By a Falun Gong practitioner from Changde City, Hunan Province

(Clearwisdom.net) Falun Gong practitioner Tan Xiaolan is from Shimen County, Changde City, Hunan Province. She was arrested for the third time on October 14, 2005, and illegally detained in a brainwashing class used by the Chinese authorities to "reform" practitioners. We are aware that behind this particular arrest there is an even darker plot.

On October 14, Ms. Tan Xiaolan received a notice from the county's General Management Office, saying, "The higher authorities request a meeting with you." Tan Xiaolan wasn't fooled by their plot and did not go. A moment later, several agents from the same office came to her home to arrest her. Tan Xiaolan's husband tried to block their car, but because they had more people, he was tightly restrained while Ms. Tan was forced into the car and taken away.

That was Tan Xiaolan's third arrest. The first two times, she was imprisoned for over two years. This time, the vicious perpetrators blocked all information about her. At first, her family could not find out where Ms. Tan was detained. Later, after asking many people for help, they finally found out that she was detained in a hostel associated with the Changde City Qingfeng Coal Mine.

This hostel has now been upgraded to a "hotel." In order to set up a "brainwashing base," the municipal government spent over 100,000 yuan. All of the windows and doors were installed with security systems. Dozens of Falun Gong practitioners from different counties are imprisoned there. The perpetrators are afraid that their illegal and vicious conduct will be exposed, so they set up strict restrictions for family visits, including the stipulation that, "Falun Gong practitioners, or those who have practiced Falun Gong before, (they have a list of names) are not allowed to visit."

Tan Xiaolan's husband discovered after talking with those in charge, that the so-called "teaching assistants" in the brainwashing class were simply untrained people selected from the public. The administration of the brainwashing class costs 8,000 yuan per day. The illegally detained practitioners had to pay thousands of yuan for living expenses. A practitioner from Linli was released only after her family members withdrew money from the bank and paid out over 3,000 yuan.

As of today, Tan Xiaolan has been deprived of freedom for over two months. She is imprisoned because the 610 Office is afraid that their attempt to poison Ms. Tan's parents' food will be exposed to the public. Her parents are also Falun Gong practitioners.

On December 24, 2000, Tan Xiaolan's parents were detained in the Changde City Brainwashing Center, located in a drug rehab center. The more than 60 practitioners detained there acted together and refused to cooperate with the evildoers, and the brainwashing was a complete failure. Ms. Tan's parents were escorted back to Shimen County and imprisoned there. They went on a hunger strike to protest the illegal long-term imprisonment. Agents from the 610 Office sent Tan Xiaolan's mother to the county hospital's psychiatry ward, where staff injected her with unknown drugs. As a result she became blind and her legs were disabled.

Xiaolan's father was pressed down onto the flatbed of a tricycle by four men and was force-fed food mixed with some kind of drugs. In addition, he was locked in a dark and damp cell for an extended period of time. Eventually, he was also rendered blind. Because many members of their family strongly and repeatedly demanded the 610 Office to release her parents, and also because the village authorities were unable to afford the wages of the guards, they dismissed all the guards on March 22, 2002. Under these circumstances, the 610 Office had to release her parents on March 24, 2002, but continued to persecute them.

The authorities attempted several times to poison Tan Xiaolan and her parents. However, with Teacher's help, they vomited out all the poison. The symptoms were of food poisoning, but they did not have any evidence of foul play at the time.

The persecution Ms. Tan's parents had suffered was reported on Clearwisdom.net. The 610 Office also knew that the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture would be arriving in China to investigate the family's case. To cover up their crimes, the 610 Office instigated someone to spray deadly poison onto the garlic that her parents had planted. On September 17, 2005, one day before the Mid-Autumn Festival, while cooking scrambled eggs with garlic, both Tan Xiaolan and her mother noticed that the smell was strange; hence they did not eat it. But her father did not want to waste food, and ate it all. As soon as he finished, his face immediately turned blue, and he started to vomit and had diarrhea. While her father was suffering, the person who poisoned the garlic stood outside and listened to what would happen. There was a woman with him and they were talking. They did not expect to see Tan Xiaolan coming out right then. She heard the woman say, "The old man should not die. The old woman should!" On seeing Ms. Tan, they ran away immediately. Tan Xiaolan heard what they said, which proved that someone was trying to poison them. After a careful examination, they confirmed that the poison had been sprayed on the garlic.

After Tan Xiaolan was arrested, her mother Hou Jinyuan went to the county 610 Office to demand her release. The following conversation ensued:

Ms. Hou: Director Sheng, why did you arrest her this time? Is it wrong to practice Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance? Is it wrong to want to be a good person?

Sheng: No.

Ms. Hou: Was it wrong to practice Falun Gong to become cured of cancer?

Sheng: No.

Ms. Hou: We have been tortured by you for a long time and are unable to live independently. Is it wrong for my daughter to come and take care of us?

Sheng: No.

Ms. Hou: Now I know. It must be because the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture plans to look into our case. you tried to poison us to silence us, but you failed, and you are afraid that Xiaolan will report what you have done, and therefore you arrested her. Isn't it so?

Sheng: (embarrassed)...

This conversation offers some clue about why Tan Xiaolan was arrested. Because her parents are blind, they are unable to move freely. They cannot get the phone numbers of those who are responsible.

Changde Police Station in Hunan Province
http://www.cdsgaj.gov.cn/
E-mail: cdgaj@changde.gov.cn
Phone: 86-736-7958000, 86-736-7958023
Address: 68, Jianshexilu, North Town, Changde City

January 2, 2006.

Posting date: 1/22/2006
Original article date: 1/21/2006
Category: Eyewitness Accounts
Translated on 1/7/2006
Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2006/1/3/117899.html

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