Persecution of Elderly Practitioner Mr. Yang Xiu from Lingyuan, Liaoning Province

In the morning of October 1st, 2007, Najie police arrested Mr. Yang Xiu, a practitioner from Lingyuan City, Liaoning Province, because he was publicly distributing leaflets exposing the persecution and telling people the truth about Falun Dafa. He was taken to a detention centre.

Mr. Yang Xiu, 66, is a retired teacher. Since the beginning of the persecution on Falun Gong in July of 1999, Lingyuan police arrested Mr. Yang been many times. He was imprisoned at a forced labour camp twice and suffered torture that is beyond most people's imagination.

In December 1999, Mr. Yang was detained in Section 3 at Chaoyang City Reform School (aka Xidayingzi Reform School). He and other practitioners were forced to perform heavy labour daily, from before dusk until night. Everyone was forced to dig two 10-metre deep holes for a building foundation. The skin on their hands peeled off and one could see the flesh underneath. Despite doing such heavy work, they were not given enough to eat. At night, police made practitioners line up. Each one was beaten in an effort to "transform¹" them.

In the middle of December 2002, Jin Yucheng, the director of Chaoyang City Reform School, director assistant Cheng Hetian, police officer Du Lei, the head of Section 4 Qi Yongshun, and many more, began another round of persecuting practitioners. Mr. Yang was shocked with electric batons for several days. As a result, the back of his hands, his neck and his head were covered with red dots and yellow blisters.

On April 30th, 2003, Mr. Yang Xiu declared that he was not "transformed during the forced "transformation" last October at the reform school. Jin Yucheng and a group of police officers from the Chaoyang City Reform School began to torture Mr. Yang again. They were heartless when torturing this 62-year-old man. Police ordered Shen Qingli and other prisoners to hold Mr. Yang to the ground and put a helmet on him. Then, a group of police officers shocked his head, neck and chest with electric batons. Mr. Yang was screaming because of excruciating pain. His head, neck, chest and back were covered with red dots and yellow blisters. All prisoners witnessed this.

On November 8th and 9th, 2003, Mr. Yang Xiufan and three practitioners shouted, "Falun Dafa is good." On November 9th, a middle team leader with the surname Tian ordered prisoner Zhao Zhonghua and four prisoners to take Mr. Yang to another building. They slapped him and then held him to the ground. Then, they shocked him with electric batons. At noon of the next day, they tortured another three practitioners in a classroom at Section 4. Everyone heard the shouts "Falun Dafa is good" and the continuous zaps of the electric shock batons.

On December 18th, 2003, the main section leader Qi Yongshun forced Mr. Yang to sit on a small iron stool about 20 cm in diameter and 30 cm in height. The stool surface was uneven and full of humps. It was extremely uncomfortable to sit on. Mr. Yang was forced to sit on it for more than three days. His lower body became numb and he became incontinent. When Mr. Yang went on hunger strikes, Qi Yongshun told guard Shen Hongjun and others to rub his lips very hard with a towel until they felt as if they were burning. Then they force-fed him. During the winter night, they handcuffed Mr. Yang to bed and took the covers away, opening all the windows so he would freeze. According to Qi Yongshun, they received 1,000 yuan² as "reward" for every practitioner they "transformed."

On January 15th, 2003, the reform school brought together dozens of policemen and more than twenty transformed practitioners to start a "transformation battle." They used all possible methods they could think of to force detained practitioners to write the three statements.

Torture methods included sleep deprivation for an entire week. Mr. Yang Xiufan was tortured until he was near death. On April 19th, police tortured Mr. Yang with four or five electric batons, leaving him covered with injuries. He could not eat anything for several days. They also used the torture methods "Airplane Flying," squatting for long time, and "half squat" with arms stretched straight forwards. Any practitioner who dared to do the exercises was forced by police to kneel under the blistering sun. They also tied them to a heater and deprived them of an entire night of sleep.

Staff at ChaoYang Reform School lost their humanity in order to "transform" practitioners. Because of the inhuman physical and mental torture, some practitioners' hair turned prematurely grey within a few days and some lost their hair.

Practitioners only want to tell people that Falun Dafa is good and for people not to believe in the propaganda from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Because of this, they are persecuted, some even to death. Since July 20th, 1999, more than 3,000 deaths of practitioners from torture have been verified. What Mr. Yang Xiufan suffered is only the tip of the iceberg.

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. "Yuan" is the Chinese currency; 500 yuan is equal to the average monthly income of an urban worker in China.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2007/10/14/164464.html