After Being Tortured in Prison for Eight Years, Mr. Ma Zhiwu Is Facing Another Trial

Name: Ma Zhiwu
Gender: Male
Age: 41
Address: Unknown
Occupation: Employed by Yinchuan Railroad Sub-bureau
Date of Most Recent Arrest: September 12th, 2010
Most Recent Place of Detention: Yanchi County Detention Centre
City: Yinchuan
Province: Ningxia Autonomous region
Persecution Suffered: Detention, forced labour reform, beatings, forced-feeding, sleep deprivation, torture, physical constraint, drug administration, denied visits, home ransacked

Yanchi County Court in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region tried Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Ma Zhiwu secretly on March 1st, 2011. Mr. Ma is facing a second trial shortly in Wuzhong City Court, Ningxia.

Mr. Ma was sent to a forced labour camp for three years for appealing for the right to practise Falun Gong in Beijing in 1999. Before his term ended, he was sentenced to six years imprisonment and taken to Guanmahu Prison in Wuzhong City from 2002 to 2008. During his eight years of incarceration, Mr. Ma was tortured and beaten severely.

On September 12th, 2010, Mr. Ma was arrested by officers from Huamachi Police Station in Yanchi County, and the car he had borrowed from a friend was confiscated by the police. He was detained in the Yanchi Detention Centre for six months, during which time his family was harassed by the provincial 610 Office (an organisation of special agents just for persecuting Falun Gong), local police, and neighbourhood committees.

Mr. Ma's family and the owner of the car visited the local police stations, procuratorate, and court to request the release of Mr. Ma and the car but were met with rejection and deception. A procurator told the Ma family that Mr. Ma's case had been returned to the police due to insufficient evidence. However, Mr. Ma was at time being tried in secret, which his family was totally unaware of.

Mr. Ma was employed at the Yinchuan Railroad Sub-bureau. He started practising Falun Gong in May 1998 and was detained in Yinchuan Detention Centre in Ningxia after being arrested in 1999. During his time in Baitugangzi Forced Labour Camp (also called the No. 1 Forced Labour Camp of Ningxia), he endured serious beatings, force-feeding, and other tortures.

He went on a hunger strike to protest the persecution, which the authorities used as an excuse to imprison him for another six years. Mr. Ma was sent to Guanmahu Prison in Wuzhong on April 18th, 2002. He was tortured by inmates under the direction of wardens Liang Haiwang and Guo Jiwang. Torture included two weeks of sleep deprivation, “Riding an Airplane” (in this case his hands were bent behind his back as he laid on the floor with his mouth stuffed), and verbal abuse.

Mr. Ma was also tortured on a Death Bed¹ for more than 40 days, resulting in unbearable pain in his muscles and entire body. Moreover, the perpetrators force-fed him with a kind of paste mixed with unknown drugs, dirty water, flies, and flour. He experienced a burning sensation after being force-fed with the paste, and he lost the ability to walk or even stand. Other inmates had to move him around by carrying him if needed.

His wife was pregnant when Mr. Ma was arrested the first time. She had to raise their daughter and support the family all by herself. Her requests to visit her husband were turned down by the prison, and the local 610 Office harassed her and ransacked her home many times. In order to force Mrs. Ma to give up her belief in Falun Gong, the Xihuayuan Police even took away her two-year-old daughter on November 20th, 2001. Due to the mental abuse and the pressure of the persecution, Mr. Ma's father passed away in 2001. His mother suffered severe mental torment as well.

His daughter was eight years old when Mr. Ma was released in February 2008.

Related article:
http://clearwisdom.net/html/articles/2010/10/4/120413.html

Note

1. "Death Bed" torture: A practitioner is tied to a bed with his hands handcuffed above his head to the bed rails, and his legs tied with thin nylon ropes. The rope is then tightly wrapped around the practitioner's body and the bed, from his legs to his chest. The rope is wrapped so tightly that the practitioner has difficulty breathing and eventually loses consciousness.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2011/3/11/237454.html