(Clearwisdom.net) My name is Wang Xiayun. I am from Shenqiu County, Henan Province and I am 58 years old. I started practicing Falun Gong in 1997. Before practicing Falun Gong, I suffered from many illnesses. After practicing Falun Gong, all my illnesses disappeared and I am happy and grateful.

On July 20, 1999, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) started persecuting Falun Gong. Due to this persecution, we lost our group practice environment. Falun Dafa and the innocent practitioners suffered tremendously. I decided to go to Beijing to utilize my citizen's right to appeal.

In late October 1999, I arrived in Beijing. I did not find the Appeals Office. I went to Tiananmen Square to clarify the truth" to the tourists. In Tiananmen Square, I was illegally arrested by police and brought to the police station,where they registered every practitioner. I did not want to add trouble to my workplace leader (the CCP would threaten them with dismissal and force them to prevent practitioners from going to appeal), so I refused to tell my name and hometown. The police handcuffed my arms behind my back and tortured me for two hours. Finally, they ordered the police from Shenqiu County to take me back. The police from my local area brought me back and detained me in the detention center for one month. My husband begged other people to help me out. The police extorted 1,800 yuan from me for my release. The money was handed to the head of the police, Lu Feng, who took the money and did not issue a receipt.

Since that time, the corrupt people from Shenqiu adopted many ways to harass me. Under this horrific and hostile atmosphere, my family lived with constant worry.

In mid April 2000, a policeman named Zhang Guiping came to my home. He said that Lu Feng wanted to talk to me. They did not allow me to remove the pot from the stove, and they grabbed me and took me to the police car outside. After arriving at the police station, they asked me whether I still practiced. I said, "Falun Gong has taught me to be a good person. At the same time, it has given me a healthy body. It is good for the individual, country and society. There is no harm in it. Why would I not practice?" They said, "Falun Gong is a [slanderous term omitted]. You have to sign right now to promise that you will not practice anymore." I was thrown into a detention center as I refused to sign. My husband asked them to release me. They pretended that they did not know anything about my case. My husband begged again and again. Lu Feng said, "She is in the detention center. I cannot release her unless you submit 3,000 yuan." In order to rescue me, my husband borrowed 3,000 yuan and handed it to the State Guard Team. They still did not release me. The police from Zhanbei Police Station prevented my release by saying that they did not get any money. They extorted another 1,500 yuan. My husband had to borrow from my relatives again. The police took the money and did not issue any receipts. This time, they detained me for 55 days.

On October 12, 2000, Lu Feng instigated the police to arrest me. Lu Feng ordered the other Dafa practitioners who were with me to write a "regret letter." I refused to write the "regret letter," so they sent me to the detention center. During the interrogation, Lu Feng brutally tortured me and dispatched someone to monitor me. He forbade me from sleeping. The police called this torture the "enduring eagle." After a long time of torture, one's mental state collapses, and feels worse than death. The police saw me reciting Teacher's scripture and added a shackle weighing 19 kilograms (42 lb.) on me. I wore it for one month. This is the heaviest shackle in the jail, usually put on criminals to be executed. When I once spoke to another practitioner, they added another handcuff to the shackle. Beating practitioners is common in jail.

In June 2001, the police sentenced me to a forced labor camp, and they sent me there for further persecution. It is a hell in the human world.