The Persecution Suffered by Ms. Huang Juxiu in the Hunan Women's Prison

Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Huang Juxiu, in her fifties, is from Yueyang, Hunan Province. She is a staff member in the People's Bus Company. She has been repeatedly persecuted for practising Falun Gong. She hasn't received any pay from her workplace for nine years. The following story documents the persecution Ms. Huang suffered in a brainwashing centre in Hunan Women's Prison.

On October 10th, 2005, Huang Juxiu was forcibly taken away from her home by five people. They consisted of two people from the Yueyang 610 Office¹, a policeman Hu and a policewoman from the Wulipai Police Station, and a fifth person from the Security Section of Ms. Huang's workplace. Ms. Huang was taken to the Hubin Cadre School Brainwashing Centre in Yueyang on the same day. People in charge of the brainwashing session included section leader Zhang and other officers from the Yueyang 610 Office, laid-off staff from the Changling Oil Refinery Factory, and prison guards. There were several Falun Gong practitioners there, who had been detained. Because Ms. Huang refused to renounce her belief in Falun Gong, she was transferred to Yunxi Detention Centre several days later and interrogated by the Yunxi Public Security Sub-Bureau. Interrogators tried to force her to confess to their charges. In March 2006, Huang Juxiu was sentenced to four years in prison. She refused to accept the verdict and filed an appeal with the Yueyang Intermediate People's Court. The court upheld the original verdict, and Ms. Huang was sent to the Hunan Woman's Prison in June 2006.

In August 2006, Hunan Women's Prison sent Ms Huang to the brainwashing centre there. The centre's windows and doors were tightly shut, and its location was concealed. Only prison guards and criminal inmates who participated in the persecution could freely enter or leave that place. Falun Gong practitioners are subjected to various forms of physical and mental torture there, and some have suffered mental collapses as a result of the persecution, and some died as a result. People in charge of the persecution in this brainwashing centre included prison director Zhao Lan and division leaders Xiao Ping and Zhou Chan. People who directly persecuted practitioners include Li Jun, Luo Jian, Mao Huiping, Deng Jin, and criminal inmates Huo Rong, Liu Qing, Zhou Xiaolan, Li Yanling. More than thirty people worked in this centre and participated in the persecution.

On the first day, criminal inmates Lian Hua, Huang Qiong, and Xie Yonghong pretended to be concerned about Ms. Huang. When they saw that Ms. Huang Juxiu didn't cooperate with them, they forced her to stand for a long time, and they didn't allow her to sleep until after midnight. The second day, criminal inmates forced Ms. Huang to stand from 5:00 a.m. until early the next morning. On the third and fourth days, Ms. Huang was not allowed to sleep at all. As soon as Ms. Huang closed her eyes, they whipped her eyes with a rope, rubbed irritating balm into her eyes, and struck her eyes with a book. After several days, Ms. Huang's feet swelled up so much that they could not fit into her shoes. The persecutors denied her request for a bigger pair of shoes. Three of them forcibly squeezed Ms. Huang's swollen feet into her shoes and forced her to stand upright.

One day, Ms. Huang erased slanderous slogans that the guards has written on the wall. Upon discovering this, the persecutors grabbed Ms. Huang's hair and started beating her hysterically until she was cut and bruised all over. Ms. Huang could not lift her head. Persecutors forced Ms. Huang to squat down, and when she didn't, three of them tried to push her down without success. They then stomped on Ms. Huang's now extremely swollen feet and finally pushed her down by force. Ms. Huang could not stay in that position, and her feet were trembling. Unable to bear the torture any longer, Ms. Huang agreed to give up her faith. However, after Ms. Huang was transferred to the First Division in the Transforming² Education Team, she declared that she wished to continue practising Falun Gong.

Guard Zhou Xiaolan said, "You must be transformed. It's impossible to resist the transformation." On October 8th, Ms. Huang was sent to the brainwashing centre again. As soon as she arrived, criminal inmates Lian Hua, Huang Qiong, and Xie Yonghong verbally abused Ms. Huang. Criminal inmate Yan Meiying told Ms. Huang that she would not be forced to stand if she cooperated with the "transformation." Ms Huang refused to cooperate, so she was again subjected to prolonged sleep deprivation. Persecutors stomped on her and forced her to stand all day long, even when she was eating. After several days, Ms. Huang could no longer stand and started to fall on the ground. Yan Meiying then wet the floor. Those days were cold, and Ms. Huang's clothes, especially her trousers, were damp and cold.

Ms. Huang was dizzy, nauseated, vomiting, and unable to open her eyes from the torture. Yan Meiying again rubbed oil into Ms. Huang's eyes and hit her eyes with a book. Yan Meiying called prison guard Deng Jin, who threatened Ms. Huang with a baton, saying, "Huang Juxiu, haven't you suffered enough?" Deng said that forcing someone to stand was not a punishment, and it was Ms. Huang who violated prison rules. They also forced Ms. Huang to join the brainwashing sessions, but because she had not slept for about a dozen days, Ms. Huang fell asleep as soon as she sat down. Persecutors accused Ms. Huang of not paying attention and not being fully "transformed." Ms. Huang was not allowed to sit anymore, and she was forced to squat instead. Ms. Huang could not squat properly, so she had to sit on the floor. Yan Meiying poured water on the floor to wet Ms. Huang's trousers. Ms. Huang's feet swelled up even more, yet she was forced to wear small shoes. Blisters on her feet festered and gave off an overpowering stench. The guards and inmates did not allow Ms. Huang to clean herself.

Ms. Huang suffered like this for two months. When she really couldn't take it any more, she wrote the "Four Statements" that renounced Falun Gong. Guard Liu gloated, "Is your Falun Gong tough, or is our Communist iron fist tough?"

Many Falun Gong practitioners are being brutally persecuted and subjected to torture and forced labour at the prison.

Note

1. "The 610 office" is an agency specifically created to persecute Falun Gong, with absolute power over each level of administration in the Party and all other political and judiciary systems.

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")

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2009/2/6/194938.html