Torture Methods Used on Falun Gong Practitioners in Dandong City

According to data compiled by Minghui.org, in 2016, a total of 218 Falun Gong practitioners in Dandong City, Liaoning Province were sentenced to prison; there were also 428 incidents of practitioners being sent to forced labour camps and 596 detainments. In March and April of 2017, the Dandong police department also collaborated with the local street residential committee to harass other practitioners.

The practitioners were subjected to an array of brutal torture methods, 56 of which were recorded in various towns and districts in Dandong city. Here, we have provided an overview of the torture methods used to persecute practitioners there since 1999.

Due to the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) information blockade, the types of torture methods cannot be reported in a timely manner, nor is all the information readily available.

Beatings

Some practitioners were beaten, often with belts, bamboo boards, and other objects. Some were punched in the face by police officers.

On November 30th, 1999, eight practitioners got up in the morning to do the Falun Gong exercises and were beaten brutally by officers as a result. Some had their trousers pulled down and beaten viciously until the bamboo boards broke. Many suffered from rectal bleeding afterwards.

When the practitioners fainted, officers poured cold water on them until they regained consciousness. Despite being beaten to this state, one practitioner in her twenties was handcuffed and forced to do manual labour. She was not allowed to eat or sleep if she did not complete her assigned tasks.

After being arrested, another Falun Gong practitioner in Donggang, Mr. Li Xingliang, was beaten with a wire rope and leather whip until he reached his prison cell. He vomited a large amount of blood as the assault continued.

Mr. Zou Jiling was arrested on December 22nd, 2009. To force him to give the names of other practitioners, officers beat his head. When he refused, he was handcuffed and beaten even harder.

Burning

Burning with cigarette butts and lighters is another torture method used by the police. Fengcheng practitioner Mr. Jiao Lin was burned on his jaw; Mr. Zou Jiling had his nose burned. Mr. Qi Jikang, in his seventies, was arrested and detained. He was forced to sit outside the toilet for one year and had his feet burned with a lighter.

Handcuffs

Practitioners were often handcuffed in tremendously painful postures, sometimes to heating pipes.

Donggang practitioner Ms. Liu Yanjun was arrested and taken to a hotel. The officers shoved her to the floor. One of them jumped on her to pull her arms behind her back, handcuffing her in that position. Her bones were heard cracking. She was partially paralysed as a result of this ordeal and only recovered half a year later. One who is tortured this way for a even few minutes can suffer permanent disability in their arms.

Practitioner Mr. Zhang Hai was subjected to the same abuse. However, to further torture him after he refused to falsify testimony against Ms. Liu, officers inserted more objects between the cuffs.

Practitioner Mr. Li Xinliang was arrested in April 4th, 2004 and locked in a metal cage with only his toes touching the ground. He was interrogated and not allowed to eat or drink.

Practitioner Mr. Chen Xiping was handcuffed to a heating pipe for two hours with only his toes touching the ground.

Practitioner Ms. Leng Dongmei was handcuffed with a special cuff that tied her hands and feet together. She was unable to bend down or straighten her back. She had to shuffle one step at a time when walking. Eight days after the cuffs were taken off, she almost fainted when she straightened her back.

Poking With Objects

Practitioners were poked with objects like brushes and needles. Mr. Qi Jikang was poked with needles while another practitioner, Mr. Sun Hongbin, was subjected to a torture method called “toothbrush drilling fingers.” This entailed an inmate holding his fingers together while another held down his hand and drilled a toothbrush rod into the spaces between his fingers. The skin between the fingers would break and bleed.

Pouring Water

Mr. Qi Jikang had water poured into his ears. Mr. Li Xinliang, another practitioner, was thrown into a basin of cold water for a few hours. He was later dragged out for further abuse and thrown back into the basin. This lasted the whole night.

Practitioner Mr. Song Ji had his clothes taken off and was pinned to a toilet floor. Two inmates then poured cold water on him, almost causing him to suffocate as he lost consciousness.

Shocking With Electric Batons

Ms. Zhang Wei was shocked with high-voltage electric batons almost 40 times. Another practitioner was shocked with electric batons when the police arrested her. Her hands turned purple and black.

Force Feeding

Mr. Wang Qiang was beaten until his thighs became swollen to almost the size of his waist. When he went on a hunger strike, police used pliers to pry open his jaws, causing his mouth to bleed.

Injections With Unknown Substances

Ms. Chu Huakun was one of the practitioners beaten in the detention centre when she tried to do the Falun Gong exercises. After she was released from the detention centre, she was sent to a mental hospital and injected with unknown substances. After she was released, she was unresponsive and talked very little. She has not completely recovered from the effects of the injections, with frequent headaches and a limp.

Other Torture Methods

Practitioner Ms. Xiu Jinqiu was interrogated and had her hands and feet handcuffed to a metal chair for a long time. During this period, a young officer came over and stomped on her swollen feet and toes, turning her toenails dark purple.

Eight inmates stacked themselves on top of Mr. Sun Hongbin. They tortured him twice this way for 10 minutes each. He fainted each time.

Ms. Zhang Wei was forced to stand in a horse stance after being shocked with electric batons. She had to balance a bowl of water on each hand. For the horse stance, she had to stand on her tiptoes with her arms stretched in front of her.

Knowing that Falun Gong practitioners do not smoke, officers would stuff lit cigarettes into practitioners' nostrils. This would cause green liquid to flow from the victim's nose and induce vomiting. Mr. Lang Qingsheng was subjected to this torture for several hours.

Two officers forced Ms. Song Guixiang to walk around the prison while dragging a metal block chained to her legs with a ring. They would beat her if she stopped moving.

The ring cut into her skin after a few steps. When she completed her loop, her limbs were cuffed tightly for six days, and she not allowed to move. This torture would cause joints to harden and one's body to become numb. Her wounds were infected, leaving a big scar.

Mr. Zhang Ziyang's hands and feet were chained to a cold bed plank. He was not allowed to use the toilet. While chained, he could not sleep and had to endure the cold without a blanket. He went on a hunger strike. By the fourth day, yellow and red liquid was flowing out his nose. He was force-fed and hit on the head the next day.

Other torture methods not reported include being made to sit on a torture instrument so-called “tiger bench,” getting pulled by the ears, dragged on the ground, locked in a poison room, and having one's limbs stretched.

The torture of stretching one's arms upwards would cause the hands to turn black, numb, and weak after 30 minutes. When this happened, the police would release the arms, letting them drop suddenly, inflicting excruciating pain. The officer would then hit the affected arm repeatedly until the arms turned red and blood flow was restored. When colour returned to the arms, the torture was repeated.