Falun Gong practitioners detained at Hebei Province Women's Forced Labour Camp, located at Shitong Road, Shijiazhuang City, Hebei Province, have been subjected to various torture methods. Below is an account of some of the torture and abuse suffered by practitioners detained there.
1. Beatings, shocked with electric batons, and handcuffing
In the First Division of the labour camp of Hebei Province, Falun Gong practitioners Liu Li, Liu Binglan, Zhang Yanchun, and others were handcuffed to the upper frames of the bunk beds for several days in a row. They were not allowed to use the toilet, and as a result, had to urinate and defecate in their trousers. The guards instructed inmates, including Zhu Liying, Liu Zongzhen, Liu Juan and others, to beat these practitioners. Liu Li had black eyes and suffered from concussion due to being beaten.
Ms. Liu Binglan was handcuffed for 48 hours. When she was finally allowed to use the toilet, she was unable to urinate and defecate. Inmate Li Lijuan kicked her in the bladder area, causing her great pain for a long time.
Ms. Zhang Yanchun's face was badly bruised, turning black and blue from being beaten. The day Ms. Zhang was supposed to be released, they did not release her because the black and blue marks on her face had not disappeared. As a result, officials at the labour camp detained her an additional forty-three days. She was not allowed to go home until her face was clear again. The blood pressure of a fifty-year-old practitioner had increased to 300 mm Hg. Because she sang "Falun Gong is good," the guards ordered some other inmates to lock her up in a tiny cell where they slapped her and dragged her by the hair. Because of this, she lost clumps of hair, leaving areas of skin exposed on her head.
2. Humiliation and sexual abuse
Ms. Chen Xiumei did not co-operate with the demands of the guards. Thus, guard Liu Ziwei instructed inmates Liu Juan, Zhu Liying, Liu Zongzhen, and others to pull off her clothes, including her underwear. They pinched her nipples and forced a stiff round brush into her private parts, which caused severe bleeding.
Ms. Wang Lixia went on a hunger strike in order to protest. She also refused to wear the prison uniform [Note: Because Dafa practitioners are not guilty of any crime and should not be imprisoned, practitioners sometimes protest their detention by refusing the wear the prison uniform or prison badge and refusing to answer roll call]. Guards, including Liu Ziwei and Wang Weiwei, who led Zhu Liying, Liu Juan and other inmates, took off her coat and cut her underwear away with scissors, leaving her naked. The inmates then slapped her with the heels of their shoes. They also slapped her face. She was already as thin as a skeleton after being on a hunger strike for three months. But during each force-feeding session, they dragged her along the stone-paved road, which badly injured her knees, leaving them covered with blood. In the cell, Ms. Wang was not allowed to sleep on the bed. Instead, she had to lie on the cold floor. Inmate Zhu Liying often covered Ms. Wang's head with a blanket until she could hardly breathe. All of these torture methods were carried out under the instruction of guards Liu Ziwei and Wang Weiwei.
3. Sleep deprivation, standing for long periods of time, not allowed to use the toilet, and "stomping the double-crossed legs/b"
For those practitioners who refused to give up their belief, the guards first tortured them with sleep deprivation, which lasted multiple days up to two to three months. The guards forced practitioners to write the statements that denounce Falun Gong and its founder. During sleep deprivation, these practitioners were also forced to stand for long periods of time. Ms. Feng Xiaomei was tortured this way for over ten days. When they saw that this torture was not effective, the guards resorted to the even more vicious torture method of "stomping the double-crossed legs" (forcing the practitioner to sit in the full lotus position, then stomping on her legs).
Four inmates, including Zhu Liying, Liu Zongzhen, and Qi Xiaolu forced Feng Xiaomei to sit with her legs double-crossed for as long as six hours. When Ms. Feng experienced unbearable pain, the inmates kept stomping on her knees, tibia and ankles. When they allowed her to take her legs down, they did not let her sit down; she was forced to stand continuously throughout the night. She was also not allowed to use the toilet. As a result, her legs were badly swollen and she could not walk. Because she had to hold back her bowel movement and urine, she had blood in her stool for a long time.
Ms. Yu Jie was brought to a room by several guards (two men and several women). They forced her to sit in the lotus position with both legs crossed. They propped her knees up with a couple of stools to prevent her legs from falling down. Two guards held her by the arms, and at the same time, they stomped on her knees. A guard sat on her legs and at the same time stepped on her tibia. They tortured her this way from all sides. The torture started at 9:00 a.m. and lasted until 3:00 p.m.. Seeing that they could not make Ms. Yu give up her faith, they started to stomp on her even more fiercely. Ms. Yu was in so much pain that her whole body twitched spasmodically. During the interim, she was not given any food, nor was she allowed to use the toilet. At that time, Ms. Yu was having her period. When she asked to be allowed to change her pads, the guards denied her request. In the two months before this torture, Ms. Yu had protested her maltreatment by staging a hunger strike, and therefore, she was very weak. The guards said that she was in the "most optimum state" of feeling pain. The guards tried to force Ms. Yu, who was almost in a state of prostration, to write a statement denouncing her belief.
One male practitioner was tortured this way for twenty-two hours, and another for eight hours. As result, they could not walk normally, not even three months later.
4. Long-time detention in solitary cells and strict limitation of meals
Practitioners including Liu Binglan, Wang Lixia, Zhang Yanchun, Chen Xiumei, and Liang Yening, were detained in solitary cells for long periods of time, because they refused to perform forced labour. Every day, they were not allowed to leave the cells and could only use the toilet four times a day. Guards Liu Ziwei and Wang Weiwei did not allow them to eat vegetables or porridge. During each meal time, each of them was only given one dry steamed bun, and three small plastic cups of water. Because they could not eat vegetables and did not have a sufficient amount of water intake, most of them suffered from constipation; they could not excrete in eight or nine days, so they suffered very badly.
Those practitioners who were detained in solitary cells started a protest hunger strike. During the three months of their hunger strike, practitioners Liu Binglan and Wang Lixia were force-fed every day. They were also beaten by Zhu Liying, Liu Juan, and Liu Zongzhen, and other inmates.
Guard Liu Ziwei prohibited all practitioners detained in the First Division of the labour camp from using hot water for their daily personal hygiene. Thus in the bitter winter, practitioners had to use ice-cold water to wash their faces, feet, and lower bodies. Practitioner Feng Xiaomei had a bloody stool for a long time and did not feel well in her abdomen, but she still had no choice but to use cold water for her personal hygiene. Practitioners could only go to the boiler room to get some hot water three times each day, and each time, they could only take one small plastic cup of hot water. For the practitioners detained in solitary cells, they were not allowed to take a shower, regardless of the season.
5. Not allowed to see visiting family members
Ms. An Jinting suffered from low blood sugar because of the long-term maltreatment she had received. Her symptoms often appeared during the night. But the guards still forced her to do hard labour. Because she could not finish the work quota given to her, all the members in her group were punished. Ms. Zhang Guiqin, sixty years old, suffered from high blood pressure of 280 mm Hg. But the guards still forced her to go to the fourth floor to work. Sixty-year-old Zhang Ruihua also had high blood pressure of over 200 mm Hg. Just because she refused to renounce her beliefs, she is to this day still being incarcerated in the labour camp.
Even more shocking are the things Ms. Feng Xiaomei has experienced. Because she was identified by the government as initiating the campaign for the release of practitioner Wang Bo (see http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2006/11/18/80054.html for more information), the communist regime, in retaliation, relentlessly persecuted and abused her. Qiao Xiaoxia, who directly reports to the 610 Office (an organisation of special agents just for persecuting Falun Gong), has been assigned to closely monitor her. Ms. Feng was subjected to tortures while detained in a solitary cell such as sleep deprivation, being forced to stand for a long time, not being allowed to use the toilet, as well as the cruel method of "stomping the double-crossed legs." She was tortured with these means for thirty days. However, after she solemnly announced that everything she had written against her own conscience was void and invalid, labour camp officials subjected her to another round of torture, which lasted forty days. The torture caused her to have blood in her stool for a long time, and doctors suspected that she had colon cancer. Even so, the guards still forced her to do heavy labour, which only strong men can do. When she returned to her cell afterward, Ms. Feng had to lie down on the bed, panting. She told the guards many times about her condition and that it was inappropriate to have to perform heavy labour. Guard Liu Ziwei told her, "I don't want you to die. I want you to live and suffer!"
Officials at the forced labour camp have deprived all Falun Gong practitioners who refuse to recant their beliefs of their legal right to see their visiting family members. This has brought great suffering to the practitioners and their families.
Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2010/2/19/218456.html
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