A 28-Month Nightmare - The Ruthless Abuse of Mr. Wang Wei

Mr. Wang Wei is 46 years old and worked for Qinhuangdao City Gas Company in Hebei Province. After the persecution of Falun Gong began on July 20th, 1999, he persevered in practicing and exposing the senseless, cruel persecution. The Communist Party retaliated and tortured him savagely, resulting in his suffering endlessly for the past ten years.

Wang Wei began working for Qinhuangdao City Gas Company when it was founded in 1991. He worked hard and won numerous awards for his dedication and outstanding performance during the next decade.

Mr. Wang continued to practise Falun Gong after the onset of the persecution. He was arrested and detained since December 1999, in many cities, including Beijing, Qinhuangdao, Beidaihe, and Tangshan, and languished for 28 months in prisons and forced labour camps. During this time, officials beat him with wooden sticks, burned him with cigarettes; tied him with a rope that tore his tendons, tied him onto the Death Bed¹ for 50 hours; tied him to a metal chair² for 80 hours, and forced him to sit still on a wooden stool for 1,800 hours over four months. They also force-fed him with a salt solution through a nasal/stomach tube, shoved a filthy towel into his mouth, forced him to stand for days, and forbade him from sleeping.

He was walking down a street in Beidaihe in July 2001 when a car pulled up behind him. Out jumped five 610 Office³ agents wearing civilian clothes. They violently attacked him. They twisted his arms behind his back, pushed him into their vehicle, and drove to the Criminal Police Division of Beidaihe Police Department. Once there, a man lying on a bed told the police to beat him. They pulled one of his arms over his shoulder behind his back, pulled his other arm up, and handcuffed his wrists together in the middle of his back, beating him savagely at the same time. After the police were exhausted, they locked him to a metal chair so that he could not move and put him into a grimy storage room. Swarms of mosquitoes and bugs descended upon him, but he could not defend himself.

After three days of horrific torture the police took Mr. Wang to the Qinhuangdao City Police Department. Division head Tian Peichun tied him with a thin nylon rope that had been specially processed. They call it the "killer rope." They first soaked the rope in water and then tied Mr. Wang's arms behind his back so tightly that the rope cut into his flesh [as the rope dries, it becomes tighter]. They then pushed his arms upward until they reached his shoulders; his ligaments tore, and his arms were dislocated at the joints. While he endured this insufferable pain, the officials hit the body parts that were distorted from bundling with wooden sticks to increase the pain. Mr. Wang nearly lost consciousness.

They took him to Hehuakeng Forced Labour Camp in Tangshan City in April 2002 for two years.

He was immediately taken to the Strictly Controlled Group on arrival. The guards ordered inmates to abuse inmates and Falun Gong practitioners. They made Mr. Wang sit on a small, crude, wooden stool, narrow and uneven. Because it makes only minimal contact with the person's buttocks, one suffers unbearable pain in less than 30 minutes. It feels like sitting on needles. After sitting on it for several days, Mr. Wang developed extensive pressure ulcers and open blisters; pus and blood oozed from his buttocks and glued his pants to the stool. He sat daily from 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. except for ten minutes for each of three meals and two short toilet visits.

The guards gave detainees three minutes for every toilet break; whoever exceeded the time limit would get severely beaten. Their goal was to torment people until they lost their willpower, dignity, and ability to think independently. They had to obey them like trained animals.

Each detainee was allowed to drink only 4 oz. of water three times a day. The guards locked Mr. Wang in solitary confinement to try to make him renounce Falun Gong. They forced him to stand for days, causing oedema in his legs. The guards and inmates whacked him with wooden sticks at the same time. He could not walk for more than a month afterwards; two people had to hold him up just to allow him to move slowly. He could not bend his back when going to the toilet.

Guards Wang Yulin, Li Xiaozhong, and others tied Mr. Wang onto the "Death Bed" four times. They stretched his body to the limit, almost pulling his limbs out of their sockets, and then cuffed his hands and feet to the bed poles to keep him in the spread eagle position. The metal from the handcuffs cut into his wrists and ankles. To escalate the pain, the guards instructed the inmates to deal him violent blows and burn him with cigarettes. They even smothered him with five quilts weighing about 13 kg [28.6 lbs]. He nearly died from suffocation.

He suffered a nervous breakdown from round-the-clock abuse, and yet the guards ordered people to brainwash him with malicious lies and forced him to write repentance statements⁴, guarantee statements⁵, and thank-you letters to the labour camp. They made many copies of these documents and mailed them to his family, his employer, and local officials, claiming they had helped Wang Wei "return to the right path after going astray, and renewed his life."

His family also underwent terrible ordeals. His parents, both in their 70s, went back and forth between the police department, the "610 Office," the detention centre, and the labour camp just to get permission to deliver some personal items and clothes to him. They nearly lost their eyesight from crying and emotional stress. His son was denied an education and enlistment in the army, simply because his father practises Falun Gong.

Wang Wei's case demonstrates the severity and barbarity of the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners. Countless families throughout China have suffered separation and even death as a result of the persecution.

Note

1. "Death Bed" torture: A practitioner is tied to a bed with his hands handcuffed above his head to the bed rails, and his legs tied with thin nylon ropes. The rope is then tightly wrapped around the practitioner's body and the bed, from his legs to his chest. The rope is wrapped so tightly that the practitioner has difficulty breathing and eventually loses consciousness.

2. Iron Chair: The "Iron chair" is made of iron pipes. Victims are restrained on the iron chairs with both arms and legs tied for a long period of time, see illustration at http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2002/1/9/17577.html

3. "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.

4. Repentance Statement: In this statement the practitioner is forced to admit remorse for practising Falun Gong, promise to give up Falun Gong, and never again associate with other practitioners or go to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong.

5. "Guarantee Statement": A statement to declare that one is remorseful for practising Falun Gong and guarantees not to practise Falun Gong again, not to go to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong, and never again associate with any Falun Gong practitioners.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2009/4/17/199110.html