Persecution of Falun Gong Practitioners in the Xinxiang City Women's Prison

The following are accounts of practitioners being tortured in the Xinxiang City Women's Prison, Henan Province:

1. Practitioner Ms. Chen Tonglian (58 years old) was imprisoned in the Henan Province Women's Prison from 2006 to 2009. She went on a hunger strike to protest the persecution, and was on hunger strike on and off for nine months. On orders from deputy prison chief Hou Meili, section chiefs Tong Guorong and Wang, and small cell team leaders Yang and Li, prisoners of the small cell section stripped Ms. Chen down to her underpants. Tong Guorong ordered prisoners to beat Ms. Chen. Her head was bleeding, and she was injured all over her body. Several prisoners forced open her mouth to force-feed her, breaking three of her front teeth. She was force-fed through a tube. Hou Meili, Tong Guorong, Wu Xiuxia and Zhang Ganshi ordered prisoners to drag her to a cell, strike her with electric batons and put her in a prison uniform. Ms. Chen has remained firm in her belief.

2. Practitioner Ms. Zhang Rongfan (60 years old) was physically abused by prisoners under the direction of guard Wu Xiuxia. They dragged her to the prison hospital and injected unknown drugs into her. Ms. Zhang tried to resist and called out "Falun Gong is good!" Tong Guorong, Zhang Ganshi and Wu Xiuxia locked her into an isolation cell. Whenever she called out, guard handcuffed her to the metal door and sometimes they stuffed a rag or cotton mask into her mouth. They did this 28 times within a period of two months. Ms. Zhang passed out seven times. Hou Meili, Wang, Geng, Yang, Li and prisoners handcuffed her to the torture chair, tied up her upper body and blocked off air to her mouth and nose until she passed out. Then the doctor was called in to administer unknown drugs. Ms. Zhang was in the isolation cell for two months. Hou Meili ordered guards and prisoner to starve her and blast loud radio broadcasts into her cell.

3. Practitioner Ms. Zhao Xilian was sentenced to a ten-year prison term, and she was detained at the Zhengzhou City Mental Hospital, where she was injected with unknown drugs, tortured and assaulted with an electric baton. In 2005, she refused to sign documents and do forced labour at the Xinxiang City Women's Prison, so team leader Gong of Group No. 9 ordered prisoners to stomp on her hands. In 2007, guards terminated family visits because she refused to wear a prisoner identification badge. Hou Meili, Tong Guorong, Wang, Geng, guards Wu Xiuxia and Zhang Ganshi handcuffed Ms. Zhao to a table's leg. She had to squat, and was not allowed to sleep or go to the toilet. Then they locked her into an isolation cell, starved her, and handcuffed her to a chair. They made sure that she was freezing and blasted the radio at her at a loud volume for almost the entire day, playing communist songs and slanderous propaganda about Falun Gong.

4. Practitioner Ms. Ma Hong is 38 years old. While in Group No. 9, team leader Dong did not let her sleep. Since she refused to give up her beliefs, she was taken to Group No. 1 for forced labour. She worked for 14-15 hours daily. She was not allowed to sleep when there was a lot of work. Whenever officials came to inspect the prison, guards ordered the prisoners to lie about the persecution. Ms. Ma refused to comply with this order.

5. Practitioner Ms. Liang Yuying is 62 years old. She resisted renouncing Falun Gong and ignored the prisoners' abuse. She was tortured in an isolation cell for three months by Hou Meili and other section chiefs. They handcuffed her to a torture chair and stuffed cloth into her mouth so that no one could hear her cries. They pinched her nose to stop her from breathing. She passed out many times, and the doctor injected her with drugs to revive her. They gave her barely any food, and she lost a lot of weight. She has remained firm in her belief in Falun Gong.

6. Practitioner Ms. Zhang Jingzhi is 35 years old. When she practised the Falun Gong exercises, section chief Wang handcuffed her to the metal torture chair. She went on a hunger strike, and the prison doctor force-fed her every three to four days. She passed out every time during force-feeding. Guards ordered prisoners to drag her by her hair from the prison hospital to the isolation cell.

7. Practitioner Ms. Song Yufang is 61 years old. While imprisoned at Group No. 2, she was forced into hard labour for 14-15 hours daily. She was far sighted, so the guard forced her to take medication, and her eyesight worsened progressively. She also felt fatigued and said that she would refuse the medication. Guards could not force her to take it. They demanded that she write and sign a document not holding them responsible if she became blind. After stopping the medication, her eyesight gradually took a turn for the better.

8. Practitioner Ms. Wu Yan is 30 years old. She was imprisoned at the Xinxiang City Women's Prison from 2007 to 2008. Because she refused to give up Falun Gong, she was forced to cut yarn. Guard Zhang Yanling ordered prisoner Wang Yiping to torture her because she protested the forced labour. Zhang Yanling claimed that the regulations forced him to mistreat practitioners. Ms. Wu was then taken to Prison District 10 because of her continued protests. Prisoners monitored her around the clock and forbade her to speak. Ms Wu protested again and was taken to Prison District 11. Tong Guorong, Li, Zhang, Liu, Yang, as well as prisoner Liu Jin and others, tried in vain to get her to give up Falun Gong using a variety of methods. Ms. Wu refused and called out, "Falun Gong is good!" Yue Hongpo, the district chief, grabbed Ms. Wu by the neck, and guards Zhang and Liu ordered prisoners Wang Yaping and others to beat her. Her hands were tied behind her back and a towel was stuffed into her mouth, so that her cries could not be heard. She was taken to an isolation cell for 20 days. She refused to answer roll call and did not participate in the marching exercises, so Wang and Li tortured her. She was again taken to an isolation cell when she refused to wear the prisoner's identification badge.

From December 2007 to February 2008, Hou Meili and the section chiefs, the isolation cell guards and prisoners tortured practitioners who were locked into isolation cells. Torture methods included starvation, exposure to freezing temperatures, and being blasted with Chinese Communist Party (CCP) propaganda broadcasts. Practitioners refused to give up their beliefs, perform hard labour or participate in prison activities. When Ms. Wu didn't participate in the fire drill, Zhang Yanling and prison guards Liu and Li ordered prisoners to carry her down the stairs. From August to November, she was detained in the isolation cell until her release on November 19th. Hou Meili, Wang, Tong, the prison record section chief and others claimed that Ms. Wu's hair exceeded the prison-mandated length, and ordered the prisoners to intensify their abuse of her. They handcuffed Ms. Wu to the torture chair, and prisoner Yue Hongpo cut her hair very short. Hou Meili ordered team leader Yang and guards to give Ms. Wu only a very small portion of food at mealtime. A week before she was released, Ms. Wu was taken to District 10 from the isolation cell. She was released on November 19th, 2008.

Ms. Wu was persecuted in Beijing before she was imprisoned at Xinxiang Women's Prison. She continued to do the Falun Gong excises at the detention centre in Beijing from April to May 2006. Because of that, her hands were handcuffed behind her back and she suffered excruciating pain.

Once the handcuffs were removed she again practised the Falun Gong exercises. After roughly twenty days, Zhang, five female guards, group leaders Wang and Wu and two male guards handcuffed Ms. Wu to the torture chair. A female guard pinched her armpit when handcuffing her, and Wu kicked her. She went on a hunger strike to protest being persecuted and because the skin on her hands was bleeding from being chafed by the metal handcuffs. There was also some swelling, and the prison doctor suggested that this could result in an infection, so they removed the handcuffs.

Ms. Wu was detained at the Haidian Detention Centre from November to December 2006. She refused to answer the guards' roll call, and guards Jiang Li, Li, Dong and others beat her. They grabbed Ms. Wu's hair and hit her head against the wall, pinched her nose and stuffed rags into her mouth. The guards shoved her to the ground and tied her hands and feet with a metal chain.

When Ms. Wu's picture was taken, prisoners wiped the blood from her face. The guards and prisoners pulled her by the hair to the detention cell. Such abuse was inflicted upon anyone who resisted the persecution.

Staff from the Haidian District Court of Beijing came to the Haidian Detention Centre to demand that she tell her sister not to appear in court and plead not guilty. They threatened Ms. Wu and said that the Public Security Court would monitor and detain her sister. Court officials handcuffed her hands behind her back when taking her to the courthouse. A young policemen tried to kick her in the legs and make her kneel down. Ms. Wu refused, so they kicked her again. At court, Ms. Wu brought up the issue about guards and police officers assaulting people. She asked what was wrong with talking about cultivation and improving people's morality. The court officials had no reply and kept their heads down.

District 5 and 11 at the Xinxiang City Women's Prison detain former practitioners who have given up Falun Gong. They work long hours to make money for the prison. When high-level officials inspect the prison, they hide their work and pretend to study and watch videos that show fabricated stories about Falun Gong.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2010/1/10/216024.html