Ms. Han Jixiang from Linyi City Persecuted for More Than a Decade

Name: Han Jixiang
Gender: Female
Age: 48
Address: Jinqianguanzuang Village, Tanbu Township, Mengyin County, Linyi City, Shandong Province
Occupation: Farmer

Date of Most Recent Arrest: January 11th, 2010
Most recent place of detention: Police Station of Linyi City Long-Distance Bus Station
City: Linyi City
Province: Shandong Province
Persecution Suffered: Detention, extortion, beatings, sleep deprivation, brainwashing, food deprivation, interrogation.

At 11 a.m. on January 11th, 2010, Ms. Han Jixiang from Jinqianguanzuang Village, Tanbu Township, Mengyin County, Linyi City, Shandong Province, was arrested by officers from the Linyi City Long Distance Bus Station Police Station for carrying exposing the persecution of Falun Gong. She was then interrogated by officers from the National Security Division.

Ms. Han is 48 years old and a mother of three. In her village, people consider her to be a good person because she is kind and pure. For more than ten years, she has practised Falun Gong and followed the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance in handling everyday situations and in dealing with people.

Arrested Twice and Witnessed Police Brutality in Beijing while Appealing for Falun Gong

On July 20th, 1999, Ms. Han went to Beijing with local practitioners to appeal for justice for Falun Gong. She was arrested and ordered to be sent to an underground facility. During the transport, she managed to escape by jumping out of the bus. She then returned to Beijing, but was arrested again before reaching Tiananmen Square. At that point, police took her and a large number of other practitioners to a stadium, where tens of thousands of practitioners were already detained. All of them were surrounded by multiple layers of police officers.

Ms. Han witnessed the brutality of the police there. The officers madly beat anyone who did not obey their orders, including the elderly and the young practitioners. One elderly practitioner lost consciousness as a result of the beating. When her husband intervened to protect her, he was also beaten until he lost consciousness, and was then carried to a car. Some practitioners were pulled by their feet, with their backs on the ground. The skin on their backs and their clothing were torn.

Ms. Han was detained at the stadium for two days and two nights. No food or water was provided, and practitioners were also not allowed to use the toilet. Afterward, she was transferred to Tanbu Township and fined 200 yuan¹.

Arrested Again, Beaten and Verbally Abused for Appealing for Falun Gong

On February 13th, 2000, Ms. Han went to Beijing for a second time to appeal for justice for Falun Gong. When she arrived at Tiananmen Square, she was arrested even before she began to do the exercises. She was taken to an underground facility and detained there for three days and nights. She was then transferred to Tanbu Township by the local officials.

On orders from Liu Zhimin, head of the township, the local police officers separated the dozen or so practitioners and proceeded to beat and verbally abuse them. Mr. Han was detained for 14 days. During her detention, she was called into a small room and asked what was so good about Falun Gong. Five or six officers in the room appeared to listen to her account about the benefits she experienced from the practice. When she finished, however, they proceeded to swear at her and beat her. They knocked her down to the floor, and repeated did this many times whenever she got up. As Ms. Han would not stay down, the officers kicked her in the head, slapped her face and also poured very hot water on her head.

Those involved in the brutal torture included Gong Fangzhen, Zhang Qian, Zhang Jiazhao, and Zhao Jian. One of them asked Ms. Han whether she would practise Falun Gong again. She replied, "Yes." He then kicked her hard three times and said that she could lie to him that she would not practice. He threatened Ms. Han that if she said "yes" again, he would beat her to death. Ms. Han said: "If I said here that I would not practice, but then continue to practice when I go back home, I would be lying to you. I would not lie to you, and I must say the truth." The officers tried hard to force Ms. Han to give up her belief in Falun Gong and tortured her until she lost consciousness. She was released the following day, but ordered to attend brainwashing sessions. However, she refused and went into hiding. The police from Tanbu Township then detained Ms. Han's husband, who was not a practitioner. They made him write a guarantee statement to renounce Falun Gong for Ms. Han and pay a 6,000 yuan fine. Only then did police agree not to arrest Ms. Han.

Forced to Leave Home due to Repeated Harassment by Police

At 6 p.m. on January 15th, 2001, Tanbu Township Police Station sent Wu Gang and three other officers to trick Ms. Han to come to the police station. They told her that they just wanted to get an update about her current situation. After dragging her to the station, however, they did not ask any questions. Instead, they began to beat her and slap her face. She was also forced to sit on the ground with straightened legs while holding her toes for a long time.

The next morning, policemen forced Ms. Han to stand in the snow until she was frozen from the cold. Li Qiang and Wu Gang watched her from a sunny location for about an hour. When Ms. Han felt very cold and ran to where there was sunshine, Li Qiang kicked her until she was back to where she was placed. When she ran to the sunshine again, Wu Gang pulled her hair and dragged her from the courtyard to the second floor. He pushed her to the floor, kicked her and slapped her with books. In the afternoon, officers Li Qiang, Wu Gang, Yi Yongtao, and some others locked her into a small dark house. That evening, Zhao Jian, Zhang Qian, and several others encircled her and punched and kicked her until she lost consciousness.

She was detained in Tanbu Township for two days and two nights. They fined her 12,000 yuan. Her husband had no choice but to agree to pay the money, but requested to take Ms. Han home first. Before they let Ms. Han go, they asked her to swear at the founder of Falun Gong, Teacher Li Hongzhi. When Ms. Han refused, they repeatedly kicked her.

When Ms. Han did not go to pay the money on the following day, Wang Jiquan, head of the police station, and officers Li Qiang, Meng Qinglong, Wang Mingjun, Pan Yushan, Zhang Qian, and others went to her home to arrest her again. Since Ms. Han had locked the door, the officers began to smash it. All the neighbours came out and spoke for Ms. Han. They said the Chinese New Year was around the corner and they must let Ms. Han's family celebrate the New Year first. The officers left when it started to get dark.

On the morning of January 20th, 2001, Ms. Han was awakened by loud banging on the door. Officials from the Tanbu Township government and the police station came again. She and her husband tried to reason with them and did not open the door. More than 20 people, including Meng Qinglong, Wang Jiquan, Wu Gang, Wang Mingjun, Zhang Qian, Zhao Jian, Zhang Minglei, Li Beixin, Gong Fangzhen, Pan Yushan, Zhang Jizhao, Yu Huazeng, and others in three cars surrounded Ms. Han's home from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m.

In the evening of January 31st, 2001, Wang Mingjun, Zhang Qian, and some other people came to smash Ms. Han's door again. Their neighbours rushed to Ms. Han's home and drove the officers away.

Ms. Han and her husband had to leave home to avoid being harassed. They only returned home at the end of the year when many people were on holiday, so that they could spend the New Year with their family.

On another occasion, Meng Qinglong, Wang Jiquan, Wu Kang, Wang Mingjun, and seven other people again came to smash Ms. Han's door and continue to cause unrest for the family. She and her husband were forced to leave home again. Ms. Han went to Linyi City and her husband went to Zhangdian, while their children were sent to their grandparents' home.

Innocent Family Members Implicated and Loved Ones Dared Not Return Home

When these evildoers could not find Ms. Han, they went to her parents' home to look for her. Her parents and brother were implicated in hiding her, and even Ms. Han's three daughters, aged 8 to 14, were not spared. The officers attempted to arrest them. The elder daughter, who stayed at her grandparents home, ran away and the officers chased after her. Her grandmother managed to hide her. The officers grabbed the two younger sisters and attempted to drag them into the police car. They were screaming and crying, and the officers eventually let them go.

Ms. Han's brother dared not to come home and went into hiding. The officers ransacked his home and confiscated four kilograms of rabbit fur. At the time, Ms. Han's family of five lived in four different places. Among her three children, two were staying with their grandmother and one with her aunt. Many days after the start of school, Ms. Han's daughters dared not go to school. Her parents also went into hiding in the mountainous area.

Sentenced to Forced Labour and Tortured, Resulting in Mental Disorders

On the evening of April 19th, 2002, when Ms. Han went to deliver materials exposing the persecution of Falun Gong, she was arrested by officers from the Gaoxin District Police Department, Linyi City, and detained for two days. During her detention, the head of the department kicked her several times and verbally abused her. She was then transferred back to Mengyin County, where she was detained for one month. Thereafter, she was transferred to the local 610 Office (an organisation of special agents just for persecuting Falun Gong), where she was detained for another 18 days.

Despite all the torture and abuse, Ms. Han refused to give up her belief in Falun Gong. She was then sentenced to one year of forced labour. During detention in the forced labour camp, she was subjected to sleep deprivation and bombarded with lies day and night. As a result of the brainwashing and the mental torture, she was unable to stand still and staggered when walking. She eventually suffered from a mental disorder as a result of the torture, and was sent to a mental hospital for one day. The medical staff said that they gave her a check-up. Only when the officers found that Ms. Han was on the verge of death did they release her.

Persecution Continues upon Return Home

Upon returning home, Ms. Han resumed practising Falun Gong and her health miraculously returned to normal. However, the police continued to harass her. At about 10:30 p.m. on October 22nd, 2004, Wang Mingjun led a dozen or so officers, including two female officers, to enter her home by climbing over the wall. They smashed the door open. At the time, her husband was not home because he was working in another part of the country, so she was home alone with two children who were asleep. The officers entered the house and tried to arrest her. The two children were very scared and cried for their mother, but the officers ignored them and dragged Ms. Han into the car. After the car drove away at about 11:30 p.m., the children chased after it without having the time to put on clothes. The officers left the children on the road. The children were ill for several days as a result of the cold weather and the shock they suffered that night.

Wang Mingjun and his officers brought Ms. Han to the County 610 Office. She was held in a room and watched by a door keeper, who beat and verbally abused her at will. She was given little to eat and often had no water to drink. She lived under such conditions for more than 10 days before the officials there forced her to watch TV programs, which were all about killing or suicide and falsely claimed that these were the activities of the practitioners. Ms. Han was tortured for refusing to watch these programs.

One day Ms. Han suddenly lost consciousness. Only when the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials found that she could not get up or speak, did they carry her onto a bed. She was left there unattended for two days. The door keeper said, "If she dies, simply drag her out and discard her somewhere." She did not eat or drink for two days. They called in a doctor, who said that she was mentally exhausted and requested the CCP officials not to force her to watch those dreadful programs anymore. Her condition kept getting worse, however. She would not speak for many days, and when she spoke, she did not make sense. The 610 Office still refused to release her.

Wang Mingjun took the opportunity to frequently go to see Ms. Han's two brothers to extort money from them. He threatened that if they did not pay the money, he would send Ms. Han to a forced labour camp. Ms. Han's family went to the 610 Office a few times to inquire about Ms. Han, but the only answer they ever received was "do not know." Wang Mingjun extorted 3,000 yuan from her family before releasing her.

During her detention at the county's 610 Office, officials forced her to say that the wicked CCP was good. Upon returning home, she learned that the night she was forcefully taken away, her two daughters did not sleep the whole night because they were so scared. After that night, one of them stayed with her paternal grandmother and the other with her maternal grandmother. Their teachers said that their studies were seriously affected and their grades dropped.

On May 1st, 2005, two officials from the Tanbu Township 610 Office went to Ms. Han's home to harass her again.

In the afternoon on March 17th, 2009, officials from Mengyin County 610 Office and officers from the Tanbu Township Police Station climbed over the wall of Ms. Han's home and smashed open the door. They ransacked her home while no one was home, and confiscated one laptop computer, three MP3 players, two printers, one DVD burner and some Falun Gong books totalling about 10,000 yuan. Ms. Han was then arrested once again.

Note

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

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2010/1/24/216796.html