DONCASTER’S Shuang Luan has been to hell and survived to tell the tale.
The
Falun Gong follower said she fled from China’s ruling Communist Party after being
imprisoned and tortured.
The 31-year-old began practicing Falun Gong on
April 25, 1999, after reading Zhuan Falun, the teachings of Falun Gong.
”Two
months after I started, the Chinese Government began to persecute Falun Gong,”
Ms Luan said.
”All the media in China spread hatred propaganda against
Falun Gong and I learned that my people were being arrested and tortured to death.”
Ms
Luan headed to Beijing over her holidays to ”peacefully appeal” to the Chinese
Government for the release of Falun Gong prisoners.
Not only was that plea
ignored, but she was arrested and taken into custody on January 1, 2001.
It
started an experience that Ms Luan said ”put me in hell”.
”I was forced
to squat with both hands holding my head and was not allowed to move, otherwise
I would be beaten,” she said.
”My group was put in a small room and it
was very crowded. We were forced to take off all our clothes to enable them to
(do a) body search.
”The food was really terrible. Dogs and pigs wouldn’t
eat it.”
Ms Luan was constantly interrogated by police who forced her to
give up Falun Gong by threatening her with three years in a labor camp if she
refused.
She was released on March 15, 2001, but was far from free.
”Almost
once a week local police came to my workplace and I was asked to write a (psychological)
report.”
Ms Luan applied for a passport, but it was rejected.
She
remained under police watch and, fearing she could again be arrested, decided
to go abroad.
Ms Luan received a protection visa and arrived in Australia
on June 5, 2004.
She is creating a new life in Manningham, but scars remain
both with her and her 10-year-old daughter, Helen.
”As soon as we arrived
in Australia, my daughter asked me, "Is (former Communist Party leader) Jiang
Zemin going to come to Australia to kill us?"
Posting date: 1/Sep/2006
Original
article date: 30/Aug/2006
Category: Media Report