Practitioner from Yunnan Province Recounts Persecution

Name: Xue Huili
Gender: Female
Age: 51
Address: Xiaoluji Town, Yimen County, Yunnan Province
Occupation: Miner
Date of Most Recent Arrest: September 18th, 2007
Most Recent Place of Detention: Yunnan Province Women's Forced Labour Camp
Province: Yunnan
Persecution Suffered: Sleep deprivation, forced labor, brainwashing, imprisonment, torture, dismissal from workplace, home ransacking, interrogation, detention

Ms. Xue Huili began practising Falun Gong in October 1999. She was detained in a forced labour camp by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and lost her job. The following is an account of her persecution:

I started practising Falun Gong in October 1999, after which great changes took place in my mind and body. I had inflammation of the gall bladder and other illnesses, which were healed, and gave me confidence in my life. I followed Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance closely in my daily work.

After I became a practitioner, 610 Office (an organisation of special agents just for persecuting Falun Gong) director He Changlin and officials from the Yimen Police Department, including Mr. Yang Jianbo, often came to harass me at home and work. In September 2002, they arrested me at work, and took me to a brainwashing centre paid for by the agency where I worked.

On the morning of September 18th, 2007, I was working at a petrol station when five to six plainclothes police officers came to search my bag and found several currency notes with “Falun Gong is good” or “Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good” written on them. They took me to my home, ransacked it, and then confiscated a Falun Gong book, a printout of an article from the Minghui website [Chinese version of the Falun Gong website Clearwisdom.net], and an MP3 player. They also took pictures of my home.

Without presenting any documentation, they put me in handcuffs. As we were leaving my home, I saw some people outside, so I raised my hands to show them the handcuffs. An officer then cursed at me and pushed me into the police vehicle, because they didn't want anyone to witness their crimes. At the Luji Town Police Station, they put me on a high chair in handcuffs and wouldn't let me rest. Whenever I closed my eyes, they pounded on the table and told me not to close my eyes. For 72 hours, two officers took turns interrogating me, promising that they'd let me go back to work if I provided the names of other practitioners. Zhang (610 Office director from Yuxi) and officer Bao Tiaoru shouted at me, “If you don't cooperate, we'll force you to kneel for an hour, or hang you from the ceiling, or parade you through the streets.” I was forced into the kneeling position for an hour and later taken to the Yimen Detention Centre.

At the detention centre, Yimen Police Department officers came to interrogate me several times. A month later, a forced labour committee in Yuxi sentenced me to two years in a forced labour camp. Officers from the Yimen Police Department then took me to the Yunnan Province Women's Forced Labour Camp.

At the camp, guards forced me to write statements to renounce practising Falun Gong and demanded that I give up practising Falun Gong. They also told me that I needed to write to the agency where I worked, to let them know that I had given up the practice, and that I wanted to keep my job. I was also forced to sign a paper that declared Falun Gong was an evil cult. I did not give into their demands. They released me on May 26th, 2009. I spoke to the leader of my agency about keeping my job, but to no avail. Officials from the Luji Police Station, the security department of my former agency, and the Yimen 610 Office continued to call my mother and harass my family. My parents were terribly affected by these actions, and my husband couldn't cope with the pressure, so he divorced me. I was 50 years old in December 2009, so I went to my former workplace to submit paperwork for retirement. The company officials refused to honour my previous years of work, because I was no longer on contract with the agency.

Luji Town Police Station in Yimen County Tel: 86-877-4981523
He Changlin, director, Yimen County Police Department 610 Office, 86-877-4964610 (Office)

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2011/1/13/234845.html