Ms. Zhang Lanfang and Her Husband Brutally Persecuted for Practicing Falun Gong

By a Falun Dafa practitioner from Weifang City, Shandong Province

(Clearwisdom.net) Falun Dafa practitioner Ms. Zhang Lanfang and her husband are from Dongxiaoying Village, Guojia Township, Hanting District, Weifang City of Shandong Province. The couple started to practice Falun Gong in 1996. In a very short period of time, both the wife and husband became quite healthy from the practice. As a result, they lived a happy life. The villagers witnessed their changes and all praised Falun Gong. Around 30 other people also began to learn Falun Gong. Combined with the practitioners from neighboring villages, the total number of people that practiced Falun Gong in their area was more than 60 at that time. Zhang Lanfang's home became a very outstanding practice site, and more and more people came to learn Falun Gong. The village secretary introduced the practice to the village council and the council agreed to support it and rented two spacious rooms to Falun Gong practitioners. Every practitioner was very diligent and followed the high moral standards for practitioners. The village secretary was so impressed that he would praise practitioners to everyone he met.

On July 20 of 1999, out of jealousy, Jiang Zemin launched the nationwide persecution of Falun Gong, instigating the violent oppression of Falun Gong practitioners. Zhang Lanfang and her husband suddenly became a target of persecution in Guojia Township. Some officers started to harass Ms. Zhang's family regularly and a truck was parked right in front of the walkway that led to the family's front gate, completely blocking the passage.

Zhang Lanfang and her husband went to Beijing several times to appeal for fair treatment for Falun Gong, and to report the facts about Falun Gong to government officials. They told people there that Falun Dafa is good and it that it is a righteous practice. Every time this couple was arrested and brought back to their hometown, the local officials would beat them up, fine them heavily, ransack their home, and detain them beyond the legally allowed duration. The Communist Party Committee of the local township imprisoned the couple and forced them to do heavy physical labor. The couple was also publicly humiliated in front of many people. They were not allowed to have a blanket when they slept at night, and they were told that they wouldn't be released if they didn't pay bribes to the officials. Zhang Lanfang's children had to borrow money and gave the money to the officials in order to have their parents released. The family spent 2,000 yuan each for them to be released. The couple was also fined more than 10,000 yuan for going to Beijing to appeal.

During the past four years, Zhang Lanfang has been detained more than ten times at various places such as detention centers, the police station, and the town administration building. She has been fined more than 10,000 yuan. Zhang Lanfang and several other female practitioners including Wang Lihua, Yang Mingzhen, Yuan Qingxia, Zhang Dexiang, Wang Li and Zhang Yujuan were detained in the Hanting Detention Center. In order to validate Falun Dafa, all the practitioners in the detention center practiced the exercises and recited poems from Hongyin every day. The guards beat and verbally abused these practitioners every time. They were handcuffed to the doors or windows and hung up there until they lost consciousness.

The guards at the Hanting Detention Center came up with a torture method to specifically abuse Falun Dafa practitioners. They ordered the inmates to build a wooden frame using three timbers. Two timbers stood upright on the ground while the other one was placed horizontally on top of the vertical ones. Practitioners' legs would be shackled to the two standing timbers, with the legs wide apart and the arms would be cuffed to the horizontal bar over the head. This torture method was dubbed "crucifying" by the guards. Once being constrained in such a position, one simply couldn't move at all. The guards did not allow them to use the restroom. Afterwards, someone has to help the practitioners move around and feed him or her as well.

Once, practitioners Wang Li, Zhang Yujuan and Yuan Qingxia were all handcuffed together and it was extremely difficult for them to move. Because Zhang Lanfang was somewhat older than the rest of the practitioners, she was not shackled with them. She then helped the others to use the toilet and also fed them. The practitioners' legs and hands were all swollen as a result of the torture. Sometimes, the guards would beat Zhang Lanfang and call her names, or they would order the criminal inmates to lift her from the bed, drop her onto the ground and kick her.

One day, a group of inmates led by a chief police officer suddenly rushed into the room where the practitioners were being jailed. At that time, the practitioners were doing the sitting meditation. The guards grabbed practitioners Zhang Yujuan and others by the hair and started beating and kicking them. The chief officer slapped their faces with the rubber sole of a slipper. They also handcuffed some practitioners' arms to a pipe, which was as much as two meters (six and a half feet) above the floor. Soon afterwards, most of these practitioners were covered with sweat. Their shirts were soaked with sweat and sweat dripped from their hair. Most of them passed out from the pain. Eventually, they were released from the pipe and then they were immediately tied to the wooden frame. Some of the guards made explicit sexual gestures and made sexual comments to insult the practitioners (policeman Li Yong was one of them).

Practitioner Zhang Yujuan was handcuffed to the frame for 5 days and she was bitten up by mosquitoes. One guard used a book to slap her face. Wang Li was handcuffed to the frame for 8 days and her joints did not recover even after six months. Practitioner Guo Hua was once tied to the so-called "Death Bed" for more than one month. Only when the guards saw that she was in very serious physical condition did they release her. It is hard to describe with words the horror of the tortures that the practitioners suffered at the Hanting Detention Center.

In October 2002, Zhang Lanfang and her husband were both sentenced to 3 years in prison. Zhang Lanfang was sent to a forced labor camp in Jinan City, Shandong Province. At that time, her family was already in a very difficult financial situation. Zhang Lanfang was taking care of her eldest son's five-year-old child (the son had divorced) and her second son's child (who was only three years old), while her youngest son's wife had just given birth to a new baby.

Zhang Lanfang's husband was sent to a forced labor camp in Changle City, Shandong Province. He was restricted from visiting the restroom and experienced endless abuse suffering. He was forced to attend brainwashing sessions. Once, Zhang Lanfang's husband and five other practitioners were beaten violently by the guards. The guards also stomped on the practitioners. Practitioner Liu Shuchun from Changyi City, Shandong Province was beaten to death, while Ms. Zhang's husband lost consciousness from the beating. Blood oozed from his mouth and nine of his teeth were knocked out. During the past three years, Ms. Zhang's husband has been isolated in a small cell, and had his prison term extended for another three months. The police did not allow the family to visit him and completely blocked communication between Ms. Zhang and her husband.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.org/mh/articles/2004/12/13/91301.html

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