143 Practitioners from Tangshan City Arrested and Persecuted in Ten Months

Between August 2010 and June 2011, approximately 70 agents from the Tangshan City 610 Office (an organisation of special agents just for persecuting Falun Gong), Political and Judiciary Committee, Domestic Security Bureau, and Police Department arrested 143 Falun Gong practitioners and sent them to detention centres and/or forced labour camps. The officers also ransacked all of the practitioners' homes. Many other practitioners in the region have been put under surveillance and harassed by the authorities.

The following Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials are responsible for orchestrating this large-scale persecution: Wang Xuefeng, secretary of the CCP Committee in Tangshan City; Xu Demao, secretary of the Political and Judiciary Committee; Jia Wenya, head of the police department; and Liu Xiaozhong, deputy head of the police department. Many other police officers have also been involved.

1. Systematic, Large-Scale Persecution

According to insider sources, the intensified persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in the Tangshan area was ordered from high-level CCP officials. The perpetrators developed a systematic plan to conduct a large-scale persecution, targeting practitioners across the entire Tangshan area.

In total, 143 practitioners were arrested, including 22 from Fengrun, four from Guzhi, eight from Kaiping, four from Leting, one from Luannan, three from Luan County, six from Qian'an, five from Tanghai, three from Yutian, 60 from Zunhua, and 27 from Tangshan City.

At least 23 practitioners were arrested on November 24, 2010, including Mr. Zhang Zhizhou, Ms. Wang Jinlan, Ms. Li Lihua, Mr. Li Qiang, Ms. Zhang Xiurong, Mr. Lou Huijun, Mr. Tang Tieyong, Ms. Wei Meijin from Fengnan District, Ms. Han Xiuying, Mr. Li Shaohui, Ms. Xie Guoxiang from Fengrun District, Mr. Ji Fengyi, Mr. Liu Jianguo from Guzhi, Ms. Xu Cuihua, Mr. Xu Xiangzhi, Ms. Zhang Lifen, Mr. Fu Wenhuai, Ms. Wu Suxiang from Kaiping District, Mr. Zhang Yibiao from Leting County, Mr. Li Desheng from Luan County, Ms. Ye Hongxia from Tanghai, Mr. Li Hanxin from Yu Tian, and Mr. Jiang Shuncai from Luannan County. Their homes were ransacked, as officers searched for the so-called “evidence” to justify arrests and further persecution. Three practitioners were subsequently sent to forced labour camps for further persecution.

This large-scale arrest was planned by the Domestic Security Bureau and the police department, and practitioners had been singled out beforehand.

All arrests were conducted in a similar manner. Practitioners were arrested at their homes or workplaces with no reason given.

Ms. Li Lihua and Ms. Li Qiang were arrested on the morning of November 24th, 2010. In both cases, approximately eight police officers hid outside their homes and waited for family members to leave for work or school. Once they saw the family members leave, they charged into the practitioners' homes, arrested them, and ransacked their homes.

CCP agents from Tangshan City arrested 14 practitioners and ransacked their homes during the so-called sensitive dates surrounding the CCP's annual “Two Congress” meeting. Mr. Zhou Xiangyang, Ms. Li Shanshan, and Mr. Xu Guiyun were arrested on March 5th, 2011, the day of the meeting. Ms. Han Cuixiang and Ms. Liu Guiying were arrested the following day. On March 7th, five more practitioners, including Ms. Wang Xiuzhi and Mr. Cao, were also arrested. Many other practitioners were also put under surveillance and harassed.

A concerted effort was made to arrest more innocent practitioners since May 2011: 80 practitioners were arrested in one month. More than 50 practitioners were arrested in Zunhua County alone on May 10th. Some arrested practitioners overheard police officers discussing the target number of arrests and comparing how many arrests had been made at each local police station.

2. Carrying Out Illegal Orders and Extorting Money

In order not to leave any evidence of the unlawful persecution, higher-level CCP officials communicate their orders regarding the persecution of Falun Gong to lower-ranked agents only through phone calls or verbally. This is in sharp contrast to the past practice, when every order came with CCP documentation. Police officers know that persecuting Falun Gong practitioners has no legal merit, and when they make arrests and search practitioners' homes, they frequently steal practitioners' personal belongings and extort money without restraint or any fear of being caught or punished.

Police officers ransacked Mr. Zhou Xiangyang and Ms. Li Shanshan's home on March 5th, 2011, and confiscated 13,000 yuan¹, four bank cards, a laptop computer, a desktop computer, and a new printer, as well as six boxes of blank DVDs, nine new mobile phones, and seven used mobile phones that Mr. Zhou and Ms. Li used for their business. The police also confiscated their identity cards, graduation certificates and professional business certificates.

On the morning of May 25th, agents from the 610 Office in the Nanbao Economic Development Zone Police Department and from the 610 Office in Tangshan City, as well as Gao Xueguo from the Nanyan Police Station affiliated with Jidong Prison, arrested Ms. Li Wene, a doctor in charge of the Internal Medicine at Nanyan Hospital, and her husband, Mr. Wang Weidong, a police officer from the No. 6 Team of Jidong Prison. The police broke into and ransacked the practitioners' home in daylight. They forced open a cabinet and confiscated the pension money that Ms. Li's parents had kept there, $1,500 Australian dollars that Ms. Li's sister had given her, $6,000 from Ms. Li's purse, a bank deposit book, and bank cards. They also took valuable items, including a computer, a gold necklace, a gold ring, silver ornaments, a camera, and even the red car parked outside. The officers confiscated close to 200,000 yuan in total property value.

At around 6:00 a.m. on November 24th, 2010, officers from the Jichanglu Police Station arrested Mr. Lou Huijun, who works in the Construction Bank and lives at Zhangxi District of Tangshan City. They also ransacked his home, confiscating Falun Gong books, a computer and other personal belongings. Mr. Lou was detained at the Tangshan City No. 1 Detention Centre. Only after the officers extorted 10,000 yuan from his family was he released.

Officers from the Yuehe Police Station extorted 1,000 yuan from Mr. Zhao Yunlong's family members following his arrest. Mr. Zhao was sent to a forced labour camp.

A large number of police officers from Zunhua were dispatched to arrest more than 50 local practitioners on May 10th. About 20 practitioners were released after they were extorted of 2,000 yuan each. Practitioners were also forced to pay 200 yuan for meal fees while in detention, even though they did not receive these meals.

Almost all practitioners who were arrested and had their homes ransacked lost personal belongings in the process and were extorted of large sums of money.

3. Monitoring through Internet

It is well known the CCP has used vast amounts of money to construct a firewall to prevent Chinese citizens from learning and passing on true information. The CCP employs thousands of Internet spies for online monitoring, with emphasis toward Falun Gong practitioners. The CCP has even arrested and charged practitioners with "browsing overseas websites."

In order to arrest and persecute Falun Gong practitioners in Tangshan City, the police departments and Domestic Security Bureau especially have spent large sums of money on Internet surveillance equipment.

When many practitioners were arrested without reason at their homes or workplaces between August 2010 and June 2011, the police confiscated their computers for "analysis” in order to contrive so-called “evidence” to justify the persecution. Some practitioners were subsequently interrogated and questioned about visiting the Minghui website (Chinese version of Clearwisdom.net), as well as their emails. The order came from the Domestic Security Bureau, which then had police officers carry it out.

On November 17th, 2010, Ms. Yao Yumin from Wushizhuang Village in Fengrun District was arrested by three agents from Fengrun Domestic Security Bureau and two officers from the Quanhetou Township Police Station. They also confiscated her computer because it had been determined that she had browsed overseas websites.

The following practitioners were also arrested and had their computers confiscated for the same reason:

- On November 24th, 2010, Ms. Han Xiuying from Shifolin Village in Yangguanlin Township of Fengrun and Ms. Zhang Lifen from Kaiping District

- On February 24th, 2011, Ms. Wang Yonghong who teaches at Luannan Vocational School

- On June 8th, 2011, Ms. Dong Lanfen from the Construction Band and Mr. Wang Xiaojun from the Energy Institute

- On June 9th, 2011, Ms. Cheng Dongxiang from Lujiawa Village in Shaheliu Township of Fengrun District. She was arrested by the Shaheliu Township Police Station.

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/2011/6/18/242638.html