Incidents of Torture in Qidong County Detention Centre and Changsha City Women's Prison

Tortured in Qidong County Detention Centre

On March 27th, 2004, Qidong County Police officials arrested me as I distributed informational materials that explained the truth about Falun Gong and exposed the persecution. They incarcerated me in Shaoyang County Detention Centre. After I started a hunger strike to protest the detention, the police force-fed me and injured my throat in the process. Six days later they transferred me to Qidong County Detention Centre. While there, they hung me by one arm on a window frame for half a day, with my feet not even touching the floor. In addition, they tortured me with the tiger bench¹" for six consecutive days.

Tortured in Changsha City Women's Prison

I was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison for my belief in Falun Gong and served my term at Changsha City Women's Prison. I experienced inhuman tortures there, such as long-term standing (for about a month) and sleep restriction to one or two hours a night. My feet became so swollen that they oozed fluid.

A. I had to sit on wet ground and was verbally abused

The prison established an "Education and Reform²" Team to persecute practitioners. They assigned heavy intensive labour. Practitioners could not sleep if they did not finish their assigned work. On one occasion, I just blinked my eyes once, and the guard poured a bottle of cold water over my head in very cold weather. The prison officials used collaborators³ to torture us. They tied my hands behind my back, taped my mouth shut, kicked and punched me, and also pulled my hair out. They poured water on the ground and made me sit on the ground for several days and nights with my hands immobilised and my mouth taped shut. They put Teacher's [Teacher Li Hongzhi, the founder of Falun Dafa] picture on the floor and made me sit on it. They also put the picture in my trousers.

B. I was handcuffed with my arms behind my back and hung up, force-fed, and made to "carry a sword on the back"

The prison guards were very brutal and said they would torture me to death. If I died, Lu Hueiling and Wang Xiaoli, who had betrayed Falun Gong, would testify that I had committed suicide. Yan Meiying tortured me many times and claimed she would torture me step by step. Prison guard Liu Qian tied me to a chair and handcuffed my hands behind my back. I was in position called "carrying a sword on the back " for several days. (This is a brutal torture in which the hands are forced behind one's back, one pulled over the shoulder and the other pulled up from the lower back, and handcuffed). Yi Meiying and Lu Hueiling handcuffed my wrists behind my back and then pulled me up by the handcuffs as they kicked and punched me and pulled my hair. They also pinched me on the wounds they had already inflicted. I was force-fed and forced to take drugs three times per day, four to six caplets each time. I was in the "transformation" team for eleven months and barely survived.

C. List of people who were involved in the torture

Criminal inmates Liu Yan, Wang Ping, Chen Zhili, Cheng Jiawang, Yan Yiang, and a female prisoner surnamed Xie;Guard Zhao Lan; Prison Director Zhou Dan; "Reform Team" leaders, Tang Ying and Li Jun; guards Deng Zhen, Zhou Xiaolan, Li Ling, and a female guard surnamed Zhou

D. Other practitioners suffering torture

I am aware of more than a dozen practitioners who are still in the prison. They include: Me Liqun, Shi Yuhua, Zhang Chentao, Hu Xinyuan, Zhang Xinyi, Deng Honghua, Tan Xiangyu, Ding Shikun, Zhou Yufen, Yang Xiaolan, Zhang Furong, Gao Qieyue, and Zhang Geling.

Ms. Gao Qieyue cut her veins to escape from the brutal torture (Please note: Falun Gong forbids self-injury and suicide.). Ms. Li Deyin died in the prison on May 25,th 2006, as a result of torture. Practitioner Ms. Kuang Sue was beaten to death by Qidong County police.

Note

1. "Tiger Bench": Prisoners are forced to sit on a small iron bench that is approximately 20 cm (6 inches) tall with their knees tied together. With their hands tied behind their backs or sometimes placed on their knees, they are forced to sit straight up and look straight ahead without movement for long periods of time.

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")

3. "Collaborators": Former practitioners who have turned against Falun Gong under brainwashing and torture. They are then made to assist in brainwashing and torturing practitioners.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.org/mh/articles/2007/11/26/167222.html