Prison Insider: I Have Witnessed Extreme Injustices

Note: This report was written on toilet paper and smuggled out of the Fengrun County Detention Centre in Tangshan City, Hebei Province.

I was held in Fengrun Detention Centre and witnessed some extreme injustice. I saw the following with my own eyes.

On November 8, 2001 the door of the prison cell opened and four women came in. They are all Falun Gong practitioners transferred from Xiaobali brainwashing centre in Fengrun County. They had already suffered a great deal. Many other practitioners were also detained here.

These practitioners had suffered from inhuman tortures for persisting in their beliefs in Falun Gong. Their basic human rights had been deprived. Whenever they said that they would practice Falun Gong, then they would be beaten up. However, they never gave up. From their words and actions I came to better understand what compassion was. They selflessly helped others and never discriminated against us criminals, but only explained to us how to conduct ourselves in society. When there was work to do, they always were the first to do it, and never argued with others. I could not find anything unrighteous in their behaviour, so I could not understand why these kind-hearted people should be arrested and jailed. There were no specific charges against them and there were no reason whatsoever to jail them for a long period of time. Legally a person could only be detained for 15 days, however some practitioners were still held after the legal detention period.

On November 14, 2001 some higher authorities came for an inspection. Practitioners who had been detained over15 days were summoned to move out of their cells. We thought they were released but later when they reappeared in the prison cells, we realized that they had been hidden for two days. I learned that this is a common practice here in the detention centre.

It was shocking to learn the inhuman treatment and tortures they had suffered. The exercises they practiced were for keeping fit and the principles they pursued were for the improvement of moral standards. They also treated others kindly. Could these be called crimes? If everyone in the society could act like them, then there would be no criminals like us. The pain their indefinite detention has brought to their families is beyond description. If they want to walk out of the gate of the detention centre, they have to write a statement of guarantee and pay a very high fine. Some of the Falun Gong practitioners had been detained for over a year. The money their families had sent to them was taken away and spent by the authorities. Some practitioners were transferred to the brainwashing centre, but they were not allowed to take their savings with them. However, when they were returned to the detention centre, all their savings were gone. We know the facts very clearly. However, we are forced to keep quiet because there is no place for us to speak out here.

In the evening of December 22, 2001, Falun Gong practitioner Feng Haijuan, 34 years old, a resident of Xidajie Street of Fengrun County, was carried by two men to No. 14 prison cell. While in custody in the police station after her arrest, she was beaten up very badly and had cuts and bruises all over. Her feet and legs were too swollen for her to walk. She told us with great difficulty the process of how she was arrested. She said both of her arms were tied up and someone pulled rope while she was on the ground. When the policeman beat her, he said loudly, "I will beat you to death and then you can reach consummation, or I will pour some petrol over your body and light you up, then I can say you committed suicide."

On December 23, 2001 all the Falun Gong practitioners went on hunger strike, demanding the authorities to release all who had been illegally detained and to stop persecuting them. The prison guards called the practitioners out of the prison cells one by one "to talk to them." Team leader Zhang Wenzhi and Wang Yan would each take one arm and drag the practitioner to the guards' office, where they were force fed and injected with unknown drugs.

Even under such adverse circumstances, these kind-hearted Dafa practitioners still persist in their beliefs.

Chinese version available at: http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2004/1/8/64336.html