Older Practitioner Ms. Ding Zhenfang Detained in Prison in Liaoning Province, Reduced to a Skeletal State

Ms. Ding Zhenfang, a Falun Gong practitioner from Dalian City, Liaoning Province, was carried out of her prison cell on a stretcher on August 2nd, 2010, when her family members went to see her for the second time. She had lost a tremendous amount of weight as a result of cruel torture in prison. She is now skeleton-like, speaks haltingly, and is very feeble.

In her 60s, Ms. Ding was sentenced to eight years in prison in July 2008 and has been incarcerated in the Liaoning Province Women's Prison 9th Ward. Trying to force her to give up her faith, the prison authorities put her in a small confinement cell and used all kinds of ruthless methods to torture her. She began a protest hunger strike that prompted prison authorities to increase their use of torture on Ms. Ding, which has almost killed her. She is at death's door.

Ms. Ding started the practice of Falun Gong in 1996. Within two weeks, all of her medical problems, including stomach disease, a spinal disk hernia and pain in her teeth, were gone. She decided to abide by Falun Gong's principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance and to be an ethical and good person.

Incarcerated, fastened to a metal ring, and sentenced

In July 1999, the Chinese Communist regime launched the cruel persecution of Falun Gong. Ms. Ding Zhenfang and her husband were arrested and held in Dalian City Detention Centre in November. During this time, detention centre head Wang fastened her to a metal ring on the ground twice. The first time was for 10 days, and the second time for over 40 days. She couldn't raise her head or sit up with her back straight. Her hands and feet were fastened together. Even though she was once bleeding badly, Wang still ordered an inmate to beat her.

Two years later, in September 2001, Ms. Ding was sentenced to three years in prison and taken to Shenyang City Women's Prison, where she was incarcerated for 15 months.

Detained in Dalian Detention Centre; Subjected to the Stretching Torture in 2003

In July 2003, Shidaojie Street Police Station agents arrived at her home, searched it, and arrested her. Her father was so shocked and frightened that he became ill and bedridden, and died two years later.

While in Yaojia Detention Centre, Ms. Ding told the guards, "Falun Gong is good." However, they brutally struck her. Then they handcuffed and shackled her, and dragged her to the third cell of the 7th Prison Ward. Her hands and legs were spread apart and tied to a bed in a torture mode. The "Stretching Bed" is an extremely cruel method of torture.

To protest her imprisonment, Ms. Ding started a hunger strike. Guard Su Ying, prison doctor Wang Ying, and an individual named Jia Ling brutally beat and force-fed her every day. Ms. Ding was close to death from 59 days of hellish torture. The centre officials notified her family to come and take her home. She was so thin that her family members barely recognised her.

Torture in a Detention Centre in 2004

Ms. Ding was incarcerated in the Yaojia Detention Centre for four days beginning August 18th, 2004. More than eight guards and prison doctors Su Ying, Wang Ying, and Jia Ling tortured her 24 hours a day. After that she was sent to Dalian Detention Centre.

While there, the guards tried to force her to denounce her faith by subjecting her to barbaric torture methods. The guards made her stand inside a metal cage for five days and after that put her on the "Stretching Bed." They immobilised her arms and legs onto a metal bed frame and taped her feet and hands. They put three wooden boards under her body and a thick heavy hat on her head. They sealed her mouth and nose with tape, poked in two holes for her to breathe, and made a hole to force-feed her. They fed her with food waste, thick garlic water, human urine, and even live spiders. Inmate Wang Chong, serving a sentence for fraud, put over two dozen live bugs on her body and at the same time pushed pins into her feet. Still not satisfied, the guards inserted a malformed steel tube into her mouth, and [having removed the tape] pried her mouth open with chopsticks to force feed her. Ms. Ding's mouth and tongue sustained severe injuries. Yet, the evildoers still poured basins of dirty water over her. Ms. Ding did not have a single spot on her body that was not injured. When Wang Chong left, Lu Qing replaced her. Lu Qing and someone named Zhang poked toothpicks and pins into her toes. When Ms. Ding was about to die, the two perpetrators locked her inside the metal cage and forced her to stand.

When Ms. Ding was in the No. 1 Strictly Controlled Team, the guards and inmates wrapped her entire body, including her head, in plastic sheets several times, leaving only two holes for her to breathe. Then they carried her to the metal cage and tied her to the frame. Following that, they pushed two one-inch wide wooden slats between her feet and the frame. Overnight Ms. Ding's feet swelled tremendously. This torture was even more brutal than the Tiger Bench¹.

Ms. Ding said her steadfast belief gave her the strength to break free.

Torture in Masanjia Forced Labour Camp from October 29th, 2004 to May 29th, 2005

Ms. Ding was deprived of freedom between October 29th, 2004 and May 29th, 2005, in Masanjia Forced Labour Camp. She was locked in a solitary cell three times for a total of 35 days. The first time she was handcuffed and tied to a metal bench for 16 days. The second time, after being tied to a metal bench for 10 days, she vomited blood. The prison doctor still force-fed her. She was sent to the hospital. The hospital doctors asked the prison doctor not to force-feed her, but the prison doctor and the guards force-fed her anyway. The third time she was locked in a solitary confinement cell for nine days.

Ms. Ding was eventually tortured so severely that she could no longer speak, and her tongue was covered with sizeable lumps. Following the prison doctor's diagnosis of a stroke and bladder stones, she was on the verge of dying. Masanjia officials notified her family to take her home the same day she was diagnosed, because they did not want to be held responsible for her death. Her family could barely recognise her.

Arrested for the Fourth Time and Sentenced to Eight Years in Prison

Ms. Ding was arrested for the fourth time around noon on August 16th, 2007. Participating in the arrest were agents from the Kuiying Police Station in the Zhongshan District. She was immediately transferred to Yaojia Detention Centre and held for 11 months. She was given an eight-year sentence in July 2008 and imprisoned in the Liaoning Province Women's Prison 9th Ward.

The prison authorities tried to force her to "reform" [forcibly renounce Falun Gong] by locking her in solitary confinement and using different kinds of brutal torture. Ms. Ding began to suffer from heart problems, high blood pressure, and symptoms of a stroke.

When Ms. Ding's family members arrived to see her one afternoon in September 2008, prison officials made all kinds of excuses to keep them from seeing her. Her family finally saw her two years later, in August 2010, but she had already been so badly tortured that she looked like a skeleton and was close to dying.

Her family hopes that Falun Gong practitioners and others around the world will help rescue Ms. Ding and request that the prison authorities unconditionally release her.

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.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2010/8/16/228391.html