Practitioner Who Was Brutally Persecuted in a Labour Camp Writes to US President Bush

Upon hearing that you and your wife have invited the head of the PRC, Jiang Zemin, to visit you at your ranch this coming October, I, an ordinary Chinese woman, am writing to truthfully tell you some of the terrible things that this evil dictator and his accomplices have done to me, my family, and millions of other kind-hearted Falun Gong practitioners in China.

My family lives in Jilin Province in the northeast of China. My husband and my parents-in-law all practice Falun Gong. Before Jiang's regime began persecuting Falun Gong in July 1999, my family was harmonious and happy. However, since July 1999, Jiang Zemin has caused my family to be torn to pieces. Adults and children alike are all suffering.

In March 2000, my husband was illegally sentenced by Jiang's regime to one year of "re-education through labour." In June 2000, I was also illegally sentenced to one year of "re-education through labour." This was just because we had appealed peacefully for Falun Gong, clarified the truth [about the persecution] and because we were not willing to give up our belief in Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance. Before we were sent to labour camps, we had already been detained many times for appealing. We have suffered a lot.

Later, I was sent to the notorious Heizuizi Labour Camp in Changchun. There, I suffered from cruel tortures. Police tied me to what they called the "dead person's bed" (The four limbs of the practitioner are stretched out and tied to the four corners of an icy-cold metal bed. The practitioner cannot move at all. Neither is he allowed to get up to eat, drink, or go to the bathroom.) and then they used several electric batons to shock me simultaneously. There was a charred smell from my burnt flesh and skin. Afterward, a large blister rose on my neck. When I returned to my cell, the people who saw me could not help but shed tears. The Heizuizi Labour Camp is really like a living hell. Almost every day, horrifying cries could be heard from Falun Gong practitioners being tortured. You could hear the cries when they used electric batons to shock practitioners.

The period of time when we were illegally held in forced labour camps created an enormous [emotional] scar in the mind of my two-year-old son. My parents-in-law could only shed tears secretly when they saw their grandson like that. At the same time, my nearly seventy-year-old father-in-law travelled a great distance to visit my husband and I in two different labour camps. Once my father-in-law saw me, he too was choked with tears. My father-in-law told the police again and again, "My son and my daughter-in-law are both good people. If you do not believe it, you go to their companies to inquire. Practicing Falun Gong makes them become such good people. Why are they suffering from torture?"

Later, I was released after my company spent a huge sum of money. My husband was released at the end of his sentence. Even after this, we were still harassed and threatened unceasingly from the local government and the public security office. Then, my husband was suddenly kidnapped from home. Our tape recorder, radio, Dafa books, cell phone, and even our personal letters from when we were in college (we did not even practice Falun Gong when we were in college) were confiscated. Our child was very frightened when he saw this scene. After that, he would become scared and cry whenever he saw police or police cars. My husband was tortured beyond recognition during several days in jail. After the public security kidnapped him, they attempted to arrest me. I had no choice but to leave work and leave my parents and my child. I have been destitute and homeless since that time. Thus, I roam about away from home, relying on other kind-hearted Falun Gong practitioners to sustain my life.

Mr. President, perhaps you already know that Jiang Zemin was named a "human rights scoundrel" by Amnesty International, even as he claimed this is "the best time of human rights" in China. However, families like mine, who suffer from constant threats and brutal torture, number in the tens of thousands! Perhaps, compared to those Falun Gong practitioners who were tortured to death, I am still comparatively "lucky." Today, I was fortunate to have the chance to write you this letter, which enables you to understand even more specifically the cruel persecution Falun Gong practitioners are suffering in China. Moreover this kind of persecution is still escalating at present!

Mr. President, in China, nobody dares to say fair words for us. I sincerely hope you and your country can stand on the side of justice and help Falun Gong practitioners who are suffering persecution in China! Help us to end this more than three-year brutal persecution! We sincerely thank you and your country.