Freedom of belief is one of the basic human rights recognised around the world. The Chinese Constitution, item No 36, clearly stipulates that Chinese people are granted freedom of belief. What one wants to believe in should be the decision of the individual. Inclusion in the Constitution should protect such a right. As we all know, laws can control people's behaviour, but cannot inflict a penalty for one's thoughts. Thus, the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) persecution of Falun Gong has been illegal from its inception.
During the nearly eight years of the persecution, thousands upon thousands of Falun Gong practitioners have been persecuted without being able to appeal for their rights. There is no justice in China. Today, the day when the international human rights conference is being held, I'm calling on the world's people to help my husband, Yang Jianpo, who has been tortured and who has been on a hunger strike for more than 400 days at Hebei Jidong Prison. He is now in critical condition and on life support. I'm calling on International Human Rights organisations and all kind people in this world, "Please help to rescue my husband and all Falun Gong practitioners who are suffering torture at the hands of the CCP's minions. Please join us in condemning the severe human rights violations and atrocities committed by CCP officials.
My husband, Yang Jianpo, 45, owns a business and lives in Langfang City, Hebei Province. He began to practise Falun Dafa in 1998. Before that he fought with people and had been three times detained for fighting with others. After practising Falun Dafa, he understood the true meaning of life and he completely changed. He changed his behaviour and began a new life.
On July 20th 1999, Jiang's gang banned Falun Gong. We were puzzled and went to Beijing to appeal on September 5th, 1999.
My husband and I were arrested on October 28th, 1999. My husband was detained for 53 days and then sentenced to three years of forced labour. He was taken to Langfang Wanzhuang Forced Labour Camp. Because he refused to give up his belief, he was taken to Gaoyang Forced Labour Camp in Hebei Province.
He was tortured in various ways in these places. During the 53 days in the detention centre, he was in handcuffs and could not go to the toilet by himself. He was tortured even more cruelly after he went on a hunger strike. In Wanzhuang Forced Labour Camp, he was forced into heavy labour and worked 20 hours daily. He was beaten with wooden sticks. In Gaoyang Forced Labour Camp, he was handcuffed to an iron ring on the ground outdoors. He suffered blazing sunlight during the day and mosquito bites at night. The guards inserted an electric baton into his mouth to shock him. They did not release him after he had served his sentence. He went on a hunger strike for 60 days. Eventually, he was released, but not before he was at death's door. After his release, he was arrested another two times, simply because he told others how he was tortured and mistreated.
On the evening of March 30th, 2003, police arrested him in Tangshan city, Hebei province. He was taken to Fengrun District Police Station, Branch 1. Police confiscated his belongings, including 6,000 yuan1 in cash. They tied him to a chair and shocked him repeatedly with a 110V hand-crank telephone. They tortured him for three days and deprived him of sleep. After three days, he was taken to the Fengrun District Detention Centre. Director Wu told police to beat him until his buttocks were covered with blood. He was released after 38 days, but not before he was near death.
On the afternoon of February 2004, police from Guangyang District Police Department of Langfang City broke into our home and arrested him again. They took him to Tangshan Kaiping Forced Labour Camp that day. After arriving at the labour camp, he again went on a hunger strike. His body weight dropped from 90kg to 50 kg. When he was released he weighed only 40 kg.
After Jianpo's mother heard that her son was arrested she felt deep mental pain. She could not eat or sleep. During the past several years, my husband and I were arrested again and again. Both of our elderly parents constantly worried and felt deep panic. My father, 74 at the time, often sits up at night and cries. He developed a stroke and had to stay at a hospital for more than a year. Then he passed away. Our parents took care of our children.
During the past several years, I was detained 18 times. Every time I was released after hunger strikes and when I was in serious health condition. Each time I had to be carried through the prison doors. I was very weak and I could not work. Our family of four had to live on our parents, brothers and sisters' support. Once, the police confiscated more than 20,000 yuan, the tuition for our children's school we had received from relatives and family members.
From 1999 to 2006, local police confiscated our cash, personal property and vehicles worth more than 80,000 yuan. In addition, on February 20th, 2004, Guangyang District police arrested my husband at home and stole goods worth more than 30,000 yuan from our family food store. They broke into our safe and took everything they could lay their hands on (I don't remember what was in it, as we hadn't been at home for several years). My husband was taken to a forced labour camp. Our family store had to close. We lost more than 10,000 yuan.
With help from relatives, we took out a loan and bought a van for transporting goods. The loan came to 110,000 yuan. We decided to sell our house in April 2005, so we could pay off the loan. But our identification cards were confiscated by Langfang City Guangyang District police and they refused to give them back. We had to apply for new identification cards. But before we received the new cards from the police station, Guangyang Public Security confiscated them. We were unable to sell the house without legal papers and our family had suffered another loss.
At the end of November 2005, my husband was transporting fruits to Inner Mongolia. In Inner Mongolia he was detained by Zhanglanqi Habaga police for three days because he informed people about the true nature of Falun Dafa to others. This cost more than 7,000 yuan.
On February 5th, 2006, my husband Yang Jianpo was arrested once again when he reported to local officials Mr. Wang Shaoqiu's family economic problems. Mr. Wang was detained. My husband has been on hunger strike from the first day of his detention. He was protesting the human rights violation committed by police. Four months later, when he was extremely weak, Langfang local officials secretly handed down a six year sentence without due process. He was detained at Tangshan Jidong Prison. At that time our family was running a clothing business. Because of the arrest of my husband, our family suffered more than 10,000 yuan in losses.
On May 28th, 2006, we received a notice from the central hospital of Jidong Prison, Team No. 4, Fengnan District, Tangshan. At that time, Langfang City Hospital, Central Hospital, and Guangyang District Hospital had issued several critically ill notices. My husband could not take care of himself. Under existing law, critically ill inmates have to be released from prison. But they did not obey the law and imprisoned him anyway.
In June when we visited him in prison, he was brought out by inmates in a cart. His eyes were unfocused and he could barely talk. He was skin and bones. His hands and feet were cold and he was extremely pale. He also felt chest pain.
We were very worried. His elderly parents could not sleep those days. On November 30th, 2006, I went with my nephew and brother in law to Jidong Prison and we asked to visit him. They refused, claiming that I did not have a proper identification card and my relatives were not direct family members. We asked how my husband was doing. Li Zhengyun, the political commissar of the hospital, dodged the question and said, "Same thing." Other officials tried to avoid us, and they even called local police to take us away.
I went with our children to Jidong Hospital more than ten times and asked for my husband's release. They neither released him, nor would they let us see him. Whenever we asked about his condition, they responded, "Very well," and "We will notify you if anything goes wrong." Before the new year 2007, police rushed to our home and asked me to sign some document for "release on bail for medical treatment." May be they thought he was near death. They said they would bring him in a few days. But, he was not released. After the Chinese new year, on February 27th, I took two children with me and we went to Jidong Prison and requested a visit, which they denied. I asked why they had not brought him home as promised. Hao Baoxin, the leader of Team No. 4 said that Yang Jianpo was indeed in critical condition before the new year. But then doctors treated him and he was all right. They asked me to go home. Actually, he was lying. We heard that my husband is now on life-support. He could not live if the oxygen pipe is removed. But they did not care.
My husband Yang Jianpo is not a criminal. Telling the truth is not a crime. I'm revealing the crimes the Langfang police have committed to all international human rights organisations and groups, and to the world's people. I'm calling on all the world's people to help my husband and all Falun Dafa practitioners who are illegally detained be released. We are extremely worried about their well-being, especially since we learned that the CCP minions have been removing and selling organs from live practitioners.
The international human rights conference is being held now. I hope it will be able to protect human rights and improve the situation. By exposing the facts of the CCP's persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China, we hope the whole world will realise how evil the CCP really is, condemn the CCP's evil acts, uphold justice, and rescue practitioners who are being persecuted by the CCP's minions, including my husband Yang Jianpo, who has been on hunger strike for more than 400 days and is near death.
I hope all kind people in the world will unite and stop the CCP's evil acts. Please, bring an end to this persecution of people who believe Truth, Compassion and Forbearance. The persecution has been going on in China for close to eight years and it should be ended.
Note
1. "Yuan" is the Chinese currency; 500 yuan is equal to the average monthly income of an urban worker in China.
Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2007/3/25/151511.html
* * *
You are welcome to print and circulate all articles published on Clearharmony and their content, but please quote the source.