Mr. Fan Qingjun Severely Tortured in Jidong Prison

Name: Fan Qingjun
Gender: Male
Age: 40
Address: Nanzhang Village, Xiulin Town, Jingxing County, Hebei Province
Occupation: Employee of the Hebei Pharmaceutical Factory, Shijiazhuang City

Date of Most Recent Arrest: 09/2002
Most Recent Place of Detention: Jidong Prison

City: Tangshan
Province: Hebei
Persecution Suffered: Sleep deprivation, brainwashing, beatings, imprisonment, solitary confinement, torture, force-feedings, physical restraint

Mr. Fan Qingjun was arrested and held in the Xushui County Detention Centre in September 2002, because he believed in Falun Gong. In October 2003, Mr. Fan was sentenced to seven years in prison and sent to the No.1 Division in Jidong Prison, Tangshan City. Seven years of continuous persecution has caused his health to deteriorate. Prior to his imprisonment, he was in excellent health.

The following are only a few accounts of the severe torture that Mr. Fan endured while in Jidong Prison.

Solitary confinement

Prison guards recalled that when Mr Fan arrived at Jidong Prison, he had to be carried in, as he had been on a hunger strike for nine days. He was taken directly to a small cell for solitary confinement. Outside the cell, a thick, cotton-filled, dirty cloth hood was placed over Mr Fan's head. Several inmates, as directed by the prison guards, then started kicking and punching him. Mr. Fan almost suffocated as the hood was very tight around his head and he could not breathe. Before he was put in the cell, an inmate blocked the door and ordered him to shout, "Report!" When Mr. Fan refused, the inmate slapped him around the face over a dozen times.

Mr. Fan was then pushed down on his knees, in front of a board which had the prison regulations written on it. They tried to make him read it out loud, but Mr. Fan refused. He was dragged out of his cell and beaten again. The cell was only six feet long, less than two feet wide, and about six feet high. There was no light, and the walls were padded with foam or sponge panels. He was only given two meals a day, one in the morning and one in the evening. Each meal comprised of two very small buns and a slice of vegetable.

Due to Mr. Fan's firm belief in Falun Gong, the prison authorities attempted to brainwash him. During the day, Mr. Fan was forced to watch DVD's that slandered Falun Gong, and in the evenings, two prison guards interrogated him until the early hours, trying to transform [forcibly renounce Falun Gong] him. If Mr. Fan fell asleep, inmates assigned to monitor him would rub palm oil in his eyes. While he was in solitary confinement, he was not allowed to brush his teeth or wash his face, and had to wear handcuffs and a hood covering his head when he went to the restroom. Mr. Fan was held there for over a month the first time, and almost a month another time.

Barbaric force-feeding

To resist the persecution, Mr. Fan went on a hunger strike. As a result, the guards ordered him to be force-fed. A thick tube was inserted down Mr. Fan's mouth, by the "inmate physicians," who actually had no official medical training whatsoever. It usually took three inmate physicians and four other inmates to carry out the force-feeding. Mr. Fan was strapped to a chair with his arms stretched out and his legs tied. They also stripped off his clothes. It was November, and in northern China at that time of year, the temperature is very cold. They used an instrument to pry open his mouth, and as Mr. Fan had not been eating food for a long time, they had difficulty inserting the tube. So they pried harder on his teeth, which loosened several of them and the broken bits of teeth fell on to the floor. As the inmates tortured Mr. Fan, a top prison official with the last name Yang, stayed inside a nearby office.

Brutal torture

In April 2004, Mr. Fan was ordered to do forced labour, but when he refused to comply, the guards and inmates threw him into a pond, and had to stay there for the whole day. The water was very cold, as it was April, and Mr. Fan now suffers from arthritis and often has lower back and leg pains. When Mr. Fan did the forced labour, he was not allowed to take a shower when he had finished working and was kept in a separate room to be strictly monitored, and was not allowed to have contact with anyone.

On a hot summer day in June 2004, Mr. Fan was made to lie on a paved road, facing the scorching sun. He was not allowed to wear any protection from the sun, and was left there for the entire day. As a result, Mr. Fan's vision was impaired, and about a week later, he refused to do the forced labour again. This time the prison guard ordered nine inmates to rip off Mr. Fan's shirt and force him to lie on a plastic mat that had been exposed to the burning sun for a whole day. They then used a hot iron rod to burn Mr. Fan and torture him.

At the end of June 2004, three inmates tortured Mr. Fan. Two inmates twisted his arms, while the other beat him severely. The inmate repeatedly slapped Mr. Fan across the face, and used his elbow and fists to pound on Mr. Fan's legs. The vicious beating lasted for almost an hour.

On another occasion, when Mr. Fan had finished his forced labour for the day, a prison guard ordered inmates to deny Mr. Fan sleep for four days. He was made to sit on a plank, which was 20cm long and 10cm wide, for several days. His legs became swollen and painful, his eyes were bloodshot, his hearing became worse and he began to suffer from tinnitus. At night, two inmates kept talking to him to prevent him from sleeping. Long before this happened, Mr. Fan was consistently denied sleep until 1:30 a.m. and someone would shake him if he started to fall asleep.

The seven years of mental and physical torture in Jidong Prison has caused Mr. Fan Qingjun's health to deteriorate. He suffers from, among other things, insomnia, arthritis, reduced memory and headaches.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2010/6/24/225899.html