How Many More Families Like Ours Are Being Persecuted?

My mother is a Falun Dafa practitioner and is currently being persecuted by the authorities. The police have extorted a large amount of money from us, and now they have forced us to become homeless to avoid further harassment.

After the persecution began in July 1999, my family was deceived by the government's lies and tried to persuade my mother to stop her practice of Falun Dafa out of their fear of bringing trouble to the family. Yet, my mother continued to steadfastly practise Falun Dafa the entire time, and was not shaken by the pressure she received from the family. Instead, she became even more determined! In August 1999, my mother went to appeal in Beijing on behalf of Falun Dafa and was later arrested and sent to the Longshan Forced Labour Camp in Shenyang City, Liaoning Province, where she was illegally detained for three months. Later, the labour camp staff said that she would be released after a 5,000 yuan pledge was given to the labour camp, which was in reality just a way to extort money from practitioners to benefit themselves. My family then paid the money to the labour camp in exchange for my mum's release. However, the labour camp officials didn't release my mother as they promised. Two weeks later, the local police notified us that my mum was at the police station and could be released to us for an additional amount of 3,000 yuan. My family was really angry at their blatant corruption, yet had no choice but to pay them the money in hopes of reuniting my mother with the family. Those local officials! They don't help or serve the local people but instead take every opportunity to extort money from good people for their personal gain.

Another nightmare began in 2000, when the police came to make trouble for my family again. The police would always come at midnight, when there was little worry of their actions being witnessed by others, and told my mother, "The director wants to talk to you, you should go with us and when we are finished, you can go home." They arrested my mum by force after my family refused to comply with their orders. My mother then was sent to Shenyang Detention Centre again and illegally sentenced to serve a four-year term. Those police employed all kinds of torture methods, such as covering her head with plastic bags until she almost suffocated to death, burning her face with cigarettes, causing her face to swell, piercing my mother's body with one-inch pins (her ears were punctured by a dozen of them), wounding sensitive areas like her finger tips and toes; and injuring and bruising her legs, making it very difficult for her to walk. How inhuman and vicious these deeds are! Later on, she began a hunger strike to protest. The prison staff notified us after her hunger strike had lasted for one month: "She is very sick, you can pick her up!" My family was then forced to pay them 2,700 yuan for medical fees to cover the medical costs at the hospital for treatment during her hunger strike.

At home, my mum couldn't stand. It took a month of rest at home before she recovered. Every night before I fell asleep, I feared that officials would come and arrest her again. I told myself each time that my mother would be safe by the time I saw the sun the next day because the authorities dare not conduct their illegal arrests during the day, in view of witnesses.

The family was worried and under great strain every day. At that time, my family had no savings left and was even in debt to others as a result of the persecution against my mother.

When Autumn Harvest time arrived, my father and mother were working in the field, and the police came yet again. The police chief personally knocked on the door saying, "Do not worry, I have only come to talk to you, not to arrest you." None of us would open the door for him and soon he got tired of waiting and left. When it became dark, more police showed up, but this time we weren't afraid and opened the window to shout at them and alert our neighbours, "Our family is almost torn apart!. Money has been paid, how come they still disturb us and harm our family?!" The police became afraid of our neighbours hearing what we were shouting and pleaded, "Don't shout! We didn't want to come, but there is no other way! If you have something to say, you should talk to our police chief!" Many of our neighbours gathered around and said to the police: "They have been working in the field for the entire day and have done nothing to trouble you. Why do you still bother them so much?" The police director finally had to leave with the rest of the police, but he still said before he left: "We will come to arrest her as long as she is still alive!"

In order to avoid further harassment and arrest, we have been unable to stay at home and are living in different places with only 20 yuan in our pocket, which is all we have to take care of our entire family.

We are not the only ones those vicious police have persecuted, how many more families like ours are being persecuted in China?!

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2003/12/16/62671.html