A Practitioner from Holland: "Beijing National Security Police Unjustly Interrogated Me"

I work for a famous Dutch travel agency as a tour leader and have guided tourists in China for 18 years. In the second half of April 2009, while leading a tour group in China, I was arrested and interrogated by officers with Beijing's National Security force.

Around lunchtime on May 11th, after I took a tourist group to the airport, I went back to my hotel. At about 3 p.m., someone knocked on my door. It was hotel security. They told me that the police wanted to ask me some questions. I tried to close the door immediately, but they pushed their way in and arrested me.

They put me into a black Audi sedan and took me to a room on the 4th floor of another hotel.

They let me sit on a chair. I told them that I was a citizen of Holland, that what they were dong was illegal, and that I wanted to call my Embassy. They said that they had a right to detain me for 72 hours. I said that I wanted a lawyer. They disagreed and said, "We just want to chat with you."

There were five of them, four males and a woman. One man was about 50 years old and said his last name was Liu. Another policeman about 40 years old was with Beijing National Security. A policeman about 30 years old wore a police uniform but did not wear a police hat. A young policeman about 20 to 30 years old said that he had just graduated from college. The policewoman was about 30 years old.

They said that someone had reported me and asked me to tell them what crimes I had committed in China. I told them that I did not do anything against the law. Freedom of religion and speech were basic rights of all the citizens, as defined in the Chinese Constitution. I told Chinese people the truth about the practice of Falun Gong overseas. I did not break any laws.

They claimed that they knew everything about me, including my relationships with my brother and sister, and the things that I brought to them whenever I came to China.

I did not feel scared. I thought that I clearly understood their intentions. Seeing that their trick did not work, they changed their strategy by harassing me and said that I would not be allowed to work in China. I did not tell them the things that they wanted to know. They claimed that I did not respect or cherish my current job. I said to them, "I have always cherished my job and have worked for the same company for 18 years. I am the main person for Chinese tourism and the only Chinese tour leader. If I cannot come back to China to work, it's solely because of your persecution."

They had no reply to that and tried to change the subject. They asked, "When did you start to practise Falun Gong?" I took the chance to tell them how I learned the practice, my cultivation experiences, and how I benefit from cultivating Truthfulness-Comparison-Forbearance and being a good person. They understood my role in my family, job, and society. They could not find any excuse to defame Falun Gong from what I said or did.

In order to shake my firm belief in Falun Gong, they continuously injected comments, such as, "Falun Gong is an evil cult." and "the insider information of Falun Gong." However, I told them the truth about Falun Gong based on my understanding. When they realized that their nonsense was getting them nowhere, they would change to another topic. They asked me about the current situation of Falun Gong outside of China, such as, "How many practitioners are currently in Holland?" and "What are their jobs?" I replied that I did not know how many practitioners were there, since there are no membership lists. Everyone is free to come and leave. Then they asked, "Who frequently hangs out with you?" I said, "I won't tell you. I don't want you guys to harass or persecute them." They replied, "Who is persecuting you? Have you seen anyone?" I answered, "You are, right now."

They pressed me to tell them to whom, when, and where I explained the facts about Falun Gong and what I said. They tried to force me to agree that my behaviour was against the law. I did not respond. However, I considered that I had to guide another tourist group in the afternoon the next day, and my company and customers would be inconvenienced if they kept detaining me. Because of this concern, I signed a "guarantee" that I would not attend any Falun Gong activities in China. However, I stated that Falun Gong is not a cult and that I did not break any of China's laws. Later I regretted signing the letter. Now I assert that my letter is invalid.

After non stop interrogation for 15 hours, they sent me back to my hotel around 7 a.m. the next morning.

On May 21st, while I was with the second tourist group, some suspicious people were following us. I thought that they would come to get me again. In order not to give them a chance, I moved into the same room as my colleague.

After finishing the tour for the day, a member of my group escorted me to my colleague's room around 10:15 p.m. After about 15 minutes, someone knocked on the door. My room-mate asked who it was. He said the he was with the hotel staff and wanted to check if there was a problem with the toilet. He was sent away. After a minute, someone was knocking on the door again. They claimed that they were policemen looking to find me. Three out of the five were the ones that had arrested me in Beijing. They arrested me again.

This time, they took me to a room in another hotel. They had three clear demands: 1. Tell them what I did and what I said. 2. I had to agree that my behaviour was against the law. 3. I had to write down everything on a piece of paper.

I did not comply with any of their demands. They asked about my brother and one of my closest friends coming from Beijing to Shanghai. They tried to move me with emotion, but it was useless. After they saw that their threats against my brother and my friend could not move me, they asked to talk to me privately.

I still did not agree with their demands. I told them that I was a woman and couldn't harm them. I asked them why they so afraid of me. I was only a Falun Gong practitioner. Why were they so afraid of Falun Gong? They did not know how to answer my question. They said some ridiculous things like, "We are afraid of you immolating yourself." They warned me not to do anything over their limits, since Expo 2010 would be held in Shanghai. Obviously, they are extremely afraid of Falun Gong practitioners.

After interrogating me for six hours, they still did not get what they wanted. Because I had to guide the tour group, they released me around 5 a.m. the next morning.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.ca/mh/articles/2009/6/17/202901.html