In Memory of Falun Dafa Practitioner Jia Yongfa, Who Was Tortured to Death

By Falun Dafa Practitioner Dahai

A few months ago when I learned the news from a Falun Dafa website that Falun Dafa practitioner Jia Yongfa from the Hebai Forest Bureau was tortured to death by Jiang's regime. I was shocked and deeply grieved over his death. We were together at the Jiamusi Forced labour camp where we were illegally held and persecuted.

During the period when we were held in the labour camp, the deepest impression Yongfa gave me was that he was a calm man of few words, kind and steady. When the multiple purpose building of the labour camp was under construction we were always together. He was modest and amiable. He always used the principle of Truthfulness-Compassion- Forbearance as his guide at all times and for everything he did. In work, he always stood at the dirtiest and the hardest post. He worked with furious energy as if he would never feel the hard conditions or become tired. Who would believe that before he practised Falun Dafa he had suffered from infantile paralysis when young, was unable to look after himself and could not walk unaccompanied?

Yongfa always clarified the truth and promoted Falun Dafa to the policemen and inmates with his personal experience. At the time when his term of re-education through labour was about to end he talked separately to the head of the labour camp, head of the camp's political and legal commission and the team leader of the brainwashing team about his release. He was told by each one of them: "no reform no release." The indefinite custody was just a verbal directive and there were no legal formalities whatsoever. There was a policeman who angrily said, "Yes I purposely do not release you. If you want to sue me just go ahead! You can go on a hunger strike, commit suicide or escape!" That was why a lot of fellow practitioners wanted to escape from the labour camp and expose the evil. As a matter of fact, a heroic undertaking occurred on November 3, 2000, when 11 people successfully escaped from the labour camp. The officials at the camp were terribly frightened by the incident. However, Jia Yongfa was captured together with a criminal offender who was assigned to keep an eye on Falun Dafa practitioners. Yongfa was brutally beaten up and tortured with various devices by four policemen. The cruellest torture he endured was when the police put bullet casings in between his fingers and then squeezed his fingers forcefully causing him extreme pain and almost crushing his finger bones. His term of re-education though labour was illegally extended for another twelve months.

He was not scared during the time of his increased penalty. He kept on studying the Fa [Law and principles of Falun Gong] and practising the exercises as well as clarifying the truth and promoting Falun Dafa. The police and inmates would try to interfere with him but all retreated before his determined, righteous thoughts. After we changed groups I moved to the bed he used to occupy. I found several poems he left on the wall. From these poems I discovered his rock firm belief in Falun Dafa. It was a pity that I did not write them down. His righteous thoughts and deeds won him respect from a lot of inmates. One day I bumped into him and he told me that his wife was also illegally sent into Jiamusi forced labour camp for clarifying the truth of Falun Dafa. We were in the same corridor but separated by iron gates. We would wave and heshi [press the hands together in front of the chest as a greeting. The Heshi position is also used in some of the Falun Gong exercises – Ed. Note] to each other as a form of encouragement.

At the end of September 2001, Yongfa started a hunger strike after the department concerned ignored his repeated appeals against the illegal increase of his punishment. On the 2nd of October his life was in critical condition after he was force-fed by the labour camp authorities. He was dragged out of the camp compound by two inmates and sent to a hospital for emergency treatment. I later learned that he was released from the hospital on the 3rd of October, the date I was released. Fellow practitioners and I had planned several times to go to the Hebai Forest Bureau to see him, but we all failed to do so because of the lack of time. Then we learned the news that he had passed away.

I wrote this article to commemorate our respected fellow practitioner, Jia Yongfa; someone who continually used the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance to guide his actions.

Source:
http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2002/7/27/24556.html