Persecution in Ningxia Autonomous Region: Ms. Yang Jie in Critical Condition

On September 3rd, 2012, Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Yang Jie was known to be in critical condition following a brief imprisonment in Yinchuan City Detention Centre in the Ningxia Autonomous Region. The detention centre has informed her family to come pick her up. Since the persecution of Falun Gong began in 1999, Ms. Yang has endured severe persecution and been on the brink of death several times.

Husband and Wife Arrested

On August 28th, 2012, Yinchuan practitioners Ms. Yang Jie; her husband, Zheng Yongxin; and Chen Hua were arrested. At Yinchuan Detention Centre, they were brutalized, and after only seven days of incarceration, the originally healthy Ms. Yang was in critical condition. Fearing that she would die in custody, detention centre officers told her family to come pick her up. When they arrived, her family found Ms. Yang in a daze; she had difficulty breathing and could not walk. It is not clear what she had been through in the detention centre.

Ms. Yang Jie is a native of Zhongwei City, Ningxia. She worked at an insurance company. After she began to practise Falun Gong, she experienced extraordinary improvements in her physical health and personal character. Between 1999 and 2009, she spent most of her time in Ningxia Women’s Forced Labour Camp and Ningxia Women’s Prison. She was brutally tortured and was near death several times. She also lost her job twice during this period. In 2010, she married Mr. Zheng Yongxin, and the couple borrowed an apartment from a relative. Zhongwei City police also often harassed her parents. After the couple's latest arrest, they were both sent to Yinchuan Detention Centre.

Conditions in Yinchuan Detention Centre

Since July 20th, 1999, hundreds of practitioners have been severely persecuted in Yinchuan Detention Centre. The guards have used all kinds torture techniques, including tying practitioners up, hanging them up for ten hours at a time, the tiger bench, forced feeding, extended handcuffing behind the back, foot shackles, etc. Several criminal inmates monitored each practitioner, and the practitioners were banned from doing the exercises, talking, or helping each other. Whenever practitioners protested the mistreatment, criminal inmates tied them up with a rope and hit them hard. The inmates’ job also included keeping practitioners awake at night. In the summer, they forced the practitioners to use a hand fan to keep their roommate cool. If a practitioner dosed off, he was woken up with punches and kicks.

The practitioners were ordered to assemble cigarette lighters. The quota was 1000 per day, and they were not allowed to sleep without meeting the quota. Practitioners normally get three hours of sleep per day, and during the day, they were forced to sit in tight spaces; any other activities were strictly prohibited. As a result, their legs and hips were badly swollen, and the extended forced labor resulted in bloody fingers. The guards divided the work into groups; if individual practitioners refused to do the forced labour, the other members of the group had to do extra work to make up their share. The guards used this tactic to guarantee profits and to ensure that the criminal inmates resented the practitioners.