Help Needed to Rescue Practitioner Mr. Tang Yi in Chongqing City

Mr. Tang Yi, 45, is a Falun Gong practitioner in Chongqing City who previously worked as an engineer in the 5th Engineering Section of the 11th China Railway Bureau. His mother, 69, who came from the countryside, has depended on Mr. Tang's support, since she does not have an income.

In October 2000, Mr. Tang and several practitioners went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong, but the police arrested them on a train and took them back to Chongqing. Mr. Tang was detained for 15 days, during which time his work unit dismissed him. Prior to that, his work unit also cancelled Mr. Tang's promotion to a high-level engineer, which was previously approved. In order to support himself and his family, he had no choice but to leave home and work at a temporary hourly job.

Mr. Tang went back to Chongqing City and was arrested by police while eating in a restaurant in May 2001. He was sentenced to three years of forced labour and was brutally tortured in the Chongqing City Xishanping Forced Labour Camp. He was repeatedly beaten and cruelly tortured by prison guards and prisoners who were assigned to monitor him, and he was continuously put in a small cell in solitary confinement. He became disabled from the brutal torture, and developed pneumothorax, tuberculosis, chest abscess, and bone tuberculosis. In 2003 he became incapacitated and incontinent, and depended on the assistance of others. Nevertheless, the forced labour camp would not release him. After his mother visited many government officials to request her son's release, Mr. Tang was finally allowed to be released on probation for medical treatment. Mr. Tang's health improved and he no longer faced death after his mother spent two years taking care of him at home.

Mr. Tang went to work in Guiyang City, Guizhou Province. On May 2nd, 2008, he was intercepted by police while taking a train from Guiyang back to Chongqing. The police searched his bag and found a Falun Gong book, a notebook computer, four CD's, and about six hundred yuan¹ in cash. As a result, he was taken to the Hangzhou City Railway Police Station.

On May 20th, 2008, the police station in Hangzhou City sent three police officers, Pang, Zhao, and Wu, to Chongqing City. Officers from Mr. Tang's local police station, the Xinqiao Police Station, and another officer from the Shapingba District 610 Office², Gong Wang, forced Mr. Tang's mother to lead them to her home. They ransacked her home and took pictures, yet they couldn't find anything they were looking for. The officers from Hangzhou City opted not to penalize Mr. Tang due to insufficient evidence, and ordered the Xinqiao Police Station to take Mr. Tang back to Chongqing City. On May 28th, 2008 officers Qu Lichang and He Huizhen, and Luo Suyu from the Xinqiao Police Station, took Mr. Tang from Hangzhou back to Chongqing.

The Xinqiao Police Station, Shapingba District 610 Office, Chongqing City Forced Labour Committee, and the 610 Office sent Mr. Tang directly to the Baihelin Detention Centre in the Shapingba District. On June 5th, 2008 they transferred him to serve two years of forced labour in the 2nd Team of the 7th Ward in the Xishanping Forced Labour Camp in Chongqing City. Afterwards, Ou Lichang and others set up Mr. Tang by telling him that they wished to withdraw from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and when Mr. Tang offered to help them quit, they used it as an excuse to send Mr. Tang to a forced labour camp.

Mr. Tang started a hunger strike on May 2nd, 2008, and refused to wear a name tag, a prison uniform, or undergo force feeding through a tube. He had already been brutally persecuted for a long time before, and became extremely weak and emaciated, with his weight dropping from 175 lbs. to about 110 lbs. He couldn't lift his right arm due to tuberculosis of the bone on his right arm, which constantly oozed and bled. His body was completely disfigured, and he looked awful. He was weak and could no longer take care of himself. He needed assistance to walk.

On August 4th, 2008, one of Mr. Tang's teeth suddenly fell out. Yet two prisoners were still sent to monitor and follow Mr. Tang around the clock. Prison guard Hu even told Mr. Tang viciously, "We are not afraid to let your mother come and visit you. She won't be able to see you later, as she will only come here to collect your ashes."

They have been force-feeding Mr. Tang through a tube. Chongqing practitioner Mr. Zhang Jieping died from being brutally force-fed through a tube. Thus far Mr. Tang has been on a hunger strike for six months, which has caused him to pass out repeatedly, and his health has gradually deteriorated. This has saddened his mother very much. Her son is willing to eat home-made food, yet the forced labour camp will not allow her to bring food to him, as when she does, they will not allow it to be given to him. Mr. Tang's mother strongly protests the persecution against her son and requests that he be released unconditionally. She hopes that kind-hearted people inside and outside of China will help to uphold justice and rescue her son as soon as possible.

Persons responsible:

Baihelin Detention Centre in Shapingba District, Chongqing City
Telephone: 86-23-65313586
Pan, chief
Wang Jian, deputy chief
Dai, prison doctor

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/2008/10/14/187704.html