Seven Common Torture Methods Used to Persecute Falun Gong Practitioners

In forced labour camps, policemen use many different methods to physically torture Falun Gong practitioners, including forcing practitioners to stand still or sit still in a fixed position for a long time, handcuffing a practitioner to a bed for a long time, forcing practitioners to squat down or run for a long time, confining practitioners to a boiler room during hot summer days, and so on. The police use all of these torture methods for the purpose of exceeding the limits of people's endurance and thus destroying their will. To accomplish this, they are willing to go to all kinds of extremes. Many Falun Gong practitioners who have endured long periods of physical and mental torture such as sleep deprivation, beating, cursing, and intimidation often experience symptoms such as their hair turning grey, severe weight loss, body pain, damage to the functioning of their bodies, depression, and memory loss. The more significant thing is that even after the physical injuries and pain are healed over a period of time, the mental and psychological trauma often continue to hurt people for the rest of their lives.

In order to break people's will, control people's minds, and completely destroy the confidence and dignity gained from their moral and spiritual beliefs, Jiang Zemin and the nationwide "610 Office" [an agency specifically created to persecute Falun Gong, with absolute power over each level of administration in the Party and all other political and judiciary systems] have adopted dozens of brainwashing methods, both hard and soft. The following are seven of the most common torture methods used to persecute Falun Gong practitioners in the forced-labour camps in Beijing, which are under the control of the "610 Office." The situation could be even worse in other areas of China.

Punishment by being forced to stand for a long time

The victim has to stand still for a long period of time without any movement. However, after the nerves in the feet have been under pressure for a long time, the victim will easily collapse. Falun Gong practitioner Zhao Ming from Ireland was once forced by the police in the Xin'an Forced Labour Camp to stand for over 20 hours a day and for days on end, and his hands, arms, feet and legs were all swollen. His feet were swollen so much that he felt like his shoes were getting smaller and smaller every day. His feet were extremely painful from the soles to the heels.

Punishment by being forced to sit for a long time

During one period, the police tried to brainwash us. They ordered a group of thugs to force us to sit and listen to the audiotapes of their crooked and evil theories. We were forced to sit for 15 to 16 hours a day, except for a fixed time for toilet use and meals. We were not allowed to move at all. If someone moved a little, the police would order a thug to brutally beat that person. Such a long period of sitting resulted in pain in the lower back and hips. In Unit #5 of the Tuanhe Forced Labour Camp, Falun Gong practitioner Liu Yongping once received this type of torture. Mr. Liu was also brutally beaten with a plastic bench by inmates who were under orders from the police. The bench eventually broke from the great force used to beat practitioners.

Punishment by being forced to "fly"

The victim is forced to stand with his two legs straight, with his head bent down until the face is pointing to the ground, while the arms are pulled straight to the back until the arms are straight and the fingers are pointing to the sky. After a little while, the victim feels dizzy, and has weak legs, sore arms, rapid breath and heavy sweating.

Punishment by being handcuffed to a bed for a long time

Lying on the bed looks easy. But the police handcuff or tie practitioners' hands and feet to the bed and prohibit them from getting up for months on end. Eventually the victims have bedsores and every part of the skin that touches the bed feels extremely painful. It also causes great pain to the arms after the arms are handcuffed to the bed and extended for such a long time.

Punishment by being forced to squat down

There were two types of squatting torture: squatting on two legs and military squatting. Some times the victims are forced to hold their heads with their arms while squatting, with both elbows pulled inside their two legs. The victim feels sore and numb legs and pain in the lower back. The longer this torture lasts the more severe the pain becomes. The military squat is one of the most vicious physical torture methods. The police in the forced labour camps often use it to torture Falun Gong practitioners. The victim is forced to squat down with one foot in the front and another in the back, with about one small step of separation. The rear foot only has the front half touching the ground and almost bears all the body weight. Normally this will feel very painful after only a few minutes. It causes great pain to the rear foot and rear leg and could even cause complete loss of feeling and control in the leg.

When Zhao Ming was detained in the Xin'an Forced Labour Camp, the police once ordered several young inmates to force him do the military squat. After one leg lost feeling, he was forced to switch legs. He was forced to do it for over ten hours a day. Eventually his two soles felt so much pain that it felt almost like the bones of his feet were directly touching the ground.

Punishment by being forced to run

The police in the Tuanhe Forced Labour Camp force Falun Gong practitioners to run. If the practitioner gets exhausted, they order people to push him on. When someone cannot run any more even with people pushing behind him, the police order people to drag the practitioner further. Some practitioners' clothes were torn into pieces.

Policeman Yue Qingjin in the Tuanhe Forced Labour Camp confined Falun Gong practitioner Li Xupeng in the summer time inside the boiler room where the big furnace for boiling water was. The room temperature was very high. Whoever stayed inside the room felt it was unbearably hot and humid, causing breathing difficulties. In such an environment, one could easily get exhausted and some even lost consciousness. Mr. Li Xupeng was confined in the steamy room for as long as one month and eventually collapsed.

Electric Shock

Normally an electric baton has voltage of tens of thousands volts. When it discharges continuously, it emits blue light with static-like sound. When the electric current goes through a person's body, it feels like one is being burned or being bitten by snakes. Every shock is very painful like a snakebite. The victim's skin turns red, broken, burned and festering. There are even more powerful batons with higher voltage that make the victim feel like he is being hit with a hammer. According to the regulations for safe usage of the electric batons, the electric batons should not be applied to people's heads, chests, faces, or private parts. However, the police in the forced labour camp purposely applied the electric batons to people's heads, chests, and private parts. In order to prevent resistance from the victims, usually the police tie up the victims first or just use handcuffs. A normal person gives up resistance after a couple shocks. But when the police used the electric batons on Falun Gong practitioners, their purpose was to torture the practitioners so they often used ten or more batons to shock the practitioners simultaneously. They even concentrated their shocks on the head, chest and other sensitive parts and shocked the practitioners for long periods.

Force-Feeding

The medical force-feeding method is "to feed through the nostrils," namely inserting a tube into the nose and through the throat and gullet into the stomach. However, the police in the forced labour camps aim at torturing people. Even when doing force-feeding through the nose, they still tried to torture those who were on hunger strikes. They would use no lubricant on the tubes. When inserting the tubes, they would purposely push and pull the tubes repeatedly to make the victim feel great pain in the nasal cavity. The victim would also experience nausea, vomiting, and a severe cough. Every time when the force-feeding ended, there was blood on the tube. The police also used the illegal direct forced feeding method very often. They would tie up the victim and then order other inmates to force open the victim's mouth and use steel spoons and other hard objects to damage the victim's mouth and teeth. Such brutal force-feeding methods could easily force water and food into the trachea, causing lung damage and life-threatening danger.

Many Falun Gong practitioners have died from such brutal force-feeding. Among them was Mr. Liu Xuguo, a 29-year-old engineer from Shandong Province, who died on February 11, 2002 from the lung damage caused by the force-feeding conducted by the police in a forced labour camp in Jining City, Shandong Province. Ms. Mei Yulan, a 40-year-old Falun Gong practitioner from Beijing, was forced-fed by an inmate (under orders from the police) with a thick salt solution and soymilk on May 17, 2000 in Chaoyang Detention Centre. She later experienced five days of headache, and then vomited blood and passed away on May 23, 2000. The above are two cases that have been previously revealed by overseas media about Falun Gong practitioners who died as a result of force-feeding. Mr. Chen Gang himself was also tortured in the Bejijing forced labour camp under the excuse of force-feeding.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2003/8/12/55480.html