Guangzhou is one of the liveliest cities in China, and Tianhe is the high-tech area of Guangzhou. It is the home of many universities and Tianhe Sports Centre, the largest stadium in Guangzhou, which will be hosting the opening ceremony of the 2010 Asian Games. Neon lights illuminate the streets at night. People leisurely enjoy a variety of teas and delicate snacks. The newly-opened city is busy with people seeking material enjoyment. Little do they know that a horrendous hell on earth lies hidden in this area - the Tianhe Detention Centre.
Former detainees had a saying, "Tianhe means death." The following is an account of the atrocities that have and continue to take place at the Tianhe Detention Centre.
Every detainee is subject to strict examination. The inmates on duty order newcomers to take off all their clothes and jump non-stop. Their purpose is to check for weapons, but in reality it is personal humiliation. Any luggage brought by newcomers is confiscated. Detainees are forced to pay 100 yuan1 for a cotton towel of poor quality and 50 yuan for a prison uniform. According to Chinese Communist Party (CCP) law, the government allocates funds to purchase all quilts, prison uniforms and daily necessities. Here, all these funds are embezzled. Thirty per cent of the money sent to the detainees by their families will be confiscated. Poor quality products are sold at high prices in the detention centre, and the food often causes diarrhoea.
Zhu Wenyong, the former director of Tianhe Detention Centre was very active in persecuting Falun Gong, however he was later charged with embezzlement by his supervisor and imprisoned. We hope that the prison police in Tianhe Detention Centre will not lose their conscience and basic morality as human beings, because the CCP always targets those who are no longer useful to it.
The detainees are only provided two meals per day, at 10:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. The food is terrible. It is either decayed winter melons or rotting bean sprouts. The detainees are nonetheless forced to do intense labour for over twelve hours a day. If they cannot finish their tasks, they are subjected to barbaric punishments which include whipping, being handcuffed and chained, punctured with needles, cold water dousing, and slapping, etc.
Every morning, when the gate opens, the cold winter blows in. The prison warden sits in a chair followed by thugs in red vests with guns in their hands. When the warden waves his hand, the head of the cells will run to him with the labour completion report from the prior day. The warden will then call out names. Those who did not finish their work are subjected to whipping. The thugs will use full force and strike the victims with one end of a long gun. You can only hear the sound of strikes and horrendous screams. The victims' bottoms often are beaten black and purple with blood all over. Falun Gong practitioner Wang Jinhua was subjected to such torture. She had difficulty walking afterwards.
Being chained is another torture method often used here. There are many different ways of administering this torture, such as chaining two people together, or even three or more people in two chains. Sometimes one person is chained with the chain twisted and locked. Most Dafa practitioners in Tianhe Detention Centre have been subjected to this torture. Police guards often use the excuse of unfinished workloads to torture practitioners. Some practitioners were chained for months until their bottoms festered. Needle pricking is another torture method used. Those who cannot finish their workload are "acupunctured" on their hands and feet. Prison authorities call this method "treating patients." Another method is to pour cold water on detainees during winter time. Slapping is also very common. What's most despicable is that after being subjected to these tortures, the detainees have to shout "Thank you, chief!" before they can be released to their cells. If they refuse to do so, the torture continues and they are beaten.
Detainees in Tianhe Detention Centre are deprived all human dignity. Although one of the rights of detainees written on the wall is "Detainees cannot be personally humiliated," this is in fact only for show. I once witnessed a detainee who was chained up because of a minor offence. He was led to the cell by a rope tied to his neck. The police made him bark like a dog and ordered other detainees to spit on him until the saliva was running down his body.
Routine rounds should be the duty of the guards, but here it has become the duty of detainees. At night, if the guards find the detainee on duty sleeping, he will order him to put his arms out and he will kick them until they bleed badly. Therefore, the nights here become even more horrendous. Everyone is very nervous.
The practitioners here are subjected not only to the above mentioned tortures, but also to long-term mental torture. The police will order the head of the cell to secretly monitor every practitioner and report on them. Some practitioners were beaten or chained because they insisted on practising the exercises. Some detainees wanted to practise Falun Gong after learning the truth about the practice, but they were subjected to "whipping punishment" once the guards found out.
In order to isolate practitioners, guards order them to sit next to the horse stable for a long time. They are humiliated. Guards also often order them to write their "thoughts" and force them to give up their belief in "Truthfulness, Compassion, Tolerance." They even use joining the CCP as a condition for release. The CCP is truly coming to an end and will do anything to prolong its existence. In order to shake the strong will of practitioners, the Tianhe Detention Centre periodically posts news attacking Falun Dafa on the wall and issues a publication called "Reborn" containing articles and depraved remarks by people who used to practice Falun Gong but later stepped onto a deviated path after being brainwashed and tortured. In 2001, the secretary of the political and law committee in Tianhe went to Tianhe Detention Centre to "transform1" practitioners. One practitioner, who was a student, was deceived by the assurance that as long as he promised not to practise Falun Gong, he could go back to school. Under tremendous pressure, he wrote the promise. But he was subjected to a heavy sentence instead. One can never trust the words of the CCP under any circumstances!
The police carry out even worse tortures on the most steadfast practitioners. Practitioner Gao Xianmin died from force-feeding of high concentration salt water by Zhu Wenyong. Practitioner Zhang Chunmei remained unconscious for many days as a result of force-feeding with salt water. Practitioners Xu Juhua, Rao Chaoyuan, Zhu Yuhong and Zhu Maodi were all subjected to needle punctures, and being chained and put in solitary confinement because of their beliefs. Since 1999, several hundred practitioners have been detained here. They all suffered different extents of inhumane tortures. Practitioner Zhang Menye is among them. Practitioners Xu Juhua and Lin Jianpin, who were among a group of practitioners arrested in April 2007, are still detained here. It is estimated that there are over ten practitioners still detained in the Tianhe Detention Centre.
Guangzhou is an international city like Hong Kong and Macao. The reform and opening up of Guangzhou has only brought about superficial material enrichment, but no liberation of human nature or improvement in human rights. During the eight years of persecuting Falun Gong, the local Party officials led by Li Changchun, Huang Huahua, and Zhang Dejiang have extensively carried out the torture policy of Jiang's regime. This is one of the reasons that the human rights issue is deteriorating in Guangzhou.
Some hospitals in Guangzhou have even participated in organ harvesting from living Falun Gong practitioners. Every detained Falun Gong practitioner faces this horrendous and grave situation. We hope that every police officer and anyone who is in the political and legal system of the CCP and involved in persecuting Falun Gong will stop doing so and thereby leave themselves a path of retreat.
Relevant telephone numbers:
Office of the commander of the Guangzhou Public Security bureau: 86-20-83347347
Guangzhou Judicature Bureau (legal service consultation telephone): 86-20-83966148
Guangzhou Supervision Bureau (complaint centre telephone): 86-20-83552911
Tianhe area people's government (line designated for the head of the district): 86-20-38623347
Tianhe area National People's Congress: 86-20-38622631, E-mail: A [email protected]
Guangzhou Women's Union: 86-20-87386602
Chinese Communist Party Guangzhou Municipal Party Committee, organisation department, first division: 86-20-80909795, facsimile: 86-20-83549491
Note
1. "Yuan" is the Chinese currency; 500 yuan is equal to the average monthly income of an urban worker in China.
2. "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.ca/mh/articles/2007/7/26/159587.html
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