Older Practitioner Ms. Wang Guanrong Tortured in Harbin City Women's Prison

Name: Wang Guanrong
Gender: Female
Age: in her 50s
Address: Qixing Mine Family Housing, Baoshan District, Shuangyashan City
Occupation: Unknown
Date of Most Recent Arrest: December 7th, 2002
Most Recent Place of Detention: Harbin City Women's Prison
City: Shuangyashan
Province: Heilongjiang
Persecution Suffered: Sleep deprivation, brainwashing, beatings, imprisonment, solitary confinement, torture, physical restraint, interrogation, detention

Ms. Wang Guanrong is serving a twelve-year term in Harbin City Women's Prison. She was tortured until she lost sensation in both of her legs. She also lost the sight in her right eye and could only see a bit of light through her left eye. The following are details about her case.

Ms. Wang began practising Falun Gong in April 1999. She used to have diabetes and a disc problem in her lower spine. Only two weeks after learning Falun Gong, all of her symptoms disappeared. On December 18th, 2000, she went to Tiananmen Square to speak out for Falun Gong. Police officers from Beijing arrested her and detained her for seven days. She was detained at the Dagang Detention Centre in Tianjin, where, after being deceived into telling the police where she came from, she was subsequently was taken back to Shuangyashan City. She was released after being detained for three months in the Shuangyashan City Detention Centre.

Ms. Wang was arrested in October 2001 and detained for 15 days. She was forced to leave town to avoid further arrest. Police officers from the Province Police Department and local station tried to arrest her in April 2002. They stormed into her home and threatened her husband to give her up; otherwise they would arrest him, as well. Her husband was forced to close his hotel to avoid police harassment.

Ms. Wang was arrested again on December 7th, 2002 while distributing leaflets exposing the persecution and telling people the facts about Falun Gong. She was detained in the Jixian County Detention Centre. Officer Li Hongbo and others from the Shuangyashan City 610 Office [an agency specifically created to persecute Falun Gong] cruelly tortured her for more than 50 hours, punching her, kicking her, pulling her hair, twisting her ears, and subjecting her to the "Flying an airplane"¹ torture. Her whole body was covered with bruises. The guards did not allow her to drink, eat, or sleep.

Ms. Wang was sentenced to 12 years in prison on September 17th, 2003 and taken to Harbin City Women's Prison. In the training ward, Warden Wang Xiaoli forced Ms. Wang Guanrong to run for one hour, then squat for another. Warden Wang said if one could not run any longer, one must say "I quit practising Falun Gong." Ms. Wang Guanrong refused to say that, so Warden Wang beat Ms. Wang Guanrong brutally, forced her squat, and then dragged her to run. This torture caused Ms. Wang Guanrong's legs to severely swell.

After she was transferred from the Training Ward to the "Strictly-Controlled" Ward, Ms. Wang Guanrong was brutally beaten by guard Tao Dandan.

Ms. Wang stood up to denounce the slanderous video programme that was played on January 7th, 2005. She was locked in a small cell², and then cuffed behind her back onto a ring mounted in the floor. There was no heating in the coldest January days. Ms. Wang was locked in that cell for more than two months because she would not give up, resulting in her suffering frozen legs, incontinence, and extreme weakness.

After being released from the small cell, she was locked in solitary confinement for two months, where she was forced sit on a wooden stool from 6 a.m. until 8 p.m. while listening to prisoners reading slanderous materials.

Ms. Wang was transferred to the Patient Ward in April 2006. Due to her eyesight deteriorating, she could not walk around, and the Prison Administration called her family to have her visit the doctor. The doctors found that her urine glucose and blood sugar were extremely high, both of her legs had lost sensation, she had lost sight in her right eye, and her left eye could only see bit of light. Nonetheless, the Prison Administration still refused to release her for medical treatment.

Note

1. In this torture, the head is bent down until it cannot go down any further, while the hands are pulled up and held up to the highest point. The hips have to point up. One is forced to keep this position unchanged for a long time. The body in this position looks like the shape of an airplane, which is how this torture is named. See illustration on http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2004/9/29/52921.html.

2. The detainee is locked up in a very small cell individually. The guards handcuff practitioners behind their back in a fixed position, in which the practitioners can neither move nor lie down. The small cell is very damp and no sunshine comes in. Detainees have to urinate and defecate in the cell. Only half of a regular meal is served to detainees locked up in a small cell during the daytime. During the night the rats are running around. The stench in the small cell is so bad that it is difficult to breathe.

Related article: http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2003/6/5/36533.html

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2007/5/14/154743.html