Nine Years of Imprisonment: Ms. Wang Jinfan, 57, Recounts the Persecution She Suffered

Name: Wang Jinfan
Gender: Female
Age: 57
Address: South Fangzhi Street, Tiefeng District, Qiqihar
Occupation: Teacher
Date of Most Recent Arrest: April 19th, 2002
Most Recent Place of Detention: Heilongjiang Women's Prison
City: Qiqihar
Province: Heilongjiang
Persecution Suffered: Electric shock, sleep deprivation, forced labour, brainwashing, forced injections/drug administration, beatings, imprisonment, solitary confinement, torture, extortion, physical restraint, mental hospital, home ransacked, interrogation, detention

Ms. Wang Jinfan, a teacher at Qiqihar Railroad No. 1 Middle School, has been persecuted repeatedly by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) since July 20th, 1999. She was sentenced to more than ten years of imprisonment in 2002. She is being held in Heilongjiang Women's Prison. The following is Ms. Wang's own account of her experiences over the last eleven years:

Brainwashed and My Wages Stopped

I transferred to the Qiqihar Railroad No. 1 Middle School in July 1999. The school Party secretary, surnamed Wang, reported me for talking to him about Falun Gong. Pang Yumei, head of Qiqihar Railroad Bureau 610 Office (an organisation of special agents just for persecuting Falun Gong), and the Party secretary stopped my wages right away. They sent me to the Jiagedaqi Brainwashing Centre. I was charged 15 yuan¹ a day for a bed, and it was deducted from my accumulation fund. There were nine practitioners there already. One of them had an infant several months old that was still breastfeeding. We were released on December 8th, 1999.

My Daughter's Experiences

We are a single parent family and my daughter was only 13 back then. Nobody took care of her when I was away. She sometimes had only one meal a day. The police officers even interrogated her at school. Her teacher sometimes didn't let her attend the lectures. She was taunted and shunned. That really hurt her emotionally. She has been held in a detention centre twice. She had to leave home in 2002. She has been moving from place to place and doing odd jobs to make a living since then.

Detained in a Mental Hospital

Two fellow practitioners and I went to appeal to the local government on January 17th, 2000. We were taken away and detained in the Qiqihar Railroad Detention Centre for 15 days. On the day I was released, my employer, the police, and officials at the 610 Office forged medical records that got me admitted into the Gaotou Mental Hospital of the Railroad Bureau. They also extorted 3,000 yuan from my family to allegedly pay medical costs and room and board.

In the hospital, I was forced to take drugs that damage the nervous system. I always tried to secretly vomit up the drugs along with the food. The hospital put me in a ward where seriously disturbed patients were held. Their behavior terrified and made me very nervous. I was once moved into a ward for less severe patients. The doctor found out and ordered several male mental patients to carry me out. I shouted, but they were like robots. The doctor said, “Put her down.” They simply dropped me right on the ground. I often woke up to find those patients doing things to me because none of the doors in the ward were locked. At the urging of other practitioners, the hospital investigated my case and I was released 18 days later.

Released from the Mental Hospital, Picked Up Again Immediately

On the evening of that same day, the police and my employer came to my home and took me away again. My daughter cried and pleaded with them, “Please let my mum stay one night. I'm begging you. Please......” They didn't say anything. I was heartbroken at that. In tears I said, “Falun Gong teaches us to be good. I've never done anything that harms the interests of the country or others. Why are you treating us like this? One shouldn't do things against one's conscience. Falun Gong saved my daughter. Nobody should be ungrateful. Everybody should make a distinction between right and wrong and not hit someone who is down!”

My employer locked me in a room in a small hotel the next day and sent two of my colleagues to monitor me. Ni Hong, director of personnel, told me that the monitor would take care of my meals and that they had been paid for. However, there was no food for me at mealtime. I asked the monitors, “You're eating. Why is there nothing for me?” One monitor, Su Yan, said, “Nobody told us to give you anything to eat.” In the end, I was deprived of food for a total of 20 days. They sent me to the Jiagedaqi Brainwashing Centre a month later.

Detained for Exercising Outdoors

Another practitioner and I did the exercises outdoors in May 2000. I was taken away and held in the Qiqihar Railroad Detention Centre for about a month. I went back to work in June. My employer assigned me dirty and tiring work and didn't pay me.

Home Ransacked and Severely Beaten

Two plainclothes officers broke into my home on July 16th, 2000. They ransacked the place and confiscated Falun Gong books and materials, and other personal belongings. They took me to the local police station. Officer Chen used a torture method called "carrying a sword on the back" in which one arm is forced up and over the shoulder and the other is forced up behind one's back. Then the two are tightly linked with handcuffs. He slapped my face dozens of times until my face swelled. He dragged me to the centre of the room and kicked my back really hard. I was knocked against the wall. He dragged me back and kicked me again. He did it several times as he kept swearing at me. He also pushed and pulled my arms that were handcuffed behind my back. He grasped the handcuffs, lifted me up, and swung me. All my weight was on my wrists. I couldn't stand the excruciating pain and cried out. It felt like my right arm was dislocated. My wrists started to bleed from the handcuffs. My clothes were torn.

I was taken to Qiqihar No. 2 Detention Centre that night. There were so many of us that we had to crowd into the bed and all lay on our sides. If someone needed to use the restroom in the middle of the night, her spot would be gone when she came back. Most of us were Falun Gong practitioners and the majority of us were injured. It was hot and we all sweaty, which made the injuries even more painful. I was transferred to Shuanghe Forced Labour Camp ten days later.

Forced Labour

In the forced labour camp, we had to plow the fields and pull weeds. Some weeds were taller than a person. We started with our backs bent, but then we had to kneel down. In the end we were so tired that we just sat on the ground and crawled along. We were very thirsty and tired, but we could only drink water at lunch break or after work. We once worked hard till it was time to pack up. We were ready to run to the water pail to drink. Guard Wang Mei suddenly said, “Don't waste time. I need to go home.” She ordered the inmates to pour the water on the ground. We could only watch the ground soak up the water. After going back to the cells from the field, we had to make cartons.

Solitary Confinement and Severe Beatings

More than 80 practitioners did the Falun Gong exercises together instead of calisthenics one day in September. The guards were angry. Many practitioners were beaten and locked in solitary confinement. I was one of them. The conditions in those small cells were extremely adverse. It was dark and humid. Some of us were hung up, some were tied to beds, and some were handcuffed to something in such a way that we couldn't stand up or keel down. Some were even locked in tiny cells where it was dark and moldy and you could see mice and all kinds of insects. We were handcuffed to bars on the ground. Often practitioners had their mouths taped shut and were dragged out and beaten in the middle of the night. Ms. Xu Jinhua was locked in a tiny cell for two months.

On October 13th Hong Zhenquan, the deputy director of the labour camp, ordered all the practitioners who were in solitary confinement to read articles that slandered Falun Gong. A row of male guards stood behind him with electric batons in their hands. We were beaten because we refused to read those articles. They then extended our terms. Tiefeng District Court extended my term for one year and the labor camp extended my term for another year. Hong Zhenquan announced in a gathering, “Lifting your arms (exercising) will get one month extension. Holding a hunger strike will get an extension. You will get an extension if you don't renounce Falun Gong.”

Administration of Drugs in Harbin Drug Rehabilitation Centre

The labour camp sent six practitioners, including me, to Harbin Drug Rehabilitation Centre on May 25th, 2001. They wanted to “transform” [forcibly renounce Falun Gong] us through the administration of psychotropic drugs. Drugs were put in the drinking water or rice porridge. In a short while, we practitioners got stomachaches and serious diarrhoea.

We were sent back to Shuanghe Forced Labour Camp in August. The labour camp soon released all the practitioners who had been detained for prolonged terms.

Robbed by the Police

On December 15th, 2001, another practitioner, my daughter, and I went to Daqing City to pick up 32,000 yuan and some materials exposing the persecution of Falun Gong. We were reported by the taxi driver and arrested. The police searched us and stole our money. We were later taken to Daqing Detention Centre. My daughter was 14 at the time. We were transferred to Sha'ertu District Detention Centre two months later. The police also stole 50,000 from my fellow practitioners in March 2002.

Arrested and Tortured Again

A male practitioner arrived at my home on April 19th, 2002. My daughter shouted in the hallway, “Mum, don't open the door. The police are coming to get you.” Her voice faded away. The police barged through the door. The other practitioner tried to escape by jumping and broke his leg. My phone line was cut, and the residential building was surrounded by riot police, officers from the Criminal Police Brigade, and officers from the local police station. I was taken to the local station. Two officers from the Criminal Police Brigade hit my eyes with a water bottle. Everything became a blur after that. I shouted, “Falun Gong is great!” The police stuffed my mouth with a dirty rag and fixed it with a long towel tied around my face. One policeman dragged me on my breasts. He then hit me and kicked me on my sides, breasts, and stomach. He put me in a chair and had my feet rest on a stool. He hit my feet and lower legs with a mop handle and shoes. When he got tired, he sat on my stomach and kept beating me. My feet turned black due to the beating and I couldn't feel my lower legs. The other police officer pulled my head toward the back of the chair and kept bending it hard. It caused serious damage to my cervical vertebrae. X-rays later showed that internal bleeding area in my neck was about the size of a fist. To this day, my head still feels heavy and shakes. I can't lift my arms because of the pressure. The torture continued until midnight. Sun Yanbin, head of the team, came in and said, “We'll continue tomorrow. Let's go and have a drink.” They bound me to a metal chair and left. I then heard distressful cries from next door. It was the other practitioner. He was tortured even more brutally. The police later sent me to the police hospital.

About four days later, Director Yan of the Qiqihar Police Department came to the hospital and had a conversation with Doctor Lin Changquan, director of the surgery section, beside my bed. Director Yan asked, “How's Wang Jinfan? I want to interrogate her.” Doctor Lin replied, “She is still in critical condition and could die at anytime.” Director Yan said, “A Falun Gong practitioner's death is not a big deal. You don't have to take any responsibility.” Doctor Lin said, “I don't care who she is. She is my patient and I should be responsible for her.”

The police hauled me back to the interrogation room a week later. They tied me to a metal chair and put metal rings on my thumbs. The metal rings were connected to wires. They flipped the electric switch. A strong electric current flowed through my heart and I was stretched straight and stiff. In the end, Sun Yanbin said, “Let's stop there. Don't kill her.” They pulled my fingers and placed my fingerprints on documents fabricated by the police. One officer said, “The evidence we put down shouldn't be minor. Otherwise, it won't be enough for the court to throw into jail.”

Sentenced to More Than Ten Years in Prison

I was sentenced to more than ten years in prison. I was transferred to Heilongjiang Women's Prison on April 23rd, 2003. Because I was too weak to walk and my blood pressure was as high as 200, the prison officials refused to accept me. After negotiations, Qiqihar Detention Centre paid the prison 1,500 yuan and they accepted me anyway.

Beaten and Tortured in Heilongjiang Women's Prison

I was sent to the so-called "training" ward. On the first day, everyone was given a piece of paper and told to recite the prison rules. I refused to do it. Lu Jinghua, head of the ward, and guard Wang Xiaoli swore at me and brutally beat me. Due to heart failure and myocardial ischemia from the electric shock, I couldn't withstand the beating. My heart started palpitating and I fainted.

We were ordered to participate in a parade celebrating the CCP's anniversary. The guards wanted us to parade in formations. I didn't participate because of my health. Other practitioners didn't want to participate, either. When it was close to the anniversary, all the practitioners in the training ward quit. Lu Jinghua thought that I had started the incident and beat me.

The Criminal Police Brigade sent someone to get my fingerprints on some fabricated documents. I refused to cooperate. The guards forced my head to my feet. Lu Jinghua stood on my feet, and two other guards stabbed my hand with staples, pulled my fingers, and got my fingerprints. They later locked me in solitary confinement.

After being released from solitary, I was transferred to the ninth ward where the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners was most severe. There, because I refused to do the forced labour, I was forced to squat for two days and nights. They didn't let me close my eyes. During that time, Hou Guiqin, one of the two most brutal inmates that tortured practitioners (the other was Guo Ying), was encouraged by the guards to beat me and pull my hair. Due to the torture, my blood pressure remained at a very high level and I showed symptoms of a stroke.

Guard Jia Wenjun ordered me to take off my clothes and shoes when she was searching the cells. I didn't obey. She ordered several inmates to carry me to a room. They pulled my clothes off and pushed me to the floor.

In August 2005, the guards moved most of the practitioners to other wards and left only a few of us. They tried again to “transform” us by escalating the torture. I held a hunger strike to protest. They stopped in the end. I was transferred to the tenth ward on October 13th.

On November 23rd, inmate Xia Guixian was slandering the teacher of Falun Gong and practitioners in the shared wash room. I told her to stop. She poured a basin of water over me, hit my head with the basin, pushed me down, rode on my back, hit me, and pulled my hair. My blood pressure rose to 130/240 and I ended up in bed for more than ten days. Guard Cai Liping and Zhao Yingling, director of the prison hospital, ignored me and didn't do anything about it. When I insisted on talking to the director of the prison, they just moved Xia Guixian to a different floor.

I was transferred to the second ward on June 14th, 2007, and I have been held there ever since.

Heilongjiang Women's Prison persecutes Falun Gong practitioners with considerable brutality. What I have suffered is just the tip of the iceberg.

Earlier report:

http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2007/2/15/82706.html

Note

1. "Yuan" is the Chinese currency; 500 yuan is equal to the average monthly income of an urban worker in China.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2011/2/28/236875.html