Ms. He Lizhong Tortured in Liaoning Province Women's Prison

Ms. He Lizhong from Fushun City, Liaoning Province, was sentenced to nine years in prison for practising Falun Gong. She was taken to the Liaoning Province Women's Prison on January 9th, 2007. Ms. He was severely persecuted in the prison.

Ms. He was incarcerated in Ward No. 1 of the prison. The head of the ward, An Rui, and head of Team No. 5, Zhu Yan, instigated a group of inmates to torture her in an attempt to get her to renounce her belief. The inmates included Liu Yan, Jing Wenli, Wang Shukun and Jia Chunrong.

An Rui and Zhu Yan deprived Ms. He of sleep, forced her to sit on a small stool for 19 hours a day, and deprived her of bathing and washing herself. They then ordered the inmates to torture her.

Jing Wenli beat her every day until she was too exhausted to continue. Ms. He's body was covered with bruises, her teeth were loosened, and she eventually lost 19 teeth. Once after Jing Wenli beat her and then sat on a chair made of metal, the chair suddenly fell apart; Jing Wenli fell to the ground and couldn't stand up.

Although Jing Wenli had beaten and tortured Ms. He, when she fell and couldn't move, Ms. He still went to help her stand up. However, Jing Wenli still proceeded to beat Ms. He every day thereafter.

When it was cold, the inmates didn't allow Ms. He and other Falun Gong practitioners to wear warm jackets. The practitioners were so cold that they shook.

When the warm meals came, Jing Wenli put the practitioners' food outside the window until it got cold. Only then did she allow practitioners to eat. If practitioners refused to eat it, Jing Wenli would force-feed them.

Although Ms. He was tortured, she still insisted on her belief. Once, the guards surrounded Ms. He and other practitioners. One of the practitioners told the guards, “We would rather die than give up our belief!” A guard then threatened, “I won't let you off the hook!”

The guard then ordered inmates Yu Hongling, Jing Wenli, Sun Xiaodong, Jia Chunrong and others to come into Ms. He's room. They took off her clothes and wrote some dirty words that slandered Falun Gong and the founder of Falun Gong.

They even wrote the defaming words on the soles of Ms. He's shoes. However, those tactics didn't achieve their purpose, as Ms. He persisted in holding on to her faith.

Prison personnel An Rui and Zhu Yan used inmates to torture Ms. He for over a year, until Zhu Yan was moved to another post.

Background Information

Ms. He started practising Falun Gong in 1996, when she realized that Falun Gong was what she had been searching for her whole life. Three years later, in 1999, the Chinese communist regime issued orders to eradicate the practice, launching one of the most violent suppressions in human history.

Ms. He was arrested in June 2001 by officers from Division No. 1 of the Fushun City Police Department for holding on to her faith. She was sent to the Fushun City Forced Labour Camp (also called Wujiabaozi Forced Labour Camp).

After arriving at the labour camp, Ms. He went on a hunger strike for more than 50 days to protest the persecution. She was later released, but was forced to leave her home for over 3 years in order to avoid further arrest.

When Ms. He returned home, she was arrested again and taken to the Fushun City Detention Centre. She went on a hunger strike again. The doctor couldn't measure her blood pressure or her heartbeat and forced her to have an intravenous drip. Even when her condition was critical, the police still made her lay on the cold concrete floor.