Falun Gong Practitioner Ms. Yan Yuqin Became Mentally Disordered As a Result of Torture in Beijing's Tiantanghe Forced Labour Camp

I was once picked up by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) police and detained in the Beijing Detention Centre, the Beijing Dispatch Centre, and the Beijing Forced Labour Camp for over two years. During this period of time, I suffered brutal torture both physically and mentally. I also witnessed atrocities carried out against Falun Gong practitioners in prison.

Due to the Death Quota, the Police Are Not Afraid to Beat Practitioners to Death

From the end of 2006 to 2007, I was detained at the Beijing Haidian Detention Centre for over three months. All I heard were the sounds of chains and screaming from beatings every day. The police were trained to be ruthless and never treated detainees as humans.

The Dog Chain, Deprivation of Sleep, and Humiliation: the Police Don't Treat Detainees as Humans

In the Haidian Detention Centre, a practitioner in her 50s was detained in the cell next to mine. Because she shouted “Falun Gong is good,” the police chained her hands and feet together. As a result, she could not walk normally. She could only move slowly in the heavy chains, and her back was bent nearly one hundred and eighty degrees. This is called the “Dog Chain” torture.

From the outside, Tiantanghe Women's Forced Labour Camp looks like a compound with several red buildings. Here, every Falun Gong practitioner is subjected to “Ao Ying,” that is, don't allow detainees to sleep or only allow them to sleep very little. “Ao Ying” is a brutal torture recognized internationally. In 2007 when I was detained in Tiantanghe Women's Forced Labour Camp, at least 18 to 20 hours a day, I was surrounded by a roomful of people. They shouted repeatedly at me attacks on Falun Gong. The deputy director of the labour camp, Chen Li, was very satisfied when she saw I was too weak to speak as a result of this torture. She said, “If you refuse to be “transformed” (meaning, give up practising Falun Gong), we will take turns torturing you. There are so many people here. You will not last long in your condition.”

Officer Xia Xi tortured practitioner Lin Shuying with the “Ao Ying” method. She was only allowed to sleep for one to two hours. In addition, they opened the window in her cell on cold winter days, did not give her enough food, and did not allow her to use the toilet.

I Witnessed Falun Gong Practitioner Ms. Yan Yuqin Tortured into Mental Instability

In the sixth division of the labour camp, I saw Ms. Yan Yuqin tortured until she became mentally disordered. The police ordered a drug dealer inmate to watch and torture her. The more brutal she tortured her, the more satisfied the police were. Under the police's incitement, this inmate lost her reasoning and took pleasure in torturing Ms. Yan. She insulted her loudly and struck her face with a fly swatter daily. Eventually Ms. Yan became mentally disturbed. After that, the doctor said that she needed to be bailed out for medical treatment, but the police did not release her.

Another practitioner, Ms. Lu Yulian, is in her 60s. She was also tortured by the same method until she became mentally disordered. During the one and half years I was detained in that labour camp, two practitioners in the sixth division were tortured into mental insanity.

Falun Gong Practitioners Deprived of Their Basic Rights

The persecution against Falun Gong extends to every level and every field in society. After I was released from the labour camp, I finally found a job after fierce competition. However, just as I was just about to sign the contract for my new job, I saw that the last sentence of the contract slandered Falun Gong. In other words, if I wanted to get this job, I had to slander Falun Gong. I gave up the job.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2011/3/9/237378.html