My name is Li Qiuhong. I used to go by the name Li Xuehong. I am 37 years old and a resident of Beimozhuang Village, Jiuzhai County, Mengyin County. On the morning of April 7th, 2008, my husband, Xu Zhidong, who used to be called Xu Jie, was arrested. I was also cruelly tortured by police officers from Mengyin and Yinan County. I was released after being detained for a month and had 3,000 yuan1 extorted from me. My husband is now being detained in a forced labour camp.
On the morning of April 7th, when my husband and I were working in the apple orchard, we heard our dog barking, so my husband returned home to see what was going on. After a short while, I heard him scream, so I quickly ran home. When I got there, I saw two police vehicles on the roadside. The head of the Jiuzhai Police Station, Wang Zhen'an, was ordering other officers to drag my husband into a vehicle. I walked up to them and tried to stop them but one of them said, "Arrest her!" A few police officers surrounded me and forced my hands behind my back. As they were dragging me away, my shoes fell off. I asked to let me put them on but they ignored me. They pushed me into their vehicle and put my shoes on the back seat. My hands were tied up with rope, but two young police officers still continued to twist my arms. When I shouted, "Falun Gong is good," one officer swore at me and said, "If you shout that again, we'll put a rag in your mouth."
I was taken to Jiuzhaixiang Police Station. I saw my husband handcuffed to a tree in the station courtyard. As soon as I exited the vehicle, I was handcuffed and taken to an office. Wang Weiru of the 610 Office2 grabbed me by my hair and shoved me to the ground. I landed on my back, face up. When I stood up, he pushed me to the ground again; I stood up again. This happened back and forth several times. Eventually I decided to sit on the ground in the meditation position. Wang Wei kicked me to make me put my legs down, so I had to put up my legs up again. He then stepped on both my legs and yelled, "I don't believe I can't handle you!"
I was later put in solitary confinement to be interrogated. I did not cooperate with them. The whole time I talked about the wonderfulness of Falun Gong and how I benefited from Falun Gong after I began practising. Since their interrogation was futile, they ordered me to sign a document and leave my fingerprints. When I refused, one person said, "Let it be."
At about 3 p.m. on April 7th, the police took me out of the cell, but I couldn't find my husband. I didn't find out until later that he was detained in the Mengyin County Detention Centre. The police officers told me to get in their vehicle and I asked where we were going. They replied, "We will take you home." However, they was heading south after they left the station, and I realized that they were going in a different direction than that of my own home. I asked, "Didn't you say you were taking me home? Where are we going now?" The police officer laughed wildly, "Going home? Just wait! Let's see what happens after you stay there for a month." After they took me for a medical exam at Qinan Hospital, they took me to the Qinan County Detention Centre.
On April 8th, the warden told me to put on a prison uniform and go to work. I said to him, "I am not a criminal, so I shouldn't have to wear that or do any forced labour." The warden replied, "It doesn't matter what you want. Everyone has to wear it, and everyone has to work, no exceptions, including even the Premier of the province. If you refuse to wear the uniform, you will be beaten and forced to wear handcuffs and shackles." Still, I refused to wear the uniform for two days.
On the fourth day, the warden came to talk to me again. Xue Xiujuan, who is in charge of the women's prison wards came as well. She also happens to be the political instructor for the detention centre. Her brother is the chief of the police bureau, so she can be very reckless. She knew that I had refused to wear the uniform or do the forced labour. She shouted at me, "Put on your uniform and do the work! Why don't you wear the uniform?!" I replied, "I didn't commit any crime, nor I am a criminal, so why do I have to wear the uniform?"
She was very angry and said, "Take her out and put her in handcuffs and shackles." She ordered the others to drag me to her office and she told me to squat down. I refused and she shouted, "We'll see now!" She hit me with a rubber police baton. When she saw that I did not give in, she told a few criminal inmates to grab my arms and force me into a uniform as well as handcuffs and shackles. They didn't take the shackles off until May 6th as I was leaving to go home.
From Qinan Detention Centre I was transferred to Jiuzhai Police Station. The head of Jiuzhai Police Station, Wang Zhenan, told me that they had fined my family 3,000 yuan. He also told me that he would take me to a brainwashing centre.
After I got home, I found that it had been ransacked, and my two TVs, one VCD player, and one mobile phone had been confiscated. After my husband and I were arrested, Wang Zhian, the head of Jiuzhai Police Station, teamed up with the 610 Office personnel to go to my home twice to ransack it when none of us was at home. During the time I was detained in Qinan Detention Centre, my family came to visit me, but the police officers refused to let them see me.
On May 3rd, my husband was taken to Wangcun Forced Labour Camp for one year. His parents grieved that their son was being held in a labour camp, and one could see that they looked much older due to the stress as time went on. Our life has been seriously disrupted since my husband has been held in a forced labour camp. My eight-year-old son misses his father, and since we believe in Falun Gong, my husband and I have been suffering from this persecution. We hope that everyone with a sense of justice will offer support to end this persecution which should not have happened in the first place!
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://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2008/5/28/179300.html
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