Human Rights Stripped from Tsinghua University Students for Persisting in Their Belief in Falun Dafa

Department of Electronic Engineering

Mr. Yuan Jiang, age 30, graduated in July 1995 from the Department of Electronic Engineering of Tsinghua University. He was the volunteer director of the Falun Dafa Assistance Centre of Gansu Province. He was the Assistant General Manager of the Information Technology Engineering Co., an affiliate to the Telecommunications Bureau of Lanzhou City. Later he was dismissed from the position for refusing to give up his beliefs, and was made the Chief Technical Executive. He was arrested on August 30, 2001 around Dunhuang City, Gansu Province. After being tortured by police from the Gansu Province Police Department, he died on November 9, 2001.

Mr. Meng Jun, age 29, was an associate lecturer in the Department of Electronic Engineering, which is also where he received his Master's degree. He was detained twice in September and October 1999 by the police station and Beijing City Police Department, respectively. He was dismissed from his job for upholding his beliefs. In June 2000, he was detained for going to Tiananmen Square to appeal peacefully for Falun Gong. On December 31, 2000, at midnight, he was arrested by corrupt policemen of the Zhongguancun Police Station while putting up Falun Dafa truth-clarifying materials. He suffered from brutal torture and was later locked up in the detention centre of Division No. 7 of the Beijing City Police Department. On December 13, 2001, the Intermediate Court of Beijing sentenced him to ten years, accused with the charges of "spreading Falun Gong materials over the internet," "flying Falun Gong banners with balloons," and "handing out Falun Gong pamphlets."

Ms. Yao Yue, age 29, received her Master's degree from the Institute of Microelectronics of Tsinghua University (enrollment of 1996). As a Communist Party member, she was given the "Outstanding Student of Beijing" award when she received her Bachelor's degree. Her husband Liu Wenyu, also a Dafa practitioner, graduated in 1997 from the Department of Thermal Engineering of Tsinghua University. On September 3, 1999, she was taken away by Tsinghua University police for openly practising Falun Gong on campus, and was interrogated until the next morning. She was expelled from the Communist Party and the university. Her lifetime personnel archive [the Chinese government keeps a personnel archive of each citizen to record all the main activities of a person from one's school age until death. The archive is maintained by one's school or work unit] was transferred away from the school. Early in the morning of January 1, 2001, police forced their way into her home and arrested her. She was later held in the detention centre of Division No. 7 of the Beijing City Police Department. On December 13, 2001, the Intermediate Court of Beijing sentenced her to 12 years, under the charges of "spreading Falun Gong materials over the internet," "flying Falun Gong banners with balloons," and "handing out Falun Gong pamphlets."

Department of Precision Instruments and Mechanical Engineering

Mr. Wang Weiyu, age 29, was a PhD. candidate in the Department of Precision Instruments and Mechanical Engineering (enrollment of 1996). He won numerous honours and scholarships, including "Excellent Graduate," "Honour Student," and the "Phillips Scholarship." He also served as the class chairman, Secretary of the Communist Youth League, the Vice President of the Science Association of the department, deputy secretary of the department's Communist Youth League, administrative assistant of the 1997 undergraduate class, and others. He was exempted from the exam for entrance into the Ph.D. programme immediately after receiving his Bachelor's degree. He was detained by police from the Tsinghua Police Station for attending an experience-sharing conference in September and October 1999. The police forced him to squat down for four to five hours, and interrogated him until midnight. Later, he was suspended from school for four months. In June 2000, he was again suspended. On July 22, 2000, he was detained for a week just because he was talking to others on Tiananmen Square. In the later half of 2000, he was forced to leave school and wandered from one place to another to avoid arrest. In late 2002 he was forced to leave school to avoid persecution. In August 2002, he was secretly abducted by people from the Ministry of National Security, while he was at work. His whereabouts are currently unknown.

Mr. Xu Zhiguang, age 25, was a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Precision Instruments and Mechanical Engineering (enrollment of 1999). He won the "First Class Excellence Scholarship," and served as class chairman, Vice President of the Science Association of the department, and held other such positions. He was exempted from the exam for entrance into the Ph.D. programme immediately after receiving his Bachelor's degree. On July 25, 1999, he was detained for one day by the Beijing City Police Department for going to appeal and clarify the facts about Falun Gong. In October 1999, he was ordered to go home and stay there for six weeks because of his firm belief, and was told, "You are not allowed to return to the university unless you have broken away from Falun Gong." In July 2000, he was told, "[you will be] immediately suspended or expelled from school if you still take part in any Falun Gong activities." In April 2001, the school authorities abducted him and sent him to a brainwashing class. Later, he was forced to leave the school and went from place to place to avoid persecution. In April 2002, he went missing and was later detained in the Tuanhe Forced Labour Camp in Beijing. Currently, his whereabouts are unknown.

Department of Hydraulic and Hydropower Engineering

Mr. Zhang Mengye was a graduate from the Department of Hydraulic and Hydropower Engineering (enrollment of 1959). He was a classmate of Hu Jintao, the General Secretary of China's Central Party Committee (CCPC) and Deputy Chairman of Central Military Committee. He was a lecturer in the School of Electronic Power of Guangdong Province. In March 2000, the Guangzhou City Police Department sent him to a forced labour camp for two years, and detained him in the Guangzhou City No. 1 Forced Labour Camp, where he staged hunger strikes three times to request unconditional release. When he was released on February 10, 2002, Zhang was emaciated; he weighed less than 35 kilograms [77 pounds]. Upon returning home, he was forced to leave home to avoid harassment and further persecution. On March 20 and May 4, he published two articles, respectively, on Minghui.net,[Chinese version of Clearwisdom.net] stating that the Hepatitis B he had had for over 20 years totally disappeared without any treatment, after practising Falun Gong for just eight months. In the articles, he also disclosed his experience of being sent to forced labour and being persecuted for writing to the central government before 1999 to express his understanding of Falun Gong. After these two articles were published, the "610 Office" of Guangdong Province devoted a lot of manpower to searching for him everywhere. They threatened that they would arrest him, and send him to forced labour or a brainwashing class. Because of the report of a collaborator [a former Falun Gong practitioner who now assists the authorities in the persecution due to brainwashing and torture], on May 17, 2002, the Zhang couple was sent to the brainwashing class of the Huangpu Drug Abstention Centre on May 18, where he suffered all kinds of inhuman treatment

Department of Thermal Engineering

Mr. Yu Ping, age 30, graduated with a Master's Degree from the Department of Thermal Engineering (enrollment of 1995). In March 1997, he was admitted into the Ph.D. programme earlier than usual for his outstanding performance. He was awarded with the "December 9th Scholarship" and the "Siemens Scholarship," and was the Chairman of the Graduate Student Union of the department, as well as the deputy team leader of the Graduate Student Work Team. Yu's presentation of his graduation thesis in early June 1999 was unanimously approved, and his thesis was praised as an outstanding graduation thesis (he took the high-tech space project of the national "863 plan"). Yet, because he went to Tiananmen Square on June 20, 1999 to appeal for Falun Gong, his degree was withheld and not granted. He had already received a full scholarship from Ohio State University, but lost the opportunity for further study. Later, he was unjustly sentenced to four years. He appealed, but his current circumstances are unknown.

Mr. Liu Wenyu, age 29, graduated with a Master's degree from the Department of Thermal Engineering (enrollment of 1997). He is the husband of Yao Yue, the practitioner who received her Master's degree from the Institute of Microelectronics of Tsinghua University (enrollment of 1996). He was the chairman of the No. 7 Graduate Class, and received the "Scholarship of Chooice." In May 1999, he was admitted to start the Ph.D. programme early because of his outstanding grades. From January 15 to 20, 2000, he was under house arrest at the No. 200 Nucleus Experimentation Base by Tsinghua University. They tried to force him to give up his beliefs. In June 2000, he went to Tiananmen Square to peacefully appeal for Falun Gong, and was detained for a month in the name of so-called "[being] suspected of illegal assembly." He was dismissed from the university. On the early morning of January 1, 2001, the policemen of the Zhongguancun Police Station broke into his room and took him away. He was later detained in the detention centre of Division No. 7 of the Beijing City Police Department. On December 13, 2001, the Intermediate Court of Beijing unjustly sentenced him to three years with the charges of "spreading Falun Gong materials over the internet," "flying Falun Gong banners with balloons," and "handing out Falun Gong pamphlets."

Department of Chemical Engineering

Ms. Liu Zhimei, age 22, was an undergraduate student of the Department of Chemical Engineering (enrollment of 1997). In September 1999, the university didn't allow her enroll for the new term. In October 1999, she was detained by Tsinghua police, for participating in a Falun Gong experience-sharing conference. She was interrogated until the next morning. In July 2000, she went to Tiananmen Square to peacefully appeal, and was unlawfully detained for 20 days, during which she was on hunger strike. In August 2000, the university suspended her, and would not issue any written documentation of the suspension. In May 2001, she was wrongfully arrested. During her detention, she was transferred to several detention centres. After she was put in the detention centre of Division No. 7 of Beijing Police Department, she was brutally tortured. Her head was seriously beaten until it was swollen and distorted looking. Her chest was also beaten severely. A number of her fingernails were pulled off. She was charged with over a dozen false accusations and was unjustly sentenced to 12 years. After being sent back to her hometown, she is now being unlawfully held in the Jinan City Women's Prison of Shandong Province.

Institute of Nuclear Energy Technology

Ms. Li Yanfang, age 27, was a Master's degree candidate majoring in Nuclear Reactor Engineering and Safety. In October 1999, she was detained by Tsinghua police for openly practicing the exercises on campus, and was interrogated until the next morning. In late October, she was detained again by Tsinghua police while attending an experience-sharing conference, and her Falun Gong books that she always carried were confiscated. She was further tortured with "hands cuffed behind the back" [With this torture, both one's hands and arms will soon lose feeling. In addition, both hands will go limp from lack of blood circulation]. In June 2000, she went to Tiananmen Square to peacefully appeal, and consequently, she was detained for nine days by the Beijing City Police Department. In August, when the term began, the university orally notified her that she had been suspended. Later on, she was orally instructed to leave the university. The two incidents of being expelled caused a great mental suffering and financial loss to her family who live in the countryside. During that period, her dear grandmother's cancer got worse and she passed away in July 2000. In November 2000, she was wrongfully arrested in Zhuhai City under the fabricated charge of subversion, which was later changed to "disrupting enforcement of the law." She was held in the Zhuhai No. 2 Detention Center. In August 2001, she was tried at the Xiangzhou District Court of Zhuhai City. The judgment was originally going to be announced around the 2002 Chinese New Year. However, because of U.S. President George W. Bush's visit to China, the announcement was postponed. It is possible that she has been secretly sentenced.

Academic Staff

Ms. Dong Yanhong, age 30, was a winner of a national calligraphy competition. For upholding her beliefs, she was listed as a main target by the Tsinghua southwest residential committee. One day in January 2001, the committee called her and asked her to go for a talk. After going out for the talk, she didn't return. On December 13, 2001, the Intermediate Court of Beijing unjustly sentenced her to five years with the charges of "spreading Falun Gong materials over the internet," "flying Falun Gong banners with balloons," and "handing out Falun Gong pamphlets." During the detention, she was not moved by the evil, and remained steadfast in practicing Falun Gong. Now the police have isolated her from other prisoners and are monitoring her strictly. When she was visited by her family, the policemen listened in, and the topics were also greatly restricted.

Ms. Yu Jia, age 35, was a lecturer in the School of Economics and Management, and also the sister of Dafa practitioner Yu Chao, a graduate (enrollment of 1990) of the Department of Precision Instruments and Mechanical Engineering. She was detained for a month for going to Tiananmen Square to peacefully appeal for Falun Gong during the Chinese New Year of 2000. While being detained, she was tortured with "hands cuffed behind the back" for five and one half days. She was deprived of food and sleep, and her wrists were seriously hurt. Afterwards, Tsinghua University only paid her a little living expense every month. Later, she was arrested by police several times for openly practicing on campus, and was openly beaten by police. She was then again detained by Division No. 14 of the Beijing City Police Department. On November 27, 2000, she was arrested and secretly sentenced to three and one half years.

Ms. Qiu Shuqin was a staff member of the Education Administration Division. She was deprived of her position for being steadfast in practising Falun Gong, and was given only a little living expense. In 2001, she applied to the university for early retirement, and was approved. On April 25, 2000, she was detained for going to Tiananmen Square to peacefully appeal. During her month of detention, she was tortured with "hands cuffed behind the back" for several days for continuing to practice the exercises. After being released, she was detained and beaten by police many times, because she openly practised the exercises on campus. Her personal belongings were unlawfully confiscated. Several days before July 20, 2000, she was secretly brought away by the Beijing City Police Department, and was detained for almost a month. In the past few years, she has been arrested over a dozen of times, and illegally detained six times, with one of the detentions not being carried out since her blood pressure was too high. During the detentions, she was tortured with "hands cuffed behind the back," and was force fed. In 2002, the university deducted all of her pension, so that the only of income for her family was cut off. Now she has been sent to a forced labour camp.

Persecution of Tsinghua University's graduates who are studying overseas

Mr. Zhao Ming graduated from the Department of Computer Science (enrollment of 1998), and was the project manager of the Computer Network Center of the Ziguang Group of Tsinghua University. He entered the Department of Computer Science at Trinity College in Ireland as a graduate student in March 1999. He went back to China during Christmas of 1999 to appeal, hoping that the Chinese government would stop this ridiculous persecution. He was arrested, detained, and, in May of 2000, imprisoned in the Tuanhe Labour Camp in Daxing County, Beijing. His term was illegally extended to another 10 months after it expired. During his detention, he was often brutally beaten, shocked with electric batons, and forced to do heavy labor. In addition, the police attempted to brainwash him and mentally torture him in order to force him to give up his beliefs. Because of the calls for justice and the big pressure from the international community, Zhao Ming was released on March 12, 2002, after nearly two years in detention.

Mr Zhang Zhigang, age 26, graduated with a Masters' degree from the School of Humanities and Social Sciences. He did his undergraduate degree in the Department of Hydraulic and Hydropower Engineering, and went to Australia in 2001 to study for a Master's of Computer Science in 2001 at the University of New South Wales. During his study in Tsinghua University, he was awarded the "Zhang Guangdou Scholarship," the "Distinguished Student Leader's Scholarship," the "Wu Chaoyu Scholarship," and he was given the rank of "Level Two Scholar" for academic excellence. He was his class's secretary of the Youth League, a member of the party's [Chinese Communist Party] propaganda committee of his department, member of the Youth League Committee of the department, and chairman of a student association. Because of his excellent academic record and personal character, he was given entrance into the Masters' Degree programme in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences without needing to take an examination.

Prior to the start of his Masters' programme in 1999, because of his persistence in practicing Falun Gong, the university refused his enrollment. In October 1999, he was forced to stay home for three months, which was meant to make him give up his practice. In January 2000, he was taken to a hostel in the university, where he was isolated and had only restricted freedom. He was also forced to go through brainwashing sessions. The mental torture lasted two weeks. Afterwards, the university forcefully suspended him, and ordered him to return home for giving up his beliefs. On April 25, 2000, he went to Tiananmen Square to appeal but was detained for a month. Soon after he got out, he was detained for another month for the so-called "disturbing social order," because he gave an article about Falun Gong to someone. In July 2000, the university cancelled his party membership because of his involvement in clarifying the truth of Falun Gong. They also cancelled their offer to him for entrance into their Master's Degree programme.

Mr Xie Weiguo, age 29, received his Master's Degree from the Department of Chemical Engineering (enrollment of 1996). He is currently doing his Ph.D. research at the University of Manchester in the U.K. He has been blacklisted by the Jiang regime because of his involvement in appeals to stop the persecution of Falun Gong in China. His fiancee Zhu Yongjie, who is still in China, was secretly arrested on November 4, 2002 in Beijing by the Chinese Ministry of State Security.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2002/12/31/41740.html