Previously Beaten and Locked in Iron Cage, Ms. Zhang Li Arrested Again

Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Zhang Li, from Mudanjiang City, was arrested by police on May 13th, 2013. She is currently incarcerated at the Mudanjiang No. 2 Detention Centre. This is the fourth time she has been arrested and detained for her faith.

Ms. Zhang has been subjected to relentless persecution since 1999, when the communist regime launched a brutal campaign to eradicate Falun Gong. She was detained in a forced labour camp twice and later sent to the Heilongjiang Prison, where she was brutally tortured and locked in an iron cage.

Below is a partial account of the persecution she has endured over the past 14 years.

Arrested, Robbed and Sent to Forced Labour Camp Twice

Ms. Zhang went to Beijing with practitioners Ning Jun, Liu Kun and Fu Ying to appeal for the right to practise Falun Gong in September 1999. She was arrested on September 13th and taken back to Mudanjiang.

Two officers from the Dongning County Police Department and two others from the Hailin Police Department searched practitioners and robbed them of nearly 15,000 yuan¹. The practitioners were then detained.

Ms. Zhang's husband was serving a prison sentence during her detention. Their young daughter had no choice but to live with her grandmother. The child was terrified of losing her mother, and officers from the Yangming Police Station exploited this fear by tricking her into disclosing the names of practitioners Lu Shufan, Yu Po and Li Zhihao, who were friends with Ms. Zhang.

Consequently, these practitioners were arrested and taken to the Yangming Police Station, where officers Liu Zhiqiang and Zhang Yitao ridiculed, hit and forbade them from sleeping. They were then sent to the Mudanjiang Detention Centre and subsequently sentenced to two- to three-year prison terms.

When Ms. Zhang's mother-in-law learned that she was sentenced to three years of forced labour, she could not take it and passed away soon afterward. Ms. Zhang's daughter then had to be taken in by distant relatives.

In 2002, just before the Chinese Communist Party's 16 th National Congress, police carried out a mass arrest of Falun Gong practitioners.

Under the orders from head Yang Xuhui and political head Tao Wen of the Yangming Police Station, deputy head Liu Zhiqiang and other officers (including Zhang Yitao) broke into Ms. Zhang's temporary residence and took her and her adolescent daughter into custody. They also confiscated Ms. Zhang's bank deposit book and withdrew 1,000 yuan. Not a cent has been returned to this day.

In November 2002, officer Zhang Yitao took Ms. Zhang, Yu Po and Lu Shufan out of the Mudanjiang No. 2 Detention Centre and said they were going to receive a health checkup. The practitioners were taken into a type of vehicle that is used to transport convicts to prisons and labour camps.

Zhang Yitao did not provide the practitioners with any documentation. Just as the car was about to drive off, he received a phone call and suddenly sent them back to the detention centre. A few days later, the three practitioners were transferred to a labour camp.

Locked in an Iron Cage and Brutally Beaten

On November 29th, 2008, Ms. Zhang was arrested by officers from the Xinhua Police Station. They forced their way into her home and confiscated Falun Gong informational DVDs and books. Ms. Zhang was beaten and then taken to the Mudanjiang No. 2 Detention Centre.

She was then sentenced to three and a half years in prison and sent to the Heilongjiang Province Women's Prison.

Ms. Zhang was detained in Division No. 11, where prisoners were placed into groups of five and brutally beaten. She refused to give up her belief and was hit by convicts Wang Shanshan and Wang Xinhua.

Ms. Zhang's courageous actions encouraged other practitioners, so guards transferred her to an isolated cell in the prison hospital, where she was locked in a cage and beaten again.

Prisoner Wang Shanshan was a ruthless person who was incarcerated for robbery. It was exactly these types of individuals that the prison guards used to persecute Falun Gong practitioners. Other convicts were given factory work, but Wang was solely responsible for torturing practitioners.

A prisoner once asked Wang Shanshan, “What if a practitioner became injured from the beatings?” Wang replied, “The prison would pay for her medical treatment.” The other prisoner continued, “What if she was beaten to death?” Wang answered, “If worst comes to worst, my prison sentence would be extended.” The other prisoner then asked, “Can you stop beating these practitioners?” Wang replied, “Head guard Wang Yali is watching over me; I cannot disobey her orders.” She then added, “Zhang Li is stubborn; therefore, I beat her up often.”

Once, Wang Shanshan and Wang Xinhua tortured Ms. Zhang by pouring water on her and pricking her with needles. Another time, Wang Xinhua also locked Ms. Zhang in a cage.

When Ms. Zhang was transferred to isolated confinement in the prison hospital, where there was no monitoring, Wang Shanshan hit her even more viciously. Ms. Zhang was then handcuffed to the ground pipe and forbidden from using the toilet. Prisoners brought a bucket into the room, so she had to relieve herself in the room. At night, she was shackled to the bed.

On June 9th, 2011, Ms. Zhang was transferred to Division No. 10 and then locked in an iron cage in the prison hospital for over a month.

Zhao Huihua was the head guard of Division No. 10, as well as the head of the prison hospital. When another practitioner asked her why Ms. Zhang was imprisoned in the iron cage, she answered, “She is insane.” The practitioner retorted, “Zhang Li is not mad. Is it because she refused to give up the practice of Falun Gong that you locked her in the cage?” Zhao Huihua then replied immediately, “I don't know anything.” When the practitioner demanded that she release Ms. Zhang at once, Zhao Huihua sent her to the administrative office. There was no monitoring device in that office, so the prison guards could torture her at will.

On May 13th, 2013, not long after her release, Ms. Zhang was arrested again. She was taken to the Xi'an Police Department and later sent to the Mudanjiang No. 2 Detention Centre by officers from the Mudanjiang City Domestic Security Division. She is still detained.

Perpetrators Involved in the Persecution

Wang Yuwei, head of Mudanjiang City Political and Legal Affairs Committee: +86-13339537666, +86-453-6996666 (Home), +86-453-6171978 (Office)
Zhang Aiguo, head of Mudanjiang No. 2 Detention Centre: +86-453-6483002

Yang Danpei, Domestic Security Division Political Commissar +86-453-6282526 (Office), +86-13945309336 (Mobile)

Li Zhe, head of Domestic Security Division: +86-13604831098；

Peng Fuming, Domestic Security Division officer: +86-13845344344

Note

1. "Yuan" is the Chinese currency; 500 yuan is equal to the average monthly income of an urban worker in China.