Ph.D. Student Develops Mental Disorder after Serving Two Terms in Forced Labour Camp

Name: Huang Hongqi
Gender: Male
Age: 38
Address: Huangpi District, Wuhan City, Hubei Province
Occupation: Ph.D Student in the Mechanical Engineering Department of the Dalian Institute of Technology
Date of Most Recent Arrest: January 30th, 2006
Most Recent Place of Detention: Chini Town Second Forced Labour Camp in Huandi District
Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province
City: Guangzhou
Province: Guangdong
Persecution Suffered: Electric shock, sleep deprivation, forced labour, brainwashing, forced injections/drug administration, beatings, solitary confinement, torture, physical restraint, interrogation

Key Persecutors: Nei Jingyu, Fan Hongtao, Han Guiwu

Mr. Huang Hongqi, a quiet student in a Ph.D. programme, was twice sent to a forced labour camp, where he suffered five years of brutal mistreatment that caused him to have a mental breakdown.

Mr. Huang was working on his Ph.D. dissertation at the Dalian Institute of Technology when the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) began to persecute Falun Gong practitioners. As a practitioner, he joined the effort to speak out for justice for Falun Gong, but he was arrested in September, 1999. Police from Dalian City, Liaoning Province arrested him, and in December, 1999 sentenced him to two and a half years of forced labour. He was held in the Dalian Correction Centre. The Dalian Institute of Technology stripped him of his Ph.D. candidacy. He refused to renounce his belief in Falun Gong and was beaten, shocked, and subjected to the tiger bench¹ torture. He suffered additional consequences because of the torture he endured in the camp--he lost hearing when his eardrum was ruptured and his nose was damaged during brutal force-feeding.

In July 2003, officers from the National Security Office in Wuhan City, Hubei Province arrested Mr. Huang. He was often moved from place to place with his eyes covered. He was threatened and then promised 10,000 yuan² to become a spy for the government. He rejected it. He suffered a mental breakdown after six months of mistreatment. Mr. Huang was disoriented, extremely nervous and fearful of policemen and police cars. He was constantly worried about being followed or monitored. He would close all the windows and doors in the house and was afraid to leave home.

On January 1st, 2006, Mr. Huang took a train south to visit his girlfriend. The next day, at about 4 p.m., a policeman with the surname Huang, from the Guangzhou Railway Public Security Office, arrested him at the train station and detained him in the office on 30 Guangyuanxi Street. On February 14th, 2006, his parents went to the public security office to see him. Nei Jingyu and Fan Hongtao told his parents that Mr. Huang was detained because he was found carrying materials exposing the persecution of Falun Gong and his computer contained Falun Gong material.

A few months later, Mr. Huang's family was informed that he was sentenced to two years of forced labour and was held in the Chini Town Second Forced Labour Camp in Huandi District Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province. Once again, Mr. Huang was the subject of brutal persecution: guards slammed his head against the wall, and kicked his lower back while he was forced to kneel. The harsh treatment devastated him and further aggravated his mental disorder. He was incoherent and could not recognise his parents. To avoid being held responsible for his condition, the camp released him two months earlier than the release date.

In November 2007, he was released. After his release, he was extremely nervous and was afraid to live at home. He would turn ash white whenever his past experiences were brought up.

However, in June 2008, Han Guiwu, the deputy director of the 610 Office (an organisation of special agents just for persecuting Falun Gong) in Huangpi District, Hubei Province, ordered Mr. Huang's family to take him to a brainwashing centre. They threatened to come and get him if he was not taken there. Mr. Huang was frightened and trembling. He wanted to hide but there was no place to do so. In the end, the 610 Office gave up trying to brainwash him.

In the past two years, Mr. Huang's mental illness has recurred on and off. Recently, he seemed to get worse - constantly worrying that the National Security agents were watching him. He broke and destroyed windows, doors, furniture and a computer in his own home. He was beaten and badly hurt a few times when he was out. On December 9th, 2009, fearing that they could not control him, his family admitted him to the Lutai Mental Hospital in Huangpi District, Hubei Province for treatment.

The persecution thus destroyed a once outstanding and promising young intellectual.

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.

2. "Yuan" is the Chinese currency; 500 yuan is equal to the average monthly income of an urban worker in China.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.org/mh/articles/2009/12/21/214753.html