(Minghui.org) I am Su Qingling, 47, a Falun Gong practitioner. I am a former employee of the Yanghe County Forest Management Station, Yongning County, Ningxia Province.
In my youth, I came down with epilepsy and also was diagnosed with other illnesses. My marriage and work life was very difficult because of my health condition.
However, after I began to practice Falun Gong in 1997, I became healthy, no longer had to take medication, and could do the household chores and my job well. My family was amazed by the effectiveness of Falun Gong and were very supportive.
After the onset of the persecution of Falun Gong in July 1999, I refused to renounce my faith. I was arrested four times, given a three-year forced labor sentence in 2001 and was detained for 42 months after my arrest in 2004. I was tortured while in detention.
My work place fired me upon my release in January 2009, and I was harassed by police during the Chinese Communist regime's sensitive dates. My husband divorced me two years later, because he feared being implicated.
Three Years of Forced Labor
The police arrested me in September 2000, because they heard that local practitioners planned to go to Beijing to appeal for the right to practice Falun Gong. I was detained for 15 days.
I was arrested again one month later and detained in the Yinchuan City Detention Center. I was forced to work for long hours daily. The police brought my family members to the detention center, a total of 8 people, to persuade me to renounce Falun Gong. I refused and was given three years of forced labor.
After eight months of detention, I was taken to the Yinchuan Women's Labor Camp on June 27, 2001. The guards tried to make me give up Falun Gong. They took turns talking to me around the clock and deprived me of sleep for a week. Then, my epilepsy relapsed a day after they stopped the torture.
I was released on May 21, 2003, a few months earlier than my term.
Tiger Bench Torture
I was arrested again in April 2004 and detained for 20 days.
Next, I was arrested at work on July 19, 2005. The police ransacked my home. Then, I was taken to the Yinchuan City Detention Center, where I was forced to work about 10 hours daily.
When I asked that my work quota be reduced, I was tortured on the tiger bench for three days and nights. I could only move my head.
Torture illustration: Tiger bench
My arrest was approved in August and the first hearing was held at the end of 2005 and ended without a verdict.
I went on a hunger strike on February 6, 2006 to protest the intense forced labor. I was again tortured with the tiger bench. I was brutally force fed while on the tiger bench. They inserted the feeding tube through my nose and caused bleeding
The doctor of the detention center released me after three days.
Tortured After Missing Work Quota
I was sentenced to a 42 month prison term during the second hearing on February 26, 2006, and transferred to the Yinchuan Women's Prison on May 18.
At the prison, I was forced to work long hours and tortured if did not meet my quota.
Practitioners were forced to attend brainwashing sessions. The food we were given was poor and restroom visits were limited.
My brother was not allowed to see me before he left China. My sister was also denied visitation rights, although she had come all the way from Canada.
When I was released on January 18, 2009, I learned that I was fired from my job. I tried to appeal, but without success. County government officials refused to meet with me to discuss the matter.
As a practitioner, it was difficult to find even a temporary job. When I was hired for a janitor job, I was fired after the manager learned that I was a practitioner. However, with the help of several co-workers I was not let go in the end.
Family Implicated and Harassed
My husband used to support my practicing Falun Gong. But after the onset of the persecution, the local police kept harassing me. My husband could not take the stress and pressure. He cooperated with the police to monitor me and then divorced me.
My son became withdrawn socially because of my situation.
One of my older brothers was once detained for three days in the police station in 2000, even though he is not a practitioner. My other brother immigrated to Canada because of the pressure. My other brothers, sister-in-laws and relatives were also affected to some extent, and many did not want to associate with me any longer.
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