Practitioners Shackled to a Cross and Tortured at Weifang City Detention Centre, Shandong Province

A special instrument of torture is used on Falun Gong practitioners at the Weifang City Detention Centre in Shandong Province. It is made of steel bars and metal plumbs. When a practitioner is shackled to the instrument, his or her arms are stretched out like a cross. The person's hands are shackled separately and the legs are shackled together. The victim is restrained and kept immobile except for the head. Once affixed, the practitioner is tortured and force-fed, sometimes for as long as a few consecutive days and nights.

Ms. Kong Qian in Critical Condition

Ms. Kong Qian is being held at the Weifang City Detention Centre. To protest her arrest and detainment, Ms. Kong went on several hunger strikes. The guards dragged her to be force-fed and she was given intravenous infusions. She was restrained on a metal cross and IV-ed. After several days had passed, she couldn't move due to the torture. Her spine and lower back were injured from being pressed against the metal bars, causing extreme pain. She can no longer walk or take care of herself. The longest period that she was on the cross was seven days and nights. Before being detained, she was attractive and healthy, but now she is skin and bones, and she is in critical condition.

Ms. Tan Xianzhen Unable to Walk

Ms. Tan Xianzhen was reported to the police when she explained the facts about Falun Gong to a young man at approximately 7:00 p.m. on August 23rd, 2008. She was arrested and taken to the Guangwen Police Station in Kuiwen District, Weifang City in Shandong Province. That same night, her home was ransacked. A day later, she was taken to the Weifang City Detention Centre, where she remains.

In protest, Ms. Tan has been hunger striking since she was taken to the detention centre. For four days, the guards dragged her out of her cell, shackled her to a metal cross, and gave her intravenous infusions. Under normal circumstances, a few hours should be enough to infuse three bottles of medication. But the guards wanted to extend the time and intensity of the torture, so they made it take over ten hours. She was in pain throughout her body. After the procedure was done, she couldn't move, and several people had to help lift her down off the cross. The second day, she was again dragged out and given intravenous infusions. After two days, she could no longer move, as the extreme pain in her back and spine was barely tolerable. She couldn't stand up to walk or take care of herself.

Ms. Tan went on hunger strike for nine days. She was extremely weak and had difficulty speaking. Her heartbeat was racing and she felt like she was being smothered. Nevertheless, four officers from Guangwen Police Station lifted her up and took her to Wangcun Forced Labour Camp. They concealed the fact that she had been on a hunger strike for nine days. When she was carried into the labour camp, she was comatose and vomiting up blood. Three days later, she was again shackled to a bed and given intravenous infusions at the labour camp hospital. When the doctors discovered that she was in a critical condition with lack of blood to the heart, they ordered her family to pick her up.

Ms. Tan can no longer walk as a result of the torture. Her legs are swollen, and she can't move her head or back. In addition, a guard kicked her tail bone, making movement even more difficult. Previously she was very healthy but now she cannot take care of herself. After a dozen days of severe torture, she is completely disfigured and doesn't resemble a normal person. The persecution has hurt her and her family severely.

Police officers involved in the persecution of Ms. Tan Xianzhen from Guangwen Station:

Li Yonghong, director: 86-536-8228089
Li Hua, deputy director
Sun Shouzhi, deputy director: 86-13869667199 (Mobile)
Wang Yanfeng, police chief: 86-13336365716 (Mobile)
Police officer, Qi (given name unknown)
Chen Xiangxin, director of the National Security Division

Police officers involved in the persecution of Ms. Kong Qian at the Weifang City Detention Centre:
Wu Jing (female), around 20 years old
Zhang, chief, around 30 years old
Kang (female), doctor at the detention centre, in her fifties
From Weibei Police Station: Yan Yao

Personnel involved in arresting Ms. Kong Qian:
Huang Weilian (female), director of the Weifang City Department: 86-536-8783123
No. 912 Office at the Weifang City Government Building (specifically in charge of persecution of Falun Gong)
Li Xingming, director of the criminal police division of Weifang City Economic Development Zone
Wang Wei, director of the subdivision of the National Security Division in Weifang City

Chinese version available at http://minghui.cc/mh/articles/2008/9/16/185960.html