Falun Dafa Practitioner Zhao Yanwu Tortured in Prison

Falun Dafa practitioner Mr. Zhao Yanwu, in his thirties, is a resident of Wenjiang District of Chengdu City, Sichuan Province.

In early February 2002, Zhao Yanwu went to Dujiangyan City for the purpose of interrupting Chinese state-run television broadcast programmes in order to expose the persecution of Falun Gong. On February 5, police arrested him. On September 11, 2002, Dujiangyan City Court sentenced him to imprisonment for five and a half years, and sent him to Dujiangyan Detention Centre. It was a severe winter that February, and he was forced to sit in the urine trough, which they called "flooding the goldfish," while other prisoners were ordered to pour at least thirty basins of cold water over him. He was not allowed to sleep, and endured the torture methods of the "tiger bench"(1) and "dragon holding a column"(2). He also endured the torture of having his pubic hairs torn out one by one. His family members were not allowed to visit him.

On March 7, 2003, Zhao Yanwu was sent to Ya'an Prison, and the guards have had him under special watch since the day he arrived. Day and night, he was forced to watch television programmes that defamed Falun Dafa. Because Zhao Yanwu refused to denounce his belief in Falun Gong, he was placed in solitary confinement in a small cell, from which he was not allowed to leave, even to eat or to use the toilet. Another practitioner, Zhang Jun, also from Wenjiang District, who interrupted television programming together with Zhao Yanwu, endured the same methods of torture and was similarly restricted in Division 1 of Ya'an Prison. It was not until March 12, 2003 that Zhao Yanwu's family learned that he had been sent to Ya'an Prison, when they received a letter from him.

On April 28, 2004, over two years after Zhao Yanwu's initial detention, his mother went to Ya'an Prison and asked to visit her son. The guard said that the supervisor had given strict orders that no one may visit Zhao Yanwu, and that visitation may only be granted through a special request to the Education Section. His mother went upstairs to make her request to the Education Section, but the staff there said, "Jiang has his finger on the trigger and has the authority to do whatever he wants." They ultimately denied her request.

Ya'an Prison in Sichuan Province:
Phone: 86-835-2239825
Zip: 625000

"Tiger bench": Prisoners 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 without movement for long periods of time.

"Dragon holding a column": This torture device is usually only used to restrain inmates who have been sentenced to death. It is a special shackle device designed to cuff the hands and feet together, which doesn't allow the person to be able to move except in a crouching position.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2004/7/1/78395.html