Chongqing Women's Prison Persecutes Falun Gong Practitioners

Falun Gong practitioners detained in the Chongqing Women's Prison are subject to various torture methods. Practitioners are watched around the clock by two monitors each during the day, and two at night. The monitors report on the practitioners to the prison ward head. The prison monitors do not do any labour during the day. They begin at 6 o'clock in the morning. After breakfast, they force the practitioners to watch videos and materials that slander Falun Gong in an attempt to stop the practitioners from practising Falun Gong. "Transforming¹" practitioners is the top priority of these prison monitors.

If practitioners are not "transformed" after one or two months, the monitors make them read materials that slander Falun Gong until ten or twelve o'clock at night. Practitioners who are not "transformed" after two months are subjected to brainwashing tactics until two o'clock in the morning. The prison monitors also beat practitioners and give them a hard time. If the practitioners continue to follow their beliefs, they are subjected to brainwashing sessions until four o'clock in the morning. Everyone must then get up at six o'clock. Some prison monitors give practitioners a hard time in order to be rewarded or have their own sentences reduced.

The following are a few accounts of the persecution Falun Gong practitioners have endured.

Ms. Xia Xinfang was in her fifties when she was detained at Chongqing Women's Prison from 2003 to 2004. She refused to be "transformed." She was often beaten and verbally abused by the prison guards. She was not allowed to use the toilet or convert money that her family gave her into shopping vouchers. Therefore, she could not buy any daily necessities. Her clothes could not be cleaned and her bowls were left dirty. One prison staff member secretly gave her some soap, but was seen by a prison monitor. The prison monitor threw away the soap and reported the incident to the prison guards. The staff member was later punished. The prison then made a rule that no one other than prison monitors was allowed to see or talk to Falun Gong practitioners. One prison staff member named Li Zhihui was shocked by electric baton after lending some shopping vouchers to practitioners.

Ms. Liu Xinghui, also in her fifties, was detained in Chongqing Women's Prison from 2002 to 2004. She refused to be "transformed" and remained very firm in her belief. Although she was badly persecuted, she continued to firmly believe in Falun Gong. She refused to cooperate with the unreasonable demands of the perpetrators, and she was very sober-minded and rational. One of the prison monitors is Zhang Naizhong (female), who is in her fifties and lives in Zhongqu District. She had hit Ms. Liu in the face many times. In the prison ward, she is even more rampant and has a square-shaped stick just for beating Ms. Liu. Ms. Liu was often forced to stand all day. She was not allowed to use the toilet and was only allowed to sleep at 4:00 a.m. She then had to get up at six o'clock in the morning. She was also forced to read brainwashing materials during the daytime. If she fell asleep, she was made to stand for a long period of time.

In the case of Ms. Xu Wenxiu, 67, the perpetrators forbade her from using the toilet. Criminals in the prison forced her to stand for long periods of time. Her legs and feet became swollen afterwards.

Ms. Wang Lan, in her forties, refused to cooperate with the perpetrators in the prison. Prison monitors Hu Hong, Xia Hongmei and others forbade Ms. Wang from using the toilet. One day, a former practitioner who went astray from Dafa went to the prison and gave speeches. The practitioners knew the speeches were all lies. Ms. Wang Lan stood up and said, "He is lying." Prison monitor Hu Hong stood up and smacked her twice on the face. Prison authorities then ordered Hu to drag Ms. Wang out of the room. After the incident, Hu received a reduction in her sentence, whereas Ms. Wang was punished and not allowed to brush her teeth or use the toilet.

Ms. Huang Daifen, also in her forties, refused to cooperate with the perpetrators. Prison monitors Shi Yanrong and Xiong Huiying forced Ms. Huang to stay awake until 2:00 a.m. and get up at six o'clock in the morning. They made Ms. Huang read books that slander Falun Gong and do forced labour.

Ms. Yan Jingrong, in her fifties, from Beijing, refused to be "transformed." Perpetrators Zhu Lian and Guan Yuhong gave her a hard time and made her work for more than ten hours a day. When others could rest at night, Ms. Yan had to stand outside the gate for two hours.

Ms. Wang Yan was in her thirties when she was detained in May 2005. After she refused to wear the prison uniform, she was forced to stand, clean the toilets and clean the prison buildings. The prison guards also forbade her family from visiting her.

Ms. Xu Hong was a journalist for the Chongqing TV station. After she refused to falsely admit she was a criminal, the guards deprived her of food and sleep. They also forced her to do slave labour during the day, and stand in the corridor at night for three days. Her body became swollen afterwards.

Ms. Wang Jinxiu refused to be "transformed" and was therefore continuously verbally abused and ridiculed. A criminal named Guan Yuhong (she was sentenced for forcing women to become prostitutes) has used various dirty and evil means to persecute many practitioners. Prison monitor Kuang Huiwen thought very highly of Guan and even organised prison monitors to learn from her "experience."

In the first prison ward, those practitioners who refused to be "transformed" were not allowed to sleep after returning from forced labour at ten o'clock at night. The guards forced them to stand and read brainwashing books for two hours before they could rest. Practitioner Wu was persecuted for more than one year by this method. Many others were also persecuted this way. Especially in summer, after working for more than ten hours, the practitioners were covered in sweat, but could not take showers immediately. By the time they could take a shower after being made to stand, it was already 2:00 a.m.

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")

Chinese version available at http://minghui.org/mh/articles/2007/5/10/154424.html