By a family member of a Falun Gong practitioner in northeast China

(Clearwisdom.net) My mother used to have rheumatoid arthritis. She was almost completely disabled and couldn't take care of herself. After she started to practice Falun Gong in 1997, she could stand up again. Moreover, she could climb the stairs, do grocery shopping, and cook again. My mother personally experienced the magnificence of Falun Gong.

After October 2000 my mother and sister were illegally arrested and detained several times for practicing Falun Gong. During that period, I was the only one left at home. The local police did not care about my difficult financial situation and constantly extorted money from me. Since I had to pay the fines, I quickly spent all the family savings. In addition, the police were ordered to "ruin their reputations, bankrupt them financially and physically destroy them" by Jiang Zemin's regime and the Communist Party. The mental and financial burdens that I am suffering are great.

On January 1, 2001, my mother was persecuted to the verge of death. Since the 610 Office officials were afraid of having to take responsibility for her death, they ordered me to pay the fine and pick up my mother. Since I really could not afford the fine, they forced me to sign an acknowledgement of debt for more than 3000 yuan and released my mother.

This was just the beginning. My sister was jailed in a notorious forced labor camp. Under Jiang regime's extermination policy that "no one will be held responsible if Falun Gong practitioners are beaten to death, just count them as suicide," the personal safety and life of Falun Gong practitioners cannot be guaranteed. During her detention, she constantly heard stories of practitioners persecuted to death or disability. Practitioners were not allowed to see their family members. Right before the 2001 New Year, a practitioner was tortured to death. After strong demands from her family members, we got a chance to visit the camp. I really cherished this opportunity since I was afraid I'd never see her again! One day after the New Year when we went to visit my sister, a police guard at the entrance to the labor camp tricked us into signing an agreement for a "gate pass" that had words slandering Falun Gong by covering those words with his hand. Later, I heard that an incarcerated practitioner's two daughters had refused to sign the agreement and were not allowed to visit their relative. This practitioner told the labor camp guards, "I am proud of both of my daughters!"

Soon afterwards, my mother was illegally arrested again and detained in the same forced labor camp. Around the 2002 New Year, my mother and sister started hunger strikes to resist the persecution. When my sister was on the verge of death, labor camp officials told me, "Bring 2000 yuan and pick up your sister." The next day I gathered up 500 yuan. The supervisor of the labor camp's women's team told me, "Although you do not have enough money, you have relatives. Borrow money from them!" I said, "I can borrow from them, but how can I pay them back?" After listening to me, she left without a word. In order to get my sister out of the labor camp as soon as possible, I paid 500 yuan in cash, signed an acknowledgement of debt for 2000 yuan, and was forced to write a guarantee statement.

After that, my mother was on the verge of death several times. The labor camp again ordered me to pay money and also to turn in my sister in exchange for my mother. How terrible their words were! My sister had just been recovering from her brush with death, and my mother's life was in extreme danger. How could I choose between them? The experience was terribly painful. When I went to the hospital, I could barely recognize my mother because she had been tortured so badly. My first words to her were, "Mom? Is it you, Mom?" The police guards kept demanding that I tell them my real address and my employer, and said they were going to arrest my sister immediately. Facing those responsible, who had no human conscience, was extremely painful. I did not tell them where my sister was. However, I was very worried about my mother's health. I paid them more than a thousand yuan and wrote a guarantee statement for my mother. I saw that my mother was extremely weak and had been reduced to skin and bones. After reading my guarantee statement, the supervisor of the women's team angrily threw it back at me and said, "This is not a guarantee--it's more like a set of accusations against us!" As a result, my mother was not released. As weak as she has become from the mental and physical torture, she is still required to do forced labor.

This persecution is still going on. So many practitioners are being jailed or detained. Their family members are suffering the same torment.

April 17, 2005