On International Human Rights Day --
A torture victim, rescued by Canada shares her story
(12/09/2002  23:54)

OTTAWA, December 9, 2002 -- Ms. Yuzhi Wang, a 46-year-old businesswoman, has suffered unimaginable torture and witnessed horrific scenes during her detention in China’s notorious labour camp, because she practices Falun Gong. On May 8, 2002, while on the verge of death and almost blind due to repeated daily abuses, she was temporarily released. She fled China for the United Arab Emirates where in late October, under the pressure from the Chinese consulate agents; UAE was ready to extradite her back to China. In this urgent situation, by early November of 2002, the Canadian government offered her a special visa, which allowed her to come to Canada.

The unanimous pass of Motion M-236, in the House of Commons sponsored by Mr. Scott Reid and Mr. Stockwell Day, which requested our Prime Minister to urge the President of China to release the thirteen incarcerated Falun Gong practitioners who have Canadians family ties, has greatly helped facilitate Ms. Wang’s coming to Canada.

On Human Right Day, December 10, Ms. Wang would like to share her story, a typical ordeal that tens of thousands of Falun Gong practitioners are suffering though right this moment.

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My Experience & Witness of the Persecution on Falun Gong in China

I started to practice Falun Gong in 1998. It brought me a healthy body and a harmonious family life. I’ve been detained three times for my belief. The first time was around the Chinese New Year of 2000; I went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong and was detained for 7 days. The inmates were often ordered to beat me and swear at me because I refused to write a pledge stating that I would not go to Beijing to appeal any more. I believe that I did no wrong and it’s the responsibility of a citizen to tell the government it is wrong to crackdown on a good practice.

The second time was on July 15, 2000 when I was photocopying some truth clarification flyers about Falun Gong. I was thrown into a detention centre. The policemen cuffed and beat me during the interrogation, to force me to tell them who I sent flyers to. The beating was so severe that my face was swollen and I couldn’t move my hands and arms. My body was full of bruises. I still refused to tell them anything.

The last detention happened in July of 2001 and lasted for 9 months. I was making a withdrawal at a bank when the police arrested me. They falsely accused me of having connections to “foreign (subversive) forces” and made numerous other charges. They froze my bank accounts containing US$200,000 and even ransacked my relatives’ homes. They confiscated over US$50,000 in my name. I was detained at the Yaziquan Second Detention Centre of Harbin City, and then I was transferred to Wanjia forced labour camp on November 6, 2001.

Forced Daily Brainwashing
All practitioners detained in the detention centre or the labour camp must endure forced brainwashing. Every day they teach us “Falun Gong is evil”. We have to sit in one position to watch the propaganda on a TV, or from the guards for more than 8 hours, without being allowed any movement. Sometimes, a brainwashing session lasts for days and we’re not allowed to sleep for the entire period. Often, we’re not even allowed to use the toilet. The beating is a daily routine. The purpose is to force us to give up the practice of Falun Gong.

Cruel Torture
Practitioners are tortured in many ways during detention. For example, the practitioners were hung up and whipped; stripped naked and shackled to an iron chair for long periods of time, while being deprived of sleep and shocked with electric batons; hung up with hands shackled at the back of their bodies, for as long as several days; female practitioners were thrown in cells with violent male criminals, etc. Under such torture, many people were on the verge of death. They were sent to the labour camp’s hospital, but what awaits us there is a different kind of torture.

I was eventually sent to the labour camp’s hospital. I did not receive any medical treatment, neither did the other practitioners. At that time, many practitioners could only lie in bed, unable to take care of themselves. Yet the doctors would cruelly remove their clothes, and use iron or steel spoons to scrape scabies from their bodies. Theirs was an infestation of scabies at this location. Their bodies would bleed; the doctors would rinse their tools with rusty tap water. I saw this, with my own eyes and I heard their heart-breaking shrieks. I cannot use words to describe that sound. I would watch, my face bathed in tears.

Force-Feeding
Most Falun Gong practitioners refused to give up their belief. We went on hunger strikes to protest the unlawful arrest and detention, to protest the inhuman torture, and to demand unconditional release. The administrators would use force-feeding as a revenge method to further torture practitioners.

When I went on a hunger strike at the No.2 Detention Centre, the doctors used a steel clamp to pry my teeth open, then pushed a rubber tube down to my stomach to force-feed me. The tube is as thick as a gas tube. They usually had ten people to do this. My mouth was a pool of blood and my body was covered in bruises after every force-feeding. They would pour two big bowls of cold water mixed with corn flour and said that it was for “stretching your stomach.” When I screamed, the policemen were afraid that others might hear. They ordered inmates to beat me and gag me. A few times, I was almost choked to death during the force-feeding.

The force-feeding in Wanjia labour camp was violent and cruel beyond imagination. They would first beat a practitioner close to unconsciousness. Then they force-fed him, repeating the procedure mentioned earlier. Male doctors routinely grab practitioners’ hair and ruthlessly strike their heads against walls, causing severe bloody injuries. This scene is too horrible to watch. Another time when they force-fed a female practitioner, named Guo Minxia, the nurses grabbed her hair and pinched her face and her body. She was black and blue everywhere. Her whole body was twitching. When I condemned the criminal act of the guards and doctors, they beat me ruthlessly. Even crueller was when they force-fed Ding Yanhong in front of her husband and mentally tortured him as well. Ding’s husband was so horrified. He covered his face crying out loud and could not bear to watch any more. These are just some of the things that I witnessed while in detention.

Tortured to Death Counted as Suicide
At least 8 Falun Gong practitioners had been persecuted to death in Wanjia forced labour camp since the beginning of this persecution. The guards told us that if we were beaten to death, it would be counted as a suicide and our bodies would be cremated immediately before informing our families, so they would have no evidence.

After nine months, my health severely deteriorated. I could no longer stand up. Because the tube was inserted into my nose in such a violent manner, my eyes and nasal cavity were festering with blood and pus. I almost lost my eyesight. Towards the end of my hunger strike, which lasted over 100 days, my nose was so swollen that they could no longer push a tube into it. They realized that it would be extremely difficult for me to recover and were afraid of being held responsible if I died there. They called my relatives and gave them the responsibility of nursing me back to health even after having extended my persecution onto them through constant harassment and monitoring their every activity.

Rescued to Canada
To avoid the further persecution, I went to the United Arab Emirates to visit relatives. Local police arrested me after the Chinese embassy in UAE spotted me and told them that I was a dangerous criminal and terrorist. The two negotiated to repatriate me back to China. However, with the intervention and help from the Canadian government, I was able to come to Canada. For that, I am very grateful. I am an extremely lucky person among hundreds of thousands of Falun Gong practitioners. I appeal to international community and all kind-hearted people. Let us continue to work together to stop the persecution. I wish other Falun Gong practitioners in China will also regain their freedom, like I have.

(12/09/2002  23:54)

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