Torture Methods Used at the Beijing Female Prison to Force Falun Gong Practitioners to Abandon Their Beliefs

1. Not Allowing Practitioners to Sleep

If practitioners who were in prison didn't want to "transform",¹ they would not be allowed to go to sleep. Practitioner Ms. Dong Yanhong from Qinghua University wasn't allowed to close her eyes for 8 days and 8 nights consecutively. Inmate Liu Aihua who was helping the prison authorities to brainwash practitioners said, "With such a long period of time of not allowing her to sleep, she will die." "Collaborator"²Li Xiaobing replied, "She will not die. For people like her a nap already equals our whole night's sleep." Practitioner Ms. Zhang Guolan from Huairou County in Beijing wasn't allowed to go to sleep for over 40 days until she fell and hurt her forehead on the stool that she was sitting on. Only then was she allowed to sleep from 12 p.m. to 5 a.m. A foreign language teacher, Ms. Zhou Zi, approximately 20-years-old, wasn't allowed to go to sleep for two months. However, the collaborators helping the prison to brainwash practitioners had three shifts to continuously brainwash them.

2. Mental Abuse

If the practitioners didn't "transform" or if they renounced their "Repentance Statements"³, the guards would strictly control the inmates and do such things as changing the daily schedules, forbidding them entertainment and so on, so the inmates would vent their anger on those practitioners who didn't "transform." Moreover the inmates who wanted their sentences reduced had to make their "scores." The inmates helping the prison brainwash practitioners could all make perfect scores and not have to work at all. The other inmates, however, found it very difficult to make any score, so they resented the practitioners who didn't "transform" too. They shouted loudly and even brutally beat them The guard took practitioner Ms. Shi Guiqin from Chaoyang District in Beijing to each ward to listen to the inmates' "help" (to "transform" her). The inmates worked hard to show off in front of the guards. They shouted at Ms. Shi very loudly and swore at her very badly. Convicted murderer Tang Handong even slapped Ms. Shi's face in front of people.

3. Physical Torture

Outstanding teacher Ms. Gong Ruiping, from Pinggu County in Beijing, held firmly to her belief in Falun Dafa. As a result collaborators Li Xiaobing, Yu Jia and others slapped her face and stabbed her hands with pens. Tian Fengqing, the guard's leader, incited guards Xi Xuehui (who was the on-duty guard on the day when practitioner Ms. Dong Cui was beaten to death) and Chen Jing to take Ms. Gong to the one-story house behind the building where no one could hear the screams when they tortured practitioners. They held Ms. Gong on the ground, separated her legs in opposite directions and then pulled very hard. After this torture, Ms. Gong couldn't walk normally for nearly a year. Collaborator Wu Dan beat Practitioner Ms. Zhao Zhisheng very hard, which caused Ms. Zhao's nose and mouth to bleed. The guards also forced practitioner Ms. Zhao Xiuhuan to bend her body at 90 degrees with two people riding on her. When almost 70-year-old practitioner Ms. Yue Changzhi first came to the jail, her back was very straight. A few days later after she was "transformed," her back bent forward at 90 degrees. Ms. Yuan Lin from Beijing University was lame after being "transformed." Being firm in her belief in Falun Gong, practitioner Ms. Li Li from Shijingshan District in Beijing was made to stand for long periods of time and her legs became very swollen. For two months, she still couldn't sleep well due to the pain in her legs.

4. Tying Practitioners in the Double-crossed Legs Position

In 2002, three collaborators working for the 610 Office⁴ came to the jail. Xu was collaborator Li Xiaobing's husband. One of the women was named Zang (last name). They had an idea that if any practitioner didn't "transform," they would tie the practitioner into the double-crossed legs position (also called a full lotus) and make her sit in that position until she "transformed." Practitioner Ms. Xu Na was tied in this position for over ten hours. Ms. Liu Xiuqin and Ms. Wu Lanlan repeatedly were tied in this position for six or seven hours. Ms. Zhao Yumin only could single-cross her legs, yet they also tied her in the double-crossed legs position. She was in so much pain that her clothes were all covered in sweat. Ms. Yue Changzhi wasn't in pain from sitting with double crossed-legs, so they punished her with standing.

Some Falun Gong practitioners reported the guards to the prison bureau for committing human rights violations. The head of No. 10 division, Zheng Yumei, shouted at a meeting, "Some Falun Gong practitioners said that we had encroached on their human rights. You are cultivating Buddhahood, which means you are not human. If you aren't human, why do you ask for human rights?"

Note

1. "Reform or Transform" Implementation of brainwashing and torture in order to force a practitioner to renounce Falun Gong. (Variations: "reform", "transform", "reformed", "reforming", "transformed", "transforming", and "transformation")

2. "Collaborators": Former practitioners who have turned against Falun Gong under brainwashing and torture. They are then made to assist in brainwashing and torturing practitioners.

3. Repentance Statement: In this statement the practitioner is forced to admit remorse for practising Falun Gong, promise to give up Falun Gong, and never again associate with other practitioners or go to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong.

4. "The 610 office" is 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/2005/9/18/110655.html