LOS ANGELES—Friends and supporters of Wang Zhiwen say he has been severely mistreated for the past 17 years in China. Just days ago his bid to leave behind that persecution was denied, as he was prevented from traveling outside China with his daughter and her husband.
A group supporting Wang gathered in front of the Chinese Consulate in Los Angeles on Aug. 12 to tell the public his story—a story that is strikingly similar to the experiences of several people who attended the event.
Wang practices Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, a meditation discipline that includes five sets of exercises and moral teachings based on the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance. He was one of over 70 million Chinese people who could be seen in parks throughout China in the 1990s practicing Falun Gong.
When then-regime leader Jiang Zemin decided to persecute Falun Gong practitioners in 1999, Wang Zhiwen was one of the first practitioners to be sentenced to prison.
“[Wang] was sentenced by a nationally televised show trial with three other members of the Falun Dafa Association. They were all sentenced to very long jail terms,” said Paul Wu, a representative of the Falun Dafa Association in Los Angeles.
“I still remember. He was a very, very handsome man at that time,” said Falun Gong practitioner Li Shuying, who was in the courtroom when he was sentenced.
However, during his 15 years in jail, Wang was subjected to inhumane torture in an attempt to make him renounce his beliefs. Both of his collarbones were broken, toothpicks were forced under his fingernails, and he lost all his teeth due to repeated beatings.
