Practitioners Forced to Sit Motionless for 15 Hours Daily in Tianjin City Women's Prison

In order to compel Falun Gong practitioners to give up their faith, the Tianjin Women's Prison used all kinds of cruel torture methods against them. One of the methods they used was to force Falun Gong practitioners to sit motionless on a small stool for 15 to 16 hours nonstop each day.

The prison made use of the most notorious prisoners there to devise all kinds of ways to torture Falun Gong practitioners. These criminals were also utilised to closely watch over the practitioners. The torture method was called "One stare and three straights." This meant that while the practitioners sat on the tiny plastic stools, they had to keep their necks, backs and legs straight and remain motionless. Their eyes had to keep staring straight ahead and not move in any other direction. The requirement was for them to be motionless and straight, and to maintain this position for 15 straight hours. If the criminals watching over them were not pleased with them, the torture would be extended by six hours.

The plastic stools were small, hard and waterproof. After sitting on them for extended periods of time, blisters started to fester on the practitioners' thighs and buttocks. In the areas where the blisters had burst, it was extremely painful. The skin around the buttocks area was festering with blisters formed on new skin after the old skin had been rubbed off.

When a person is forced to sit like a statue for so long, it takes a terrible physical and mental toll. All of the Falun Gong practitioners who experienced this torture had scars on their buttocks. There was one practitioner who went through this torture for as long as 6 months. She has now lost all feeling in her legs and needs people's help just to walk around. She has also nearly gone blind.

During the 15 to 16 hours of daily torture, the practitioners are only allowed to eat so-called "repentance meals." Such meals included only a plain bun and 2 slices of salted vegetable. Sometimes the salted vegetable was not given, depending on the mood of the criminal watching over the practitioners. When having meals, practitioners had to keep the same position and were given only 3 minutes to eat, often less time than that. If they did not finish their food in time, it was snatched away. When sleeping at night, practitioners also had to remain motionless and could not move of their own free will. They were also monitored when they went to the washroom. The guards and inmates frequently made excuses to not allow Falun Gong practitioners to use the washroom. They forbade practitioners to bathe and wash their clothing. The practitioners were only allowed 10 minutes to relieve themselves in the toilet, and if they could not do so within that time, they would be stopped. Because the practitioners were not allowed to drink enough water or eat enough vegetables for long periods of time, they often had trouble relieving themselves, so this time limit became another form of abuse against them.

The criminals who were handpicked by the guards gave reports to them every day, and they wrote journals. Moreover, if there was nothing to write about, they made things up. Even one look between the practitioners would be documented in the reports, so that the criminals could provide so-called "proof of initiative" to show the guards. The prison guards made use of the criminals to carry out the physical abuse and torture of the practitioners in attempts to turn them against Dafa. However, it was to no avail.

The guards also instigated the criminals to frequently verbally abuse the practitioners. The practitioners were not allowed to rest after returning from forced labour and were forced to undergo brainwashing. If a practitioner did not cooperate, then all the criminals were not allowed to rest for the whole night. Additionally, the criminals were required to perform forced labour the next day. This was done to create hostility among the inmates towards practitioners, and they often took their frustration out on the Falun Gong practitioners. The criminals who attacked the practitioners with the most fervour were rewarded by the guards.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2006/1/8/118258.html