Name: Zhou Xiangyang (周向阳)
Gender: Male
Age: 38
Address: Tangshan, Hebei Province
Occupation: Cost engineer at the Third Tianjin Railway
Survey and Design Institute Group in Tianjin
Date of Most Recent Arrest: March 5, 2011
Most Recent Place of Detention: Gangbei Prison (港北监狱)
City: Tianjin
Persecution Suffered: Interrogation, shocked with electric
batons, sleep deprivation, forced labor, brainwashing, illegal
sentencing, beatings, hanging by handcuffs, imprisonment, solitary
confinement, torture, force-feedings, physical restraint,
detention, denial of restroom use
(Clearwisdom.net) Mr. Zhou Xiangyang, a Falun Gong practitioner from Tianjin, is currently on a hunger strike to resist the persecution at Gangbei Prison. He has been on this hunger strike for more than 100 days. His mother went to the prison with the intention of visiting him, but was turned away by the prison authorities.
In March 2011, police officers from the Domestic Security Brigade in Tangshan City and Wenhualu Police Station at Tangshan City arrested Mr. Zhou and his wife Mr. Li Shanshan. During their detention, Mr. Zhou was forced into giving a confession through cruel torture, and was hung up while being handcuffed. Later he was transferred to Gangbei Prison in Tianjin. Currently Mr. Zhou has been on a hunger strike for more than 100 days. The prison authorities have been giving him injections and force-feeding him.
June 17, 2011 was a day that the prison was open for visitors. At around 10 a.m., Mr. Zhou's mother came to the visitors' registration window and asked for permission to visit her son. The guards told her that they had received orders not to allow Falun Gong practitioners' family members visit them, so her request was denied.
At 11 a.m., the entrance door of the prison slowly opened. About twenty armed police officers came out and lined up on either side. Some had batons, while some held shields in one hand and electric batons in the other. After that, the person in charge of the prison, Li Guoyu, led at least five guards, including team leader Song Xuesen (police badge 1208219), Song Zuming (police badge120827), and a few others from the registration desk. They walked up to Mr. Zhou's mother and told her, "You cannot pass the cordon line." After a short while, Li headed back, leaving two team leaders to take turns being on duty behind the line. They did not allow Mr. Zhou's family members to cross the line, which was far away from the registration window and almost to the street. Mr. Zhou's mother asked the guards: "Why won't you allow me to visit my son? If there has been a notice communicated from the top, I want to see it. As his family member, I have the right to know what's going on." One team leader told her, "Go talk to [President] Hu Jintao!"
When Mr. Zhou's mother began talking to a street vendor, the guards drove this person, as well as other bystanders, away. After waiting for more than two hours with no luck, Mr. Zhou's mother decided to put her message and request to see her son on her clothing. The guards attempted to stop her from wearing it, but she insisted. Police officers then started videotaping her as she continued to appeal for the right to visit her son.
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