One of the Methods Adopted to Torture Falun Gong Practitioners -- Barbaric Forced Feeding

In the four years of persecution, the Jiang Zemin regime has instituted more than forty different brainwashing and physically devastating torture methods, violating the ethics and morality of medical science to injure, maim, and kill Falun Gong practitioners. Examples are the injection of drugs that destroy the nervous system, barbaric force-feeding, and many others. According to a report made in October 22, 2003 by the Falun Dafa Information Centre, 805 Falun Gong practitioners have been killed in China as a result of the persecution. Among them, 70 Falun Gong practitioners perished as a result of force-feeding by the authorities.

Violation of the Ethics and Morality of Medical Science in Barbaric Force Feeding

Ordinarily, tube-feeding is a method of providing nutrition to those who cannot eat. However, in the persecution campaign against Falun Gong practitioners, Jiang's group has completely violated the ethics and morality of medical science. The many cases of persecution reveal that forced labour camps that force-feed practitioners who are on hunger strike do not do so out of human compassion, but do so explicitly for torture and persecution. The methods used include:

Intentionally using rough, filthy and oversized tubes when force-feeding Falun Gong practitioners. The tubes are re-used without proper sterilisation and are not lubricated. The tubes are purposely and forcefully inserted and withdrawn several times in both nostrils to cause pain and suffering. This is done until the person being force-fed is in extreme pain, feels nauseated, vomits, or begins coughing violently.

Prying open the mouth to force-feed directly: The practitioner is tied up. In attempts to pry the mouth open, lips are often split, teeth are knocked out and the throat is seriously injured. In this barbaric method of force-feeding, water and food are easily forced into the windpipe and damage the lungs. Some Falun Gong practitioners perished on the spot by this method of force-feeding.

Force-feeding with highly concentrated salt water, thick and dense corn paste, chilli pepper solutions and so on. Some have died of suffocation as a result of the tube being inserted into the windpipe.

The following is an account that was smuggled out of the labour camp, as told by a criminal inmate of the forced labour camp in the Second Grand Team of the Hewan forced labour camp, Wuhan City. He was coerced by the authorities to assist in force-feeding Falun Gong practitioners in order to obtain an early release from his sentence:

"One day at noon in mid April 2002, we were feeding a Falun Gong practitioner in his 50s. That day, a very brutal policeman named Gao Junan was on duty. With one foot on a stool, he held a centimeter-wide bamboo stick and kept saying, "Anyway, persecuting Falun Gong (practitioners) doesn't break any law. They can't even sue me since the government ordered that no Falun Gong cases will be accepted." He told us to pull the elderly Falun Gong practitioner's head, arms and legs in five different directions so that he could force-feed him. He thrust a tube in his throat, pulled it out, and thrust it in, again and again. His excuse was that he didn't insert the tube correctly. He was satisfied only when he saw blood on the tube. After he over fed the elderly Falun Gong practitioner with 100 millilitres of rice paste, Gao Junan ordered us to beat him. However, none of us moved, not only because of the Falun Gong practitioner's age, but also because he had earned our respect as he was a truly courageous man. He hadn't even blinked when being brutally tortured. Gao Junan was furious upon seeing us disobey him, and struck two of us with the bamboo stick. Gao Junan then started to beat that elderly Falun Gong practitioner himself. He put his hands on the practitioner's lower back, and stabbed his fingers into the area very hard to damage his kidneys. He tortured the elderly practitioner for at least 15 minutes. Still not satisfied, he ordered us to hold the elderly practitioner on the ground so he could sit on the man's legs and jab his fingers into the practitioner's underarms with all his strength. Gao Junan didn't stop until his shirt was soaked with sweat. After a long time, the elderly practitioner was able to slowly get up from the ground. Gao Junan asked us excitedly, "Did anyone see me beating him?" How could we dare speak the truth, when more policemen would do the same to us? We had to answer 'no'. Gao Junan said, "That's right. Our Communist Party's police don't beat people."

"Policeman Li Jing was the orderly officer in charge of forced feeding one day in early July 2002. He required us to make a kind of paste. For each person, there would be 2 or 3 cloves of garlic, half a cucumber, 3 pieces of cabbage and some water. One of us said that Falun Gong practitioners would not be able to stand that since their stomachs were empty [from being on hunger strike]. But Li Jing shouted out ferociously, "They deserve that. Even if it kills them, it doesn't matter." None of us dared to speak out. Li Jing made a subtle threat, saying that we had to follow his orders 'or else,' and then left. The first one coming in was a young man in his 20s. After we fed him the paste, he held his stomach with his hands, and could not stand up nor sit down. His face turned pale, beaded with pea-sized beads of sweat. Seeing him suffering like that, my heart started to give. I started to regret this group of vicious predators and becoming a brutal henchman in the persecution of Falun Gong. Then, I started to calm down and reflect. Comparing the government's deluded self-praise that it rules the country by law with reality, and looking at its untruthful propaganda that the human rights situation today in Communist China is better than ever before, I felt the humiliation of being deceived.

"One day, in the middle of the month, Li Jing was on duty again. He wanted us not only to follow his cruel force-feeding methods like last time, but also to add chilli pepper powder. This was even more vicious than last time. I couldn't stand to look at the miserable scene and shouted out within myself, 'Falun Gong practitioners, please stop the hunger strike!' When Li Jing did not take notice of me, I sneaked out of the civil administration committee's office, unable to stand it any longer."

A Partial List of Those who Died from Barbaric Force Feeding

Jiang ordered the policies of eradication of Falun Gong practitioners to "defame their reputations, bankrupt them financially, destroy them physically," "killing them is killing in vain, consider their deaths to be suicide," "no need to identify the bodies; immediately cremate them." He simultaneously used the policies of implication which added immense pressure on each level of the government to avoid being targeted themselves, on matters such as practitioners' personal careers, economic opportunities, and reaching to even their distant relatives, in order to achieve complete success in eradicating Falun Gong. Such policies for the complete destruction of Falun Gong were thus commonly implemented at the various forced labour camps throughout nation. The following is a partial list of those who died as a result of forced feeding:

Kong Deyi, male, 38 years old. He went to appeal at Beijing and was arrested and illegally imprisoned at the Linzi forced labor camp, Harbin. Because he refused to give up his belief, he was sent to solitary confinement. He could neither sit nor stand as he was cuffed and hung up for seven days, and was in extreme pain. After release from the solitary confinement, both his feet were swollen with bruises that soon became abscessed. His feet were so swollen that he was unable to put on shoes. He had great difficulty in standing up and walking. In spite of this, he was still forced to work long hours.

In May 2001, the Dafa practitioners collectively went on a hunger strike to demand their basic human rights. On the fifth day of the hunger strike, the chief of the camp, Shi Changjing, personally took control. The prison doctor forcefully inserted force-feeding tubes and deliberately repeated the insertion several times in either nostril, and in this way kept on torturing the Dafa practitioners. After inserting the tubes, the Dafa practitioners were all vomiting blood in various degrees. After Kong Deyi was force-fed, he vomited a large amount of blood, clutched his abdomen in agony and had to squat down. When was brought back to the classroom, he slumped over the desk in extreme pain. The leader of the fourth team ignored him completely.

Kong Deyi suffered like this for one and a half days. He was then forced into the exercise yard to watch a basketball game. Upon arriving, he was in a terrible state and had to be sent to the hospital. He died while enroute. In a meeting after that, the chief of the camp falsely attributed Kong Deyi's death to sudden heart failure.

Liu Xuguo, male, 29 years old, engineer at the Chemical Fertiliser Factory in Zoucheng city, Shandong Province. On February 10, 2000, he was being force-fed at the Jining forced labour camp when the tube was incorrectly inserted into his windpipe. His lungs were damaged and he died as a result.

Gao Xianmin, male, 41 years old, lecturer of Jinan University, Guangzhou. In January 2000, he was savagely force-fed with highly concentrated salt granules by the police at the Tianhe Region detention centre, Guangzhou. He died as a result. On January 18, 2000, the family members of Gao Xianmin were informed of his death.

Mei Yulan, female, 44 years old, a Falun Gong practitioner from Beijing. On May 23, 2000, she died at the Beijing City Chaoyang detention centre after being force-fed with highly concentrated salt solution and soybean milk.

Song Xiangzhen, female, 46 years old, a Falun Gong practitioner from Liaoning Province. In September 2002, she was killed at the Shenyang City Ankang hospital. The perpetrators were the chief of the hospital, Zhang Jianling, medical superintendent Xie Xiaobin and a number of other lawless culprits who savagely force-fed her.

Zhao Dongmei, female, 28 years old, a Falun Gong practitioner from Linfen City, Shanxi Province. On December 27, she died as a result of being force-fed. The food was forced into her windpipe and she suffocated to death.

Sun Guilan, female, 46 years old, a Falun Gong practitioner from Baoji City, Shanxi Province. On October 9, 2001, while being force-fed at the Baoji Military Hospital, she died of suffocation when the feeding tube was inserted into her windpipe.

Liu Hong, male, school teacher from Yaniie City, Jilin Province. In the middle of December, 2001, he was savagely force-fed at the Yanjie City detention centre. He died of suffocation when food was forced into his lungs.

Liu Xiaoling, female, 37 years old, a Falun Gong practitioner from Wuzhan town, Zhaodong city, Heilongjiang Province. She died as a result of being savagely force fed at the Zhaodong detention centre.

Wu Baowang, male, 36 years old, a Falun Gong practitioner from Qingling village, Shuangcheng City, Heilongjiang Province. Around May 17, 2002, he became unconscious after being force-fed with highly concentrated salt solution at the Shuangcheng detention centre. He died later that same day.

Liu Guiying, female, 43 years old, a Falun Gong practitioner from Mishan City, Heilongjiang Province. On October 24, 2002, she was savagely force-fed at the Mishan City detention centre and died as a result.

Li Huiwn, male, 32 years old, doctor from the Yangquan Mining Services Department, Shanxi Province. On February 26, he died from the savage force-feeding at the Taiyuan Xindian forced labour camp.

Tan Chengqiang, male, 49 years old, a Falun Gong practitioner from Hongcheng village, Handian town, Shuangcheng City, Heilongjiang Province. On July 19, he was savagely force-fed at the Shuangcheng Number Two detention centre. The mixture was incorrectly forced into his lungs causing them to become severely infected and begin to decompose. The damage was completely incurable, and he died.

Li Weihong, female, a Falun Gong practitioner from Shanghai City. At the end of the year 2000, she was savagely force-fed with chili pepper solution by the Wenzhou police, until she was rolling on the ground in pain. Her oesophagus, liver, stomach and intestines were seriously damaged from the burning chilli oil. Li Weihong was then sentenced to a one-year imprisonment. She was sent for medical attention outside the centre, and was warded at the Jingan Region Hospital in Shanghai. The doctors there, upon performing surgery on her, discovered that her stomach and intestines were all festering. On April 19, 2003, she passed away .

Ge Songmei, female, her home at Jixi of Heilongjiang Province. She was imprisoned at the Female Prison of the Ninth Supervised Region in Harbin. Violent force-feeding caused severe damage to her lungs, which became seriously infected, and she died on May 8, 2003.

From the list of the deaths resulting from force-feeding, it can be seen that savage force-feeding is a method of devastating persecution of Falun Gong practitioners. In the four years of persecution, this method has been constantly and widely used across the nation. From February 2000 to May 2003, such events were common to forced labour camps and even hospitals.

This persecution has persisted for the last four years and is continuing still. The deaths from this persecution are unceasingly increasing. This is not only the forced disappearance of individual lives from the world; it is also the repeated trampling of virtues and morality of the human race. Under such circumstances of the Chinese citizens who believe in "Zhen Shan Ren" (Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance), and those embarking on the path returning to the principles of moral virtues that are being persecuted or murdered, it is not only the flesh and blood of the human body or the stability of human society being destroyed, or just the basic prosperity of the nation being affected. It is the morality and virtues of mankind and the human spirit! Facing such a challenge to human morality, each of us has the opportunity make our own decision.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2003/11/19/60826.html