Shenzhen City Falun Gong Practitioner Ms. Wang Xiaodong Dies from the Persecution

According to information from Shenzhen City "610 Office"(1) in Guangdong Province, Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Wang Xiaodong passed away in July of 2003 after four months of hunger strike at Nanshan Detention Centre in Shenzhen City. She is the second Falun Gong practitioner who died from persecution at Nanshan Detention Centre. In 2001, Falun Gong practitioner Sheng Deming also died at the detention centre as a result of the persecution.

Ms. Wang and her husband Liu Xifeng were both teachers at Nantou High School in Shenzhen City. They were both fired from their jobs because they firmly insisted on practising Falun Dafa. In 2000, Ms. Wang exercised her legal rights and went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong. She was abducted and sent to Nanshan Detention Centre on April 29, 2000.

In order to protest her illegal imprisonment, Ms. Wang went on a hunger strike and refused to wear the prison uniform on many occasions. For that, she was punished and abused cruelly. She wrote an appeal letter to the procuratorate office, detailing the inhumane treatments and abuses, which she and other Falun Gong practitioners suffered in prison. Against the prison regulation, Wang Churong, the director of the Nanshan Detention Centre, showed the letter to one of the prison guards, Li Yangzhi. Thus, an inhuman retaliation ensued. In order to instigate hatred towards Falun Gong practitioners among other inmates, the guards punished everyone in Ms. Wang's prison ward. He withheld food for one entire day. Other inmates immediately became hostile and angry towards Ms. Wang. They started to beat and humiliate her. The guards also put a set of foot shackles that weighed 35kg (over 77 lb) on her. It weighed almost as much as she did.

Due to the hunger strike and abuses, Ms. Wang became skin and bones. She was so weak that she could barely stand on her own, or move. Everyday, two inmates held Ms. Wang up by her arms and dragged her around. The shackles on her ankles cut deep into her flesh and caused the wounds to fester. Everyday her feet were dripping blood, and the pain was excruciating when the shackles came in direct contact with the bones. Because she had no strength to walk, she had to be held up by two inmates and dragged to the toilet. Sometimes, they would leave her there, in which case she had no choice but to sleep in the toilet. When other inmates needed to use the toilet, the inmate would drag Ms. Wang from the stall by her hair, and she would be stuffed back in later. Day by day, Ms. Wang was abused like this.

There was an incident that was even more ruthless. One afternoon, an inmate, instigated by prison guard Li Yangzhi, used a sewing needle to stab Ms. Wang's feet and calves over and over. Ms. Wang's feet and legs were soon covered with dense and numerous small holes from which blood oozed out. If she cried out even a little, the inmate would slap her face with a sandal. The torture lasted almost one hour.

On the same night, the brutal persecution intensified. Around one o'clock in the morning, the two inmates who were assigned to watch Ms. Wang decided to go to sleep. So, they made a rope with some thin threads used for crafts. They then tied Ms. Wang's hands behind her back with the rope and laid her on her back. With the 35 kg shackles, her feet and hands became numb and swollen under her body. Ms. Wang could neither turn her body nor sit up. Any slight sound she made resulted in beating and kicking. Ms. Wang was tied up in this position for six and a half hours until the morning. When the guards showed up during their morning patrol, Ms. Wang spoke loudly to them about the abuse she was subjected to, but they simply ignored her. The inmates laughed at Ms. Wang and threatened, "How dare you report us. We are not afraid even if you talk to the director. Just wait till tonight and see how we are going to deal with you."

The barbaric torture pushed Wang Xiaodong to the edge of a mental breakdown. The prison officials did not provide any psychological examination or treatment. The wounds she had on her feet were not treated, and her family's requests to visit her were denied. On July 13, 2000, Wang Xiaodong was illegally sentenced to two years in forced labour camp. When she was about to be sent to Sansui Women Labour Camp in Guangdong Province, she was only skin and bones. Her body was covered with cuts and bruises. Her body muscles were degenerating, her ankles were festering, and her legs were swollen. She had a dull look in her eyes and no expression on her face. She could hardly utter a word and showed no response when spoken to. Yet the secretary of the Political and Judiciary Committee of Nanshan District Police Department, Zeng, and Nanshan Detention Centre Director, Wang Churong, personally drove to Sansui Women Labour Camp to plan for further persecution. As a result, Ms. Wang was immediately surrounded, beaten, and scolded after she arrived.

By the middle of August 2000, the medical experts from Feshan City, Guangdong Province diagnosed Wang Xiaodong with the psychological condition of "Prison Syndrome." She was losing the ability to behave normally. It was less than one hundred days from the time Ms. Wang was abducted to the time she was diagnosed with mental illness. In a little over two months, a healthy young woman was tortured to such an extent. The prison guards even boasted around in self-satisfaction, "So you don't want to be transformed, just look at Wang Xiaodong for a glimpse of your future!"

Wang Xiaodong was released for medical treatment after being diagnosed with mental illness. With the power of Falun Dafa, she quickly recovered. She and her husband joined in the effort of clarifying the facts of Falun Gong to all the people. On September 22, 2002, Clearwisdom Net reported that Wang and her husband were again abducted and detained at Nanshan Detention Centre. She and her husband Li Xifeng protested through a hunger strike. Recently, news leaked out that Wang Xiaodong died in Nanshan Detention Centre. It is said that their 11-year-old son, Li Xiang, was sent to an orphanage in Shenzhen City.

Note:

(1) "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.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2004/7/9/79003.html