Mr. Gao Zeng Denied Family Visits at Handan Forced Labour Camp

Thirty-one-year-old Mr. Gao Zeng is a Falun Gong practitioner in Chen'an, Handan City, Hebei Province. He was subjected to one and a half years of forced labour in October 2011, and is currently in the Handan Forced Labour Camp.

Mr. Gao supported his family by working as an interior decorator. He has elderly parents and three children. For cultivating Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, Mr. Gao was arrested on September 2nd, 2011 by Cheng'an County police. Mr. Gao's wife ignored the pressure, took the risk, and went to Chengxi Industrial Area Police Station, Station head Yang Hongbin's home, the Cheng'an County Domestic Security Division and the county's 610 Office (an organisation of special agents just for persecuting Falun Gong), to demand his release. The officials refused to release Mr. Gao; instead they threatened and punished Mr. Gao's family. Mr. Gao was originally subjected to one year of forced labour, but these perpetrators added six months to his sentence, extending his sentence to one and a half years.

Mr. Gao was physically abused and tortured in the forced labour camp. Several months have passed, and the authorities still forbid his family to visit him.

Mr. Gao's family finally learned that the Handan Forced Labour Camp's “visiting day” was on April 15th. Mr. Gao's elderly father, his wife and three children went together to the labour camp early that morning, hoping to see Mr. Gao. His children missed their father very much, because they haven't seen him since last year. They were very happy on the way there and kept saying “I'll see my Daddy today.”

When they arrived at the labour camp, the camp officials denied them the right to visit Mr. Gao, and neither did they allow them to leave the things they brought for him. When they heard they could not see their father, the children cried. Mr. Gao's wife repeatedly requested through a friend, but the officials still turned them down, using the excuse that Mr. Gao refused to be “transformed” [forcibly renounce Falun Gong]. One official even said, “Gao Zeng is a political prisoner, tougher to handle than a murderer.” Sad and disappointed, Mr. Gao's family went home.