(Clearwisdom.net) Ms. Mu Hongling of Xuejiaguanzhuang in Zhigou Town, Zhucheng City, Shandong Province, was arrested because she practiced Falun Gong. She and her three-year old son had to endure detention for five months in the town office. Her son, a healthy and chubby boy, was often beaten and became mere skin and bones. Ms. Mu was also brutally tortured and almost died. She tells more of her story below:

Before 1997, I had many health problems such as arthritis, skin disease, gynecological problems, kidney stones, and a breast tumor. After work, my whole body would swell up. I was very depressed and despondent.

In October 1997, I embarked on my journey of cultivation. All my illnesses went away, and I learned how to be a good person. Teacher Li taught us "not to hit back when attacked, or talk back when insulted," and to follow the highest principle of the universe - "Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance" - to cultivate ourselves, to be an unselfish and selfless person, and to always put others ahead of ourselves.

But in China it is difficult to be good person. Jiang's group of thugs willfully spread rumors and fabricated stories to defame and incriminate Falun Gong. So without hesitation I took off for Beijing to appeal to the government. But the Appeal Administration Office had turned into a place for the authorities to arrest practitioners, depriving them of their right to speak.

When I went to appeal, the police arrested me and proceeded to beat and kick me until they were exhausted. Then they put me in an iron cage. Later they tortured me and forced me to give them my name and address. They handcuffed three practitioners from Weifang and me together. They did not give us food and also took the 160 yuan that I had with me and 3,000 yuan from another practitioner. After holding us for a day and night, the captain of the Zhucheng Police Squadron Zhu Pengde, the deputy mayor of Zhucheng City, and a director of Zhigou Town Mr. Sun took us back. On the way they left us handcuffed together while they feasted at the public's expense. They put us in a detention center and detained us for a month. Zhucheng City police officer Cao Jinhui slapped me to attempt to force me to give up practicing Falun Gong. I did not acquiesce, so he gave me a round of vicious beatings. Later he came to my house several times to extort 5,000 yuan from my husband, putting our family of three in dire financial straits.

After I got home, the more I thought about how Teacher had been unjustly treated and insulted, I decided to go to appeal in Beijing again. But I was arrested on the way and brought back. In the Zhucheng Police Station they put me in handcuffs, and policeman Cao Jinhui beat me up viciously. He yelled as he hit and slapped me. He had me on my knees, my cuffed hands raised over my head, while he kept beating me with a wooden baton, yelling, "If you die, you'll die in vain. You will be wasting your time if you try to sue me, as it is Jiang Zemin who wanted us to do this." I finally passed out and was taken to the hospital. The doctor said that I was seriously injured, my lower body completely bruised and swollen. I regained consciousness only to pass out again from the unbearable pain.

Subsequently, I was taken to the Village Office, and three or four people as well as the officials guarded me around the clock. They would not even let me have a bed to sleep in even though I was seriously injured. They kept me there for five agonizing months, during which my three-year-old son and I only had cold buns to eat and cold water to drink in spite of the cold weather. My son, a chubby boy, was beaten and tortured to skin and bones. They were unrelenting with their bag of dirty tricks including threatening me with forced labor camp and attempts at provoking my in-laws and my husband to divorce me. They also ransacked our house many times and looted everything, even a notebook worth only two yuan.

One night in April 2001, when my parents-in-law and I finished gleaning the wheat after 10 p.m., police cars from the city police station and the town police station were waiting outside of my home. I heard one vicious policeman growl at my husband, "Whoever cultivates 'Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance' will be apprehended. Falun Gong is illegal." While causing a commotion, they even tried to arrest my husband, who is not a Falun Gong practitioner. When I went home after they had left, my husband told me, "You cannot stay here. The police are not going to leave you alone. You need to run quickly."

With no other alternative, I reluctantly left home, drifting about and begging for food. But within four days the Zhucheng Police arrested me again. When he saw me, Cao Jinhui rushed towards me, howling and getting ready to hit me. Fortunately other people stopped him. Later they put me in a hotel and locked me up in a room on the second floor. In the room, there were wooden and electric batons hanging on the walls. This was no ordinary hotel room: it was an evil den for the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners. They handcuffed me to an iron chair, not allowing me any food or to talk, and would beat me whenever I opened my mouth. They tried every tactic to try to force me to give in. When I protested their treatment, they took me to the hospital and contrived with the doctor to torture me. First came the threats, and then a policewoman cut my hair and braided it into a thin rope to prick my nostrils. The feeling was just unbearable. When the time came for forced feeding, they thrust a finger-sized tube through my nostril to my stomach and force-fed me with something that caused me indescribable pain and nausea. They were still not satisfied and used a big needle to stab me repeatedly, from my thigh to the sole of my foot. They kept stabbing my sole until it felt like a hornet's nest. I kept quiet throughout. At the end they decided to send me to the transformation class.

In the "transformation" class, they rely on two kinds of evil people: the collaborators and the hatchetman. First they used the collaborators to try to placate me. When I did not fall for this ploy, they switched to using the hatchetman. I told them, "We practitioners do not fight back when attacked or talk back when insulted. Our Teacher taught us to be good people, following the principle of 'Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance.' We have done no wrong. Why don't you let us go? My husband and son are waiting for me at home. We are all good people." They said, "The society does not care whether you live or die. The population in China is too large anyway. Killing millions like you would hardly make a difference. If you die, you'll die in vain. We have instructions from above. If you continue to practice, we will send you to the forced labor camp."

I secretly made up my mind that I had to get out to tell the world about their atrocities. But I was guarded around the clock and it was difficult to escape. I was kept on the third floor, which had a carport below. I thought about jumping out of the window, but I was discovered as soon as I climbed out. I panicked and jumped hurriedly. When I landed, I felt as if all my vital organs had ruptured, and I could not breathe. Even so, they intentionally delayed sending me to the hospital until three hours later, to see if I would die. The doctor found that I had sustained fractures in three of my lumbar vertebrae, my pelvis, and my heel bones. They did not give me any treatment for these serious fractures during my 20-day stay in the hospital. The thirty-five thousand yuan that we had saved up had been drained away by the authorities long before. Because of the prolonged delay, the surgical window of opportunity passed, and my injuries were no longer operable. I lost both my urinary and bowel functions and had to rely on a catheter to empty my bladder. I requested to be released and was let go. In about ten days, Cao Jinhui sent the goons in the transformation class to my house to trick me into recording something they could use to shirk their responsibilities. They asked me what would happen if I died. Not knowing their intentions, and since we practitioners always look within to find our own shortcomings rather than blaming others, I replied, "If I die, I will not blame you." Now, looking back, I feel that it was completely their fault. They were just evil beyond reason.

The pain was indescribable. Each second was like a year. The urinary catheter was supposed to be used for only one week, but they always left it in for much longer. I did not want to be catheterized again every time it was removed. There were times when I did not pass urine for five days in a row. My abdomen would swell as though I were pregnant. It was so painful that I tossed around in bed until I was too tired to move, my tears and perspiration covering my body. Sometimes my husband had to walk for ten miles or more through mountainous passes to buy catheters. Sometimes he had to do it in the middle of the night. This went on for four months. On August 10, the catheter fell off by itself. I was able to pass urine on my own again, and thereafter I was able to walk as well. I spent over an hour walking to the outskirts of the village as a test.

From then on, with Teacher's blessing and protection, like a miracle, I gradually recovered from the brink of death.

When the villains learned that I had survived, they came to arrest me again in September 2002. They took three other practitioners and me to the notorious Wangcun Labor Camp. If a person did not transform at this labor camp, they would force him to undergo brainwashing. They would deprive the person of sleep: as soon as he closed his eyes he would be beaten or pinched. If he still did not acquiesce, he would be locked up and shackled in a small cell for solitary confinement. In these small cells one can neither squat nor stand up straight and must use the washbasin as a chamber pot. Sometimes they did not even bother to check whether the person is alive or not for many days. They would strip off the person's clothes in winter to let him freeze and do the same in summer to let the mosquitoes feast. Because of prolonged lack of sleep, some practitioners became disoriented.

We were forced to sit on three-legged wooden stools. This protracted sitting caused my buttocks to develop a very deep ulcer and to become numb. My legs also swelled badly. Thanks to this long period of torture, I now look like a 60-year-old woman, but I am actually only 32.

They released me when they saw that I was dying. Now I am forced to stay away from home and drift about.

This is the true story of my persecution, for which Jiang Zemin's regime is responsible. The harshness of the torture is often beyond words. Together with thousands of persecuted practitioners and the family members of those persecuted to death, I want to bring Jiang Zemin to justice.