Methods of Torture Used on Falun Gong Practitioners in Daqing City, Heilongjiang Province

Practitioners in Daqing City, Heilongjiang Province, have been tortured in a multitude of ways over the past few years. The following are only some of the methods employed:

Tying the Ropes: Refers to putting a thin nylon rope around the back of a person's neck and then wrapping it around both shoulders down to each arm loop by loop and then over each hand. The rope is tightened until it cuts into the flesh. Both arms are forced behind the back and raised to the extreme, and then both thumbs are tied with a rope and tied to the rope that goes around the back of the neck. The person tortured in this way is then kicked down to his knees on the floor. The rope is released about an hour later, and then the person is tied up again a second time, then a third time, and so on.

Freezing: The police strip the practitioners naked, take them outside, and handcuff them to a steel frame in the shape of a cross. It can be 20 degrees below zero centigrade in northeast China. The guards wear army coats and wrap themselves in heavy blankets. They stomp their feet repeatedly to try to stay warm. In these circumstances, more then ten practitioners had their clothes stripped off and were frozen for an hour and 40 minutes, causing numbness.

Sitting Torture: The victim is ordered to sit on a small stool, hands on the knees, and is not allowed to move. They are forced to sit for 18 to 20 hours a day, constantly monitored by inmates. This kind of torture will severely injure the victim's back. Some practitioners could not stand up straight after the "sitting torture" and they almost lost the ability to stand. After long hours of sitting in the same position, the buttocks become severely bruised. Some wardens even use stools with ridges so the skin on the victims' buttocks will split open and become infected.

Covering the Head with a Plastic Bag: The victim is ordered to confess. If he does not, his head is covered with a plastic bag causing him to almost suffocate. Some practitioners even pass out.

Sleep Deprivation: Several inmates guard the practitioners and do not allow them to sleep. The practitioners are forced to sit facing a wall.

Dead Person's Bed: The practitioner's arms and legs are stretched out and tied to the four posts of a metal bed.

Flying an Airplane: Practitioners are forced to bend down in a 90-degree angle and lift their arms up and backwards. They are forced to keep the airplane posture for a long period of time.

Tiger Bench: This torture uses a modified steel chair. The chair seat is a thick steel plate. The original chair armrests are modified with a rounded metal barrier. Sitting on the chair is like sitting in a cage. There are foot shackles underneath each front chair leg, which clamp both feet tightly; a nylon rope is used to tightly tie the person up; the upper arms are tied tightly behind the back, both lower arms are forced to the front to reach armrests on both sides, then two hand straps are used to bind the lower arms to the armrests. The person is tied on the tiger bench like this for long time, while he/she is tortured and brutally beaten.

Being Confined in a Solitary Compartment: All practitioners tortured this way were under the supervision of vicious criminals. In the isolated cells, practitioners were forced to sit on a small metal bench. They were also deprived of sleep. A practitioner was tortured until as late as 2 a.m., and then another round of tortures began. The police incited criminals to beat practitioners at will. They established solitary confinement cells at the forced labour camp to especially detain and torture Falun Gong practitioners. As long as the practitioners were held in the solitary confinement cells, those in charge tortured them day and night.

Squat with the Eyes Open: The practitioners are forced to squat and are beaten if they close their eyes. The torturers do not allow them to sleep.

Propping up a wooden stick under the anus: A long iron bench is turned upwards, and the practitioner is forced to sit on the reinforced bar of the bench. They separate the practitioner's legs, tie them and prop a stick up under the victim's anus, causing extreme pain.

Digging in Bamboo Sticks ("Bamboo Toothpicks"): The torturers hammer sharp bamboo sticks into the fingers of the practitioner through the tip of the fingernails.

Injections of Strong Sleep-inducing Drugs: The practitioners are taken to the mental hospital and injected with strong sleep-inducing drugs.

Scrubbing Women's Private Parts: They tie the female practitioner's feet with rope and and separate her legs. Then they scrub her private parts with a brush--often a toilet bowl brush--and then smear water laced with hot chilli pepper over her.

Stabbing the Practitioners' Nipples with Needles: Practitioners' nipples are stabbed with needles. After the blood clots they find another place on the nipples to stab.

Crushing the Testicles: The torturers instigate the criminal inmates to crush and pull male practitioners' testicles. They insert the practitioners' private parts into the spokes of a wheel.

Brushing the Anus with a Toothbrush: The torturers brush the practitioner's anus with a toothbrush, causing him extreme pain.

Stirring a Wooden Stick inside the Mouth: The guards instigate the criminal inmates to use a short wooden stick to pry open the practitioner's mouth and then use a wooden stick to "stir" inside his mouth, causing his gums and cheeks to bleed and swell. Then they pour salt water into his mouth.

Sitting on an Iron Stick: Practitioners are stripped naked and tied on a wooden chair that has had all the seat slats but one removed.

Riding on an Iron Stick: The torturers pour freezing cold water over the practitioners, strip them naked, lock them in the iron chair, and force them to straddle an iron stick.

Stabbing with Needles: The torturers keep the practitioners in the iron chair and use the needles to stab them. If the practitioners refuse to give up their belief they will stab them.

Cruelly Beating with the Heel of a Shoe: The torturers strip the practitioners naked and beat their hips with the heel of a shoe, causing their bodies to turn black and purple.

Beating the Chins: The torturers force the practitioners to stand against the wall and keep their heads six or seven centimetres away from the wall. They then beat their chins with their fists, making their teeth knock into each other and their heads hit the wall. They also beat their cheeks with their fists.

Turning the Head Urgently: The torturers force the practitioners to keep their heads still. One person clutches the practitioner's head, twists it backwards to the maximum extent and then quickly twists it in the opposite direction many times.

Making Hungry: Practitioners are not allowed to have a full meal and are only given a half of one-liang-weight (about 0.8 ounce) steamed bun per meal.

Little White Dragon: Practitioners are thrashed with thin, hard, plastic tubes.

Scalding with Boiling Water: Boiling water is poured over the practitioners.

Pouring Freezing Cold Water over the Practitioners: The guards deprived the practitioners of sleep and kept them hungry and then poured freezing cold water over them. It is very cold in winter in the northeast of China. In order to prevent the practitioners from protesting, they locked them in the iron chair and poured water over them. They poured 200 basins of water in the morning and 200 basins of water in the evening and tortured them all day. At the same time, they used the electric fan to blow wind on them. This torture made the practitioners' heads ache and they were unable to speak. Some practitioners were tortured until they passed out. Some evildoers opened the doors and windows of the water house to let the freezing cold air into the water house. They stripped the practitioners naked and tied their hands and feet with a bedspread and pushed them into the water house to pour the freezing cold water over them, causing the practitioners extreme pain.

Brutal Beating: This is used most commonly. Practitioner Wang Bin was tortured to death from a brutal beating. Usually, seven or eight criminal inmates drag a practitioner into the toilet and brutally beat the him until he can not get up again. Late at night mournful cries are often heard.

Force-feeding Urine and Faeces: Feces are smeared on practitioners' mouths, and they are force-feed urine and faeces.

Hitting the Chest with the Rubber Hammer: They put a cotton cushion on the practitioner's chest and then use a rubber hammer to hit his chest. According to the torturers, this torture can cause internal injury that cannot be identified on the surface.

Sitting on an Iron Tube: The practitioner is stripped naked and locked into an iron chair. They handcuff his hands and feet to the iron chair and also make him sit on an iron tube. This torture makes the victim's entire weight press on the tip of his coccyx. This torture cannot be found either in modern or in ancient times, in China or elsewhere.

"Restriction Chair" (also called Iron Chair): This torture instrument is made of steel pipes and plates with a movable steel plate that sits over the victim's lap, completely restraining him. The victim is ordered to sit on the chair, hands locked on the chair arms and the feet locked in the rings on the chair legs. The steel plate restricts the victim's legs. The person can't move on this chair, is not allowed to sleep, and is monitored by guards or other people. Usually one has to sit for a limit of seven days because the victim can easily become disabled from sitting longer. Some Falun Gong practitioners were locked in the chair for as long as ten days.

Hanging up by a Rope: The practitioner in the solitary confinement cell is hung him up by a rope for 24 hours.

Rubbing the Skin: They tied the practitioner up and then incited the criminal inmates to use soft rubber-soled shoes to severely rub the practitioner's scalp and neck. Practitioner Wang Bin suffered these two kinds of tortures. Later Daqing City People's Hospital diagnosed that the blood vessels on his head were broken all over. The prison police instigated criminal inmates to use their hands to briskly rub the practitioner's face until it became abraded. They also used hard plastic brushes to scour the skin with a lot of force until it became raw and severely infected all over.

Strolling in the Garden: The practitioner must wear heavy foot shackles to walk in a restricted field for a long time.

Propping up the Stick: A two-foot-long iron stick with a hoop on each side of the stick is put on the practitioner's feet, which causes him to be unable to walk after the torture instrument is removed.

Spraying Water into the Mouth: Water is sprayed with great forced into the practitioner's mouth, which causes him to choke and fills his stomach full of water.

Sitting on a Basin: The practitioner is forced to squat over a basin of water for a long time. If he refuses to "transform¹" and obey their orders, he is forced to squat. When he can no longer squat, he has to sit in the water.

Trampling the Toes: The guards use the heels of their shoes to trample the practitioner's toes, causing them to bleed.

Wearing the Mask: The practitioner's hands are bound behind his back and then they are forced to wear masks that have been soaked in spicy mustard.

Suffocating with a Blanket: Many guards use heavy blankets to almost suffocate the practitioners. When the practitioners are on the brink of suffocation, they stop and then continue to almost suffocate them with the blankets over and over.

Sitting on a stick: A wooden stick is placed under the practitioner's anus ,and he is forced to sit on it for a long period of time.

Forced labour: The guards force the practitioners to carry dirt, dig out rocks, and mow the grass.

Feeding the Mosquitoes: Practitioners are stripped of every piece of clothing and forced to stand outside where mosquitoes swarm. Practitioners are bitten by mosquitoes multiple times.

Water Dungeon (Huairou District Detention Centre in Beijing):

Practitioners are locked in handcuffs and foot shackles. Some are forced to sit down beside the cell vent in a very uncomfortable, contorted position, unable to stretch or squat down. The torturers then pour water on the floor, soaking the victim's coat and trousers with freezing water. The practitioner gets soaked all over except his head.

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/2007/10/25/165217.html