Witness Account in the UN from a Falun Gong Practitioner Who Suffered Persecution in China

Ladies and Gentlemen:

My name is Xiong Wei, and I am from China. I studied in Germany from 1992 to 1999 and worked for a German company in 2000. Because of my work, I went back to China in August 2000. After I started to practise Falun Gong in Germany in 1996, my long-term illnesses such as headaches, insomnia, sciatica and heart disease gradually disappeared. I also broke free from symptoms of nervous stress and began a more lighthearted and balanced life.

After July 1999, when the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) started to persecute Falun Gong based on fabricated lies, I used my personal experience to tell others about the real situation of Falun Gong. But I was sent to a forced labour camp from January 5th, 2002, to January 4th, 2004. On February 13th, 2004, in its report submitted to the UN Human Rights Commission, the Chinese government claimed that they had tried to "transform" me through "education and applied no mistreatment or physical punishment." Their forced labour camp management is "legal, civilised and scientific," proof that the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners simply didn't happen. Today, April 7th, 2005, in the United Nations, I would like to tell the whole world in person that those claims are all lies!

They claimed that they tried to "transform me through education," so let me tell you how this was done. In the detention centre, the police forced me into a military squat position. Any tiny movement of mine would prompt a beating. They deprived me of sleep and tried to brainwash me with lies day and night. Even during my menstrual period, they denied me access to water, a restroom and hygienic products. When blood soaked my pants, they would use the opportunity to humiliate me. In the meantime, the police ordered five prisoners to surround me in a very small room and to kick and punch me. The police also beat me. They threatened to chop off my fingers one by one and burn me with boiling water. In the forced labour camp, the police guards forced all incoming Falun Gong practitioners to do several hundred squats and push-ups. A month later, none of us could walk normally. Our arms were so painful that we couldn't even hold our rice bowls at mealtime, especially in the first two weeks. Our leg muscles were so stressed that it was almost impossible for us to squat and get up when using the toilet. Every day in the labour camp, a person was specifically assigned to watch me, even following me to the restroom. If I got a glimpse of the sky or said a word, I would be verbally abused. Because I like to smile, I can't remember how many times I was abused as a result.

Almost all the police I met verbally attacked or physically punished Falun Gong practitioners at will. They shouted at us all day long and would push practitioners outside to stand still for long hours if they felt like depriving someone of sleep. Could this kind of conduct be called "legal and civilised management" as stated in the Chinese government report?

Usually we had to start work at 6 a.m. and worked until midnight or 1 a.m., but sometimes we were allowed no sleep at all the whole night. We were forced to pack chopsticks and weave sweaters continuously, every day, for more than 12 hours and even up to 18 hours at a stretch. At the dispatch centre, we were only allowed to drink water twice each day, once in the morning and once in the afternoon, and only two mouthfuls each time. In the labour camp, we were given only one cup of water every day. In my two years' stay, there was always sand and sometimes worms in my meals. Everyday I was made to carry chopsticks and harvest vegetables that weighed a total of 600-700 pounds and even more than 1,000 pounds. They deliberately denied our access to a toilet for long periods of time. When a lady in her 60's had to urinate in her pants, the police even demanded that she acknowledge that she had broken the rules. Let me ask you, "Is this kind of management 'scientific' according to their claims?"

What law has the CCP abided by in its treatment of Falun Gong practitioners? All they have done is to cover up the brutal persecution of 100 million people by relying on shameless lies. On the morning of November 27th, 2003, a dozen foreigners visited the No. 3 Division of the Beijing Women's Forced Labour Camp where I was being held. Two weeks before they came, we were forced to clean up again and again, and various levels of officials came to inspect. Two big pot plants were put in the hall, and snow-white knitted curtains were hung up on the glass door of each class. They hid away all the weaving yarn and told us to play poker instead. Tofu was added to our meal at lunch as well. I said to the police on the spot, "This is the first time you have given us tofu this year!" After the foreigners left the next day, we were again driven to work starting at 6 a.m. and not allowed to say a single word. In the morning, they took the curtains away, and in the afternoon, the pot plants were removed. I have personally seen the whole process from beginning to end.

The police told my family that they only tried to transform me through a so-called "spring wind and rain"-like education. However, when I was released two years later, my weight had dropped to 14 kg and my hair had fallen out. There were wrinkles all over my face, and the calluses on my feet were as thick as shoe soles. Could we call this inhumane torture a "spring wind and rain"-like education, described as such only to deceive the general public and the international community? It is truly the behaviour of a scoundrel government.

The Chinese Communist Party controls every corner of China through statewide violence and relentless propaganda. They have a set plan of operation affecting every facet of the society, from top to bottom. Taking 1.3 billion people as hostages, we can say that the CCP is the largest evil cult in human history and that it truly carries out state terrorism. In Europe, the CCP has even plotted to press Eutelsat to terminate its contract renewal with New Tang Dynasty TV, a TV station that dares to report the CCP's human rights violations. The CCP also illegally detained U.S. citizen Charles Li. In the face of all these crimes, the CCP not only has tried hard to cover them up with fabricated lies but has also played its "economic card," on the one hand using money to buy out the Third World countries that are the majority on the UN Human Rights Committee, while on the other hand using its potentially huge domestic market as a chip to threaten Western democratic countries that dare to openly condemn its human rights violations. Without international pressure, the CCP dares to do anything inside China, however terrible!

Because of the relentless and inhumane torture in police custody, I could no longer stand the suffering, and I was forced to write a Guarantee Statement, promising, against my will, not to practise Falun Gong again. The CCP used it as evidence that I "pleaded guilty." However, in front of police officers at all levels in the dispatch centre and forced labour camp, I proclaimed many times the benefits I received physically and mentally after practising Falun Gong; I explained that Falun Gong poses no harm and is good for any society and country; and I told of many cases of police physically abusing and torturing practitioners at will, knowingly breaking the law while entrusted with enforcing it. There were records of the many occasions on which I spoke out. Why did the Chinese government dare not mention even one of those occasions? When I was suffering in the labour camp, I swore in my heart, "If I have only one breath, I will expose this crime and the lies of the CCP to the whole world."

The CCP thinks that it can use force to prevent people from returning to their kind natures. That is misguided and unreasonable. The more rampant the persecution is, the more deeply I appreciate the wonderfulness of Falun Gong and the teaching of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance!