Falun Gong Practitioners in Inner Mongolia Subjected to Intense Persecution (Part 1)

In Balinzuoqi, Chifeng City, Inner Mongolia, there were more than 2,000 Falun Gong practitioners before the persecution started in 1999. Since July 20th, 1999, the government in Balinzuoqi has colluded with the judicial, legal, and Procuratorate systems, schools and businesses to suppress practitioners.

In the eight years of persecution, four practitioners died, including Zhang Fenglan, one practitioner was sentenced unlawfully, 15 practitioners were taken to a forced labour camp, 29 practitioners were detained, eight practitioners were taken to the Chifeng Brainwashing Centre, and more than 30 practitioners were arrested and interrogated. Many practitioners were fined, threatened, their houses searched, and their cash and personal property were confiscated.

1. Practitioner Ms. Zhang Fenglan from Balinzuoqi died due to relentless persecution

Ms. Zhang Fenglan, 54, had serious bronchitis and heart disease. The diseases disappeared after Ms. Zhang started practising Falun Gong in 1998. After the persecution started Zuoqi 610 Office agent Jiang Shanhai and staff from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Street Office started to harass Ms. Zhang and searched her home. In 2001, Cui Fengguo, from the Zuoqi Police Station, and officer Wang Zhicun arrested Ms. Zhang and extorted 3,000 yuan² from her. There wasn't any paperwork or receipts given. In October 2003, staff from the 610 Office and people from Lindong Town tried to force Zhang Fenglan to write a statement renouncing Falun Gong and they put her in the Chifeng City Brainwashing Centre. In 2004, agents from the police station and Lindong Town hall often went to Ms. Zhang's house or called her to harass her and tried to force her to renounce Falun Gong. Due to the constant harassment, she couldn't live a normal life. On May 19th, 2007, Zhang Rongshan, deputy director of the Zuoqi 610 Office, and people from the Zuoqi Education Bureau called Ms. Zhang's husband and threatened him. Ms. Zhang was so distressed that her heart disease came back and she died on May 29th, 2007.

2. Practitioner Ms. Duan Xueqin from BalinZuoqi was many times sentenced and sent to a forced labour camp

Ms. Duan Xueqin previously had intestinal disease, cholecystitis, gastritis, heart problems, and liver disease. She started practising Falun Gong in 1998. Initially she could only study the teachings of Falun Dafa while on her bed. Her first impression about the book was that she wanted to practise and let the principles of Dafa, "Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance" cleanse her. Ms. Duan's diseases disappeared a month after she started her practice. She could take care of her family and never needed any medications. Her family's financial situation improved and all her family members started practising Falun Gong.

On January 28th, 2000, Ms. Duan went to a park to do the Falun Gong exercises and was arrested and detained for 15 days. On June 13th, 2001, when Duan Xueqin and her husband left home for work, Chi Jianxue and officer Liu Zhijun searched their home. They confiscated all the Dafa books. Ms. Duan's daughter was home and she told Chi and Liu that Falun Dafa was good and it cured her mother's illnesses. Chi slapped Ms. Duan's daughter. A few days later, when Ms. Duan got home after work, Chi, Liu, and Bai Xiuzhen took Duan Xueqin and her daughter away. Her daughter was detained for 15 days. Ms. Duan was sentenced to three years and taken to the Tumuji Women's Forced Labour Camp in Xinganmeng. The guards would not let her do the exercises at the camp. As a result, her health deteriorated and the camp thus sent her home.

In September 2002, Duan Xueqin went to her oldest daughter's home to help out. The police arrested her husband and detained him in the police station for two days. They threatened and pointed a gun at Ms. Duan's second daughter. Her daughter was so traumatised that she developed a heart problem. The police forced Ms. Duan to go home and kept her under surveillance. On October 14th, 2002, Qi Bolin and others broke into Duan Xueqin's home, telling her she needed to go with them, but Ms. Duan was able to escape. At midnight, dozens of people went to her home and her relatives' residences and searched their houses inside out. These people arrested Ms. Duan's son and took him to the police station. They started to slap him around, trying to force him to renounce Falun Gong. On December 27th, Duan Xueqin went home. Her husband couldn't stand the ongoing harassment and pressure of the persecution. He forced Ms. Duan to leave home.

On January 11th, 2003, police from the Chifeng City National Security arrested Duan Xueqin in Chifeng City. Several policemen beat her about the head and later handcuffed her with practitioners Ms. Zhou Caixia (who later died due to persecution), Ms. Zhang Lanfeng (who also died due to persecution), and Ms. Tian Sufang. The four practitioners were taken to the Chifeng City Detention Centre. Ms. Duan refused to cooperate with the interrogation and the police tortured her and broke her right shoulder and left leg.

Duan Xueqin went on a hunger strike to protest the persecution. The prisoners, instigated by the guards, tried to pry open her mouth and cracked her teeth with a pair of pliers. A guard with last name Jiang forced Ms. Duan to eat a large quantity of highly salted noodles. Ms. Duan began to vomit blood. Eighteen days later, her life was in danger. The detention centre ordered Ms. Duan's family to pick her up. A month later, officers from Chifeng City took her to the Hongshan District Detention Centre. On her way there, Duan Xueqin was still vomiting blood.

In the detention centre, female guard Deng Liyan instigated two male prisoners to force feed Ms. Duan. They shocked her with electric batons. Afterward, they took Ms. Duan to a hospital and inserted a feeding tube into her oesophagus. Every time the prisoners roughly inserted the plastic tube inside Ms. Duan, it caused her to vomit more and more blood. The guards tied her on a "dead man's bed³" and denied her use of the toilet. Ms. Duan developed muscle atrophy due to lack of movement over a long period of time. Wang Xiaodan, Liu Shujie and Chen (first name unknown) verbally abused Ms. Duan, spat on her face, hit her shoulders with hard objects, stripped her to humiliate her, and hit her on the chest. They tortured her every day. Liu and Wang forbade Ms. Duan from opening her eyes. After a while, because Duan Xueqin couldn't turn on the dead man's bed, her saliva and tears had glued her lips and eyes shut. Deng Lihua ignored Ms. Duan when she needed to use the toilet. Two weeks later, the guards let her use a toilet with handcuffs on. Deng had Liu and Wang take Ms. Duan to a toilet. Liu and Wang poked their fingernails deep into her skin when taking her there. Ms. Duan couldn't have a bowel movement because she had become terribly constipated after such a long time without being allowed to use the toilet. Without waiting for Ms. Duan to relieve herself normally, Liu and Wang took her back to her cell immediately. Ms. Duan was barely alive at the time. The guards took her to a hospital and found that she had internal bleeding. They threatened the family, trying to force them to pay 3,000 yuan before they could take Ms. Duan home. Although her family didn't have the money, the guards let Ms. Duan go because they didn't want to be held responsible if she died at the detention centre.

Between 2003 and 2005, Zhang Rongshan and Fu Xiuyun from the Zuoqi 610 Office continually harassed Ms. Duan Xueqin. On October 17th, 2003, her father-in-law passed away. At the funeral, the Zuoqi Police Station and the Public Security Bureau arrested her and took her to the Daban Detention Centre. The guards there brutally beat Ms. Duan. Wang Haishen from the Chifeng City Detention Centre and officer Deng Liyan then took Ms. Duan to the Inner Mongolia First Women's Prison and started torturing her. Ms. Duan went on a hunger strike in protest. The mental pressure and physical torture almost killed Ms. Duan. She couldn't sleep because of the pain and fear. She suffers every day due to the persecution.

Those who aggressively participate in the persecution include Wang Qige, Huang Jingxiang, Cui Fengguo, Tu Buxin, Bai Xiuzhen, Na Shun, Du Yi, Tang Guozhi, Zhu Zijie, Zhang Rongshan, Fu Xiuyun, and Zhang Yuzhen. They are affiliated with the Public Safety system, Zuoqi 610 Office, and a detention centre.

To be continued

Note

1. "The 610 office" is an agency specifically created to persecute Falun Gong, with absolute power over each level of administration in the Party and all other political and judiciary systems.

2. "Yuan" is the Chinese currency; 500 yuan is equal to the average monthly income of an urban worker in China.

3. "Death Bed" torture: A practitioner is tied to a bed with his hands handcuffed above his head to the bed rails, and his legs tied with thin nylon ropes. The rope is then tightly wrapped around the practitioner's body and the bed, from his legs to his chest. The rope is wrapped so tightly that the practitioner has difficulty breathing and eventually loses consciousness.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2007/5/23/155418.html