Ms. Mao Kun from Chengdu City on a Hunger Strike for Nearly Seven Weeks to Protest Her Imprisonment

Name: Mao Kun
Gender: Female
Age: 47
Address: Apt. 403, Building 81, Wulidun Road, Jinniu District, Chengdu City
Occupation: Accountant
Date of Most Recent Arrest: September 10th, 2007
Most Recent Place of Detention: Yangmahe Women's Prison
City: Chengdu
Province: Sichuan
Persecution Suffered: Shocked with electric batons, sleep deprivation, forced labour, brainwashing, beatings, hanging by handcuffs, imprisonment, solitary confinement, torture, force-feedings, physical restraint, detention

Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Mao Kun worked as an accountant in Chengdu City. She was sentenced to five and a half years of prison in 2008, and has been incarcerated in Yangmahe Women's Prison in Jianyang City ever since. She has been tortured for refusing to give up her belief, specifically by being hung up using handcuffs on a clothes hanger for several days. In order to protest the torture and abuse, Ms. Mao has been on a hunger strike for nearly seven weeks.

More than thirty practitioners and their relatives were arrested in August and September 2007 at their homes or workplaces in Chengdu. On September 27th and October 10th, 2008, the Wuhou District Court in Chengdu convened two separate sessions against nine practitioners, including Ms. Mao Kun and Ms. Zhong Fangqiong. Ms. Mao was sentenced even though the authorities presented no evidence or legal basis. Ms. Mao's non-practitioner sister, Mao Qi, and brother-in-law, Qin Min, were also sentenced.

At the end of last year, Ms. Mao started the hunger strike after 610 Office agents (an organisation of special agents just for persecuting Falun Gong) threatened that she would not be released upon finishing the term if she did not give up her belief. There have been several accounts in Chengdu of practitioners who, after refusing to give up their beliefs, were directly taken to brainwashing centres upon finishing their terms. Ms. Mao has refused to eat or drink anything for about 50 days now.

Ms. Mao was previously sentenced to forced labour twice for practising Falun Gong. She barely survived her detainment and torture at the Nanmusi Forced Labour Camp. Ms. Mao recounted her experience in a letter she wrote around 2005. She was not able to finish the letter, which is presented below.

Details about the persecution of Ms. Mao Kun in her own words:

My name is Mao Kun, and I live in Apt. 403, Building 81, Wulidun Road, Chengdu City. I am a Falun Gong practitioner. I have been detained in forced labour camps twice.

The first time I was detained was on December 11th, 1999. I went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong and told people that Falun Gong is good. As a result, I was arrested and detained at the Chengdu government 's Liaison Office in Beijing. Two days later I was taken back to Chengdu City by police and then transferred from the Chadianzi Police Station to the Lianhuacun Detention Centre. I was shackled and handcuffed. My hands were cuffed behind my back, and my hands and arms lost sensation and became swollen. I was deprived of sleep for seven consecutive days and nights, and I could hardly take care of myself. I went on a protest hunger strike for fifteen days and was force-fed seven times, which caused stomach aches, fluid accumulation in my abdomen, and nose bleeds.

Before New Year's Eve in 2000, I was sentenced to one year in the Nanmusi Women's Forced Labour Camp in Zizhong City. At that labour camp I worked overtime making lamps, doing embroidery on clothes, and polishing jewellry. I worked from 7:00 a.m. until midnight.

On June 20th, 2000, the labour camp established the Seventh Team specifically to persecute Falun Gong practitioners. Its main purpose was to "transform" [forcibly renounce Falun Gong] all practitioners and force them to give up their belief in Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. Every day for more than ten hours they forced us to listen to radio programmes, read newspapers or books, and watch the news on CCTV that slandered Falun Gong. For those who did not give up their belief, the all-male guard team would often brutally beat or hang us up after being handcuffed. Because I refused to "transform" and be forcibly brainwashed by the "Assistance-Through-Reeducation Task Force," and I exposed the lies they used in trying to "transform" practitioners, I was locked in a small isolation cell twice within sixty days. The most vicious team head, Zhang Xiaofang (female), ordered drug offenders to monitor me 24 hours a day. I was forbidden to speak, and I was forced to sit up straight. If I moved slightly or did not sit up straight, they would beat me.

It was very humid and hot in July in Nanmusi, but we were only allowed to take a sip of water to brush our teeth and a bowl of water to wash our face and feet. We were not allowed to take a shower for over a month, and were not allowed to wash our clothes. The practitioners who were detained in a small cell with me got prickly heat and scabies all over their bodies, which were very itchy and extremely painful. Several times when the inmates who monitored me slandered Falun Gong, I refused to listen to them and closed my eyes. I was made to stand in the intense afternoon sun and forced to squat one thousand times. With my hands holding my head, as I stood up and squatted, my clothing was soaked in sweat and stuck to my body. While squatting, my trousers split and I was exposed, but I was not allowed to change trousers. Team head Zhang Xiaofang and drug offender Li Xiaolin laughed at me. (This inmate who was instigated to torture practitioners died in his twenties from stomach cancer.) After I had squatted seven hundred times, I could not control my feet and my whole body was trembling. I could not walk normally and my feet were stiff, and I could not sit down when I went to the toilet.

The mental torture was more severe than the physical abuse. Practitioners were forced to listen to propaganda that slandered Falun Gong. In teams seven, eight, and nine where Falun Gong practitioners were detained, before meals they had to sing three songs that glorified the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). If they refused to sing, they would not be allowed to eat or go to the toilet, and they might even have their prison term extended. The "Education Ward" guard often threatened me, saying, "If you refuse to 'transform' or write the three statements to renounce practising Falun Gong, then you will be detained until you become old. If you refuse to listen to Jiang Zemin [former leader of China and instigator of the persecution], you are opposing the CCP. You are then an anti-revolutionist, and we will enforce 'the dictatorship of proletariat' on you." We were often required to write reports on our thoughts. If we refused, we would be put in a small cell, beaten, or deprived of sleep. If we wrote down our true thoughts, then our prison term would be extended. I repeatedly expressed in words: "I will firmly insist on practising Falun Gong and be a good person by following Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance." I did not acknowledge guilt or admit that I had made any mistakes in practicing Falun Gong. Once after we watched the CCTV's "Focal Point" programme, we were forced to discuss it and make a speech about it. I said that the CCTV's news was a fabrication and the director did not choose a good actor, and that you could immediately see through the lies. As a result my term was extended for three more months.

I was released September 30th, 2001, after being deprived of freedom for one year and nine months.

On December 10th, 2001, fellow practitioners and I were handing out Falun Gong materials exposing the persecution of Falun Gong at the entrance to a supermarket when we were arrested and taken to a detention centre in Pi County by the Beidong Street Police Station. I was sentenced to one and a half years of forced labour. To protest the forced labour, I began a hunger strike on January 28th, 2002.

On February 4th, 2002, nine fellow practitioners and I were handcuffed and taken to the Nanmusi Forced Labour Camp. I was separately detained in a small cell on the first floor, and two homosexual drug offenders monitored me. The room was crowded and humid, and there was no bed. During cold evenings I had to sleep on the floor, and I did not eat or drink for several days. From 6:00 a. m. until very late in the evening, I was forced to sit on a small stool with my eyes open. One day I was so tired that I closed my eyes for several minutes, and the inmate who monitored me came over and beat me. She grabbed my head and struck it against the wall. She said that if I closed my eyes again, she would separate my eyelids with bamboo sticks. As soon as she said that, she started to pull up my eyelids. I felt numb and temporarily couldn't see.

On the Chinese New Year's Eve of 2002, the forced labour camp had a celebration dinner. Director Wu, Director Li of the Education Division, and team head Wang of the Fifth Team came to ask me, "Why don't you have dinner?" I told them, "I am not a criminal and I am not guilty of any crime. I will not eat at a forced labour camp." I was detained in the Fifth Team for one month, and I slept on the floor every day. I was force-fed or forcibly given transfusions.

On March 4th, 2002, I was transferred to the Ninth Team and detained in a small, solitary cell. I was given some rice soup and soybean sauce every morning and evening. I persuaded the inmates who monitored me to allow me to practice the Falun Gong exercises in the cell. The inmates who monitored me were former practitioners who had been "transformed." In that evil environment, they were so-called "transformed" because they could not tolerate the intense pressure and cruel torture. If they didn't "transform," they would not get any mail or be able to make phone calls, nor would they be allowed to have family visits, sleep at normal times, or freely use the bathroom or speak. I insisted on practising Falun Gong, and they did not oppose or report me.

At the end of May, the three inmates that monitored me left and were replaced by a new inmate who did not allow me to practice. Once I started to practice she pushed me and hit me. The team head and guard ordered drug offenders to handcuff my wrists behind my back. I was handcuffed to the metal door of the cell from 6:00 a.m. to 12:00 a.m., over seventeen hours a day.

One day in early June team head Hu and secretary Lan brought me into the office and closed the door. They asked me if I practised Falun Gong. I said, "I will practise as long as I am alive." Secretary Lan said, "Then I will let you practice in the office. You can practise right now and I will not punish you today." After I had recited the verse to begin the first exercise, I heard something sizzling. Team Head Hu held a police baton and secretary Lan discharged an electric baton with blue sparks and a sizzling noise. They both dashed at me, but I remained calm and had no fear.

They shocked my body, hands, mouth, and face. I heard the sizzling noise and smelled the burning of my skin. Several minutes later, the electric baton was completely discharged. Team Head Hu ordered me to stand with my arms above my head. I held my arms up but it was extremely painful. They became heavy and fell down after a while. Team head Hu standing nearby hit my arms with a police baton and shouted, "Raise you arms!" I thought that I should never fall down. After a long time, they noticed my body was trembling and that something was wrong with me. They opened the door and took me back to the solitary cell and handcuffed me again.

I could not practise Falun Gong during this period. I was given liquids and was handcuffed every day. My health deteriorated dramatically with the intensifying persecution, and my hair fell out, my gums bled, and I had shortness of breath. At the end of June, team head Cao told Dr. Chen to examine me. Dr. Chen was surprised to see the condition I was in, and could not believe that it was me. She said that I was beyond recognition, as I needed to wear a coat in the summer, had purple lips, was totally emaciated and weak, and I looked like a dead person. She slowly held my cold hand to check my pulse and checked my heartbeat with a stethoscope. She then squeezed my swollen and numb legs. She stood up and told Cao that I needed to be taken to a hospital. I could hardly walk or stand, and the inmate who monitored me carried me on her back and took me to the hospital. After I was examined, the doctor said that I was on the verge of death and that I must have food and a nutritious infusion. I swore that I would never have food in the Nanmusi Forced Labour Camp. I just wanted to sleep, but they answered, "No, you cannot go to sleep until 12:00 p.m." They said this was what was decided at a meeting.

Several days later, Dr. Chen came to the Ninth Team and saw that I was still handcuffed to a metal door, my head drooped, and I could not stand up straight with my hands behind my back. I could hardly even talk to her. She said to the secretary, "You cannot handcuff her anymore, or something bad will happen to her." Secretary Yu said Hu was on duty that day and she was not authorized to make a decision. Team head Hu showed up, stood at the door, pointed at me, and said, "Are you still alive? The handcuffs should never be taken off her. I want to see how hard her bones are. She is a goddess, so she will not die..."

Jinniu District 610 Office:
Li Yong, deputy head: +86-28-87705681 (Office), +86-28-87526973 (Home), +86-13668292609 (Mobile)
Zhang Hongtao, deputy head: +86-28-87705680 (Office), +86-28-87529913 (Home), +86-13980782322 (Mobile)

Earlier report:
The Persecution of Ms. Mao Kun in Chengdu City http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2009/3/8/105384.html

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2012/2/5/252727html