"If You Don't Give Us Your Names, We'll Throw You into a Concentration Camp Far from Here"

During the last two days of 1999, I went to Beijing for the third time by myself, to appeal for justice for Falun Gong. I was illegally arrested¹ at Tiananmen Square, as were some other practitioners. A bus took us for a one-hour drive to a jail in Hebei Province. That place was a hell on earth, where I endured inhumane torture. In the end, we were forced into handcuffs and taken to different police stations around Hebei Province. I and a few other Falun Gong practitioners were released on the second day. We had escaped from the lion's den and were extremely happy, but we didn't realise that this was part of their plot. When the car arrived at Sanhe City, a few police officers charged into the car and tried to force us to curse Falun Dafa and our Teacher. We refused to go along with them, and said that Falun Dafa is good. Therefore, two other Falun Gong practitioners and I were arrested again.

At that time there were many practitioners appealing in Beijing every day, more than the Beijing jails and forced labour camps could hold. Security at the Beijing Rail Station was extremely tight. Practitioners from all over the country had to get off the train a few stops before Beijing and then catch a bus or drive there. However, all the roads to Beijing were also blocked.

Sanhe City is a passageway to Beijing. Police were guarding this location. By the time I arrived, they had already arrested more than 100 Falun Gong practitioners from Sichuan City. Afterwards, more and more practitioners were arrested. On the last day of 1999, I was detained in a dark and damp garage with many female practitioners from Sichuan City. At the time, there were more than 100 male practitioners jailed at another location. A practitioner from Sichuan Province told me, "I came here before you did. Every day there are hundreds of practitioners being thrown in here, and later they will be taken away."

I saw that most practitioners were from Sichuan Province. Their outfits were very thin and plain. Some were even carrying baskets and they were very poor, but they were all steadfast and determined. Although the police beat them with electric batons, they refused to say where they were from. Later, I saw the officials from the Sichuan office in Beijing come and take all the Sichuan practitioners away. As far as I know, none of the Sichuan practitioners gave their names.

The Sanhe City police officers and people from the Sichuan office in Beijing told them, "If you don't reveal your names, we'll throw you into a concentration camp very far from here, where you will be detained and no one will know you." Later, I overheard them say, "There are concentration camps for detaining Falun Gong practitioners in Northeast China and near Xinjiang Province." I saw bus loads of Falun Gong practitioners who refused to give their names being taken away.

A few days ago I heard the reports exposing the fact that more than 6,000 Falun Gong practitioners were held at Sujiatun in Shenyang City, Liaoning Province. Personally, I believe these practitioners are mostly those who went to Beijing to appeal and those who refused to reveal their names. I suggest that all international human rights organisations focus their investigations on the Sanhe City Police Department in Hebei Province.

Note

1. Illegally arrested: Contrary to what former Chinese leader Jiang Zemin, who initiated the persecution, and the Chinese Communist Party would like the world to believe, practising Falun Gong is NOT illegal in China. Although the Public Security Department issued an unconstitutional set of restraints on the practice at the onset of the persecution in 1999, no laws have been passed by the only legislative body in China, the People's Congress, banning Falun Gong or granting the police the authority to arrest Falun Gong practitioners for practising the exercises or distributing flyers. For a more complete discussion of the illegality of the persecution of Falun Gong, please refer to the article "The Ban on Falun Gong—A Dictator's Whim, Not the Rule of Law". (Variation: "illegally sentenced")

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2006/3/16/122980.html