Persecution Suffered by Ms. Wang Hongxia from Anyue County, Sichuan Province

Name: Wang Hongxia
Gender: Female
Address: Anyue County, Sichuan Province
Occupation: Teacher
Date of Most Recent Arrest: May 22nd, 2007
Most recent place of detention: Public Security Bureau
County: Anyue
Province: Sichuan
Persecution Suffered: Detention, electric shock, beatings, forced feedings, tiger bench, sleep deprivation, standing, hung by handcuffs
Key Persecutors: Zhang Xiaofang, Li Jun, Li Qi, Li Sen, Jiang Mingquan, Peng, Yang Zhongyong, Chen Xianyun, Huang Ying, Zhang Yipiong, Li Xinwei

Ms. Wang Hongxia, a teacher in Anyue County, Sichuan Province, was sentenced to forced labour on two separate occasions, for a total of five years. In December 1999, when she found out that the governor of Sichuan Province was coming to Anyue County for an inspection tour, she decided to hold up a banner in front of the County Government Office to protest the persecution of Falun Gong.

As a result, she was sentenced to two years at the Nanmusi Women's Forced Labour Camp in Zizhong County, Sichuan Province. After she completed her term, the guards at the camp extended her original term by nine months. She was finally released in October 2002.

In November 2002, after the police found out that Ms. Wang had told others about her horrific labour camp experience, she was once again sent to the Nanmusi Women's Forced Labour Camp, this time for two and a half years. During her imprisonment, she developed heart disease, nephritis, and other illnesses.

The following is a personal account of the persecution she suffered due to her steadfast belief in Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance.

Ms. Wang's first forced labour camp experience

At the Nanmusi Women's Forced Labour Camp, I worked very hard for seven to eight hours a day. I assembled neon lamps, made medicine pouches, and worked on a project involving pig hair. Since the hairs were coated with a caustic chemicals, some prisoners developed a skin disorder.

The guards purposely assigned us very heavy workloads that were impossible to finish on time. They used that as an excuse to extend our prison terms for between two and eleven months. The practitioners who remained steadfast in their belief and refused to take orders from the guards were imprisoned indefinitely.

The guards in the labour camp frequently beat us with electric batons and instigated drug addict criminals to beat us until we were covered in bruises. They also deprived us of sleep and brutally beat us while we were hung up by handcuffs. In early 2000, Ms. Yin Huafeng, was ordered to stand naked in front of a mirror throughout the night. One morning in May 2000, we decided to get together as a group to do the Falun Gong exercises. As a result, we were beaten by criminal inmates, led by guard Zhang Xiaofang. The only sound that could be heard was the inmates' punches and kicks. None of us cried out in pain.

On June 20th, 2000, the 7th Ward guard unit was formed specifically to persecute Falun Gong practitioners. Ms. Zhang Shiqing and myself were hung up by handcuffs and severely beaten because we did the Falun Gong exercises together. Li Xiaoling and Li Lanqing, two criminal drug addicts, kicked me into a wall and beat Ms. Zhang until she was unconscious. In December 2000, my prison term was extended by two months for denouncing the 7th Ward after they slandered Falun Gong publicly.

On the morning of January 31st, 2001, I meditated on the prison stage with my fellow practitioners to protest the persecution of Falun Gong. Li Jun, the captain of the 7th Ward, ruthlessly twisted my arm while Li Guangqing, from Cangxi Town, Guangyuan City, was beaten unconscious. As a result, my prison term was extended by four months while the rest of the practitioners' prison term was extended by two months. That day, many practitioners were brutally beaten.

On March 7th, 2001, the 7th Ward guard unit once again slandered Falun Gong in front of a lot of people. To protest their behaviour, over ten of us sat down to meditate. As a result, a group of guards savagely beat us with sticks and electric batons and kicked us with their heavy, pointed boots. Ms. Zhou Huimin's, from Chengdu City, suffered a back injury. (She passed away in May 2008 as a result of the persecution. See: http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2008/3/23/95623.html)

In April 2001, the 7th Ward guard again slandered Falun Gong, this time in front of several news reporters. I responded by going on stage and doing the Falun Gong exercises. Yuan, the 7th Ward's captain, walked on stage and began to beat me. He then pulled me into a small room where he smashed my head against the wall until blood poured out of my mouth.

Afterwards, I, along with over ten practitioners, protested our imprisonment and abuse by refusing to perform forced labour or take part in the daily prison roll calls. As a result, we each had to stand still or squat for a long period of time. My legs were so swollen that I could not walk for a while.

At the end of June, the guards transferred us to different wards. About one month later, the guards brought us back together and assigned us to the 8th Ward, making it more convenient for them to persecute us. Whenever they slandered Falun Gong, I would protest. As a result, I was often punished by being hung on a tree by my handcuffs. After a while, I was transferred to a different unit that was filled with drug and prostitution ring criminals.

In January 2002, I went on a hunger strike for 33 days and demanded that they release me unconditionally. During that time, I was brutally force-fed and my prison term was extended by nine months. I was finally released on October 3rd, 2002.

Ms. Wang's second forced labour camp experience

In early December 2002, while distributing leaflets exposing the persecution of Falun Gong in a nearby town, I was arrested by a local policeman. A group of officers took me to a dark room in some house and told me to take my clothes off so that they could strip-search me. I told them that if any one of them touched me, I would publish their deeds and expose them to the world. As a result, they decided not to go through with their plans. In addition, I refused to accept any food or water from them and demanded that they release me immediately and unconditionally.

The next day I was transferred to the National Security Bureau's county jail, then two days later I was released. Three weeks later, on December 27th, 2002, the police requested that I come to their office and answer a question that they had. When I arrived, I was arrested then handed a labour camp imprisonment notice. I was then taken to a detention centre.

On January 3rd, 2003, I was again taken to the notorious Nanmusi Women's Forced Labour Camp and kept there for two and a half years. In February, I was taken to the 7th Ward where Zhang Xiaofang, the unit captain, put me in a small dark room and ordered four drug criminals to guard me. They forced me to stand still all day and all night, allowing me only two to three hours of sleep a day. In addition, they did not allow me to use the toilet and kicked, punched, and yelled at me at will.

In the beginning, they gave us a bowl of water with a tiny bit of rice in it, causing us to be constantly hungry. They forced us to drink a lot of water and then forbade us from using the toilet. If we wet our trousers, they would yell and beat us and then threw away all of our clothes.

As a result, I started a hunger strike to protest the abuse. Li Jun, the captain of the 7th Ward, ordered some criminals to pry open my mouth open using a metal bar, then poured a bowl of water containing over a pound of salt down my throat. The inmate that was ordered to monitor me, told me that the guards planned to kill me with saline solution and if needed, over twenty inmates would testify that I died as a result of a heart attack.

Afterwards, my feet were so swollen that I could not stand or walk. Seeing my condition, the guards took me to the hospital for a check up. Upon examination, it was determined that I had high blood pressure, which I've never had before. So instead of the guards forcing me to stand still for long periods of time, they tortured me by tying me to the tiger bench¹ for over twenty days, not allowing me to move an inch. Shortly after being tied up like this, I felt a great deal of pressure in my heart area, causing excruciating pain and soreness in my back and legs. I was also forced to wear a silly and humiliating hat while I was being tortured.

Only after I was examined and diagnosed as having heart disease, did the guards stop torturing me like this. But shortly after, the guards found another brutal way to torture me: they tied me up in the double lotus position for seventeen hours. As a result, my legs were swollen and my feet were bloody. Not only were my legs numb for six months afterwards, but I also suffered from a urinary tract infection as a result of not being allowed to use the toilet for a long period of time.

In March 2003, Ms. Zhu Yinfang, in her fifties, died as a result of being forced-fed human faeces. I was in an office adjacent to Ms. Zhu the day that she died. Zhang Xiaofang, the guard captain on duty at that time, was monitoring me while I was standing still for a long period of time. I heard Ms. Zhu's painful cries as the guards first forced saline solution down her throat, then her own urine. A little while later, she was dead. The guards quickly spread a rumour that Ms. Zhu died of a heart attack.

In October 2004, they combined the 7th and 8th Ward to form a new 7th Ward and named Li Qi as their captain. Li secretly locked up and persecuted over ten practitioners who remained steadfast in their belief. Li only allowed us to use the toilet three times a day. He subjected us to heavy work loads and deprived us of sleep when we didn't finish our work on time. We initially ignored all of the 7th Ward's rules and used the restroom without reporting to anyone. When we were questioned, we denied any wrongdoing and refused to acknowledge the labour camp's brainwashing efforts. As a result, we were beaten by drug and prostitution ring criminals. When someone accidentally urinated on the floor, they collected the urine with towels, squeezed the towels over our drinking cups, then forced us to drink the urine.

Ms. Tang Tienmin, from Naxi District, Luzhou City, was forced to assume a half-squatting position with her arms outstretched in front of her, holding a bowl of water or other heavy objects. If Ms. Tang dropped whatever she was holding, she was mercilessly beaten.

Forced brainwashing

On June 26th, 2006, while I was at work, Qing Shundi, the school principal, who openly persecuted Falun Gong practitioners, colluded with the School Security Team, Dai Zhangzhi, the school security director, and Yin Mingwen, the school guidance counsellor, to take me to the Er'ehu Brainwashing Centre in Ziyang City.

Li Sen, the guard in charge at the centre at that time, tried to trick me using petty lies and engaged in the most despicable and shameless behaviour in order to threaten and intimidate me. He told me that he would use any means at his disposal to force me to give up my faith. He and another guard viciously attacked me and forced me to stand motionless for long periods of time. Whenever Li felt like it, he would walk over and kick me squarely in the back.

Arrested again

On May 22nd, 2007, a Falun Gong material centre was broken into and some of my personal belongings were stolen, such as photographs, clothes, a proof of residency document, and a photo-ID card. Jiang Mingquan, the captain of the National Security Brigade in Anyue County, along with several police officers, came to my house at around 10 p.m. When they asked me to accompany them to their office for a short talk, I refused to go with them. As a result, they left one officer behind and went for reinforcements.

Shortly after, a deputy director, a policewoman, and over ten police officers showed up at my door and ransacked my home. They took away some leaflets exposing the persecution of Falun Gong. They also forced me to accompany them to the Public Security Office where they interrogated me until after mid-night.

My niece, who was home from college at the time, and a lot of my family members waited in the next room for my release. As a result, the officers dared not hit me. They told my family that "for my protection" they were going to take me to the police duty and interrogation room, located on the second floor.

Shortly after, four 610 Office agents from Ziyang City entered the room and kept me awake until after 2 a.m., in an effort to "transform" [forcibly renounce Falun Gong] me. Even though I had not eaten or drunk any liquids for two days, when they offered me food, I told them that I would not eat until I was released.

On the third day, I fell asleep on the duty room's bed around noon. When I woke up about 2 p.m., I looked over and saw that the policewoman who was assigned to monitor me, was fast asleep, as well as a policeman who fell asleep at his desk. I carefully walked out of the interrogation room, went down the hallway, walked past another officer who was also fast asleep, then left the building.

The following is a list of the people who interrogated me: Jiang Mingquan, police brigade captain, Peng, director, Yang Zhongyong, guidance counsellor, Chen Xianyun former police brigade captain, Huang Ying, Wang, Zhang Yipiong, manager of the Sanpai Police Station, Li Xinwei, and the director of the Ziyang City 610 Office.

Note

1. "Tiger Bench": Prisoners are forced to sit on a small iron bench that is approximately 20 cm (6 inches) tall with their knees tied together. With their hands tied behind their backs or sometimes placed on their knees, they are forced to sit straight up and look straight ahead without movement for long periods of time.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2009/11/6/212065.html