Ms. Hu Aiyun Describes Her Persecution Experience and Ten-month Hunger Strike

Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Hu Aiyun, resident of Harbin City in Heilongjiang Province, was arrested by the police and sentenced to eleven years of imprisonment. She was taken on May 12th, 2004 to Heilongjiang Province Women's Prison. There she was subjected to many types of torture. Hu Aiyun had no choice but to hold hunger strikes many times to protest the persecution. This time her hunger strike lasted more than ten months. She was emaciated and the prison refused to allow visits by her family members.

The following is a narration by Hu Aiyun about her persecution:

I was arrested on June, 21st 2003, at Jiaobei Square in Harbin City by officers from the Criminal Investigation Division. They blindfolded me and took me somewhere upstairs. They then gathered many more officers to use torture devices on me.

Police Chief Xiao and Chief Zhao of the City Domestic Security Division tied me to a metal chair, handcuffed me and hung me up by the handcuffs. They then coiled two strands of copper wire around my big toes, connected the wire to an electric baton, then proceeded to shock me for about half an hour. Thereafter, they poured horseradish sauce and black mustard oil down my nose. They also shocked me on the bottom of my feet and my inner thighs. The tortures were carried out until past midnight. Afterwards, they took me to No. 2 Detention Centre of Police Seventh Division in Harbin City.

On September 21st, 2003, I shouted "Falun Gong is good!" For this I was beaten with metal batons by guards Zhao Fengxia and Sheng, and I was covered with bruises after the beating. I was then sent to the No. 1 Detention Centre in Harbin City. At 5:00 p.m. on December 21st, 2003, two guards came and blindfolded me. They put a cloth bag over my head and took me to another place. They planned to put me on trial. At that time I was taken upstairs and locked in a metal cage. I was monitored by armed policemen around the clock. Someone told me secretly, "This place is Wanggang. It is a place especially set up to persecute Falun Gong practitioners." At that time, Chief Xiao from the city Domestic Security Division and officer Yang from National Security Bureau interrogated me around the clock. They forced me to sit in the metal chair, and interrogated me continuously for six days. I held a hunger strike to protest and after that they sent me to the No. 1 Detention Centre.

Since May 12th, 2004, I had been incarcerated in Harbin City Women's Prison. On that day, I refused to wear the prison uniform. Guards Lu Jinghua and Tao Dandan instigated a dozen criminals to drag me into the water dungeon and physically assault me. They kicked my head, face and chest. I was swollen from the beatings and bled very badly. My chest hurt while breathing after the attack. Later, they handcuffed my hands behind my back and locked me up in a solitary confinement cell, where there were no windows and it was extremely cold, dark and damp in the cell. There were many mosquitoes and rats in the cell. There were many metal rings attached to the floor. They handcuffed my hands behind my back and then attached the handcuffs to one of the metal rings. Two criminals were assigned to watch over me. I was bound to the metal ring on the floor for a long period of time, and I was not allowed to wash myself or my clothes for more than two months. On one occasion practitioner Wang Hongjie washed her hair and as a result was beaten. I was verbally abused by the criminals watching over me because I washed my hair. Criminals Lu Chunguang, Song Shubo and Xia Junli frequently verbally and physically abused practitioners. They even handcuffed us on their own accord. They put leg shackles on us and then made us lift our legs high to tie the shackles to the door. We were forced to wear shackles for extended periods of time even when we slept. At that time the practitioners who were persecuted by being locked up in solitary confinement cells included Zhang Shuzhe, Ding Yu, Yan Chunlin, Liu Liping, Yang Fenghua, Wang Hongjie and others.

We were locked up in the solitary cells for long periods of time. Some of us were locked up continuously for as long as a year. The prison rule is that imprisonment in the solitary cells shall not exceed 15 days. Between May 12th, 2004 to September 2006, I was incarcerated in solitary cells on five different occasions. The total duration of my solitary confinement was six months. During that period of time, I went on hunger strikes several times to protest.

During my hunger strike, prisoner Shang Xiaomei used the same disposable feeding tube meant for one-time use to force-feed us multiple times. She used the disposable feeding tube over and over again. After pulling it out from the digestive tract of one person, she inserted the same tube into another person. She also intentionally used much force and caused nose-bleeds when she inserted the tube. When force-feeding us, concentrated salt solution or drugs were added to the feeding solution. After being force-fed, we felt dizzy and weak.

In September 2006, I was transferred from the solitary cell to the No. 11 Prison Ward - the place to
"transform¹" practitioners. At this place, team leader Wang Yali and Tao Dandan instigated prisoners to monitor us individually. The door of every room was sealed up with paper and ten people took turns monitoring practitioners around the clock. They made practitioners sit on small benches and deprived us of sleep. They only allowed us to sleep from 2:00 a.m. onwards or even later. They tried to brainwash us and fill our minds with lies. If practitioners had the slightest resistance, they handcuffed the practitioner to the bed and tortured her.

I was locked up in a solitary room. Nine prisoners took turns monitoring me around the clock. They tried to force me to sit on a small bench and wear a prison uniform. I refused and went to lie down. They dragged me off the bed, and I was incarcerated at the No. 11 Prison Ward and tortured for three months. Later I was sent to the No. 1 Ward and locked up in a room with no central monitoring television system. Four prisoners, including Sheng Qianmei, Wang Baoxia, Wang Fengzhi and Guo Lanying, were sent to watch over me. At that place, they didn't allow me to sit cross-legged and did not allow me to speak to other practitioners in another room. When I went to the washroom, someone escorted me. Sheng Qianmei also instigated someone to put a "straitjacket" on me and tie me up to the bed. I was tied up this way for three days.

On July 12th, 2007, I held a hunger strike to protest. Sheng Qiaomei added concentrated salt solution, on her own accord, to force-feed me. I passed out during the force-feeding and suffered from serious dehydration. At night, Shang Xiaomei came to put me on an IV drip and said that it was to dilute the salt solution. At that time I was on a hunger strike for more than two months.

On March 8th, 2008, I again held a hunger strike to protest these inhumane tortures. During that period of time, Li Yanping and Zhang Xiuyuan force-fed me. Zhan Xiuyuan used her fingers to dig at my eyes and tried to strangle me. She scratched my face until my skin bled and I had many bruises all over my body.

In May 2008, when I did the exercises, I was beaten by He Yingjie and Zhang Xiuyuan. At that time I had already been on a hunger strike for six months. Even though I was very weak, they grabbed my hair, held my head down on the bed, and boxed my face. I said I wanted to see the prison chief but they ignored me. When my family members came to visit, I told them about the physical abuse. Guard Liu Xiaofang forcibly grabbed the intercom and stopped me from continuing. Later, they refused to let my family visit me.

I have currently been on a hunger strike for ten months. My body is very weak and for long periods of time I have not been allowed to see my family. During the force-feeding, they used the disposable feeding tube over and over again, as many as 80 to 90 times. Despite the fact that the plastic tube had hardened and changed colour, they continued using it. They never sterilized the tube even after using the same tube on many different people.

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/2009/3/14/197119.html