Brutality in Xiguoyuan Detention Centre: Handcuffs and Shackles Cut into Flesh, Infected Wounds Are Left Untreated

Yu Youwen was kidnapped on September 19, 2002 and taken to Xiguoyuan Detention Centre. He has been illegally detained there ever since. Since he was detained, he has been forced to sleep on the ground under the bed. Because the cell was gloomy, cold and damp, scabies developed on his body and he had difficulty squatting or sitting. He was still forced to do hard labour. The sanitation at the detention centre was very poor and the scabies infestation made it difficult for him to move around. He had to work kneeling on the ground. As of February of 2003, he had been forced to sleep on the ground for five months.

Jin Jilin was kidnapped to Xiguoyuan Detention Centre on May 3, 2002 and illegally sentenced to 10 years of imprisonment. In February and March of 2003, the detention centre refused to allow him to meet with his family. He lodged a stern protest to the centre to criticise the inhumanity. But instead of allowing Jin Jilin to meet with his family, the detention centre 's head, Wang Yanhui, and police officer, Wang Zhenya, forced a torture device called "Back Fasten" onto him. They chained his feet together, forced his hands behind his back and cuffed his hands together tightly with a handcuff fashioned from re-bar (steel rods used to reinforce concrete). Then they tightly fastened his leg shackles and handcuffs together with heavy metal wire. They call this torture method "Back Fasten." The victims of this torture cannot stand up straight and or squat down only kneel on the ground. The wrists are in extreme pain from the pulling of the foot chain. To reduce the pain, Jin Jilin had to lie on his side, trying to lift his feet up toward his back. This left him unable to eat, drink, go to the toilet or do anything by himself. He was tortured this way for five days. His hand became very swollen. The cuffs cut into his flesh and the wounds on his wrists became infected and festered. His whole body is swollen and covered in infected wounds. He cannot even get into his clothes. He was tortured with the "Back Fasten" method from the morning of March 25 to the afternoon of March 29, 2003.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.ca/mh/articles/2003/5/14/50308.html