was to fuel the escalation of the persecution of Falun Gong and eradicate it completely.

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Jiang's Regime staged the Tiananmen Self-Immolation incident and assured that blame would fall on Falun Gong. It badly impacted Falun Gong's image around the world and was the most devastating lie Jiang's political group fabricated against Falun Gong. The incident was used to incite fear and hatred in those people who didn't know the facts about Falun Gong. After outside experts analyzed the video of CCTV's program in slow motion, many inconsistencies and flaws in the film became evident. Ms. Liu Chunling, one of the self-immolators, was seen on the footage being hit on the head from behind with a heavy object. Later, an American news reporter conducted an investigation for a story he was writing and found that the self-immolators were in fact not Falun Gong practitioners at all.

3. Brainwashing and Information Blockade

The International Education and Development Organization has condemned Jiang's political group for carrying out state terrorism. In order to persecute Falun Gong, one of Jiang's political group's most accomplished methods was to deprive people of their right to know the truth. They used a program of lies which were heavily broadcast on TV over and over, initiated state terror tactics bringing fear across the nation regarding the issue of Falun Gong, manipulated people's minds, and destroyed morality and conscience by brainwashing 1.3 billion people.

In order to effectively achieve their goal of brainwashing the people, Jiang's political group has attempted to block all information channels coming into China. Thus, the public cannot obtain fair and objective information. The Internet has become vastly popular and has grown rapidly in China, allowing for a rapid and diverse exchange of information and ideas. Therefore, Jiang's group became highly worried that the facts regarding the persecution of Falun Gong would spread quickly over Internet. Consequently, Jiang's son personally took charge of China's Internet censorship project. His group utilizes specialized technology to search for and block any website that contains information about Falun Gong.

(VI) Ongoing Persecution Causes Disaster for the Nation

Only limited information on Falun Gong is presently available in China. Thus, the persecution against Falun Gong perpetrated by Jiang and his followers has brought disaster to China and the Chinese people. It has become a nationwide catastrophe. As more and more facts of the brutal and widespread persecution are being revealed, people will gain a clearer understanding of the long-term overall negative effects of the persecution.

1. Complete Obstruction for the Rule of Law

Over the past four years, Jiang and his loyal political followers have been the leaders in violating China's constitution. Laws in the Chinese constitution that protected an individual's right to freedom of belief and freedom of assembly were cast aside when it came to Falun Gong. Law-enforcement units have been enlisted as the tools in the persecution of Falun Gong and the law has become simply a veneer for deceiving people. The so-called "laws" being cited in the persecution of Falun Gong now are actually direct violations of the Chinese Constitution. They are essentially repressive laws that defy the will of the people and the nation, as well as go against fundamental moral standards. For example, when practitioners peacefully appealed for fair treatment for Falun Gong, their constitutional right to appeal, their freedom to practice the Falun Gong exercises and meditation in the parks, the refusal to denounce their belief in the Falun Gong principle of "Truthfulness-Benevolence-Forbearance," and publicly explaining the facts of the persecution against Falun Gong were all treated as "violations of the law." The most common charge levied against Falun Gong practitioners who were exercising their constitutionally guaranteed rights were that they were "revealing state secrets." Coming up against an arsenal of unconstitutional and illegal "laws," Falun Gong practitioners were not allowed to check into hotels; house owners were not allowed to rent rooms to Falun Gong practitioners; no officials were allowed to receive appeals on behalf of Falun Gong; no courts were allowed to accept appeal cases related to Falun Gong; no watchdog organizations were allowed to monitor the cases that involved Falun Gong; no lawyers were allowed to defend Falun Gong cases; no one was allowed to report the illegal conduct of law-enforcement personnel; no people's representatives were allowed to reflect people's voices related to Falun Gong; no media was allowed to report the facts about Falun Gong; no one was allowed to tell others about the persecution; nobody was allowed to visit Falun Gong websites; no one was allowed to tell the facts that Falun Gong practitioners were brutally persecuted; and Falun Gong practitioners were not permitted to obtain government licenses to marry or attend college, unless they would write a statement renouncing their belief in Falun Gong. The violations against the Chinese constitution are countless.

Besides the many "laws and regulations" manufactured by Jiang's group to support their persecution of Falun Gong, there were also many secret orders being given out. Jiang granted absolute powers to the newly created "610 Offices" (1) that allowed their actions to be above the law and granted economic rewards to officials from the "610 Office", police, and political and legislative entities. He ordered the authorities to violate the law as a means of enforcing the law. Authorities mass arrested Falun Gong practitioners without charge and sent practitioners to forced labor camps without trial where a systematic program of torture and brainwashing was implemented to force Falun Gong practitioners to renounce their belief. Whenever a Falun Gong practitioner was tortured to death, the authorities would lie to the family members that the practitioner committed suicide, in order to cover-up their responsibility for the death. In rare cases where the family was able to see the body, the marks and injuries from torture were apparent. Medical inquiries were quashed or diagnosis falsified.

The persecution of Falun Gong by Jiang's regime has severely violated people's human rights guaranteed in the Chinese constitution. It also severely violated the nation's law and caused great damage to China's rule of law. It was a great setback for China's progress towards rule of law.

According to the analysis of legal experts, the persecution of Falun Gong by Jiang's regime has violated numerous laws. Unfortunately they were all systematic and intentional violations, including:

1. defaming the reputations of innocent citizens;
2. Illegally depriving citizens of the right to freedom of belief;
3. Abusing authority;
4. Lodging false accusations and charges against innocent citizens;
5. Illegally searching and ransacking citizens homes;
6. Illegally detaining innocent citizens;
7. Obtaining confessions under torture and obtaining evidence through violent means;
8. Violating the privacy of citizens; illegally opening, concealing and destroying mail and faxes to citizens;
9. Retaliating against and framing citizens;
10. Committing perjury;
11. Obstructing testimony of witnesses;
12. Attacking, punishing and arresting witnesses;
13. Torturing innocent citizens who had been illegally detained;
14. Deliberately harming citizens;
15. Manslaughter (causing others to die because of negligence and mistakes)
16. Murder (committing premeditated killing);
17. Subverting the law to serve self-interest.

2. Demolishing the Security and Stability of the Social Environment

Jiang's regime spent human and financial resources in its persecution of good people, inciting hatred, unleashing state terror and police brutality, leaving many real criminals at large while focusing on mass arresting Falun Gong practitioners, as well as destroying the security and stability of the social environment. Jiang's loyal followers fabricated all kinds of lies, which defamed Falun Gong, although they were aware that Falun Gong teaches people to be good, honest and kind. These people propagated deceitfulness, viciousness and violence, bringing terror and spreading evil in society. The authorities destroyed people's conscience and morality and corrupted the social environment. They promoted and protected known criminals, corrupted officials and their like. They used those corrupted officials to abuse their power and implement despotic rules against civilians. As a result, the corruption has spread broadly, police and criminals cannot be differentiated, gangsters operate freely without fear of prosecution and the public security has worsened. The authorities promoted known thugs, criminals, corrupt officials and gangsters to important positions. They used these people to persecute and murder innocent people. It is just like the statement made by Tang Yubao, the chief of the 2^nd unit of the Longshan Forced Labor Camp in Shenyang City, Liaoning Province, "I am just a gangster without this uniform." Zhang Baolin, the deputy director of the Dalian Forced Labor Camp, Liaoning Province often shouted to Falun Gong practitioners he persecuted, "Don't you always talk about evil? I am evil! I am the devil!" But Jiang's regime needs those gangsters and vicious people in uniform in order to conduct his persecution against Falun Gong practitioners. These actions encouraged those dark and evil forces that are rampant in society and endanger every citizen's direct interest and personal security.

Those officials of the "610 Office" and policemen often broke into Falun Gong practitioners' homes to arrest practitioners, search their houses and seize their personal property to keep for themselves. They harassed, threatened, extorted large fines, followed practitioners closely, and forced practitioner's families to turn in their own family members who practice Falun Gong to the police. Every practitioner's personal freedom has come attack and they are in danger of being arrested anytime without any legal reason. The families of Falun Gong practitioners are also living in terror because of this evil persecution. Even their neighbors often find it difficult to live in peace because of constant police harassment.

3. Extensive Economic Loss to the Nation

The political campaign against Falun Gong, initiated by Jiang Zemin, has been very costly. A senior official in the Justice Department of Liaoning Province once said at a ceremony in the Masanjia Forced Labor Camp, "The financial cost of dealing with Falun Gong has exceeded the cost of a war." How much would a war cost today?

Let's look at just a few examples. According to a report by an international media source on February 27, 2001, Jiang once spent 4 billion yuan in monitoring and wiretapping Falun Gong practitioners' telephones. According to inside information from the Public Security Ministry, in December 2001, Jiang Zemin allocated a lump sum of 4.2 billion yuan to build brainwashing centers solely for the purpose of forcing Falun Gong practitioners to give up their belief in the principle of "Truthfulness- Benevolence-Forbearance."

In order to persecute Falun Gong practitioners more efficiently, a 500 million yuan prison town was constructed in Shenyang City, Liaoning Province. This combined the Masanjia Forced Labor Camp with the Dabei Prison, two forced labor camps notorious for their sheer brutality and numerous documented cases of torture and death from torture. Ms. Su Jing, Director of the 2^nd Women's Division of Masanjia Forced Labor Camp, once received a reward of 50,000 yuan for her "achievement" in persecuting Falun Gong. At the end of 2001, a one-time reward of 400,000 yuan was given to the Longshan Forced Labor Camp in Shenyang City, Liaoning Province for their "achievement" in persecuting Falun Gong. The Zhangshi Forced Labor Camp was awarded 500,000 yuan. Those numbers only reveal a very small portion of the overall outlay in the persecution of Falun Gong. The real numbers that "exceed the cost of a war" are still unknown to the public. These unequivocally vast resources were not used in developing the nation's economy or in helping disadvantaged people. Instead, they were used in persecuting innocent people who follow the principles of "Truthfulness-Benevolence- Forbearance."

Jiang Zemin ignored the nation's economy and people's economic needs and put the persecution of Falun Gong at the top of the list, making it the nation's priority. He illegally allocated large amounts of commercial loans and amounts slated for state budgets. He also raised money for the persecution by borrowing from international banks, issuing bonds domestically, and seizing Falun Gong practitioners' personal assets. He used the money to block information about the persecution, deprive Chinese citizens' right to know the truth, expand and build new prisons, labor camps, and brainwashing centers, and pay for the media propaganda, national security, police, and administration cost for persecuting Falun Gong. Enormous amounts of fund-outlays have been made to attack Falun Gong overseas. According to international media, it is estimated that the regime has expanded one quarter of the country's financial resources to persecute Falun Gong. This has put tremendous pressure on the livelihoods of people throughout China and brought grave consequences to the nation's economic development.

4. Summary of the Crimes Committed by Jiang's Regime

The persecution against Falun Gong by Jiang Zemin has been escalating. He directed a persecution policy to ruin millions of Falun Gong practitioners' reputations in China, bankrupt them financially and destroy them physically. That persecution policy created the wide use of torture against Falun Gong practitioners nationwide. The torture tactics enlisted against Falun Gong practitioners are beyond brutal and inhuman. No official has been held responsible, even when practitioners were tortured to death. The numbers of Falun Gong practitioners who were tortured to death or suffered permanent injuries are unknown, but estimated to be very high. Falun Gong practitioners have had their families broken up, lost all their possessions and were forced to leave their homes. Millions of the practitioners' family members, relatives, close friends, and co-workers have been implicated to various extents. Jiang's political group promised the world to diminish torture in China. Yet, Jiang took a lesson from Hitler's era and presented the world with a deceptive picture. He invited some overseas mainstream media to visit what was labeled a "Civilized Environment" in forced labor camps. The truth that was hidden behind the smokescreen was that he personally ordered, plotted and commanded civilian and military police to mass arrest Falun Gong practitioners without cause. He gave orders to torture practitioners in detention centers, prisons, forced labor camps, and brainwashing centers. The tortures used are unprecedented in the world's history. The Clearwisdom.net website has recorded a list of tortures, called "One Hundred Types of Torture." Many women and senior citizens were subjected to these tortures. For details, please refer to Illustrations of Torture Methods Used to Persecute Falun Gong Practitioners in Chinese Detention Centers and Forced Labor Camp (Part 1 & 2, with pictures)

Since July 20, 1999, more than four long years of persecution have gone by. Many deaths of Falun Gong practitioners by torture have been exposed, despite the strict information blockade. Those deaths occurred throughout China, in over 30 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities. According to incomplete information, by March of 2004, there have been at least 920 Falun Gong practitioners who have died as result of the persecution. The regions with the highest number of deaths, in order of the most deaths to lesser deaths reported, are: Heilongjiang Province, Jilin Province, Shandong Province, Liaoning Province, Hebei Province, Sichuan Province, and Hubei Province. Among those who died from persecution, 52% were women and 31.7% seniors between the ages between 50 and 70 years.

However, the true numbers are kept secret. According to secret internal statistics, in October 2001, the practitioners who had died in detention reached 1,600. At least 6,000 practitioners were illegally sentenced, over 100,000 practitioners were sent to forced labor camps without any proper legal procedures and thousands of practitioners were sent to mental hospitals and forcibly given injections that proved to be damaging to the central nervous systems. Many practitioners were arrested and taken to brainwashing centers where they suffered from mental torture. Many more practitioners had their homes searched, were physically beaten, tortured and had heavy fines levied against them by a fee by the police. A police chief in Anshan City, Liaoning Province, once told the practitioners who were illegally arrested, "My superior officer has told me that if you practice Falun Gong, we will arrest you and fine you. After you pay the fine, we'll release you then arrest you again. My superior officer said the purpose was to make you all go bankrupt, make you suffer, make you unable to live or die."

5. Selected Persecution Cases

Jiang's persecution has caused many tragedies. Due to limited space, we will only list a few.

1) Shanghai Police Murdered Practitioner Mr. Li Baifan by Throwing Him from a Building

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Mr. Li Baifan, around 40 years old, a Falun Dafa Practitioner from Shanghai, was a lecturer at the East China Normal University. Because he continued to be steadfast in practicing Falun Gong, after the July 1999 ban, he was arrested and first detained at the Dafeng State Farm of Jiangsu Province, and then transferred to the Qingdong State Farm in Shanghai. He was not allowed family visits for two years. Because he refused to cooperate with the anti-Falun Gong propaganda and brainwashing program, at the end of this April, police officers shoved Mr. Li from a tall building causing fatal injuries. The responsible parties would not admit their complicity in this incident and instead issued the standard false claim that Mr. Li committed suicide.

2) Police Kills Dafa Practitioner Mr. Lu Xingguo in Shanghai Qingpu District's No. 3 Forced Labor Camp

Mr. Lu Xingguo, a 45-year-old Dafa practitioner from Wanggang Hongyi Village, Tang Town in the Pudong New District, Shanghai. On October 15, 2003, he was beaten to death in the Shanghai Qingpu District's No. 3 Forced Labor Camp.

Because Mr. Lu Xingguo was a steadfast Falun Gong practitioner, he was detained in the No. 3 Forced Labor Camp. On October 13, 2003, he was transferred to the Middle Team, which operates under direct camp supervision. It was located at the first floor of Middle Team One in the forced labor camp. This team was known for its cruelty against practitioners. They order criminals to commit violence and torture against practitioners. Practitioners who had previously been detained in the labor camp hospital were moved in late May 2003, to their current location.

Mr. Lu Xingguo was in room number 109. Prompted by policeman Xiang Jianzhong (Middle Team leader, badge no. 3130268), several criminal inmates in Room 109, such as thieves, robbers, gangsters, those having committed economic crimes and also drug addicts started to physically and verbally assault Mr. Lu, even using a small stool to torture him.

The small, circular shaped stool is placed against a wall. Generally this stool is used as a spool to coil up wires to a rather small diameter. The practitioner was forced to sit on the floor with his back against the stool. His legs were extended to the front so that legs and upper body formed a 90-degree angle. His arms were stretched to both sides of the body to form a straight line on the wall. Several people would spread the person's legs until they were almost 180 degrees apart. This torture is extremely painful and very hard for people to bear. A person may become unconscious from the excruciating pain. At the moment when the practitioner almost loses consciousness, the torturers would take a mouthful of cold water and spit it, including saliva, in the practitioner's face to make the practitioner regain consciousness. When they tortured Mr. Lu Xingguo, people outside that room heard Mr. Lu's painful cries. The criminals had ordered him to give up Falun Gong. When he said no, the criminals subjected Mr. Lu to the Tiger Bench (4) torture. They cruelly tortured him, both mentally and physically. They tortured him continuously for two days until his ligaments were torn and he was unable to stand and walk.

Later, Team Leader Xiang Jianzhong came to Room 109 and tried to force Mr. Lu Xingguo to answer some "questions." Xiang also tried to threaten him. When Mr. Lu protested against the torture, Xiang Jianzhong became very angry and defensive. He told head criminal inmate Zhang Min and others to intensify the torture. They were told to do whatever they could to force him to yield to them and to renounce his Falun Gong practice. A new round of persecution against him was planned.

On October 15, 2003, in the morning, policemen first transferred a few tough criminals such as Xu Ping and Dong Wei to room 111. At 12:00 p.m., inmate Zhang Min locked all Falun Gong practitioners into their cells. They were not even allowed to go to the toilet. They dragged the badly injured Mr. Lu Xingguo, who was unable to walk, from Room 109 to Room 111. The barefoot Mr. Lu was dragged along the floor on his back. Si Daolong was the head for cell Room 111. Other criminals such as Sui Wei, Wang Daming, Gao Jingdong, Gu Hailun, Yu Yonghuai, and Song Yuqi also came to Room 111. Now there were almost ten criminals in the room. Zhang Min shouted, "Turn up the TV volume and close all the doors and windows." Then they started to subject Mr. Lu to another round of more severe torture. To prevent Lu from making any sound, they stuffed a towel into his mouth. There is no one besides these criminals who were working under the orders of the authorities who knows for sure what occurred in this room.

After some time, the door and windows were opened. People heard Sui Wei and others swearing. They also could hear Mr. Lu's weakening voice refusing to yield to the torture and renounce his belief in Falun Gong. Realizing that Mr. Lu was willing to give his life for what he believed in, the criminals were beside themselves with fury. They immediately began another round of torture. They closed the doors and windows again and turned the TV to the highest volume. They proceeded with the most evil and cruel tortures. In less than one hour, Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Lu Xingguo was dead from torture at the hands of the police and the criminals.

At 1:00 p.m. in the afternoon, the criminals told the police, "He is dead." Police team leader Zhu (badge no. 3130671) came to Room 111. He instructed two criminals to carry Mr. Lu Xingguo's body and walked all the way outside of Team Number One's gate.

At midnight that same day, police Team Leader Zeng (badge no. 3130586) summoned criminals Sui Wei, Xu Ping and Dong Wei to come outside. Most likely they were making up lies and recording false witness statements to cover up their crime. They tried to cover up the truth to escape justice. Indeed, the policemen in other teams began to spread a rumor that Mr. Lu Xingguo committed suicide.

Xiang Jianzhong was the instigator, perpetrator and the most vicious in the torture death of Mr. Lu Xingguo. He once said, "We had orders from above. A 5% fatality rate is acceptable. If we kill someone, there were to be no consequences. We are not afraid of killing."

Later, the police lied to Mr. Lu's family that he died of an illness. They would not allow the family to view his body. On October 17, police informed Mr. Lu Xingguo's brother to come and sign the death certificate. His brother requested to see documentation of his brother's cause of death. While trying to make up a cause, the police couldn't justify themselves. The police still had no justification, but refused to allow the family to see his body. They ordered the family to cremate the body the next day.

On October 18, more than 60 policemen were stationed in the crematory to guard the body. When the family arrived, the police had already put clothes on the body to cover it. Still they did not allow the family to see the body. According to an eyewitness, Mr. Lu Xingguo's face was nearly beyond recognition. There was no skin on his lip. All his teeth were gone. The skin near his ears was wrinkled. His hair stood up straight. Blood was on his neck and one could see large areas of bruises from the electric shocks.

A 60-year-old mother, a disabled and bedridden father, as well as a wife and a school-age daughter survived Lu Xingguo.

3) Torture Death of Dafa Practitioner Ms. Li Yuling at the Hands of Dongcheng District Police in Beijing

Ms. Li Yuling left home around 3:00 p.m. on June 25. Dongcheng District police officials arrested her as she distributed materials that explained the facts of the persecution of Falun Gong. Later, they transferred her to the Heping Hotel to undergo brainwashing using their term of "helping her to reform."

The police tried to force Ms. Li Yuling into revealing the source of the materials and names of other Dafa practitioners, but she firmly refused to cooperate. The police then brutally beat her and tortured her around the clock. Ms. Li Yuling didn't show any fear when faced with brutal torture. During the nine days of detention, she held a hunger strike to protest and resisted the illegal detention and brutal torture with dignity and didn't say a single word. The policemen flew into a rage and tortured her relentlessly. At 5:00 a.m. on July 4, Ms. Li Yuling died as a result of the torture she was subjected to.

When Ms. Li Yuling's family received the death notice from the police, they went to the Longfusi Hospital, where her body was being kept. They saw that the left half of her face was swollen and bruised. Her ribs along the sides were black and blue. The police didn't allow her family to take a detailed look at the body. Furthermore, they threatened, "No picture taking! No videotaping! Don't touch the body!"

Ms. Li's family demanded an explicit explanation for Ms. Li's death and questioned, "Why are there scars and bruises on her face and body? Why didn't you send her to the hospital right after you found out her condition? If she didn't eat or drink, why didn't you do something like calling her family, which you didn't do until after her death?" The police couldn't answer, yet they ordered that the number of family and friends invited to Li's funeral be as minimal as possible.

A male policeman from the Dongcheng District Dongzhimen Police Station (Phone Number 86-10-6416-9817) confirmed Ms. Li's death and admitted that they had arrested Ms. Li. However, he claimed that only the chief of the police station could provide details.

4) The Torture and Death of Luo Zhixiang, a Three Months Pregnant Falun Gong Practitioner

Ms. Luo Zhixiang, who died at age 29, was a Falun Dafa practitioner from Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province. On November 22, 2002, Luo Zhixiang was arrested by the Tianhe District's "610 Office" authorities and sent to a brainwashing class located at the Huangpu Drug Rehabilitation Center. After going on a hunger strike, she was sent to the Tianhe Traditional Medicine Hospital. Under suspicious circumstances, she fell from the 3^rd floor on November 31, which caused a fatal head injury. She died December 4, while 3 months pregnant.

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After graduation from Wuhan Construct University, Ms. Luo Zhixiang went to work for the Guangzhou City Tianhe District Agriculture Development and Construct Industry Inc as an interior design engineer. She was a very sincere and kind person. Ms. Luo began to practice Falun Dafa in 1996. After July 20, 1999, she went with fellow practitioner Mr. Huang Guohua to Beijing to appeal. Huang Guohua was sent to the local detention center by the Shandong Provincial Liaison Office in Beijing, and detained for 1 month. His home was unlawfully searched. He had to pay 3,000 yuan for staying in the Police Substation 3 days. He was put under surveillance when he returned home. Ms. Luo was sent back to the Tianhe Detention Center in Guangzhou City, where she was dismissed from her job. Several days later, Mr. Huang Guohua came back to Guangzhou. They both had to leave their homes in order to avoid being unlawfully arrested. They were married on April 5, 2000.

On May 20, 2000, Mr. Huang Guohua's mother and her fellow practitioners were arrested on their way to Beijing to appeal, and were sent back to the local police substation in Shandong Province. The next day, police arrested his father, and restrained his parents in the device known as the "Iron Chair" (3) overnight. Police sent them to the County Detention Center, leaving their farm work and livestock unattended, which caused them a huge financial loss. Their local police took them back after 15 days, cruelly beat them by tying them onto the "Iron Chair" again, and hitting their heads with hard covered books, which caused many blood blisters to form and rupture. Police locked them up separately during the day, and then tortured them at night, with such tortures as sitting on the "Iron Chair," or "Tiger Bench." The Secretary of Pary Political and Judiciary Committee, Wang, lead more than 10 people to beat up Mr. Huang Guohua's mother using his shoes and police batons until wounds covered her body. Even now there are unhealed bruises. On June 10, the police tried to publicly humiliate them using a method common during the Cultural Revolution, by forcing them to march through the streets with degrading signs hanging from their necks. This elderly couple did not renounce their belief in Falun Gong, although police cursed and insulted them throughout this ordeal. The police did not release them until both of them could no longer physically take the torture. Then, three days later, police came to their home to collect a fabricated fine of 6,000 yuan. After seeing that this elderly couple truly had no money, they took the last 200 yuan the couple had left in their pockets.

In October 2000, Mr. Huang Guohua was detained for 135 days in Baiyun District Detention Center after he was arrested for passing out truth clarifying materials with Ms. Luo Zhixiang. Ms. Luo was pregnant at that time and later gave birth to their daughter in May of 2001. Mr. Huang's mother took the couple's daughter back to her home in Shandong. Afterward, her husband, Mr. Huang's father, was arrested and imprisoned again until September. From May to September, they had no one to take care of their fields. Mr. Huang's mother and his daughter had a difficult time.

Between July 20 and September 20, 2001, the police from the Tianhe District station went to Shandong Province three times to find Ms. Luo Zhixiang. They confiscated the couple's wedding photos and their baby's pictures. They went to Ms. Luo's sister's home many times to try to arrest her, and even posted 30,000 yuan reward to capture her. Police found Ms. Luo and her husband on November 22, 2001, and arrested both of them, detaining them in a substation in Haizhu District. Two months after Mr. Huang Guohua was sent to the Detention Center, then to Huadu Labor Camp in Guangzhou City, where he remains until today. Ms. Luo Zhixiang was detained in the Haizhu Detention Center, where she went on a hunger strike for 7 days. The detention center's doctor discovered that she was 3 months pregnant; hence, she was bailed out by the Tianhe District Government, but was detained unlawfully by the Tianhe District's "610 Office" authorities and the Nationhood Administration. While in jail, she was forced to attend brainwashing sessions.

On December 5, 2001, upon hearing that Ms. Luo was dying, Mr. Huang's mother arrived in Guangzhou with Ms. Luo's young daughter. Once there, she found that Ms. Luo had died the previous day from the persecution she received. They had arranged to stay in a motel for 7 days. On the morning of the 8^th day, people from Xinghua Neighborhood Administration quickly told Mr. Huang's mother about the funeral arrangements. They said, "We can only allow you to stay 7 days, and we will only pay for 7 days of body maintenance fee here." On the morning of December 23, Secretary Chen of the CPC Political and Judiciary Committee led 6 people and forced Mr. Huang's mother and his daughter out of the motel and into the cold. Mr. Huang's mother went to the Xinghua Neighborhood Administration, simply asking for a place to stay until Luo's funeral arrangements were settled. More than 10 people pushed them out, so this elderly woman and her young granddaughter had to stay on the streets for 4 months. They went to the Neighborhood Administration and the "610 Office" many times, but no one showed any compassion. They lied to her, saying that "Ms. Luo committed suicide," so that the government would not have to be responsible. Twice, the "610 Office" administrators tried to force Mr. Huang's mother to sign a form that said Ms. Luo committed suicide. She absolutely refused. Based on the facts, Ms. Luo was closely watched by 3 people each shift, and they said, "Ms. Luo went on hunger strike for 7 days." Ms. Luo could not even stand up; who would believe she committed suicide? Mr. Huang's mother questioned loudly, "She was bailed out, so why was she not allowed to go home?"

The "610 Office" Chair, Liu, shouted, "Fine! If she refuses to sign her name, we will cremate the body anyway." Later, people from the "610 Office" went to the Huadu Labor Camp, forced Mr. Huang Guohua to sign his name, and cremated Luo's body.

5) Ms. Wang Lixun and Her Young Baby Were Tortured to Death

Ms. Wang Lixuan, age 27, was a Falun Dafa practitioner from Nangou Village, Qixiasikou Town of Shangdong Province. Her son, Meng Hao, was less than 8 months old. Since July 20, 1999, Lixuan went to Beijing 8 times to appeal for Dafa (She went to Beijing to appeal 3 times when she was pregnant and twice with her son). On October 21, 2000, she was arrested on her way to Beijing. After she escaped from the detention center, she traveled again to Beijing to validate Dafa on October 22. On November 7, 2000, Lixuan and her son were tortured to death. When her family received the death notice and arrived in Beijing, they found the frozen corpses of Lixuan and her son. According to the coroner's exam, her neck and knucklebones were broken, her skull was sunken and there was a needle stuck in her lower back. There were two deep bruises on her son's ankles. There were two black and blue spots on his head and there was blood in his nose. The bruises on the little baby's ankles indicated that he had been hung upside down from his ankles. In the persecution of Falun Gong, not even an 8-month old baby was spared from brutality and died with his mother.

Notes:

(1) "610 Office": a bureau specifically created by the Chinese government to persecute Falun Gong. It has absolute power over each level of administration in the Party, as well as over the political and judiciary branches.

(2) yuan: Chinese currency, the monthly salary for an average Chinese urban worker is about 500 yuan.

(3) Iron Chair: a torture instrument made of iron pipes. Victims' arms and legs are restrained on the iron chairs for a long period of time. See http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2002/1/9/17577.html for an illustration.

(4) "tiger bench": an instrument of torture. One is forced to sit on a small iron bench with knees tightly tied on the bench and hands tied on the back. Usually some hard objects are inserted underneath the lower legs to make it even harder to bear the pain, see illustration on http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2001/11/24/16156.html].