Practitioner Wu Yongmei from Chongqing City Severely Tortured, Her Four Year Old Daughter Taken Away by Police

Zhang Yuanyuan is a four-year-old girl who lives in Chongqing City. She used to have a happy family. Both her father Zhang Hongxu and mother Wu Yongmei practise Falun Gong. They are very kind people and teach their daughter to be an honest person. However, on July 22, 1999, when she was only seven-months old, she was separated from her loving father, as he was sentenced to one year in a labour camp because of his belief in Truth, Compassion, and Tolerance His illegal prison term was later extended for another year, totalling two years. When she was two years old, she would put her arms around her mother's neck every night and say: "Mummy, now Daddy is not here. We have to rely on each other!"

Her father was finally released. However, in October of 2003, after one year staying with his daughter, he once again was separated from her as persecutors attempted to force him into a brainwashing class. He had to leave home and move from one place to another to avoid persecution.

Two months after her father left home, another misfortune happened to Yuanyuan. One December afternoon at 2:00 p.m., when her mother was about to send her to nursery school, Zhang Liang, the captain of the National Security Brigade led four plain clothes police (all members of "special-task team" charged to persecute Falun Gong) to suddenly break into her home. Little Yuanyuan was terrified, and tightly held her mother's hands. Zhang Liang, Zhang Fu, Yang Chongjiu, and Zhang Shimao rushed in and forcibly handcuffed her mother. Seeing this frightening scene, little Yuanyuan cried and screamed while holding her mother's hands even more tightly. She cried: "I want my Mum! Mum!" Policewoman Li Yonghong forcibly separated her from her mother. They then dragged her mother into a black car and took her to the county's National Security Brigade. Later she was transferred to the second security office.

The perpetrators in the "special-task team" took turns torturing Wu Yongmei. To resist the persecution, she went on a hunger strike. On the night of December 24, the police started to use cruel torture methods. They tightly handcuffed her hands. One hour later when they took off the handcuffs, her hands were swollen and numb. They then forcibly pulled one of her arms over her shoulder and another from behind, and handcuffed both hands together that way. They forced her to squat with her head raised and body straight. If she slipped, she would be beaten and kicked. After several hours of continuous cruel torture, she vomited repeatedly and had stomach spasms and bleeding, which caused her to faint.

They sent her to the county's hospital to have an intravenous infusion. Several hours later they took her back to torture her further. By daybreak, she was unconscious. They then again sent her to the hospital, where they still kept her handcuffed. She continuously vomited blood. On December 27, she was transferred to the Second Internal Medicine Department of the hospital to have emergency treatment. The doctor in charge was Yue Min. She left the "needle adaptor" on her arm for convenience of intravenous infusion. Wu's hands and arms were swollen and painful for several days as a result. During her stay in the hospital, the police monitored her 24 hours a day. About ten days later, they started force-feeding her. As her life was in danger, they tied up her four limbs to the bed. One nostril was for an oxygen tube and the other for a force-feeding tube. They force-fed her at least three times a day. Each time they could only feed her 20-milliliters of the liquid. Some doctors shed tears upon seeing the miserable scene. The tube was only taken out once a week and it had turned dark. On January 9, 2004 she was taken back to the detention centre where she continued to suffer force-feeding once a day for five days. Every day she was carried to the emergency room of the hospital. The vice president of the hospital, Liu Chengzhao, carried out force-feeding twice, with a 2,000 ml. feeding each time, which caused her to vomit and become unconscious. She went into shock several times after the force-feedings. Even the prisoners who carried her cried. The long-term force-feedings severely damaged her health. She passed blood, had pain all over, and was extremely weak.

Nonetheless, warden Liu (female, over forty years old) then escalated their torture of Wu. Liu forced Wu to stand in the rain for thirty minutes. Sometimes Liu ordered prisoners to drag Wu on the floor and often insulted her. At that time, Wu Yongmei was unable to care for herself. After the Chinese spring festival, Liu Chengzhao taught the technique of force-feeding to male prisoner He Hua, who is over thirty years old and did not have any medical knowledge. It often takes He Hua three or four times to insert the tube. This has caused Wu Yongmei to have a severe cough and become unconscious many times. This torture lasted nearly twenty days. Later, she was transferred to another detention centre, and He Hua was also transferred there to carry out the force-feeding.

Wu Yongmei was on hunger strike for fifty-four days. She weighed 99 pounds before her arrest and now weighs only around 50 pounds. She looks emaciated and needs two people to support her to get up. She lays on the bed unable to move. Her voice is extremely weak and barely audible. The force-feeding causes her diarrhea and she defecates many times while on the bed. Fearing that she might die, Zhang Liang ordered a prisoner to carry her home. Upon arriving home, Wu Yongmei strongly requested to have little Yuanyuan back but the police refused. Her relatives took her to their place to help her recover. Little Yuanyuan still has been unable to see her mother.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2004/3/30/71263.html