Persecution of Falun Gong Practitioners by Lawless Wuhan Railway Bureau Officials

The Wuhan Railway Bureau is a large state-owned transportation enterprise (a merger of the former Wuhan Railway Sub-bureau under Zhengzhou Railway Bureau, and Xiangfan Railway Sub-bureau), established on March 18th, 2005, and is now under the jurisdiction of the Railway Ministry. When the persecution of Falun Gong began, a small number of bureau leaders implemented the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) policy of persecuting practitioners.

The following are summaries of some of the persecution cases:

1. Mr. Xia Wenfang, 60 to 70 years old, was a retired employee of Wuchang Railway Station. He became hemiplegic (paralysed on one side of his body) and bedridden in 1989. He began practising Falun Gong in 1993, and over time, was able to walk again. Since the persecution began in 1999, the station's retirement office director (surnamed Liu) along with Shouyi Road Police Station officials and the local neighbourhood committee, forced him to quit practising Falun Gong. Thereafter, the elderly man became bedridden and died on October 17th, 2002.

2. Ms. Yu Furong was an employee of the Wuchang Railway Station. She went to appeal for the right to practise Falun Gong in 2000, and was detained at a brainwashing centre run by railway authorities. She was persecuted at the centre for several months. In 2001, the station officials showed complete disregard of the law, and took her to the Hewan Forced Labour Camp. She was sentenced to one year of forced labour and detained at the No. 6 Division.

3. Mr. Song Yushan was a political instructor at the Wuchang City Criminal Police Division, Wuhan Railway Police Department. He was removed from his position at work, placed in detention, and his home was ransacked. He was taken to brainwashing centres run by the railway at Zhujiawan and Hankou. At this time, he is working in the Wuchang Construction Section.

4. Fu Baoxuan was an employee of Wunan Railway Station. Fu was arrested in December 2000 and detained for six months. The practitioner was placed under surveillance by workplace officials after his release.

5. Mr. Tang Haian was an employee of Wunan Railway Station. In July 2000, he showed his apprentice a pamphlet about the persecution of Falun Gong. However, the apprentice's father reported him to authorities, and Mr. Tang was subsequently detained for six months. He was assigned to a cleaning job after his release, and placed under continuous surveillance. He was forced to leave home, and wandered about other parts of the country to avoid persecution.

6. Mr. Jiang Changsheng was a Deputy Chief Procurator (administrative official) of the Wuhan Railway Bureau Procuratorate. After the CCP began persecuting Falun Gong, the bureau leaders forced him to give up his beliefs, and later removed him from his position.

7. Mr. Jin Xiaojun was a member of the Wuhan Railway Bureau group. He was taken to a railway brainwashing centre in 2001, where he underwent psychological torture. His home was repeatedly ransacked and he was transferred from the management body.

8. Ms. Sun Xiuying was an employee of Hankou Railway Station. She was jailed in a brainwashing centre run by the railways for several months in 2000, for going to Beijing to appeal for the right to practise Falun Gong. She was physically injured and psychologically distressed.

9. Xiao Liu was an employee of Wuhan Passenger Section. Liu was transferred from work and placed under constant surveillance. Liu and his family suffered both emotionally and economically.

10. Mr. Chen Yongchun was a truck driver in the Wuchang Vehicle Section. He was detained and forced to undergo brainwashing for not giving up his beliefs.

11. Mr. Tang Zhigang was a locomotive driver. After the persecution started in 1999, he was transferred from his work and assigned to temporary jobs. Every month, he was given only 600 yuan¹ salary. His wife didn't have a job and their child was only a few years old. They suffered enormous pressure both emotionally and economically. On June 10th, 2004, four to five people led by the party secretary of his work unit took him to a dormitory to force him to write statements to renounce practising Falun Gong. Mr. Tang refused, and was later taken to Miaoshan Brainwashing Centre in Hubei Province.

12. Pan Xiaomin, an employee of the Wuhan Railway Bureau, was pressured on several occasions to give up his belief. Mr. Pan was later detained and his home was ransacked. Mr. Pan was transferred from work in April 2000, and jailed in the Miaoshan Brainwashing Centre, Hebei Province in 2002.

13. Mr. Sun Chuansheng was a retired employee of the Wunan Locomotive Depot. He was harassed repeatedly by retirement office officials who tried to force him to give up his beliefs. Mr. Sun was detained and his home was ransacked. Later, he was forced into homelessness to avoid persecution.

14. Ms. Meng Xiuping was Director of the Wubei Maintenance Department. She was repeatedly criticised at various meetings, then removed from her post and forced to do manual labour. The railway authorities also tried to force her family to join the persecution.

15. Mr. Zhan Yi was an employee of the Wuhuan Passenger Transportation Department. He was arrested in September 2002, detained for a month at a brainwashing centre in March 2003, and taken to Xiangfan Railway Detention Centre on December 13th, 2006. He was sentenced to one year of forced labour and returned home from the Shayang Forced Labour Camp in Jingmen City, Hubei Province in 2007. On December 17 when Mr. Zhan went to work, the party committee of his workplace transferred him from his job without any legal procedures.

16. Ms. Li Chunfeng, 20 years old, from Xinyu City, Jiangxi Province, was an employee of the Electric Section of Macheng Railway Station, Wuhan Railways Bureau. She disappeared around the 2006 Chinese New Year.

17. Mr. Li Xiaojian was a laid-off employee of Wuhan Railway Bureau. The lawless officials from the 610 Office (an organisation of special agents just for persecuting Falun Gong) of Jiangan District, in collaboration with the officers in charge of household registration and community security guards, forced their way into Mr. Li's home. The officers took him to the Jiangan District Brainwashing Centre.

18. Ms. Zhu Min was an employee of Guangshui Carriage Inspection Office, Jiangan Vehicle Department, Wuhan Railway Bureau. Ms. Zhu was arrested on June 18th, 2003 and taken to Guangshui City's No. 1 Detention Centre. Ms. Zhu was also detained at a brainwashing centre run by the railway authorities.

19. Mr. Zhao Guojiang was an employee of the Xiangfan Railway Passenger Transportation Department. He was sentenced to three years of imprisonment in 2005. After his term of imprisonment expired, the evildoers at Shayang Prison did not allow him to return home, claiming that he had not been "transformed" [forcibly renounced Falun Gong]. As a result, they took Mr. Zhao Directly to Wuhan Brainwashing Centre.

20. Mr. Cheng Xiaobao was an employee of the Water and Electric Department of Xiangfan Railway Sub-bureau, Hubei Province. Mr. Cheng went to Beijing to appeal for the right to practise Falun Gong in April 2000, but was taken back to Xiangfan. He was detained for 15 days, then jailed by his workplace officials for a week. He went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong a second time in June 2000. He was intercepted at the Xiangfan Railway Station by Yang Xuan, an officer from the Xiangfan Railway Police Department. Mr. Cheng was detained at the Zhongyuan Police Station for one day, then jailed at the railway detention centre the following day. He was taken to Qilidian Brainwashing Centre, Xiangfan City in August 2000. Mr. Cheng was held at the Railway Detention Centre on January 12th, 2001. He was sentenced by the Fancheng District Court in August, 2002 to four years of imprisonment. Mr. Cheng was taken secretly to the notorious Fanjiatai Prison in Shayang on August 21st. He was released in June 2005. However, officers from the Zhongyuan Police Station broke into Mr. Cheng's home on September 24th, 2007 and arrested him. In the police station, they struck Mr. Cheng over 20 times with the sole of a leather shoe. Several days later, Mr. Cheng was sentenced to two years of forced labour. However, the forced labour camp officials refused to take him after he failed to pass the medical examination.

21. Ms. Chen Xiaoling, 51 years old, was an employee of Yunmeng Section, Xiangfan Railway Sub-bureau. In January 2002, she was sentenced to one year of forced labour and taken to Shayang Forced Labour Camp. During her detention, she was repeatedly tortured. She was cuffed, hung up, and suffered from exposure to the scorching sun for extended periods.

Practitioners who have suffered from persecution by Xiangfan Railway Sub-bureau include:

Zhu Zhongtao was detained twice for a total of over two months;
Ms.Chang Hongmei was detained for a month;
Li Sanxi was arrested twice and is currently at the Shayang Forced Labour Camp, Hubei Province. Li was detained for a total of 19 months;
Ms. Chen Xiurong was detained twice and held in a brainwashing centre for three months;
Gao Daorui was arrested in 2004 and sentenced to one year of forced labour. Since March 2004, Gao receives only a 300 yuan living allowance a month.

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://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2010/4/15/221581.html