(Clearwisdom.net)

News from USA

On September 25, the California Institute of Technology introduced new students to various aspects of the school. Many school organizations set up booths to hand out information and to introduce themselves to the students. The Falun Gong booth had truth clarification VCD's, flyers, and materials. Many students, professors, staff and family members stopped by and asked questions. At 6:30 p.m., while many were still present, practitioners demonstrated the Falun Gong exercises at people's request.

Facts of the Persecution

1) My mother is Wang Ping. She lived in Yueyang County, Hunan Province. Because she practices Falun Gong, she was illegally detained numerous times after July 20, 1999. Later she was sent to the Baimalong Forced Labor Camp in Zhuzhou City for two years where the perpetrators tortured her. In order to resist and protest the persecution, my mother held an 89-day hunger strike. She was skin and bones and on the brink of death. After she returned home, the perpetrators often arrested and tormented her. On May 10, 2004, my mother was abducted. Four months have passed and I still don't know my mother's whereabouts.

2) Dafa practitioner Tan Xiangyu in Changsha City, Hunan Province, was abducted on August 22, 2003. In June 2004 she was illegally sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison. On June 25, 2004, Tan Xiangyu appealed to the Changsha City Intermediate People's Court. Three months later the court held a second trial but reached no verdict. Tan Xiangyu is still being held at Changsha City's Detention Center. Tan Xiangyu was also tortured and has shown symptoms of illnesses.

3) On September 9, 2004, Zhang Yuanfu, secretary of the Laoxialu Street Committee in the Dongsheng Residential Office, and three perpetrators from the Laoxialu Police Department including Li broke into the home of Falun Gong practitioner Ma Wen. Ma Wen is a retired worker from Dongfang Iron and Steel Co. They tried to drag him into a car. Mr. Wen protested and said, "You are using violence on an old man without following any legal procedure! You are damaging the reputation of government officials because you treat a good person like a thug." They could not take Ma Wen away, so Zhang Yuanfu removed the picture of Mr. Li Hongzhi, the founder of Falun Gong, from the top of Ma Wen's bureau.

4) Song Junlin, secretary of the Xinbin County Political and Judiciary Committee in Liaoning Province, follows Jiang's regime to persecute Falun Gong. Song Junlin issued numerous orders to arrest practitioners in the county. He gave orders to have them abducted and sent to prisons, labor camps, and brainwashing classes; to have them fired, detained long-term, and tortured; and to have their homes ransacked. Practitioners Zou Guirong and Tang Tierong were tortured to death. Practitioner Sun Changli was disabled from torture. Practitioner Jiang Zhihui had a nervous breakdown from torture, and practitioners Wang Zhongsheng, Shang Yong and Shi Dawei were fired. Thirteen practitioners were illegally sentenced to prison. More than 300 practitioners were illegally sent to forced labor camps, and more than 400 practitioners were illegally detained. Many practitioners went into exile to avoid further persecution, and many families were broken up. Perpetrator Song Junlin also extorted money from these practitioners' families. According to incomplete estimates, the perpetrators in Xinbin County extorted nearly two million yuan from practitioners.

5) My name is Dai Xicui and I am 40 years old. I live in Guchengzhuang Village in the Kaifa District of Binhelu in Laixi City, Shandong Province. On October 1, 2000, I went to Tiananmen Square to appeal on behalf of Falun Gong. I was arrested and held for two days and two nights. On October 22, 2000, I went to Tiananmen Square again to unfurl banners and was illegally held for 15 days. On June 26, 2001, officers from the Binhelu Police Department arrested me while I was distributing Falun Dafa truth clarification materials in Shuiji, Liaxi City. In the evening, the police ransacked my home and then detained me for 15 days and extorted 195 yuan from me.