The Persecution of Two Sisters from Suizhou City, Hubei Province

There are two sisters, aged 63 and 57, from Suizhou City, Hubei Province. Both of them are Falun Gong practitioners.

In the spring of 1998, while they were running a small convenience shop that their relatives helped them to rent, the younger sister learned Falun Gong. She started to live by the principles of "Truthfulness, Benevolence, Tolerance." After she started practising, all of her illnesses were eventually gone. Seeing the physical and mental benefits gained by the younger sister, the elder sister also started cultivation in Falun Gong. Both of them became healthy and happy and their lives were full of hope.

However, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) led by then party leader Jiang Zemin and his henchmen launched a slanderous and brutal campaign of persecution against Falun Gong on July 20th, 1999. All of a sudden, a huge terror was created throughout China and thousands of practitioners were unlawfully arrested and imprisoned. Their homes were ransacked and Falun Gong books were destroyed. During the past nine years of persecution, the two sisters have been fined, imprisoned, beaten, and force-fed in detention many times.

On the morning of July 20th, 1999, the younger sister went to the place where she regularly practised the Falun Gong exercises. Police were waiting for her and took her to the Nanjiao Police Station in Suizhou City. They also took her tape recorder and the Falun Gong exercise tapes.

Around 4:00 p.m. on July 22nd, 1999, four policemen from the Xicheng Police Station in Suizhou City came to the sisters' shop and warned the younger sister not to practise Falun Gong any more. They also ordered her to turn in all her Falun Gong books and materials. From then on, on every holiday and on days of important CCP meetings, the police and supporting officials from the younger sister's village would harass her.

One day in May 2000, policeman Hu Anmin from the National Security Team stole a Falun Gong book from their shop.

On July 12th, 2000, the younger sister went to the Suizhou City Appeals Office to report the unjust treatment and harassment she had experienced. The official who received her case was surnamed Yi. Shortly after, police from the Suizhou City National Security Team came and arrested her. They imprisoned her at the Suizhou City Number Two Detention Centre for 35 days. Her family was extorted out of 1,500 yuan¹, supposedly in exchange for her not going to Beijing to make lawful appeals for justice and to pay for the cost of detaining her at the Detention Centre, which the officials referred to as a "room and board" expense. She was then released.

On August 26th, 2000, less than 10 days after she was released, Hu Anmin and another policeman arrested the younger sister again on the pretence that their shop was next to a copying shop. She was detained at the Number Two Detention Centre for 10 days. During these two arrests, the younger sister was strip-searched by policewoman Sun Cuiyun from the National Security Team, who was later introduced as an exemplary policewoman on television by Han Qihong of the Suizhou City Police Department and won the "Best Ten" police officer award in Suizhou City. The younger sister's family was forced to spend several thousand yuan to buy gifts for the police and one hundred fifty yuan for a so-called "room and board" expense before she was released.

At 9:00 p.m. on May 11th, 2001, four policemen from the Nanjiao Police Station came to the younger sister's home to arrest her again. Since her home was locked, the police started kicking the door and later used a hammer to smash the lock. Her neighbours came out to criticize the police. Director Jin of the police station arrived and forced her husband to open the door. The police rushed in and ransacked their house. They forcibly took the younger sister to the police station and detained her there for a day.

On the afternoon of September 26th, 2002, policemen Jie Yunzhi and Liu Guoqing from the National Security Team led another four policemen to ransack their shop again. They stole all the Falun Gong books and leaflets exposing the persecution. They took the younger sister to the Yan Emperor Hotel and handcuffed her to a chair for a day. Then they put her in the detention centre for nine days. After her arrest, the younger sister started a hunger strike to protest the unlawful detention. Six large policemen together restrained her arms and legs in order to force-feed her twice. The police also stole her wristwatch and 40 yuan.

Less than 10 days after she was released to go home on the morning of October 15th, 2002, the younger sister was called to the office of director Wang Lin of the Suizhou City 610 Office². She was arrested by the police from Nanjiao Police Station and taken to the Yan Emperor Hotel again. Policemen Jie Yunzhi, Liu Guoqing, and Liu Guoliang interrogated her.

She was detained at the Number Two Detention Centre for 37 days. Her village was forced to pay 2,000 yuan to the 610 Office as the fee for brainwashing her. The village sent a person to monitor her at the detention centre. She held a hunger strike to protest the persecution. The police took her to Suizhou City Number Two Hospital for force-feeding. They put a lot of salt in a rice soup and force-fed her. She felt extremely uncomfortable in her stomach and heart afterwards. The police brutally tortured her to force her to give up cultivation in Falun Gong. Later, they forced her family to sign a "guarantee statement" to stop practising before releasing her.

On the morning of January 10th, 2003, policeman He Anren from the National Security Team and director Jin of the Nanjiao Police Station led two other policemen to the younger sister's home. They arrested her by force. They also stole a Falun Gong book. She was sentenced to a year of forced labour. Policeman Li Jinbo from the National Security Team and policemen Shen and Wang from the local police station took her to the Wangyang Forced Labour Camp, but the forced labour camp refused to accept her because she failed the health exam.

On the morning of February 26th, 2004, Liu Guoqing and Li Jinbo led another four policemen to the sisters' store and arrested the elder sister. She lost consciousness when refusing to go into the police car. The police still dragged her into the car and stole 300 yuan from her pocket. She was detained at the detention centre for eight days.

On the morning of December 10th, 2006, Li Jinbo led another five policemen to the sisters' store. The policemen stole books and materials about Falun Gong.. They also stole the 800 yuan in cash that the sisters had saved for their next rent payment.

On the morning of November 14th, 2007, Zhong Wen from the 610 Office and policemen Li Jinbo and Liu Guoqing came to rob their shop again. They stole several books and address books with their relatives' phone numbers. They also stole the twenty-foot-long yellow cloth for covering the stock in the shop so it wouldn't get dirty.

On the morning of January 25th, 2008, policemen Li Jinbo and Liu Guoqing went to their shop again. They stole two MP3 players, two tape recorders, a six-foot-long piece of yellow cloth, and leaflets exposing the persecution, without keeping giving a receipt of making a record of any of the items stolen.

For the past nine years, in addition to the detention, extortion and robbery of the two sisters, their family members have also been threatened and harassed. The younger sister's son was denied admittance into the army, though he'd passed all the qualification exams.

To earn a living, the two sisters rented a room from the Suizhou City Construction Committee to open a convenience shop in the spring of 1993. The elder sister lived in the shop. However, according to an agreement between the 610 Office and every company in the area, the bonuses for the entire company's employees would be taken away if any Falun Gong practitioner from that company went to appeal on behalf of ending the persecution against Falun Gong. Therefore, since the younger sister was arrested by the police in September 2002 and, under pressure from the 610 Office, the Construction Committee terminated their contract with the sisters.

A few months later, some kind hearted people helped the elder sister to rent a house to live in. Later, the sisters ran into another kind person who was travelling out of town and wanted to have someone to watch her house. The landlord learned that the two sisters were Falun Gong practitioners and trustworthy, so she asked them to live in her house to watch it. However, two months later, the two sisters were forced to move out since the 610 Office threatened to shut down the home's water and electricity and to take away the landlord's social security payments.

The two sisters were thus persecuted by the CCP. They were frequently forced to move and robbed by the police, and their home was frequently ransacked. The people who witnessed and knew of their persecution were chilled: Why is it so difficult for someone to be a good person? Why is someone who retains her belief tortured like this?

Since the Communist Party has ordered the entire legal system in China not to defend Falun Gong, Falun Gong practitioners have had no recourse to appeal for justice in China. Therefore, we expose the persecution against the practitioners in China and ask all kind and just people to help stop the persecution against these good people!

Note

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

2. "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.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2008/2/24/173037.html