Tianjin Detention Centre Force-feeds Practitioners Unknown Drugs

Officials at the Beichen District in Tianjin abused Falun Gong practitioners in December 2001 by force-feeding them drugs. Below is a practitioner's account.

I am a Falun Gong practitioner from the Beichen District, Tianjin. Officials from the Jiarongli Police Station broke into my home on December 3rd, 2001. They arrested and took me to the Beichen District Detention Centre. I joined other practitioners held there in a persecution protest hunger strike on December 5th. The guards dragged me out of the cell into the hallway, handcuffed and shackled me, then shoved a towel into my mouth. They dragged me from the second floor to the ground floor and began force-feeding me.

There was a large-size plastic bowl which contained unknown liquid drugs. The guards tied my arms and legs to a metal chair that had its base affixed to the ground. They grabbed my hair and pulled it so that my face was upward. Then, two women wearing white coats inserted a tube into my nose and began pouring whatever was in the bowl into my stomach through the tube. It felt awful. One of them said, "Don't even think about getting it out. The tube has reached the bottom of your stomach!"

The guards screamed at another practitioner in her seventies, "Do you see this? You're next! If you don't want us to feed you, then drink it yourself! Yes or no?" The guards opened her handcuffs and forced her to drink it. Two other practitioners were also forced to drink it.

We felt unwell that night. One practitioner said, "I saw red stuff at the bottom of the bowl." The other practitioner said, "They've drugged us again." The practitioners had already been drugged on two prior occasions. We began feeling dizzy and bloated, had severe pain in our lower back areas, and were feverish. We encouraged each other, "We have to stay alert and not fall into the officials' trap!" We persisted in meditating and doing other Falun Gong exercises on a daily basis. Over time we lost our voices.

We happened to be barefoot and wearing only a thin layer of clothes one day around December 9-11th, 2001. The guards dragged us out of the cell, handcuffed and shackled us, shoved towels into our mouths, and threw us outside in the freezing cold, while detention centre head Wang sat in the steam room and watched us shiver. We stood outside until our teeth chattered. We lost feeling in our limbs and nearly collapsed on the ground before Wang ordered guards to bring us back inside.

Another forced-drug administration session took place two days later. When they inserted a tube into my right nostril, I immediately bit the tube. Detention centre head Wang screamed, "Pry her teeth open! Let's see which one is harder -- your teeth or my steel plate!" The steel plates they use are similar in thickness to a certain coin [2 mm or 0.08 inch], one inch wide and six inches long. Exasperated, the guards tried to insert the steel plate between my teeth, but it slipped off, again and again. They slashed my gums, and they started to bleed. Another practitioner shouted for them to stop but they continued, yet my teeth remained tightly closed. Detention centre head Wang said, "She has another nostril!" They inserted another tube into my left nostril and poured in the drugs.

Both tubes were stuck in my throat, which made breathing very difficult. I strenuously sucked in some air and held it in, because if I could not get more air, I would suffocate. I was tied down so tightly that I could not make the slightest movement, while my respiratory tract was obstructed with two tubes. I can't describe how awful it felt.

Police officer Zhang Xu came to the detention centre on the morning of December 17th, 2001 and demanded to know whether I would continue the hunger strike. I said, "Yes I will! You have to release me unconditionally, with a clear name, or I will continue the hunger strike indefinitely!"

Detention centre head Wang barged into my cell and ordered two guards to drag me out at noon on the eleventh day of my hunger strike. I said, "Don't touch me, I'll walk on my own." I slowly put on all the clothes I had when I was first brought to the detention centre and thought, "I must go home!" They dragged me to the place where they force-fed me. I could not stand up, and my eyes bulged outward. They brought a bowl of liquid that looked the same as last time, and I refused to drink it. They sent me and another practitioner to a police hospital for a so-called rescue effort. I broke free at 8:00 p.m. that night.

Police officer Zhang Xu came to my home during the 2002 Chinese New Year's Eve and demanded that my family and I write a guarantee statement to renounce practising Falun Gong, but we refused. He threatened, "You will not get to enjoy the New Year holiday!"

Zhang Xu, 24, who was from Beicang, was involved in the persecution of Falun Gong since the initial break-in at my home and at the detention centre. He received retribution in summer 2002 when he became paralysed.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.org/mh/articles/2010/3/5/219266.html