The Inhuman Torture of Ms. Fang Zhihua in the Hebei Province Women's Forced Labour Camp

Name: Fang Zhihua
Gender: Female
Age: Unknown
Address: 10th Street, Xinji City, Hebei Province
Occupation: N/A
Date of Most Recent Arrest: Unknown
Most recent place of detention: The 4th Division, the Hebei Province Women's Forced Labour Camp
City: Shijiazhuang City
Province: Hebei
Persecution Suffered: Sleep Deprivation, Forced Labour, Solitary Confinement, Torture

Key Persecutors: Zhao Yuan, Wu Yanling, Liu Yamin

"Hit them!" was the order given by Zhao Yuan, the head of the fourth division of the Hebei Province Women's Forced Labour Camp. Several people, including group leader Wu Yanling, inmate Yue Kuiling, and others, came up and surrounded several Falun Gong practitioners, including Ms. Fang Zhihua and Ms. Yang Liyun, and brutally beat them. Then they restrained Ms. Fang and Ms. Yang and wrote insulting phrases, such as "labour camp inmate" with black pen all over their faces. They also cut their hair in an insulting fashion and then forced them to stand for a long time.

Ms. Fang Zhihua lives on 10th Street in Xinji City, Hebei Province. She is handicapped as a result of childhood polio--one of her legs is much thinner than the other. She has been brutally persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party's tyrannical regime because she practises Falun Gong.

"Use them to practise on"

In November 2008, Ms. Fang Zhihua and other practitioners were forced to stand for 24 hours for refusing to do slave-type labour, such as packaging chopsticks. The second day, more practitioners stopped working. The camp authorities mobilised all the male guards and used electric batons to force these practitioners to work. Ms. Fang and Ms. Yang Liyun were forced to stand in the hall for three days and nights and were not allowed to sleep. Ms. Fang lost consciousness due to exhaustion. She was taken back to her cell, but when she came to, she was forced to stand in the hall again. At meal times, camp officials only gave them one steamed bun without any vegetables and gruel.

Later, more practitioners, including Ms. Xi Yonghong, Ms. Wang Xiumei, Ms. Wang Hongmei, and others, protested the persecution. Zhao Yuan, the division head, and Liu Yamin, the deputy division head, moved the three women to a place where others could not see or hear them and forced them to stand in the airplane position, with their backs bent and their upper bodies and heads lowered and their arms raised up behind their backs. Zhao Yuan and Liu Yamin ordered Li Hua, an accomplice, to watch the practitioners. They also instigated her to do terrible things, saying, "You will have to learn to survive in the real word. Now you can use them [the practitioners] to practise on."

Li Hua took a bucket meant for rubbish in the toilet, filled it up with cold water, and dumped the water over the practitioners. The three practitioners were soaking wet and it was winter time. At lunch time, because their pants were soaked, they had difficulty walking.

"Bury them alive"

Ms. Fang Zhihua, Ms. Yang Liyun, Ms. Wang Xiumei, Ms. Xi Yonghong, Ms. Wang Hongmei, and other practitioners were forced to stand in the yard in the freezing cold weather. Another thirty-plus practitioners also protested the persecution and refused to do the slave labour. They were forced to stand outside the corridor in the morning and were verbally abused and kicked if their standing positions were not satisfactory. Ms. Wei Huijuan, Ms. Wang Kunying, Ms. Wang Tongren, Ms. Wang Xia, Ms. Peng Gaidi, Ms. Geng Lijuan, and other practitioners were beaten, kicked, and slapped in their faces by the division heads, Zhao Yuan and Liu Yamin.

In the afternoon, these practitioners were forced to do heavy labour, such as using shovels to dig vegetable cellars or to fill in earthen pits. For several days, they were only given steamed buns without anything else, and many had constipation. Ms. Xi Yonghong bled many times when she went to the restroom. These practitioners were later forced to stand in the yard to endure the freezing cold. Zhao Yuan, the division head, also said, "Let's bury them alive."

40 days of inhuman torture

On December 15th, 2008, Ms. Fang Zhihua and other practitioners, including Ms. Yang Liyun, Ms. Hong Mei, Ms. Wang Xiumei, Ms. Xi Yonghong, and Ms. Wang Hongmei, were handcuffed and forced to stand because they refused to wear inmate uniforms. They were stripped of their overcoats and woollen sweaters and trousers, and were only allowed a thin layer of clothes. Ms. Yang was beaten by the division head, Zhao Yuan, and her nose bled.

Afterward, these practitioners were put in a confined cell with their hands cuffed to their feet. They could neither stand up nor lie down. Their bodies swelled, and a layer of skin peeled off their hands. They had no blankets or bedding and could not lie down. At night, they had to sit on their own shoes and lean against one another for a little rest. They had to eat and go to the toilet in the cell, and the air was extremely bad.

After New Year's Day 2009, these eight practitioners, including Ms. Fang Zhihua and Ms. Yang Liyun, were shifted to a storage room in the fourth division. They had to eat in the storage room and sleep on the icy cold floor. They also had to use a washbasin as a toilet in the storage room. The overflowing basin was carried out and dumped by Ms. Wang Xiumei. Ms. Yang's hands and feet were cuffed to the radiator. The heat in the storage room was turned off by the guards, and the window was purposely left wide open to freeze the practitioners, who wore only thin clothes. The guards also had an accomplice, Wen Hualan, to watch them around the clock. The practitioners were not allowed to speak and were forced to stand. Guard Zhao Yuan also instigated accomplice Yue Kuiling to fill a bottle with cold water and pour it over the practitioners. This kind of inhuman torture lasted for nearly 40 days. During this period, under this mental and physical torture, Ms. Wang Hongmei was once mentally disoriented.

Not allowed to wash or change clothes

On the eve of the 2009 Chinese New Year, the practitioners were transferred to a different cell and isolated from the rest of the inmate population. Nobody was allowed to get in touch with them. Their cell door remained shut 24 hours a day, and they were not allowed to wash or brush their teeth, not to mention take a bath (they had not taken a shower or bath for nine months). Their toilet use was even limited. Only when others went to eat were they allowed to go to the toilet quickly three times during the day. Through the night they were allowed to go to the toilet only once. Ms. Wang Yonghong wet herself several times.

Ms. Fang Zhihua, Ms. Yang Liyun, Ms. Xi Yonghong, and Ms. Wang Hongmei were handcuffed and forced to stand because they practised the Falun Gong exercises, talked to other practitioners, and asked to go to the toilet. Even today, they are suffering this kind of torture. They were also not allowed to take off or wash their winter woollen sweaters and trousers, nor were they allowed to wash, use the electric fan, or open the door to have some ventilation. The trousers of some of the practitioners were rubbed through.

Ms. Fang Zhihua, a simple-minded and kind hearted housewife, has been detained and fined several times. During her detention in 2000, she was once mentally disoriented due to the torture.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.org/mh/articles/2009/8/31/207471.html