How Come a Single Word Can Make the Difference Between Life and Death?

I am nearly 60 years old, and my eldest daughter is especially good to me. However, because she chose to practise Falun Gong, she was sentenced to a forced labour camp. I can't understand why at all.

My daughter is 32 years old. She is a diligent worker, and has received awards for her work many times. After the persecution of Falun Gong started, she didn't give up her cultivation. On October 18, 1999, as soon as she arrived in Beijing, she was arrested immediately, simply because she said that she practised Falun Gong. She was subsequently detained for 15 days at a detention centre and charged with "disturbing social order." However, she ended up being detained for three months instead, and from there, she was transferred to a forced labour camp. When I studied the relevant legal materials, I noted that people who are charged with "disturbing social order" could be detained for a maximum of 15 days, with a maximum fine of 200 Yuan. However, we had to pay nearly 4,000 Yuan, and I understand why this happened: the law apparently does not apply when it comes to Falun Gong practitioners.

When visiting our daughter, my wife was horrified to see that she was covered in bruises and walked with a limp. We knew that our daughter had suffered a lot. According to the forced labour camp staff, one time she was extremely tired. She had fallen asleep on a brick floor, and nobody could wake her up. She had large blisters all over her body. The doctors had scraped them with surgical knives, and there was blood all over the floor. She had these dried scabs and large blisters for 17 months. In this environment, our daughter continued to clarify the truth to the doctors and the head of the forced-labour camp.

In May 2001, our daughter was released. During her detention period, her factory had stopped paying her. In September 2001, her company laid her off, with a pension of only a little bit over 200 Yuan per month, or less than half of an average salary. Six months later, because she refused to write a formal letter to admit her "mistake," her factory formally fired her, removing her source of income completely. She has no option to appeal the decision. We are an old couple, and have been financially dependant on our daughter. How is our family supposed to lead our lives?

There is one question I haven't been able to find an answer to. If someone agrees to stop practising Falun Gong, then he can have freedom, can go back to work, simply because he said "Yes" to their demands to stop practising. If he does not say this, he is put into a forced-labour camp and loses his job. Giving in and saying this one word determines how somebody is treated by the authorities. I really can't understand how this can be justified.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2003/5/1/49475.html