Demonstrators gather in Oceanside to unite against torture

By: ROB DAVIS - for the North County Times | Sunday, October 23, 2005 9:22 PM PDT ∞

OCEANSIDE ---- Tears streamed down Bin Li's face as she recounted the details of her torture at the hands of the Chinese government.

The electric shocks. The scorched skin. The abuse. The screams.

More than 250 people listened while she spoke near the Oceanside pier yesterday, as the North County Chapter of Amnesty International held its 17th Annual Candlelight Walk for Human Rights.

This year's theme was Stop Torture Now. Three torture survivors told their stories and implored the audience to help make a difference.

Li was a follower of Falun Gong, a spiritual movement with ties to Taoism and Buddhism that was banned in China in 1999. She was imprisoned for her belief, she said. Hoping to be freed from the labor camp where she was imprisoned, Li eventually renounced her belief in Falun Gong.

She immediately regretted the decision, she told the audience. She realized it would only encourage the torture of others like her.

"To think about it is like remembering a nightmare," she said, "but I have to tell you. Afterwards, my spirit died and I lost my conscience. I did not know who I was."

Le Ly Hayslip, 55, of Escondido, was barely a teenager when the Vietnam War came to her village outside Da Nang. Details of an innocent childhood marred by torture, rape and starvation drew gasps from some in the crowd.

Hayslip, whose story was the subject of Oliver Stone's film "Heaven and Earth," recounted her three-day stay in a south Vietnamese torture camp.

Her voice cracked when she described the electric shocks people received on their tongues, the nails that were hammered into fingers.

Since relocating to the United States in 1970, she has helped found two nongovernmental organizations dedicated to helping the Vietnamese people.

"I want to give a voice to the voiceless," she said, "a face to the faceless, the nameless and the powerless. You all here tonight have power in your hands. You can make a difference."

In the audience, people held dozens of signs detailing the names and cases of those who are in danger of torture.

There was one for Yohannes Abate, an Ethiopian reportedly being held incommunicado.

There was another for Rodrigo Costa Silva, a Brazilian reportedly in hiding for fear of being killed after reporting an incident of torture.

There were signs for people from Yemen, Syria, the United Arab Emirates, Nepal, Eritrea, Uganda and other countries.

Nestor Fantini, 52, of Northridge, was a 21-year-old student leader when he was arrested in Argentina and held for four years, he said in an interview.

"Those experiences change your life forever," he said. "You are full of ideas, you are full of hope. Those things happen, and you are never the same person again."

His first year of detainment was spent in isolation, he said. Then Amnesty International adopted his case and his situation improved. He credits the human rights organization with helping to secure his release from prison.

Fantini said the world still has lessons to learn, particularly when human rights in the United States run the risk of being co-opted by the war on terrorism.

The three victims shared one message: One person can affect change.

People such as Kathi Anderson, executive director of the San Diego-based Survivors of Torture International, recognized for her work helping torture victims living in the area. She co-founded the group, and the efforts to help victims adjust to life in the United States began out of her home.

As she spoke, she wheeled around to a sign behind her.

In all caps, it read: STOP TORTURE NOW.

"Together," Anderson told the audience, "we can stop torture now." She repeated herself, a sign for the crowd to join in the growing chant.

"Stop torture now," they said. "Stop torture now."