Practitioner Ms. Zhang Xiumei is Violently Brainwashed at the Lanzhou Women's Prison in Gansu Province

Falun Dafa practitioner Ms. Zhang Xiumei from Heshui County, Gansu Province, was sentenced to four years in prison in 2001 for persisting in her belief. She is still held at the Jiuzhou Development Zone Prison in Lanzhou City, Gansu Province. The guards coerced her to write a guarantee statement to renounce Falun Dafa and frequently brainwashed her, shocked her with electric batons, and beat her.

Ms. Zhang Xiumei came from Heshui County, Qingyang City, and started practising Dafa in 1998. She previously suffered from severe hepatitis B, stomach disease, reproductive system problems, and frequent colds. All of her illnesses disappeared several months after she started practising Falun Gong.
Zhang Xiumei was arrested on November 7th, 2001, when she was distributing leaflets exposing the persecution with other practitioners. She was sentenced to four years in prison and incarcerated at Division 5 at the Jiuzhou Development Zone Prison in Lanzhou City, Gansu Province. She was forced to do slave labour and was often shocked with electric batons and also savagely beaten.

During the SARS epidemic in 2003, Ms. Zhang explained the facts about Falun Dafa to the inmates, but the guards shocked her with electric batons for more than thirty minutes, until blisters appeared on her face and neck. A deputy political head from Division 5 held a brainwashing session particularly for Zhang Xiumei for about two weeks, during which time she was forced to read slanderous documents that viciously attacked Dafa. They demanded that she relate her understanding of Falun Gong after each brainwashing session, but they could not "reform¹" her.

Zhang Xiumei made a minor mistake when sewing carpets on August 12th, 2003. The officials took her to a small torture chamber. Guards Li Wenping, Luo Zhihong, and Wang Dongmei shocked her with electric batons for more than thirty minutes. They tried to make her admit her mistake and write a guarantee statement. Zhang Xiumei lost consciousness. She agreed to write a statement when she was semi-conscious and the guards had finally stopped shocking her. The guards took her to an office and forced her to write the guarantee statements. They they told her to read them at a prison-wide meeting. Ms. Zhang became extremely fearful and agreed to the officials' conditions and wrote a repentance statement².

The next morning the guards didn't make her work but instead took her to the third floor and made her read a Dafa-slandering book. She was in anguish and deeply regretted having written the guarantee statement. Division head Wu Hongyu went to Ms. Zhang at 3:00 p.m. and asked, "A lot of us talked to you in the past and you refused to "reform." Why did you agree to write the statement just now?" Zhang Xiumei said, "You forced me! I didn't do it of my own free will. If I didn't write it, you would torture me in horrible ways."

Guard Li Wenping called Ms. Zhang to division head Wu Hongwu's office at 8:00 a.m. on August 14th, 2003. Wu Hongyu, Luo Zhihong, deputy political head Luo, and Xue Yanyan were also present. Li Wenping and Xue Yanyan asked her, "Did you write the statement willingly or did we make you do it?" Zhang Xiumei answered, "You forced me! I did not do it willingly." Guards Li Wenping and Xue Yanyan flew into a fury and ordered Zhang Xiumei to squat. Li Wenping kicked her to the floor, and both guards simultaneously shocked her with electric batons. They shocked her neck, face, head, and entire body. The level of violence escalated. They kept asking her if she would repent and write a guarantee statement.

This time Zhang Xiumei did not follow the guards' demands. She said, "I won't write it, because I didn't do anything wrong." Several other guards present screamed, "Are you going to repent? Are you going to write a guarantee statement?" The guards kept shocking her until she rolled on the floor. The guards immobilized her and put their feet on her back. They forbade her from screaming or crying and tortured her for one hour before taking her to the office and continuing to beat her. They again shocked her with electric batons and kicked her.

Ms. Zhang fell to the floor, hitting her head. Instantly an egg-sized bump appeared on her forehead. Her face looked deformed, but the officials continued the abuse. They stopped shocking her after about fifty minutes. Guard Wu Hongyu said in a cold voice, "Our superiors said we must use torture tools on you this time. Go and memorize the prison regulations really well. Think about it!" Guard Li Wenping and inmate Chen Li took Zhang Xiumei out and hung her from a door frame on the third floor by her handcuffs, with her feet on the ground. Her arms were stretched out. They left her hanging her for an entire day.

She was still hung up when the other inmates went to sleep. Her face became even more swollen than in the morning, and she suffered from severe headache and nausea. Her face became so swollen on the fourth day that she looked like a completely different person. Her face turned black and blue, and her eyes were so bloodshot that they resembled red beads. People were afraid to look at her.

Government inspectors came for an inspection about nine days later. The camp officials hid Ms. Zhang Xiumei in a small room and wouldn't let her out, day or night. The officials handcuffed her to the head of a bed.

About five days later deputy political head Luo returned Zhang Xiumei's guarantee statement to her and said, "You didn't really want to write this, so we don't have much use for it. Just take it back."

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. 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.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2006/12/14/144652.html