(Clearwisdom.net)

1. Lies Cannot Cover Up the Jiang Group's Crimes: The Systematic Persecution of Falun Gong Practitioners in Beijing -- Part 1 (Photos)

2. Lies Cannot Cover Up the Jiang Group's Crimes: The Systematic Persecution of Falun Gong Practitioners in Beijing (Part 2) (Photos)

http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2004/7/6/49931.html

Ever since July 20, 1999, the capital city of Beijing has been the source of fabrications and information blockades in an attempt to cover up the brutal persecution of Falun Dafa by Jiang Zemin and his followers. This is also a very special area that Jiang Zemin and his group strictly control. During the past five years, the lawless officials in Beijing have followed Jiang Zemin's genocidal orders not only in regard to local practitioners but also towards Falun Dafa practitioners who came to Beijing to appeal from all over the nation. Jiang Zemin and his followers continued to issue orders intensifying the persecution while falsely proclaiming careful adherence to the "legal system." They threatened family members, abducted witnesses, fabricated lies, etc., in order to hide the truth and try to cover up the persecution facts. But people in Beijing--and the whole nation--are difficult to deceive.

According to incomplete statistics compiled as of March 14, 2004, 24 Falun Dafa practitioners have been confirmed dead from torture. Practitioners from the Haidian District make up the largest group.

Also based on incomplete statistics, more than 300 teachers and students from Qinghua University (located in the Haidian District) have been affected. They have been forbidden from registering, forced to withdraw, expelled, dismissed from their jobs, sent to brainwashing classes, detained, sentenced to labor camps, sentenced to prison terms, tortured, etc.

Here are just a few of examples of Falun Dafa practitioners from Beijing who were tortured to death simply for maintaining their faith, peacefully appealing, and clarifying the truth.

The young teacher Zhao Xin

The Beijing University of Business and Industry is located on Fucheng Street in the Haidian District of Beijing City. An excellent lecturer, Ms. Zhao Xin was illegally arrested because she went to Zizhuyuan Park to practice Falun Dafa exercises in June 2000. During her illegal detention at the Haidian District Police Station, she was so brutally beaten that vertebrae 4,5, and 6 in her neck were fractured. After suffering six months in severe pain, she died on the evening of December 11, 2000.

Ms. Zhao Xin was born June 28, 1968. She started her graduate studies at Beijing University of Business and Industry in1992. She remained at the University as a lecturer after finishing her studies in 1995. She was a student leader from her primary school years through high school, college and graduate school. She served two terms as president of the University Student Association. Ms. Zhao was very diligent, hardworking, conscientious and responsible in her work. She had a very modest and friendly personality. University teachers and students all commented on her "crystal-pure heart."

Ms. Zhao Xin learned about Falun Dafa when she accidentally ran into the book Zhuan Falun in a bookstore in May of 1998. The strange burning in her chest that she had suffered for six years was suddenly cured in several days. She was very firm in her resolve to cultivate Falun Dafa. Cultivating for two years greatly improved her health and upgraded her character.

After Jiang Zemin and his regime openly began persecuting Falun Dafa on July 20, 1999, her employer cancelled her classes, reduced her salary, and threatened to dismiss her from her job. She withstood all those hardships unshaken. By herself she made a banner that said, "Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance" and went to Tiananmen Square to clarify the truth to the people of the world. When she was illegally detained in jail, she went on a hunger strike for seven whole days, refusing even water, to protest the persecution and was quickly released. She had been arrested six times since the persecution started.

On the evening of June 19, 2000, when Zhao Xin went to do the exercises in Zizhuyuan Park, she was arrested and taken to the Park Police Substation. Soon she was transferred to the Haidian District Police Station and detained in the Qinghe Detention Center in the Haidian District. In the Detention Center on June 22, she was beaten until vertebrae 4,5, and 6 in her neck were fractured, her head and left eye were wounded, and one lung had collapsed. On the brink of death, she was rushed to the Haidian Hospital for emergency treatment.

When the doctors saw her in the hospital, she was still wearing handcuffs and leg shackles. The hospital quickly notified her employer and family that she was dying. But her family was only allowed to see her for one minute before being "persuaded" to leave. Guards prevented further visits from anyone, including her parents and sister.

Dying Zhao Xin suffering with neck vertebrae smashed as the result of brutal beating

Zhao Xin miraculously survived, but her injuries left her paralyzed. She could only move her head. She lost the sight in her left eye on August 11, 2000. The doctors found that the optic nerve had been damaged by the beating. Relying on her solid faith in Falun Dafa and her super strong will, she endured long-term, unimaginable pain; was able to get off the respirator and breathe on her own; and could eat by herself, all of which stunned the medical workers as an unbelievable miracle.

On October 19, 2000, Ms. Zhao Xin was released from the hospital to rest at home, but her wounds still tortured her. At 6:50 p.m. on December 11, 2000, after six months of struggling with extreme pain and suffering, she left the world quietly, her short but soul-stirring life at an end.

After her death, her friends and family were grief-stricken at losing one so young and successful. Her splendid deeds and her refusal to yield to evil won people's admiration and concern. The night she passed away, many friends and family and her colleagues and employers went to bid her goodbye, even as strangers surrounded her home.

On December 13, 2000, the funeral for Zhao Xin was held in Condolence Room Number Three at the Babaoshan Cemetery in Beijing. Although many people came, six or seven plain-clothes officers and five or six police vehicles blocked the entrance to the funeral parlor so that people were prevented from attending the event. Altogether there were about 20 plain-clothes officers and more than 10 police vehicles inside the cemetery grounds. They tried to stop Ms. Zhao's family member from reading the eulogy. After the funeral, Falun Dafa practitioner He Yi was abducted by six plain-clothes officers outside the gate.

After the Haidian Station police had caused Ms. Zhao's death, her family sued, intending to bring the killers to justice. But their efforts were blocked at each level. The Procuratorate refused to accept their suit or to give any explanations. Her parents were repeatedly pushed out of official offices. Ms. Zhao's medical record is sealed in the hospital and forbidden to be released to the family. Their lawyer was under pressure from higher level threats.

The news of Ms. Zhao Xin's death focused concern from around the world on the persecution of Falun Dafa practitioners.

A BBC journalist in Beijing reported Ms. Zhao's death on December 13, 2000, in an article entitled "One Falun Dafa Practitioner Dies of Severe Wounds in China." The article says, in part:

"The death of Zhao Xin is only one of the many Falun Dafa practitioners tortured to death. The difference here is that the cause of her death is not in doubt....The Chinese government has defined Falun Gong as a [Jiang Zemin's slanderous word deleted] since last July and has banned it. According to numbers Falun Dafa practitioners have provided, 85 practitioners have died as the result of the persecution, more than 500 sentenced to prison terms, more than 10 thousand sentenced to labor camps, and even more have been arrested, beaten, sent to mental hospitals or dismissed by their employers... The persecution of Falun Gong has been condemned widely by human rights organizations and the governments of many countries including the United States."

The AP journalist wrote, "Several Hundred Attend the Funeral of Banned Practitioner" on December 13, 2000. He described how she had been tortured to death as well as her funeral, conducted "under strict police guard." "People did not appear scared by this politically sensitive practice. To attend her funeral they took five buses from the University where she used to teach.... The government has arrested tens of thousands protesting or openly practicing followers."

Berkeley, California, has a Sister-City relationship with the Haidian District of Beijing. On July 9, 2002, the Berkeley City Council passed a resolution urging the Haidian District Government to investigate the violence used in persecuting Falun Gong, such as electric shock batons, sexual harassment, and other tortures, including "Freeze." The resolution urged investigations into the torture deaths of Falun Dafa practitioners and requested that the details and causes of these deaths be sent to the City of Berkeley.

Institutions and persons responsible for Zhao Xin's death:

1. Haidian District Police Station, 15 Houguanyuan, Haidian District, Beijing, PRC Director Gao Yi (phone number unknown)
2. Director of Discipline Committee Zhang Baokui, phone: 86-10-62630429.
   Qinghe Detention Center in the Haidian District, 25 Longgang Street, Qinghe, Haidian, Beijing, PRC 100085. Director Bai Gang, phone: 86-10-62902266, ext3502, BP: 62628566-5339
3. Haidian District People's Prioritorate, 8 Changwaxilu, Haidian District, Beijing City, PRC 100089Office Manager Li Qizeng, phone: 86-10-62532000, or 86-10-82644827
   

Two retired female teachers, Ms. Zhang Shuzhen from Yuanda Middle School and Ms. Wu Yao from the Medical University's High School in the Haidian District, were tortured to death in October 2002 and June 2003.

According to a February 13, 2004, report from the Falun Dafa Information Center, Zhang Shuzhen was 51 years old and had lived at 39 Shi Fo Si, Haidian District, Beijing. She had retired from Yuanda Middle School in the Haidian District. She started to practice Falun Gong in 1992. In 2001, police arrested her and sent her to the Qinghe Forced Labor Camp for distributing Falun Gong truth-clarifying materials.

The officials in the labor camp deprived her of sleep for several consecutive nights, shocked her with electric batons, seized her by the hair and struck her against a wall. In addition, depraved individuals introduced unknown liquids into her intestines through her anus, which caused violent pain and made her abdomen swell up bigger than that of a woman nine months pregnant.

The police used various methods of torture to attempt to force Zhang to reveal the names and addresses of other Falun Gong practitioners. Ms. Zhang remained stoic and did not say a single word.

Sources said that the police afterwards sentenced Zhang to a year and a half forced labor. She suffered violent abdominal pains on the way to the Tuanhe Forced Labor Camp. Fearing they would be held responsible, labor camp officials ordered her family to take her home. Zhang Shuzhen was sent to Haidian Hospital on October 9, 2002, at 7:00 p.m. and passed away at 9:00 p.m.

A staff member from Yuanda Middle School confirmed the time of Zhang Shuzhen's death.

Ms. Wu Yao, 57 years old, was a retired English teacher from the Affiliated Middle School of the Beijing Medical School. Both she and her husband Yang Zhanming were Falun Dafa practitioners. Despite her 1.7-meter height, her kindness and strength left a deep impression on people. Before cultivating Falun Dafa, her health was so bad she was almost paralyzed and bedridden. But Falun Dafa made it possible for her to stand in her classrooms again and become an excellent teacher beloved by her students.

On September 10, 2002, Teacher's Day, she and her husband were arrested while clarifying the truth of Dafa. They were later detained at the Fengtai District Detention Center in Beijing City. On June 11, 2003, she was sent to a forced labor camp. On June 22, 2003, the authorities told Wu Yao's family that she had suffered a "sudden death."

She went on a hunger strike to protest her illegal arrest and treatment. The detention center made use of the criminal inmates to force-feed her. They brutally punched her face, pried open her mouth, and pinched her breasts and private parts. Eleven days later, Wu stopped her hunger strike and was dragged to another cell with shackles on her legs.

Both Wu Yao and her husband Yang Zhanming were illegally sentenced to two years in a forced labor camp. The detention center tried twice to send her to the labor camp, but she was rejected due to her physical condition. Police said they were ready to release her if she would write a "Guarantee Statement." Ms. Wu absolutely refused.

When facing the brutality of the guards, she always treated them kindly. She also told them that wrongdoing would create retribution. Criminals who had been incarcerated there for a long time admitted that the guards changed. They started treating Falun Gong practitioners and criminals less viciously than before. During the "SARS" outbreak, the detention center required each person to take his or her body temperature three times a day. She used this chance to explain the truth of Dafa to people by telling them her health recovered after cultivating Dafa. Her kindness moved the people around her, and many people liked to listen to her clarification of Dafa truths.

The last time Ms. Wu was sent to the forced labor camp, she was tortured by vicious police officers because she refused to cooperate. Her lower back was badly hurt after police officers struck her there repeatedly with their elbows. She could not even stand up. Ten days later, Wu died from the torture. Her husband Yang Zhanming is still being detained at the forced labor camp.

During the persecution of the past four years, Jiang Zemin and his followers have used at least 40 different methods of mental and physical torture, such as the injection of nerve damaging drugs, brutal force-feeding, etc., in total disregard for the ethics of medical personnel. According to statistics from the Falun Dafa Information Center, about ten percent of the more than 900 practitioners tortured to death were victims of internal damage from force-feeding.

Brutal force-feeding is widely used in labor camps and hospitals throughout the country to torture Falun Dafa practitioners. The purpose of these force-feedings is not to save lives but to administer cruel tortures, such as intentionally using extra-large sized or dirty tubes; reusing tubes without cleaning them; intentionally omitting lubricating agents; unnecessarily re-inserting the tube; changing nostrils to increase the degree of suffering; and continually pulling out and re-inserting the tube to make practitioners nauseated or cough, causing excruciating pain.

Some practitioners are force-fed directly through their mouths. The police would tie them up and pry their mouths open, resulting in split lips, broken teeth, and raw throats. This method of force-feeding is easily misdirected, sending food or water into the windpipe and causing lung damage. Some practitioners have died on the spot.

The food they force-feed includes highly concentrated salt solutions, corn meal, and hot chili pepper "soup." Some practitioners died right away, some died of suffocation, and some had chili powder sprayed into their eyes and throats, resulting in extreme pain.

Ms. Mei Yulan was 44 years old, a Falun Dafa practitioner from the Chaoyang District of Beijing City. On May 13, 2000, Mei was arrested while practicing Falun Gong exercises outside her house alone. On May 14, she went on a hunger strike to defend her rights. On May 17, 2000, three days into her hunger strike, she was force-fed and died on May 23, 2000, at 4:10 p.m. She was the first confirmed death that was a direct result of force-feeding in Beijing.

The Clearwisdom website posted witnesses' report on June 16, 2000, (http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2000/6/16/8782.html):

"On May 16, 2000, Chaoyang Detention Center started force-feeding us with highly concentrated salt water and soybean milk. On the morning of May 17th, Mei Yulan was also force-fed. One after another, nine practitioners in our women's #607 cell were force-fed. The person performing the force-feeding, however, was not a doctor but a criminal in custody. The guards claimed that she was a nurse from Chaoyang Hospital. We heard Mei screaming miserably. She came back after a long time, her chest covered with soybean milk and salt water. She was breathing heavily and told us the force-feeding had not been successful, as she had regurgitated all the food from her nose. Later she said she had a headache. The cell head (a prisoner) let her lie down to rest. She felt like vomiting and could not drink water. She finally vomited lots of dirty stuff. The same night she started to vomit large amounts of blood, which made the whole cell smell like blood. We immediately reported this to the guards. A guard with the last name of Sun paid no attention. She said, "It doesn't matter; she won't die. I'll take responsibility if something really happens.' Therefore no emergency measures were taken.

The next day (May 18th) Mei was carried out on a criminal's back for a photo. Fellow practitioners in #601 cell saw her being placed flat on the floor and then dragged by her arms back to our cell. She suffered miserably all night and then was carried to a hospital. The guard gave her a bowl of millet meal, which we fed her. That night she experienced difficulty breathing. Gradually her hands and feet became cold, and her eyes stopped moving. We immediately reported to the doctor on duty. She was then taken to the emergency room in the Civil Aviation Hospital.

On May 19th, every person in our cell was asked to provide an account of what we had witnessed concerning Mei. Mei was a lively, talkative and healthy person. She used to wash our toilets all the time but never got up after being force-fed. Her death was a direct consequence of the force-feeding.

When we went to visit her again on the night of the 24th, we were informed that Mei had passed away at 4:10 p.m. on the 23rd. Seven of the eight practitioners were released, with the exception of Jia Xiulan, who took care of Mei.

Mei Yulan's husband Li Wanqing was sentenced to two years in a labor camp for doing the Falun Dafa exercises in Tiananmen Square at the Spring Festival. He was detained in Tuanhe Labor Camp. They have a 20-year-old daughter at home alone. An inmate who had no medical skills at all did the force-feeding. Mei's screams during the force-feeding are evidence that she was in extreme pain.

After she died, the Officials in Chaoyang Detention Center lied that she was still alive and harassed the witnesses. Her released fellow practitioners who had been detained in the same cell were re-arrested and taken back to the Chaoyang Detention Center on May 28, 2000."

AFP (Agence France Presse) and RFA (Radio Free Asia) reported Mei's death, saying, "A hunger-striking member of the banned Falun Gong spiritual group died in Chinese police detention after she was fatally injured during force-feeding."

Peng Guangjun's Body Was Black and Purple, His Face Covered with Electric Shock Marks, and His Bones Fractured (http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2004/2/16/45164.html)

Peng Guangjun was a 55-year-old Dafa practitioner from Houqiaozi Village, Qiaozi Town, Huairou County, Beijing. Since the persecution of Falun Gong started on July 20, 1999, he had been arrested and detained on many occasions. The last time he was arrested was September 28, 2003. On January 26, 2004, officials told his family that he had died and then threatened them, "If you don't follow the government's arrangements, everyone in your family will lose their jobs and go broke. You will have no way to survive."

The villagers said that Mr. Peng was an honest, warm, and kind person, always very healthy. Ever since he started to practice Falun Dafa, he was even more conscientious, never asking for a payback when helping others so that that everyone would know he was a good person.

On September 28, 2003, when Peng was helping someone build their house, several police arrived. They beat and kicked him and then arrested him. Peng had solid righteous thoughts and never cooperated with the authorities' demands. Local officials said they would transform Peng before the Chinese New Year. Under the secret order issued by Jiang Zemin "Killing is counted for nothing," they murdered him.

After Mr. Peng's arrest, he was sent to Tuanhe Labor Camp. During a meeting in early 2004, he shouted, "Falun Dafa is good." As a result, he was sent to an "Intensive Training Unit," which was specifically set up to force determined practitioners to give up their practice. There he was brutally beaten to death by policemen Liu Jinbiao and others. Although there were wounds on his body, the Labor Camp Officials lied to the outside world that Peng had died of a heart attack.

On January 26, 2004, the authorities sent a representative to his home to inform his family that he had died. They lied to his family, saying that Mr. Peng died of illness. When Mr. Peng's family requested to examine his body, the representative replied, "As long as you do not attempt to find out the cause of his death, you may choose an ash box and graveyard for him. The government can cover up to 15,000 yuan in funeral expenses."

Before the cremation of Mr. Peng's body, someone took advantage of a chance to examine his body. This person found that Mr. Peng's head and body were black and purple. There were bloodstains. His face was covered with marks caused by electric shocks. Some of his bones were also fractured. Peng's family wanted to seek justice from the authorities, but they were frightened by the representative, who had threatened them by saying, "If you don't follow the government's arrangements, everyone in your whole family will lose their jobs and go broke. You will have no way to survive." Under pressure, they chose to give in and not go after anyone.

According to people who know the inside story, when the police sent Peng's family members and his ashes home, they did not dare drive into the village. They stopped the car and asked if there were many people in the village. They dropped the family off at the entrance of the village, gave them 200 yuan, and asked them to find another car to get them home.

After the villagers found out what had happened, they were outraged. Even the people who used to be deceived by Jiang Zemin's lies were shocked, and they felt very sorry for having misunderstood Falun Gong and Mr. Peng.

The person responsible for Peng Guangjun's death is Liu Jinbiao, the leader of the "Intensive Training Unit" in Tuanhe Labor Camp.

Ms. Gong Baohua Died in Misery; Brutally Force-fed After Her Nose Was Fractured in a Beating (Ref: http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/special_column/death_list_100.html#032)

On June 17, 2000, Gong Baohua went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong and was intercepted by police at the Dongzhimen Bus Station along with seven other female Falun Gong practitioners from Liudian Township, Pinggu County, Beijing City. After being taken to the local police station, police beat six of them brutally. Five were beaten until they bled, and Ms.Gong, 35, suffered the most.

Ms. Gong Baohua's photo

At first, the vice director of the local police station punched their faces with his fists, then he used a broom to beat their heads and faces until the broom was broken to pieces. A medical examination in the Yukou Clinic afterwards showed that the bridge of Ms. Gong's nose was broken, and she bled profusely all over the floor.

On the morning of June 19, 2000, more than 10 villagers from Liudian Township and the victim's family members went to the County Procuratorate to report these beatings and to sue these hatchet men. The county police arrested three of them.

Gong's family members and the local villagers requested that the police allow her to go home to recover. In order to cover up the brutality, the police sent Gong and the other practitioners to the county detention center instead. To defend their rights, Gong and other practitioners, using their only means available, went on a hunger strike.

Around 8 p.m. on June 25, 2000, Ms. Gong was the last one of eight practitioners being force-fed through the nose. One fellow practitioner reminded the guard, "Gong has a broken nose and cannot be force-fed that way." But that guard replied, "I do not need you telling me that!"

After returning to the cell, Gong's face looked pale. She said repeatedly that her chest felt numb and she suspected that the guards might have mistakenly inserted the feeding tube into her trachea during the force-feeding. About 10 minutes later, she suddenly lost consciousness. Her fellow inmates then called the guards, but nobody answered. After Gong regained consciousness in a little while, the guards finally came over and moved her out of the cell for emergency treatment. She was sent back on the morning of June 26, 2000. Because her physical condition looked so bad, the other inmates asked the guards many times to give her a medical examination. She was then called out but came back in the afternoon. There was no sign of improvement in her health that night. On the morning of June 27, 2000, the inmates urged the guards to give her another medical checkup because her condition had continued to deteriorate. Around 10 a.m., the detention center clinicians agreed to send Gong to the hospital. Around 9 p.m. that evening, Gong Baohua was announced dead in the hospital.

Only nine days had passed from her confinement in the detention center until her tragic death. She is survived by her grief-stricken husband and young child.

Pinggu County Detention Center, where Gong was tortured to death, is the only County level detention center in Beijing City.

In order to seal the information, Pinggu County ordered each administrative level to tell outsiders that Gong Baohua died of pneumonia.

The Central News Agency and CBC Radio reported her death as the result of force-feeding.

Mr. Zhang Yunyi, a Medical Doctor in the Beijing Cooperative Hospital of Chinese and Western Medicine, Was Tortured, Escaped, and Died (ref: http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2003/2/13/32077.html)

The Beijing Cooperative Hospital of Chinese and Western Medicine is located at #3 Yongding-East Street in the Haidian District. Mr. Zhang Yunyi was 33 years old and a doctor in this hospital. He was very kind and saved many lives as a physician, of which many people were aware.

Chinese Medical Doctor ZhangYunyi

In the summer of 2000, he was wrongfully sentenced to one year of forced labor because he distributed Dafa truth-clarifying materials. He was imprisoned in Beijing's Tuanhe Forced Labor Camp and suffered various tortures. After he was released in July 2001, to avoid further persecution, he was forced to leave home and went to Fujian Province, where he continued to clarify the truth to people.

In August 2002, Mr. Zhang and several other fellow practitioners were abducted to Fujian Provincial Police Station. Zhang Yunyi refused to answer any questions, even under the extreme pressure, and then he tried to get away by jumping out of an open window. Unfortunately, he died as a result.

Mr. Wu Simin Died from a Brutal Beating in Yanqing Detention Center (ref: http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2003/12/21/43353.html)

Mr. Wu Simin, age 63, was a Falun Dafa practitioner who lived in Zuosuotun, Yongning Town, Yanqing County, Beijing City. He went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Dafa on December 25, 2000. He was then escorted home by local police and sent to a detention center. He was beaten to the brink of death and then sent to Yongning Hospital on January 5, 2001. He died on January 12 after emergency efforts failed. His body was covered with bruises.

Wu Simin's older brother found the director of the local police substation and told him that he would sue them. The former Assistant Director Zheng Jianmin said, "Can you afford a lawsuit? You can't win no matter what the circumstances. We officials look out for each other."

The Yongning Police Station's phone number: 86-10-60171217. The Yanqing County Detention Center's phone number: 86-10-81197830.

Falun Dafa Practitioner Ms. Zhang Shuqi was Tortured to Death in Xicheng District Police Station Detention Center (ref: http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/special_column/death_list_100.html#007)

Ms. Zhang Shuqi was 52 years old, a Falun Dafa practitioner from Xicheng District, Beijing City, who used to do her exercises in Zhongshan Park.

On December 26, 1999, Zhang was arrested when she attempted to audit the trial of the four contact people of the former Research Society of Falun Gong. She was sent to Xicheng District Police Detention Center on December 27, 1999. She was always kindly telling others about the goodness of Falun Dafa inside the detention center, but she was mistreated and forced to stand for a long time, pushed down to the floor twice, force-fed when she was on a hunger strike, and handcuffed. On the afternoon of January 14, 2000, 20 days after being detained, the Changqiao Police Station suddenly informed her family members to pick her up quickly. After being home for only an hour, Zhang fainted and lost consciousness. She died suddenly on January 15 at 9:50 p.m.

Ms. Zhang's family members recalled that around 5 p.m. on January 14, 2000, they all of a sudden received Police Officer Lu's request to pick up Zhang from the detention center, where she had been detained for 20 days. They quickly went to the Changqiao Substation first. Officer Lu and the security officer from her employer Kang, plus the substation driver, accompanied them to the detention center, where they arrived at 7 p.m. They picked up Ms. Zhang, who told them on the way home that she had been clarifying the truth to Police Officer Xiang but was mistreated inside the detention center by being forced to stand, being pushed down to the floor twice, and being force-fed through the nose during her hunger strike.

Because of a traffic jam, they reached home around 8 p.m. As soon as she entered the door, she was very hungry and tried to eat some steamed bread that was on the table, but her family stopped her because they feared it would hurt her stomach. After eating some noodles, she was ready for a shower. Suddenly, at 9 p.m., she started vomiting and fainted, only one hour after being back home. Her family called City Rescue, which sent her to Beijing People's Hospital for emergency treatment, but it failed. She died at 9:50 p.m. on January 15, 2000.

Her family doubts her cause of death because she never spent one cent on medical care since she began cultivating Falun Dafa five years ago. If she could survive 20 days inside the detention center, why did she pass out only an hour after returning home? Why did the police suddenly call her family to pick her up at 5 p.m. on January 14? And why did the police never tell them about her physical condition, so that they could be prepared to take care of her? Who caused her death?

Employee Li Shouqiang of Beijing Automobile General Assembly Plant Killed in Changping County Detention Center (ref: http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/special_column/death_list_100.html#085)

Dafa practitioner Li Shouqiang, male, born on December 2, 1963, was a resident of Wusheng Dongli, Chaoyang District, Beijing. He was an employee of Beijing Automobile General Assembly Plant. He stepped forward many times to validate Dafa and appeal peacefully. He was arrested on March 8, 2000, when he went to appeal at Tiananmen Square. He was then brutally beaten up and tortured inside the Changping County Detention Center. Police added nerve damaging drugs to the cola they let him drink and locked him inside a metal cage. He died on March 20, 2000, as the result of torture, at the age of 37. More than 10 thousand yuan was extorted from his family for his funeral.

Having faced the media slander of Falun Dafa and its founder since the persecution began on April 25, 1999, Li Shouqiang stepped forward to guard Dafa by writing letters, appealing to authorities and going to Tiananmen Square. On the Chinese Lunar New Year's Day February 16, 2000, Li and his father (also a Dafa practitioner) went to Tiananmen Square to validate Dafa. He was arrested and detained in the Guanzhuang Branch Police Station. Later he was transferred to the Panjiayuan Branch Police Station to participate in the so-called "Transformation Class" located in a nursery school.

On March 8, 2000, police had a half-day holiday. Li took the opportunity to go to Tiananmen Square with Dafa material. He tried to tell the truth to the government officials during the Chinese People's Congressional Session and tried to explain to the government leaders so that they could really understand Dafa. He was arrested again and escorted to his home by three policemen (one of whom was a local policeman named Li Changsheng) around 10:00 p.m. on the same day. The other two officers confiscated all his Dafa materials, including Dafa books, cassettes, videotapes, and Master Li's photo. At 11:00 p.m. Li Shouqiang was sent to Changping Detention Center.

During his 10 days inside Changping Detention Center, he was interrogated, brutally beaten, and tortured. He was not allowed to drink water. Police plotted to murder him and added a large dose of drugs that affect the central nervous system to a cola they gave to him.

On the evening of March 18, 2000, the Panjiayuan Branch Police Station called Li's family to pick him up from the station. His elder brother and his mother went there together. Li was being held in an iron cage when they arrived. On the way home, Li could not speak clearly and said disjointedly, "They (police) fed me drugs, they put drugs in my cola... ... They did not let me drink water... ...when I drank, I could not spit it out. They said it would make me die in two days... ... They asked you to pick me up so I would die at home... ... So they won't be held responsible... ... I should not go home, I should die there!" At home, Li was sometimes clearheaded and sometimes confused. He looked dull and could not think normally. Once, he ran around in the middle of taking shower and others saw brown scars from wounds on the back of his neck, lower back and on both sides of thighs. Later, he did not eat or drink for two days. On the morning of March 20, 2000, he was in a daze and fell from a balcony, which killed him.

Members of the Residential Committee quickly called the police. A police vehicle with officers and two doctors arrived to do the so-called autopsy. One policeman said, "Ah, he was beaten quite hard!" The doctors did not write a single word, let alone file an autopsy report. Li's family planned to have his remains cremated and manage related issues locally. The police did not agree and insisted on taking Li's remains to Changping. Later, the Sanlitun Branch Police Station called Li's family and asked them to deal with the death-related issues in three days, for which Li's family had to spend more than 10,000 yuan (US $1,200, about one and half-year's total salary for Li).

73-Year-Old Astronautic Scientist Ren Hanfen Died after Harassment from Police and "610 Office" (ref: http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2003/2/22/32449.html)

Dafa practitioner Ren Hanfen, female, 73 years old, lived in the residential area of the China Academy of Launching Technology, Fengtai District, Beijing. She died after being pressured by police and the "610 Office" in May 2002.

In the 1950's she returned to her home country after her studies in Russia. She had always devoted herself to astronautics research and attained many achievements. She had been a doctoral mentor and a scientist in the Rocket Dynamics Institute of the China Academy of Launching Technology. She was involved in China-Russia space technology cooperation, and was very famous in Russia as well.

Because she enjoyed physical and mental benefits from Dafa cultivation, she was determined to practice Falun Gong, even after July 20, 1999. Both the police in charge of the Rocket Dynamics Institute and the "610 Office" of the China Academy of Launching Technology forced her to attend a brainwashing class. There she suffered inhumane tortures both mental and physical and was pressured to write the so-called "Three Statements." Because she was steadfast and refused, she was not released even after the brainwashing term was over. Her detention term was extended, open-ended. Eventually she signed the statements against her will. After returning home, she was very repentant. She decided to resume her cultivation of Dafa, even in the face of death. In order to avoid harassment from the secret police, she had to leave home and move from place to place.

But the officials from the police department and the "610 Office" continued to search for and try to arrest her. One day in May 2002, they found her in a house she was renting. In order to avoid being kidnapped again, she tethered a rope and tried to slide down the side of the building. Unfortunately the rope broke and she fell to the ground and lost her life. Afterwards, the news of this event was blocked. Li Guangya, Party Secretary of the China Academy of Launching Technology, and Wu Zhongren, Secretary of the Disciplinary Committee, boasted of their experiences and achievements in "reforming" Falun Gong practitioners in a summing-up meeting at the academy.

An excellent scientist lost her life just like that in the persecution of Falun Gong.

Torture Death of Dafa Practitioner Ms. Li Yuling at the Hands of Dongcheng District Police in Beijing (ref: http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/special_column/death_list_800.html#730)

Ms. Li Yuling was a Falun Dafa practitioner in Dongcheng District, Beijing City. Li used to have a happy family, with a high ranking husband, and a son who was studying abroad. At 5:00 a.m. on July 4, 2003, she was tortured to death by Dongcheng District police officials in Beijing. This came on the heels of her illegal arrest June 25, 2003.

Ms. Li Yuling left home around 3:00 p.m. on June 25. Dongcheng District police officials arrested her as she distributed truth-clarifying materials. Later they transferred her to the Heping Hotel. The police tried to coerce her into revealing the source of the materials and names of other Dafa practitioners, but Li Yuling firmly refused to cooperate. The police then brutally beat her and tortured her around the clock. Li Yuling didn't show any fear when faced with brutal torture. During her nine days of detention, she held a hunger strike to protest and resisted the illegal detention and brutal torture with dignity. In order not to cause any losses to Dafa, she didn't say a single word. The policemen flew into a rage and tortured her relentlessly. At 5:00 a.m. on July 4, Li Yuling passed away from the torture.

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

Li's family asked, "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?"

Li's family condemned the police and demanded an explanation for Li's death. The police couldn't answer, yet they demanded that the number of family and friends invited to Li's funeral be as few as possible.

Police tried to have her husband sign the death certificate and accept the police's autopsy to cover their crime.

A journalist from the Falun Dafa Information Center reported on July 8, 2003, that a male police officer from Dongcheng District Police Department in Beijing (86-10-64169817) confirmed the death of Li Yuling and admitted that they did arrest her.

Female Practitioner Liu Guimin Tortured to Death inside Haidian Detention Center (ref: http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/special_column/death_list_200.html#114)

Ms. Liu Guimin, 30, was a Dafa practitioner from Jugezhuang Town of Dougezhuang Village in Miyun County. On December 31, 2000, she went to appeal and validate Falun Dafa at Tiananmen Square and was detained in a detention center (The details are still unknown). She went on a hunger strike and was soon force-fed. Because of her terrible condition, the police feared that her life was in danger and, on January 5, 2001, they sent her back home. On the second day after her release, January 7, she passed away after an unsuccessful attempt in the hospital to save her life. She was only 30 years old. She vomited a great amount of blood right before her death, which was probably present in her lungs due to the severe trauma caused by the crude and vicious force-feeding.

The above are only a few of the Falun Dafa practitioners from Beijing who have been tortured to death during the persecution. There are many more cases, both of local and out of town practitioners who went to Beijing.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2004/3/23/70688.html

http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2004/7/7/48748.html

(Clearwisdom.net)

Some people think the brutal beating and torture of Falun Gong practitioners are isolated, special cases that only happen at the hands of certain vicious-natured police officers. People who live in Beijing have seen and heard too much of the Falun Gong-slandering propaganda from both the television and the radio, and neither do they want to probe the brutality behind the propaganda. Nonetheless, crimes are being committed in the capital city of China, regardless of the people's knowledge or will.

Since July 20, 1999, due to its special role in China, Beijing is the city where the persecution first began. In the past nearly five years, a number of city officials have followed Jiang Zemin's decrees in not only persecuting Falun Gong practitioners from Beijing but also practitioners from all over China who go to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong. Jiang Zemin's group shamelessly claims that China is "ruled by law," while these people constantly order the escalation of this illegal persecution. They also threaten those people who have inside information on the persecution, pressuring them to tell the same fraudulent stories to the public in order to cover up the truth and deceive the people in Beijing and around the world.

Falun Gong practitioners who exercised their constitutional rights and went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Dafa encountered all kinds of interference from the authorities. Under threat of demotion and punishment, local officials would intercept the practitioners at train stations and major intersections. They even forced all travelers to curse Falun Gong and those who refused to comply were considered to be Falun Gong practitioners. Their money and belongings would be taken away and they would be detained and escorted back to their hometown where they would be subjected to intense reprisals. Many Falun Gong practitioners were forced to leave home because they were constantly facing threats, harassment, fines, detention, torture, brainwashing and other unconstitutional abuses. Some practitioners abandoned all forms of public transportation and resorted to walking or riding bicycles for up to hundreds of kilometers to go to Beijing to appeal, in order to avoid being intercepted at train stations, on planes and buses.

Beijing police officers have commandeered important locations and tourist attractions including Zhongnanhai, Tiananmen Square, Qianmen and others, where they would force tourists to curse Falun Gong and its founder. Many hotels dare not accept Falun Gong practitioners for fear of being implicated as supporting Falun Gong. The Government Appeals Office is the "window" for detention centers, where practitioners, after they have registered their names and addresses, would be sent back to their hometown for persecution before they could even officially state their appeal. Tiananmen Square became a training ground for the plainclothes agents, police and military police, where they openly beat Falun Gong practitioners. They arrest practitioners and send them to detention centers and police stations. Those practitioners who refuse to give their names and addresses are beaten, tortured and sometimes sexually assaulted. Practitioners would often suffer another round of physical and mental abuse in the Beijing liaison offices of their home cities. Torture deaths of Falun Gong practitioners have been reported from Tiananmen Square, from police stations, liaison offices and detention centers. Below are only a few examples of persecution that Falun Gong practitioners have suffered in Beijing.

A. Violence on Tiananmen Square in broad daylight

Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Zhao Shujing, 51 years old at the time, was retired and lived in the Shijingshan District of Beijing. At around 2:00 p.m. on November 18, 2000, she went to Tiananmen Square by herself to clarify the truth about Falun Gong to the public. A group of plainclothes policemen captured her and took turns beating and kicking her, causing her to lose consciousness right on Tiananmen Square. By the time she had regained consciousness, she was already in a police van. Her nose and her mouth were bleeding. There was blood everywhere -- on her entire body, her clothes and on the floor of the police van. When Zhao Shujing was dragged to the Tiananmen Detention Center, even the staff members there could not bear to look at her terrible condition and asked a policeman from her neighborhood to take her back, but the neighborhood policeman refused to take her back because of her severe injuries. By 8:00 or 9:00 p.m., the detention center told Ms. Zhao to go home. When we met Zhao Shujing five days after she was beaten, her right eye was still swollen and bloodshot, the right side of her face was swollen, her skin was black and purple, and she had a one-inch-long cut inside her upper lip. The bridge of her nose was swollen and her right shoulder was dislocated and was dark purple.

Small: http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/article_images/2001-5-30-zhao_shujing1_c--ss.jpg

Full: http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/article_images/2000-12-5-zhao_shujing1_c.jpg

According to inside information, the police in Beijing also hire common thugs to beat up Falun Gong practitioners. On the afternoon of December 31, 2000, a Beijing practitioner went to Tiananmen Square. As soon as he got there, before he did or said anything, the police came over and questioned him point blank if he was going to continue to practice Falun Gong. The practitioner said yes. As soon as he said that, the police immediately hit him on the head with an electric baton, causing a large bump. They then pushed the practitioner into a police van and drove to the front gate of the Tiananmen Police Department. A policeman came out and handed 400 Yuan, easily 2 weeks' pay for an average policeman, to each of the six or seven policemen in the van and said, "Here is your reward for arresting Falun Gong practitioners. You guys worked really hard." After receiving the reward money, the police then drove the practitioner to Beijing's Haidian District Detention Center.

According to a Clearwisdom.net report on December 15, 2000, a resident of Tongzhou, Beijing was with her eleven-year-old son when she witnessed perpetrators beating Falun Gong practitioners in Tiananmen Square. Her son recognized one of the perpetrators as their former neighbor who had been sentenced to jail for rape and burglary several years ago. This woman was shocked by her son's words and walked up to take a closer look at the perpetrator. She saw for herself that it was indeed that convicted criminal.

A Falun Gong practitioner saw police officers beating three young female Falun Dafa practitioners. They dragged the young women by their hair to the van, using such violence that two hanks of hair were pulled out by the roots.

One witness described how on December 14, 2000, when a practitioner unfurled a banner, a man clad in black immediately rushed toward the practitioner and kicked him to the ground with a flying kick. That man's badge number was 051625. Another man in black was inspecting a foreigner tourist's camcorder and ordered him to erase what he had just recorded. A military policeman said to the man in black, "Have you taken away the 12 practitioners captured earlier?"

Another witness described what he saw in Tiananmen Square around 10:40 a.m. on December 26, 2001: police officers from Division 19 of the Beijing Police Department brutally beat a Falun Gong practitioner. The witness saw an open wound more than two inches long on the back of the practitioner's head, oozing blood. Another practitioner's face was deformed from beating, and a male practitioner in his 30s was beaten until his face and mouth were covered in blood.

On January 1, 2001, Tiananmen Square was filled with all kinds of police vehicles, and buses were there to take away Falun Gong practitioners. The police officers beat practitioners. They pinned a female student to the ground and stomped on her head and face with their heavy boots. Whenever a practitioner shouted, "Falun Dafa is great," four or five police officers would run up to him and beat him to the ground, push him into a police vehicle, and then the street cleaners would come and wash away the blood from the pavement. Other than the police officers who chased and beat Falun Gong practitioners, there were also personnel who directed police cars, blocked curious passers-by from getting too close and witnessing the violence, and snatched cameras from people who took pictures of these brutalities. A Japanese student from People's University took pictures of Falun Gong practitioners being beaten at the Jinshui Bridge. The police requested the negatives. He refused to hand them over, which resulted in him being taken to Division 5 of the Tiananmen Police Department. Major media from Europe, Australia and other parts of Asia, including AFP and AP, have all documented and reported these atrocities committed in Tiananmen Square.

B. Female Falun Gong practitioner killed outright under the national flag

At approximately 10:30 a.m. on January 1, 2001, a Dafa practitioner was killed at the National Flag Podium in Tiananmen Square. At the east side of the podium, a female practitioner who was about 30 years old, wearing a red alpine jacket and jeans, unfurled a yellow banner reading "Falun Dafa is Great" while loudly saying "Falun Dafa is great!" A national flag security guard immediately ran up to her and kicked her very hard. The practitioner fell on her back. Her back hit a fence post and she died instantly, with her head resting on a chain.

Seeing this incident, the plainclothes police and security guards dispersed the people in the vicinity, fearing the incident would be made public. A police van came within seconds. A plainclothes police officer was heard reporting on a walkie-talkie, "I don't know what happened. But before the van came to the scene, she had already died. Her legs are inside the fence but her head is outside the fence..." A girl about 10 years old standing beside the fence was shocked by the incident. When the police had dispersed all of the adults, the little girl was left at the scene. The guard who had killed the practitioner was replaced before his shift was over.

Falun Gong practitioners who were beaten and arrested in Tiananmen Square were first sent to the Tiananmen Square Police Department located in a small alley at the southeast corner of Tiananmen Square. Below are eyewitness accounts of what happened at the police department:

At the police department, the officers beat, kicked and slapped the practitioners in the face. They handcuffed some practitioners and threw them in a basement, where hundreds of people were held. The people detained in that room could hardly move. They were not allowed to talk to each other or to use the restroom and they were not given any water. If they talked they would be dragged out and beaten, thrown outside in the heat of summer, or doused with cold water in the winter.

Arrested practitioners were also held in the backyard, which is in fact a narrow alley about ten meters long and two meters wide (approximately 32x12 feet) that is blocked off by two metal doors at each end. Practitioners were called out one by one. They were taken to the basement or a small room on the second floor to be savagely beaten with fists and rubber clubs and shocked with electric batons. Oftentimes several police officers beat one practitioner and would not stop until they were exhausted.

A stocky female practitioner around 30 years of age was savagely beaten. Before long the perpetrators beat her again. They took a break then beat her again. After a very long time, when this practitioner returned to the courtyard, her face was as white as a sheet, her lips were black and blue and she could hardly breathe. She held onto the gate and dragged her legs that barely moved. Soon after, the thugs returned and took her back to the small room for the fourth time.

An elderly woman in her 60s was also brought in. She was stout, robust and quick moving. She was calm and smiling when she entered the courtyard, but the perpetrators didn't spare her. This practitioner was unconscious when she was pushed out of the small room.

All Falun Gong practitioners who were arrested, including old people, young people, young mothers with children, workers, farmers, students and officials were savagely beaten.

Sometimes heart-wrenching screams were heard from those small rooms, and the smell of burned skin permeated the air.

One witness saw a Falun Gong practitioner's fingers being chopped off at the Tiananmen Police Department on December 29, 2000: "A police officer hit a male Falun Gong practitioner (in his 30s, about 5 ft 10 in tall) on the face and head. He dragged the practitioner into a room in the front of the police bureau. About half an hour later this practitioner came back and said, 'They chopped off my fingers.' I saw he had only his thumbs left, and his hands were wrapped in cloth. At that time, his blood had soaked the cloth to a dark brown color. There were two purple blisters on his face from being beaten up and his mouth was bleeding as well. I could not believe the police officers here were capable of such cruelties."

A 52 year-old male practitioner from Hebei Province was taken to the Tiananmen Police Department where he was assaulted because he refused to reveal his name and address. The police beat him on his back and his lower body continuously for three days. He received no water or food, only severe beatings. Also, a policeman stepped on his hand and ground it against the floor, which left a two-inch-long abrasion. Days later he was still unable to lift his swollen hand (see photograph). Finally, towards the end of his torture he was given an injection. Then he lost consciousness. When the practitioner regained consciousness he realized that he was in an emergency center in Beijing.

On January 22, 2001, when the practitioner was taken back by policemen from his hometown, he had become so weak that he was barely able to breathe and was only able to drink a small amount of water. Afraid of being blamed for his death, the local police asked his family to carry him home and also demanded nearly 2,000 Yuan [about four months' salary of an averaged worker in cities of China] to release him. These photographs were taken on Jan 25, 2001, the third day after his release. They are solid proof of the deplorable acts of violence those vicious policemen have committed.

?

Foreign journalists have widely reported the police violence against Falun Gong practitioners on Tiananmen Square. To avoid further exposure, the police have adopted new tactics to suppress Falun Gong practitioners who go to Tiananmen Square to defend the righteousness of Falun Dafa.

The new strategy is as follows: plainclothes agents pretend to be street vendors. Once they noticed people who looked like practitioners, they would inform hired thugs on the Square to rob the practitioners of their belongings, to stir up trouble. Then the police would come and take both the practitioners and the thugs onto the police vans, pretending to keep order. Once inside the vans, the thugs and the police would beat practitioners in the police vans.

Because so many practitioners were arrested for appealing in Beijing, the Beijing police were forced to send the practitioners to different Beijing police stations and detention centers. The following are examples of the atrocities committed at these places:

Sun Jihong (male), employee of the Huanan County Forestry Bureau, Jiamusi City, Heilongjiang Province, was arrested and taken to the Fengtai Police Department on September 25, 2002. He was beaten to death four days later on September 29. According to inside sources, Sun Jihong was tortured to death. At the time of his death his face was badly deformed and looked terrible. There were three holes on the left side of his face and three burn marks on the right side. There were also scars from burnings between his eyebrows and his chin, and there was a deep cut on his left eyebrow. He had scars and wounds all over his body. The police had put lots of facial powder on Mr. Sun's face when the family went to see his body, and his family could not recognize him. They pleaded with the police to remove the powder and then they finally recognized him.

Wang Xiuying lived at Nankantou Street, Daowai District, Harbin City. Ms. Wang was arrested on May 13, 2000 and was detained in the Jiaomen Detention Center, Chongwen District, Beijing. During her detention, she and other detained practitioners made requests to the detention center which included allowing practitioners to continue to study and practice Falun Gong, as well as the unconditional release of all detained practitioners. Then they went on a hunger strike. In response, the guards ordered force-feeding with highly concentration saline solution. Wang Xiuying had been forced-fed six times, five times of those with the saline solution, which put her in a state of severe dehydration and loss of consciousness. She died at 7:00 p.m. on May 22, after failed emergency treatment.

Liu Yucai, 60, a doctor in private practice from Panshi City, Jilin Province was beaten to death at the Chaoyang District Detention Center after being detained during a Falun Gong appeal on Tiananmen Square on October 1, China's National Day. Liu Yucai's family was informed of his "sudden death from a heart attack" on October 5. However his family noticed heavy wounds on his neck and the sides of his body. Dr. Liu was cremated on October 6.

A Falun Gong practitioner saw fellow practitioners being shocked with electric batons at Liangxiang Police Station in the Fengtai District, Beijing, in January 2001: "A police officer repeatedly shocked a female practitioner's hands, face, mouth and thighs until he was tired, and then rested for 15 minutes. When he started up again, he viciously held the electric baton and tried to force her to tell him her name and address. The practitioner again refused to comply. He became angry and ordered another young policeman to bring her in into the hallway, about ten feet away from me. He took off her shoes and handcuffed her to the radiator pipes. They then started torturing her. They shocked her hands, mouth and face until the baton sparked and made noise. The practitioner still refused to say anything. They angrily changed to another, larger electric baton and shocked her legs and toes. By then, another vicious policeman arrived. He threw away her shoes and continued to shock and torture her."

A Falun Gong practitioner in Liaoning Province wrote to Minghui.net in July 2001 and exposed a police officer named Ma Zengyong who had barbarously beaten and sexually assaulted female Falun Gong practitioners in early December 2000. In his article this practitioner revealed that two female Falun Gong practitioners who were beaten and sexually abused were sent to the Chongwen District Detention Center on December 10, 2000. The guards at the detention center saw that the practitioners' faces were heavily injured and were unwilling to take the responsibility, so they told the police officers from Beijing's Qianmen Police Station to take them to a hospital for a physical exam. The two practitioners were taken to Bo Ai Hospital in Beijing. The hospital staff was shocked when they saw the practitioners' condition. Their bodies were covered with black and blue bruises. The perpetrators later sent them back to the Chongwen District Detention Center.

A female Falun Gong practitioner was arrested in Tiananmen Square on December 1, 2000 and refused to give her name and address. She was first locked in a cage in the basement of the Tianamen Square Police Station and was later sent to the Haidian District Detention Center in northwestern rural Beijing. On the second day of her detention she began a hunger strike. The practitioner described her experience at the detention center:

"The male guards force-fed me after they learned that I was on a hunger strike, and the female guards hurled insults at me. The male guards tied me to a metal bed; seven or eight of them pinned me down and put a tube through my nose into my stomach. What they fed me smelled like medicine. The guards violently wrenched my kneecap and I shook in pain. I felt as if I was about to break into pieces. Another female practitioner's hands and feet were shackled together, her head was deformed from being beaten, and the guards put a thick cotton hat on her with only her eyes exposed. She could suffocate at any time. The handcuffs and shackles cut into her flesh and blood dripped from her wrists and ankles. She asked to go to the restroom, but the inmates who were monitoring her said she was not allowed go without reporting to an authority figure. One inmate ordered a tall inmate to step on her stomach. She screamed from pain. A guard walked over to investigate, but he left without saying a word when he saw it was a Falun Gong practitioner being tortured. They force-fed her every day. We were force-fed nine times and suffered all kinds of additional tortures. Twenty-four days later we left Haidian Detention Center with the power of righteous belief in Dafa."

The following facts also provide evidence of the brutality at the Haidian Detention Center:

A female practitioner was arrested and detained at the Haidian Detention Center on December 29, 2000. She was interrogated in Room 301 by three police officers (two males and one female). She was severely beaten many times during the interrogation. At one point, the female police officer forced her to take off her sweater, leaving her only wearing an undergarment. They shocked her whole body with electric batons, and three times she fell to the ground. They ordered the practitioner to get up and continued to shock her. Later another male interrogator came and shocked her. She fell to the ground and they punched and kicked her hard. This interrogation lasted more than four hours. Because she refused to cooperate in their forced-feeding, the guards handcuffed her hands and put her in shackles. The guards ordered the common criminal inmates to beat her day and night. The practitioner was locked in Cell 402. The head of the cell beat her up almost every day and acted in a despicable manner towards her.

Another practitioner was taken away from her cell (Cell 112) on January 3, 2001 for interrogation and was not brought back until late at night. Her hands, arms, legs and feet were all black and blue. Her ribs and back were covered with wounds. The next day the guards took her away to the hospital and no one has heard from her since.

Many local governments or government agencies have liaison offices in Beijing. Some have their own buildings; some are located in hotels, and others are scattered in the city or nearby rural areas. Many Falun Gong practitioners who went to Beijing to appeal were first beaten by police officers on Tiananmen Square and then sent to liaison offices for another round of torture.

The most common forms of persecution and gross abuse at the liaison offices are monetary extortion and physical torment. Some practitioners were tortured to death at these liaison offices. Below is a Falun Gong practitioner's eyewitness account:

"In late 2000, a Falun Gong practitioner from Shuangyashan City, Heilongjiang Province went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Dafa and was first detained in the Tiananmen Square Police Department, then at the Shahe Detention Center and finally at the Changhe County Police Department Patrol Unit, where he suffered severe beatings. After he was forced to tell his name and address, they detained him in the basement of the Shuangyashan City Liaison Office in Beijing, next to the Zuogezhuang Market. The basement was full of detained practitioners of all ages, both male and female. All those people were held together in a windowless space, not larger than 10 square meters (about 32 feet by 32 feet). Together with others, my wife, my 10-month old baby and I were detained in that same windowless room. We had to pay 45 Yuan for our 'luggage storage fee' and 45 Yuan every day for 'food and lodging.'"

Another Falun Gong practitioner detained there was an elderly woman who was living by herself on 100 Yuan a month. In June 2000, she borrowed 500 Yuan and went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Dafa. She was held at the Shuangyashan City Liaison Office in Beijing where a female police officer extorted 61 Yuan from her and then took more than 200 Yuan in cash from her. In the end the officer demanded 3,000 Yuan in "fines." An elderly woman practitioner whose last name is Zhou from Changsheng County was also extorted for 270 Yuan and was forced to pay a 3,000 yuan "fine." She didn't have the money, so the officials didn't allow her family to pick her up. She ended up being detained at the office for 12 days and then was sent to a detention center and held for another 15 days. The police finally extorted the 3,000 yuan from her.

In early 2001, several Dafa practitioners were arrested on Tiananmen Square and sent to the Beijing Liaison Office for Hubei Province. The police forcibly searched their bodies. Their main purpose was not to search for Dafa materials, but to look for money and valuable items. One practitioner only had a little over 100 Yuan. This dissatisfied the police. The police said, "Is this all you carry when you travel?" The police searched and took away sums of 200 Yuan and 300 Yuan from other practitioners.

The perpetrators at the Chengdu City Liaison Office in Beijing have hired thugs to interrogate and torture Falun Gong practitioners with all kinds of torture means. Witnesses say these perpetrators search the practitioners and rob them of their belongings. They also extort money from them with all kinds of excuses, and often withhold their food and water and deny them the use the restroom. They also verbally abuse practitioners and are especially brutal toward elderly practitioners.

Six elderly practitioners from the Chenghua District, Chengdu City, including Ms. Yang (57 years old), Ms. Wen (73 years old), Ms. Zhang (62 years old), Ms. Shi (57 years old), Mr. Yang (62 years old), and Ms. Mu (57 years old) went to Beijing to clarify the truth before the Chinese New Year 2000. They were arrested and robbed of all their cash at the liaison office. Fifty-seven-year-old Ms. Mu was beaten and kicked for doing the Falun Gong exercises and was handcuffed to a basketball post and not given food for a whole day.

Falun Gong practitioner Liu Zuokuan from the 512 Factory of Chengdu City went to Beijing to appeal and was sent to the Chengdu City Liaison Office in Beijing. He was brutally beaten for doing the Falun Gong exercises. His hands were handcuffed behind his back for such a lengthy period that he did not regain full use of his hands for a long time afterwards. Two young male practitioners were hung up on a large beam with their feet dangling in the air. A perpetrator beat them until one of the practitioner's eyeglasses broke. The broken glass cut his face and blood was all over his face. Another practitioner's arms went through a window and blood soaked his white shirt. The veins were bulging on the two practitioners' shackled hands and their arms were turning black. More than 30 practitioners were detained in a room less than 10 sq. meters (approximately 32 square feet) with poor air circulation in the heat of summer.

The Cangzhou City Police Department has an office in Beijing to arrest and send back practitioners from Cangzhou City. This office forced the relatives of arrested practitioners to pay them 2,000 Yuan for each practitioner. They also had the local police station inform the relatives and practitioners' work places to pick them up, and if they arrived late they would have to pay a fine of 200 Yuan for each extra day the practitioner was detained. The police also said that if they failed to pay the required money, the practitioner would be sent to a labor camp. When they came to the police department, the relatives found that many practitioners had injuries.

In December 1999, a nine-year-old boy who went to Beijing with his mother was handcuffed for more than four hours at the Shijiazhuang City Liaison Office in Beijing.

The Guangdong Province Liaison Office in Beijing is located in Lingnan Tower. A witness described the basement this way: "I was sent to the basement right after I entered the building. Several practitioners were already there, and some other practitioners were detained in other basement rooms. The room was extremely dark with no windows, only one room had a half-window and all the other rooms were pitch black. They didn't turn on the light, either. When the officers from our local police department came to pick us up, it was often two weeks later. We were guarded by security officers. If any practitioners held a hunger strike, the perpetrators would drag them out and beat them or make them freeze in the cold winter weather outside."

Falun Gong practitioner Wang Zhongcheng, director of the Office of the Bureau of Culture from the Fangcun District in Guangzhou City, went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong during the Chinese New Year in 2000. He was beaten up by many police officers from the Guangzhou Liaison Office and from the Public Security Ministry in Beijing. Later, Wang Zhongcheng was secretly sentenced to two years of forced labor and was sent to the Huadu Chini Labor Camp in Guangzhou City where he had to work 15 hours a day.

Police officer Sha from the Shiyan Liaison Office in Beijing stripped Falun Gong practitioners of their coats and shoes and made them stand barefoot on the ground in the winter. A witness said, "They beat the practitioners over and over again. The police officers themselves couldn't even remember how many times they struck the practitioners. The practitioners looked as if their bodies had been dyed black and blue and were covered with bumps... They handcuffed the practitioners together and when they released them, the handcuffs had cut into one practitioner's wrist so deeply that it was impossible to take them off even after trying for a long time."

In order to conceal the number of practitioners who went to Beijing to appeal from their local area, some liaison offices in Beijing buy registration lists of Falun Gong practitioners from the Beijing police for hundreds and even thousands of Yuan per list. Then they would extort the money from the practitioners they illegally detained. On April 26, 2000, Luo Haibin, an official from Hengyang City Police Department Liaison Office in Beijing picked up several practitioners from Hengyang City at the Tiananmen Police Department. On their way to the Hengyang City Liaison Office, Luo Haibin called the Hengyang City "610 Office" and said, "Today I bought several registration lists and each costs 1,500 Yuan." The practitioners were extorted for large sums of money to cover the expense of buying those lists.

Many among the more than 900 Falun Gong practitioners who have died from the persecution have died in liaison offices. The following are just several of these cases:

Three Falun Gong practitioners from Chongqing, including Li Guihua (47 years old, from Jiangbei Town, Jiangbei City), Xia Wei (female, 43, from Guanyinqiao, Jiangbei District) and Yu Xiangmei (female, around 35, from Changshou County) went to Beijing to appeal between September and October 1999. They were arrested in late October and November 1999 and died during their detention at the Chongqing City Liaison Office in Beijing. The police told their families to claim their bodies but admonished them to keep quiet about the deaths.

Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Lin Limei was from Boli County, Heilongjiang Province. She went to Beijing to appeal in mid-May 2000. She was detained at the Qitaihe Liason Office in Beijing and died from torture during detention. Lin Limei died with her hands handcuffed behind her back. Her body was facing up and she was impaled on top of an iron fence. Her death scene was horrifying to witness.

Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Wang Guoping was 40 years old and came from Shulan City in Jilin Province. He was arrested while appealing in Beijing. The police beat him using all kinds of torture instruments. He had been physically insulted many times, including being doused with cold water after having his clothes stripped off, and being pushed down into the pit toilets. On October 15, Mr. Wang was transferred to the Jilin Liaison Office in Beijing. At 3:00 a.m. October 17, he was forced to jump from the eighth floor of the building and fell to his death.

Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Cui Guoqing, 36 years old, lived in the Yongqiang Area, Changyi District, Jilin City. He traveled to Beijing to appeal on July 5, 2000 and unfurled a banner in Tiananmen Square on July 7. He was arrested and sent to Miyun County the evening of the same day. At around 10:00 a.m. on July 11, 2000 he was transferred to the Jilin Province Liaison Office in Beijing, where he was detained on the eighth floor. He was interrogated at 11:00 p.m. and he told other practitioners later that the police questioned him about other practitioners and demanded that he curse Falun Gong and Falun Gong's founder. When he refused, they beat him. He said, "How can a practitioner curse Dafa or Master?" Around 1:00 p.m. Mr. Cui was interrogated for the second time and never returned. His shoes and shoe pads were thrown outside the door of a room, but Cui Guoqing never returned.

Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Lu Shuqiu, about 46 years old, was from Jilin City, Jilin Province. In February 2002, her family received a notice stating that Lu Shuqiu had died in the Jilin City Police Department Liaison Office in Beijing. In the notice the police ordered her family to handle her funeral affairs.

Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Gu Jiahong, 27, was a boiler worker at the Third Division of the Fifth Engineering Department of the China Construction Company in Changsha, Hunan Province. In December 1999, he went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong. He was detained on the sixth floor of the Changsha Liaison Office in Beijing. In the early morning of December 8, he fell from the sixth floor and was found dead. Details of his death remain to be investigated.

Phone numbers of local liaison offices in Beijing:
Jilin Province Liaison Office, address: Qishengdayuan, Beitaipingzhuang, Haidian District, Beijing, 86-10-6201-1085
Shanghai Liaison Office, address: No 7 Qianzhai Hutong, Beichangjie, Xicheng District, Beijing, phone: 86-10-6605-7046
Tianjin City Liaison Office, address: No. 1 Xiaohuangzhuanglu, Xijie, Hepingli, Beijing, phone: 86-10-6423-7282
Chongqing City Liaison Office, address: No. 2 Xinzhongxijie, Dongcheng District, Beijing, phone: 86-10-6506-1182
Hebei Province Liaison Office, address: No. 1 Zhuiba Hutong, Huanghuamenjie, Dongcheng District, Beijing, phone: 86-10-6403-1304
Shanxi Province Liaison Office, address: No 16 Jingshanxijie, Xibanqiao, Xicheng District, Beijing, phone: 86-10-6401-4647
Neimengu Autonomous Region Liaison Office, address: No 47 Chongneidajie, Beijing, phone: 86-10-6524-3921
Liaoning Province Liaison Office: No 15 Maxianhutong, Dongdan, Beijing, phone: 86-10-6524-1409
Shandong Province Liaison Office: Qishengdayuan, Beitaipingzhuang, Haidian District, phone: 86-10-6201-1021
Zhejiang Province Liaison Office, address: Qishengdayuan, Beitaipingzhuang, Haidian District, phone: 86-10-6201-1037
Jiangxi Province Liaison Office, address: Qishengdayuan, Beitaipingzhuang, Haidian District, phone: 86-10-6201-1070
Hunan Province Liaison Office, address: Qishengdayuan, Beitaipingzhuang, Haidian District, phone: 86-10-6201-1077
Jiangsu Province Liaison Office, address: Jiangsu Hotel, Ganshuiqiao, Anwai Street, phone: 86-10-6422-4807
Anhui Province Liaison Office, address: No 1 Huixinxijie, Chaoyang District, phone: 86-10-6496-5588
Henan Province Liaison Office, address: No 28 Huaweili, Panjiayuan, Chaoyang District, Beijing, phone: 86-10-6775-1188
Hubei Province Liaison Office, address: No 44A Baishiqiao Road, Beijing, phone: 86-10-6217-2288
Guangxi Province Liaison Office, address: Building 6, Nanli, Shuanghuayuan, Dongsanhuan Mid-road, Beijing, phone: 86-10-6771-5603
Guangdong Province liaison Office, address: No. 36 Nanling Road, Xisanhuan, Beijing, phone: 86-10-6841-8097
Sichuan Province Liaison Office, address: No. 5 Gongyuantoutiao, Jiannei, Beijing, phone: 86-10-6512-2361
Guizhou City Liaison Office, address: Building 18 Yinghua Street, Hepingxiqiao, Beisanhuandonglu, Beijing, phone: 86-10-6442-6679
Yunnan Province Liaison Office, address: Building 8, Donghuashi Beili, Beijing, phone: 86-10-6711-3322
Xizang (Tibet) Autonomous Region Liaison Office, address: No 149, West Gulou Street, Xicheng District, Beijing, phone: 86-10-6401-9831
Shaanxi Province Liaison Office, address: No 17 Beisanhuan East Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing, phone: 86-10-6421-5714
Gansu Province Liaison Office, address: No 17 Beisanhuan East Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing, phone: 86-10-6422-3878
Qinghai Province Liaison Office, address: No 17 Beisanhuan East Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing, phone: 86-10-6442-7188
Ningxia Province Liaison Office, address: No 15 Fensiting Alley, Andingmennei Street, Chaoyang District, Beijing, phone: 86-10-6403-5587
Xinjiang Province Liaison Office, address: No 37 Sanlihe Road, Haidian District, Beijing, phone: 86-10-6833-2266
Heilongjiang Province Liaison Office, address: No 5 Beidajie, Fuxingmen, Beijing, phone: 86-10-6802-6116
Fujian Province Liaison Office, address: No 18 Building, Fahuananli, Stadium, Beijing, phone: 86-10-6714-8823
Hainan Province Liaison Office, address: No 188A, Andingmenwaidajie, Beijing, phone: 86-10-6426-1368

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2004/4/1/71414.html