Ms. Wang Liqiu Brainwashed in Jilin Women's Prison

On February 13th, 2007, Ms. Wang Liqiu went looking for her friend, Mu Chunhong, who had not returned home from the previous night out. When Ms. Wang failed to come home herself, her family searched everywhere for her. They discovered that someone was arrested near the Xiangyang local police station, so they went there to make an inquiry. The police told them that the State Security Division of the city government had arrested Ms. Wang.

On March 6th, twenty-two days after Ms. Wang was taken into custody, her family received a letter notifying them of her arrest. It did not mention however, why the the letter was delayed. They exhausted all possible means to rescue her, but to no avail.

On March 14th, Ms. Wang's family was told that she had been taken to the Police Dog Base in Chuanying District, Jilin City, on February 13th -- the day she went missing. Those responsible for her arrest included Municipal Police Department State Security Section chief, Di Shigang, police officer Sun Zhuang, and others.

The arresting officers forced eight bottles of a mustard solution into Ms. Wang's nose, causing her to go into shock. After pouring cold water on her to wake her, they continued torturing her until she was on the verge of death.

Even in this condition, and with no evidence of any wrongdoing, Ms. Wang was still sentenced to three years at the Jilin Province Women's Prison in Heizuizi, on November 23rd, 2007.

When she arrived at the prison, the guards put her on a torture device called the "stretching bed." This device works as follows: Guards take two metal bed frames and place them side-by-side, forcing the victim to lay on the seam separating the two frames.

Next, the guards use sections of rope to tie the person's four limbs to four corner posts of the bed frames. The two beds are then pulled apart, and bricks are placed between the two bed frames to hold them apart. With each additional brick, the victim experiences indescribable pain. When the torturers shake, stretch, pull, and drag the "stretching bed" around, the ropes tear into the person's hands and feet and cut off their blood circulation.

Some victims subjected to this torture have suffered from torn muscles and ligaments, dislocated joints, and fractured bones. Others suffered mental collapse and were left crippled for life. Still others were tortured to the point of near death.

While imprisoned, Ms. Wang and her fellow practitioners were brainwashed every day. They are also forced to study materials slandering Falun Gong.

On August 27th, 2008, when her family members went to see Ms. Wang, she appeared very excited and kept telling them that she had finally awakened and needed to tell others so that they too could understand. She then told her mother and father, who are both in their seventies, what she understood: "I have committed a crime."

When her father heard this, he was quite upset and told her, "You did not commit a crime, you were sentenced to three years in prison just for looking for your friend. What crime is that? Rather, it's the police who have committed a crime!" Ms. Wang's father was visibly distraught for several days afterwards, constantly worrying about his daughter's well being.

When Ms. Wang's family asked her about the "stretching bed" -- which she had mentioned to them before -- she didn't dare talk about it, nor did she want others to mention it. Instead, she kept nervously turning her head, looking at the guards who were standing around. When she was asked if she would appeal her sentence -- which she had previously promised to do -- she replied that she would not appeal, then quickly looked at the guards with fear in her eyes.

Over the course of Ms. Wang's one-and-a-half years of imprisonment, her behaviour became more and more erratic. It appeared that she was finding it increasingly difficult to distinguish between right and wrong, good and bad. She even believed that the people who tortured her were actually being nice to her, and were in fact her friends. She said that she now understood that, "It was right for them to send me to prison."

Everyone is very worried for her. They can't imagine what the guards must have put her through for her to say such things. On several occasions her family requested to have lunch or dinner with Ms. Wang, but each time the guards refused. Other inmates were allowed to share a meal with their families, but Falun Gong practitioners are prohibited from doing so.

Her family later discovered that each time they visited Ms. Wang and spoke to her through a partition, using a telephone, there was always someone nearby who picked up a telephone at the same time. Her family originally thought this person was talking to others, but they soon discovered that after Ms. Wang finished talking, this person put the phone down at the same exact time. It appears that he was listening to everything that was being said.

When the Olympic Games were in progress, some family members of the 100-plus practitioners imprisoned there, went to visit them. However, each time the guards told them, "They have violated prison regulations and you are not allowed to see them." When they were asked how the practitioners violated the regulations, the guards didn't answer them directly but simply insisted that "Their behaviour was not good, so you are not allowed to see them." When some family members went to the Prison Politics Section to contest the guards' decisions, they were told they would have to wait until the Olympic Games concluded before they could see the practitioners.

The so-called "education prison area" of the prison is the most evil of places. It is specifically designed for persecuting Falun Gong practitioners and occupies sections of the third and fourth floors of the North Prison Building, and when necessary, even portions of the fifth floor. The door frames of all the rooms are covered with a white cloth to ensure that passersby cannot look inside.

The third floor is where the most intense so-called "reforming¹" of practitioners takes place. The primary methods employed include inciting criminal inmates to scold, beat, and torture practitioners. As a result, many practitioners' hands and feet have become numb, painful, and partially disabled. Also, the scars left from the ropes cutting into their wrists and ankles are clearly visible.

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.ca/mh/articles/2008/9/7/185452.html