Gruesome Account of Abuse Female Dafa Practitioners Endure in Harbin Drug Rehabilitation Centre

1. The Beginning of My Practice of Falun Gong

I had severe rheumatism, gallstones and other serious problems before attaining Dafa. After starting to practise Falun Gong in October 1998, these chronic diseases were cured without any medicine. Moreover, I got to know the meaning of my life, and my spirit was uplifted.

2. Appealing Against the Persecution in Beijing Twice

On July 20, 1999, Jiang Zemin began a bloody suppression of Falun Gong practitioners. I wanted to say a word of justice for Dafa. On February 23, 2000 I went to Beijing to appeal, where the police at Tiananmen Square unlawfully arrested me. After being sent back to the local jurisdiction I was illegally detained at a city detention centre for 17 days. On June 25, 2000 I was about to practise the Dafa exercises at the park but was arrested by the police again, taken to the detention centre and detained for two and a half months. I was persistent in my belief, so my work unit expelled me from the Party, suspended my salary, bonus and other benefits.

On January 13, 2001 I went to Beijing again to appeal for Falun Dafa. Personnel from the railway police station arrested me and took me to their station. They cuffed me to a chair for one night. The next day I was interrogated and finger printed. I took advantage of an opportunity to escape the police station. Then I left my home and went from place to place for more than 40 days.

3. Trapped in the Den of Evil, I Refused to Give Up My Belief

On February 23, 2001 I went to my younger sister's home in Heilongjiang Province. My sister was also a Dafa practitioner. The police then sent me and my brothers and sisters, as well as my cousins, into detention. Some were detained for half a month, and some had to take a cut in their salary. I was sent to the city detention centre. Because I refused to give up my belief, I was sent to the Harbin Drug Rehabilitation Centre for persecution in March 2001 and illegally sentenced for one year of forced labour.

On April 23, 2002 the police followed me. All of the Dafa materials with me were confiscated. I was once more arrested and taken to the police station. The policeman twisted my arms hard, pressed my hands to the back and also slapped me in the face several times.

They tied me to a metal chair in the police station. The station head named Hu interrogated me, but I refused to answer any of his questions. He kept on slapping me in the face. One of his slaps hit my left temple so savagely that it knocked me out. The left side of my face was swollen like a bun, and my eyes were small slits. Then came in two more policemen. One kicked me while another shocked my chest with an electric baton. However, I refused to yield to their demands.

They sent me to a detention centre. Seeing my condition, the detention centre refused to receive me, afraid of the responsibility that they might have to take. I felt so ill that I vomited in front of them. Warden Hu took me to the hospital for a CT scan. Then the detention centre accepted me for unknown reasons. I started a hunger strike to protest the illegal detention and cruel persecution. After nine days on a hunger strike, they started force-feeding me. I didn't cooperate, so four to five people held me down. Once when I protested, the police stepped on my head, put one of my socks in water and inserted it into my mouth. Then they called four male prisoners and dragged me around in the lobby. Following that they locked me to a metal chair.

Because I refused to write any form of "transformation statements," by the end of May 2002, I was sent to the Harbin Drug Rehabilitation Centre again for further abuse and mistreatment, and I was unconstitutionally sentenced to three years of forced labour.

4. The Harbin Drug Rehabilitation Centre

I still went on a hunger strike to protest my illegal imprisonment. Because I kept on practising the exercises and studying the teachings of Falun Dafa, they cuffed my hands to my back on the chair for eight continuous days. They didn't unlock the handcuff until my hands and feet were swollen and completely misshapen. Another time they locked me to a heating pipe for five straight days.

The persecution escalated prior to the 16th Party Congress in 2002. They dispatched several male guards and cuffed the steadfast Dafa practitioners on the "tiger bench,"[1] a brutal means of torture. When they ran short of "tiger benches" they dragged Dafa practitioners to hidden places, such as a basement, toilet, warehouse and other out of the sight places for torture -- both hands cuffed up high, feet hardly touching the floor, mouth sealed with tape. At night when it was quiet, one often heard one miserable scream after another. There was only one meal each day, consisting of a "mouthful dole," to keep one from starving.

During 16th Party Congress the persecution was reaching a frenzied level. On November 10, 2002, the head of the Drug Rehabilitation Centre, Chen Guiqing, held a conference to announce the upcoming "assault on fortified positions," which aimed at 100 percent "transformation" of practitioners in three days.

Both male and female guards held electric batons. All of the steadfast practitioners were ordered to squat on the floor. No moving, no sleeping, no going to the toilet! Whoever moved would be beaten. The prisoners were told to monitor us, to force us to write a "break-away statement" or sign on the "guarantee statements" they wrote for us. Those who refused to sign would be forcibly dragged to the basement for torture. First she would get a "ghost head" haircut,"[2] then fed with condensed saline solution. A long piece of fabric would be tied into a big knot that was inserted into the mouth and then the tails tied behind the head. The eyes would be taped shut. Both hands would be cuffed onto rings in the floor. She had to half squat, with bare feet that slid in the metal fence, unable to move.

In the chilly winter, all of the windows were opened. The Dafa practitioners were forced to squat, clad only in underwear or totally naked. A basin of cold water connecting to electrical power was put under their buttocks. When practitioners could not squat any more and sat down into the water, their whole body would be electrically shocked. This happened to many female practitioners who had their menstrual period. Then the guards and prisoners beat, kicked, or used electric batons and specially made tools to torture us. Many practitioners' face, neck, and other body parts sustained burns from the electric shocks. Those who went into a coma were dragged to the side. Someone then poured pitcher after pitcher of cold water on them to revive them. The combination of the wind and cold water made Dafa practitioners immediately crouch and shiver. Heart-breaking screams could be heard reverberating in the halls of the Drug Rehabilitation Centre.

Those Dafa practitioners who were tortured to the brink of losing consciousness were finger printed by prisoners pressing their hands on the pre-written "transformation statements." This is how this Drug Rehabilitation Centre reached the "above 90% transformation ratio" in three days. Prisoners carried the unconscious practitioners out of the basement. After they came to, they were punished by having to squat and were cuffed on the bed and then dragged to the basement for additional torture. Some of the ways they used to torture Dafa practitioners are too horrible to describe.

I was tortured to the point of losing control of bowels and bladder. I could not take the food and water on my own. I was as skinny as a stick, but the Drug Rehabilitation Centre didn't release me because I didn't give up my belief. I was tortured so viciously that I almost lost my last gasp of breath several times. The Drug Rehabilitation Centre officials finally agreed to bail me out for hospital treatment, afraid of me dying inside.

Although I am now bailed out for hospital treatment, they still use all kinds of means to harass and persecute me. They even come to my home to do it.

The persecution against me is only one tiny tip of a huge iceberg compared to the persecution of Dafa practitioners as a whole.

[1] Tiger Bench: In this torture method, practitioners are forced to sit on a small iron bench that is approximately 20 cm (6 inches) tall with their knees tied together. With their hands tied behind their backs or sometimes placed on their knees, they are forced to sit straight up and look straight ahead. They are not allowed to turn their heads, close their eyes, talk to anyone or move at all. Several inmates are assigned to watch over the practitioners and force them to remain motionless while sitting on the bench. Usually some hard objects are inserted underneath the practitioners' lower legs or ankles to make it harder for them to tolerate this abuse.

[2] Ghost Haircut: This method was also used during the Cultural Revolution. It usually means shaving part of the head in an odd pattern and leaving the rest of the hair in place.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.cc/mh/articles/2003/10/25/59469.html