Woman from Inner Mongolia Severely Tortured During 6 Arrests and 8 Years of Incarceration

Ms. Cui Cuixia has been arrested six times by the Chinese authorities because she refused to renounce her faith in Falun Gong. Since 1999, she has spent eight years and eight months in prisons, labour camps, and detention centres. She is currently serving a four-year prison term that ends in April 2016. She has endured brutal torture along the way.

Ms. Cui started to practise Falun Gong in the spring of 1999. Within months, the practice helped her to recover from severe hepatitis B, mastitis, and uterine erosion. She felt that Falun Gong gave her a second life.

Soon after the persecution started in July 1999, Ms. Cui decided to speak up for Falun Gong. She was arrested in October 1999 after she went to Beijing to appeal for the right to practise.

In June 2000, she was arrested at work and sent to a forced labour camp for a year. Because she refused to give up her belief, the camp kept her an extra five months.

Twenty days after she was released, the police arrested her again at home. Ms. Cui held a hunger strike for nine days until the police released her. In September 2002, she was arrested for the fourth time and tortured for 10 days in a brainwashing centre.

After she was released, Ms. Cui had to move frequently to avoid further persecution. But the police found her and arrested her again in April 2004. She was held in a forced labour camp for four years.

In April 2012 when Ms. Cui was distributing information about the persecution of Falun Gong, she was reported to the police and arrested. She was sentenced to four years in prison. She is now being held in the First Women's Prison in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. Her husband passed away two days before she was transferred to the prison, but she was not allowed to attend his funeral.

The following are some of the ways Ms. Cui was tortured.

Hung up in the Air

She was hung up in the air with her hands cuffed behind her back and her feet not touching the ground. After she passed out, the guards let her down until she came to, then hung her up again.

Force-Fed

About eight male prisoners held her body and head. They pinched her nose, then force-fed her. She choked and could not breathe.

Dragged by Her Hair

She was once dragged by her hair back and forth in the hallway. The guards didn't stop until she passed out. They moved her to a cell, where they shocked her face and mouth with electric batons.

Kicked in the Head

She was kicked until she fell down. A guard kicked her head, then stepped on her head.

Death Bed

Her arms and legs were handcuffed to the four corners of a metal bed.

Hands and Feet Shackled Together

Her hands and feet were shacked together, rendering her unable to sit or stand.

Parade March and Whipped with Plastic Tubing

She was forced to march quickly with parade steps, her legs lifted high. She was forced to march for 2-3 hours. If she slowed down, the guard whipped her with a 4-cm-wide plastic tube.

Duck Walk

She was forced to squat in her bare feet, with both hands behind her back, carrying 60 pounds of corn meal. She had to walk back and forth in this position for a whole morning. Then she was forced to do parade marches.

Frog Jump

Several practitioners were forced to squat together with the person behind holding the ears of the person in the front. They were forced to jump together. Their ears were torn and bled.

Exposed to Extremely Cold Weather

In cold winter nights, she was stripped. The guards shackled her hands and legs together so that she could not straighten her body, then pushed her head into a toilet bowl.

Sprayed with High Pressure Water

She was forced to sit on the ground. The guard sprayed her face with water propelled by high pressure. It was suffocating and extremely painful.