Over 100 Practitioners Still Being Held in Jilin Province Prison Need Our Help

A group of Falun Gong practitioners in Changchun City broadcast a documentary video about Falun Gong by tapping into the local cable television line. They did this to tell the people the facts of Falun Dafa and to unmask the lies of all the government-controlled media information programs. The Jiang Zemin regime uses the media to spread propaganda against Falun Gong and other groups it wishes to malign and persecute. The practitioners wanted to protect the people from these lies of the regime. This courageous and compassionate action clarified the truth about Falun Gong to millions of people and shocked the Jiang regime. In a rage, Jiang ordered the police and the "610 Office"* to "kill without pardon" those responsible for the broadcast. One of the Falun Dafa practitioners who participated in the broadcast was Liu Chengjun. He was arrested and sentenced to 19 years in prison and suffered from all kinds of torture in the Jilin Prison for over one year. Mr. Liu died tragically on December 26, 2002, simply for his belief in the principles of Truth, Compassion and Forbearance.

The brutal persecution of Falun Gong practitioners is still going on in China. They have been denied their basic human rights. They can lose their rights to homes, personal property and jobs at any moment. This is true for many children now left homeless and uncared for because their parents, grandparents and other relatives are in prison. Many relatives and friends are afraid to take in the children of practitioners for fear they will be accused next. Neither practitioners, nor any of their family members are safe. Every day, Falun Gong practitioners are tortured to death. In Jilin Prison alone, where Liu Chengjun was held, more than one hundred Falun Gong practitioner's lives are in serious danger.

Changchun City in Jilin Province is Teacher Li Hongzhi's hometown, where he first taught people Falun Gong. The principles of Falun Gong are truthfulness, compassion and tolerance. Falun Gong has helped many people regain their health, raise their moral standards, and it has encouraged people to help others and to be responsible, good citizens. The practitioners who have been sentenced or jailed have never committed any crimes. They only refuse to give up being good people who strive to apply these principles in their daily lives.

Jilin Prison, also known as Jilin No. Two Prison, holds male practitioners sentenced there for more than ten years. The prison authorities have used the most inhumane tortures to persecute the practitioners. The following examples are tortures inflicted on Falun Gong practitioners -- not on the common prisoners. The common prisoners are bribed and pressured with money, privileges and bonuses to torture the practitioners to write the "four statements."** The prison guards use devices to squeeze the practitioner's testicles forcefully, jab their fingers between the ribs, beat the practitioners with rubber tubes filled with water and kick practitioners all over their bodies. The most horrible torture is the so-called "fixed bed" or "death sentence bed." This is a special torture device in the form of a stretching bed. The prison guards shackle the four limbs of the practitioner to the bed and then stretch them out to hang in the air. Then the prison guards use a small rubber hammer to knock on the joints of the body, until the joints separate.

According to the report on October 26, 2003 on Clearwisdom.net, more than one hundred practitioners in Jilin Prison went on a hunger strike to protest the inhumane torture. Their actions caused concern in the international community. However, Jiang Zemin's regime controls and blocks the news of the persecution. As a result, the outside world has no news about the present condition of these practitioners. We ask all the kind-hearted and righteous people in the world to continue to speak up to prevent further tragedies like the death by torture of Liu Chengjun and other practitioners.

* The "610 office" is an agency specifically created to persecute Falun Gong, with absolute power over each level of administration in the party and all other political and judiciary systems.

**The "four statements" are written statements promising not to practise Falun Gong, stating regret over practising in the past, declaring separation from Falun Gong, and denouncing Falun Gong

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2004/1/2/63878.html