Forty-Three Year-Old Engineer from Chengdu City Dies After Repeated Detention and Torture

Name: Jiang Yunhong
Gender: Male
Age: 43
Address: Unknown
Occupation: Former Engineer of Chengdu Air Compressor Factory
Date of Death: March 8th, 2011
Date of Most Recent Arrest: November 20th, 2007
Most Recent Place of Detention: Wumaping Prison
City: Chengdu
Province: Sichuan
Persecution Suffered: Electric shock, sleep deprivation, forced labour, brainwashing, forced injections/drug administration, beatings, hung up, imprisonment, solitary confinement, torture, rape, sexual assault, force-feedings, extortion, fired from workplace, physical restraint, mental hospital, home ransacked, interrogation, detention, denial of toilet use, denied visitation
Key Persecutors: Qu Wenhao

Mr. Jiang Yunhong was a resident of Chengdu City, Sichuan Province. From 2005 to 2008, he was held in the Chengdu City Xinjin Brainwashing Centre, Chengdu City Detention Centre and Wumaping Prison. As a result of the mistreatment he endured in Wumaping Prison, he suffered from symptoms of ascites and cirrhosis and was in critical condition five times. He was released when term expired in the beginning of 2009, but the doctor told his family that he would not likely live much longer. On March 8th, 2011, Mr. Jiang passed away at the age of 43.

Mr. Jiang began to practise Falun Gong in December 1995. He followed the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance to become a better person and had benefited in many ways. Since the start of the persecution of Falun Gong in July 1999, he was sentenced to forced labour twice,and subjected to detention and prison terms several times. He suffered brutal torture during detention and was on the verge of death a few times.

Horrible Dream Lasts Ten Years

In October 2001, Mr. Jiang was sentenced to forced labour. He was persecuted to the verge of death and released on medical parole. Labour camp officials sent him back to Chengdu City where he worked. The local police station and residential committee refused to accept him.

Around this same time, two of his good practitioner friends were persecuted to death at young ages. One of them was Mr. Zhou Yong, his roommate for more than ten years. Mr. Zhou was an engineer at the same factory Mr. Jiang worked at. He and Mr. Jiang had practised Falun Gong together for more than five years. He was persecuted to death on September 30th, 2001.

Mr. Jiang was fired from his work. The apartment given to him by his workplace was taken away. The local police station refused to issue identification for him, so he went into exile. He was unable to find a job without an ID and had difficulty making a living.

Within two months after his release, Mr. Jiang suffered another round of persecution.

Mr. Jiang told it this way on February 2nd, 2002. “Late in the evening of December 21st, 2001, I was sleeping at my apartment when several people broke into my room and tried to tie me up. I resisted and was knocked to the ground. Three or four people started to kick me, then some of them stomped on my hands and feet. Two of them sat on my back and punched me hard. They cried out while beating me, “We are the police.”

The beating left many bruises on my body. After my arrest, I began a hunger strike to protest the detention. On the fifth day, I was sent to the hospital affiliated with the Chengdu City Detention Centre. A few days later, I was sent to the Pujiang County Detention Centre where I continued the hunger strike. I became very weak. On January 11th, 2002 when I was on the verge of death, I was taken back to Chengdu City and dropped off on a street. Thanks to fellow practitioners' help and care, I was able to survive.”

On July 22nd, 2005, Mr. Jiang went to visit a practitioner. Shortly after his arrival, the police broke in and arrested him. He was taken to the Chengdu City Xinjin brainwashing classes. Since the night of his arrest, he was continuously tortured and interrogated for seven days without sleep around the clock. He was forced to sit on a tall stool with hands cuffed to each side. The police constantly beat him to keep him awake. They kicked, punched, slapped his eyelids with cardboard strips, or poured water to his body, face or head.

Later, the police from the Domestic Security Division of Chengdu City Police Department and the local 610 Office (an organisation of special agents just for persecuting Falun Gong) took over the torture of Mr. Jiang. Once, his arms were handcuffed behind the back of the chair. The police then pulled his hair backward and stepped on his handcuffs at the same time. His hands hurt so much that he lost consciousness a few times during the torture. His wrists was swollen and later the flesh rotted. Another time, a police officer tortured his thigh muscle by pitching, punching, and stepping on it really hard. Mr. Jiang suffered unbearable pain.

After two months of brutal torture, Mr. Jiang was unable to take care of himself. He was held in a hospital affiliated with the Chengdu City Detention Centre. The Chengdu City Chenghua District Court soon sentenced him to three years in prison. The officials from the Chengdu Detention Centre took him to the Wumaping Prison on a stretcher with an oxygen tank. Mr. Jiang's family had received at least four notices that he was on the verge of death. He also developed the symptoms of cirrhosis and liver ascites.

On December 31st, 2006, Mr. Jiang Zhihong paid off the authorities to obtain his brother's release. Mr. Jiang Yunhong stayed at his mother's home. However, officials from the Wumaping Prison attempted to take him back before he recovered. Mr. Jiang was forced to flee to avoid certain arrest. His brother, Mr. Jiang Zhihong, was suspended from his job for three months as a result. In November 2007, Mr. Jiang was arrested again and taken back to the Wumaping Prison. He was repeatedly and frequently tortured.

His term expired on July 26th, 2008, so Mr. Jiang's mother, in her 80's, went to the Wumaping Prison to bring him home. However, she was told that her son's imprisonment had been extended by six additional months. When he was finally released in early 2009, the doctor told his family that he would not likely live much longer. His belly distended and his mouth often bled. Mr. Jiang passed away a little over a year later, on March 8th, 2011.

Personal Appeal Letter Written While in Wumaping Prison

On February 29th, 2008, while Mr. Jiang was held at the Wumaping Prison First Division Clinic, he wrote an appeal letter.

“In the second half of February 2008, Mr. Wu from the clinic again issued a notice about my critical condition of cirrhosis and liver ascites with digestive tract and oral bleeding. My life is in danger. I am incurable. My stomach is distended. My legs and feet are swollen and weak. I have difficulty walking. My liver and spleen ache as well. Since my digestive tract and mouth are bleeding, I am unable to eat anything. I can only drink. I often feel dizzy and my chest feels tight. I have difficulty breathing and feels very weak. I hope to be sent back to my family.

“I am a law abiding citizen and have done no wrong. I should be granted the fundamental rights to life and freedom of belief. I only insist on my faith of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. Freedom of belief is a basic human right and is protected by China's constitution and laws. I have suffered unfair treatment, torture and persecution, and I should be allow to tell the world about it. This is also a basic right.

“Not only have my rights been deprived, but I have to suffer persecution as well. Since the beginning of 2000, I have been fired from my work, my apartment was taken away and my request for an official ID was denied. I had little choice but to go into exile and had difficulty making a living. All my savings were confiscated during arrests home ransackings. I was subjected to beating and torture while in detention. The very poor current state of my health is entirely due to the persecution I have suffered.

“After I was arrested on July 22nd, 2005, the police from the Domestic Security Division of the Chengdu City Police Department and the officials from the local 610 Office brutally tortured and interrogated me in the Chengdu City Xinjin Brainwashing Centre. I was not allowed to sleep for seven days and nights. During several evenings, several people beat me up at the same time. My eyes bled and I was unable to walk. So I began a hunger strike to protest the persecution. Then I was taken to the Qingyang District Hospital in Chengdu City and had been held there for more than ten months. The officials from the 610 Office came to the hospital to threaten me. They tried to take me away to continue the torture on me. My life was on the verge of death several times.

“Despite my health condition, they announced in the hospital that I was sentenced to three years in prison without a hearing or defence. I was taken to the Wumaping Prison on a stretcher and an oxygen tank.

“Since I have developed the symptoms of cirrhosis and liver ascites, the prison officials gave me a medical parole for six months. But after five months, they wanted to take me back. I was still very weak. I also heard that practitioner Zhang Xingcai was persecuted to death recently at the Wumaping Prison Clinic. I decided not to go back to prison and left home. I rented a home in another area then moved to a farmer's home. But not long after that, on November 20th, 2007, I was arrested again and taken back to the Wumaping Prison. I had more than 5,000 yuan¹ and a new notebook computer worth 6,500 yuan with me at the time of arrest. It was confiscated by the police.

“I have done nothing wrong. Why was I persecuted? Just for believing in Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance and being unyielding in my belief, I was deprived of the right to life and had to live in exile. I was tortured and sentenced and my life was in danger. But I was not allowed to be with my family. Do I have to be imprisoned until persecuted to death?”

An Earlier Appeal Letter Describes Earlier Persecution

In November 2001, Mr. Jiang Yunhong wrote an appeal letter to describe how he was sentenced twice to the forced labour.

“With the rights that Item 41 of the Constitution given to the citizens, in the beginning of 1999, like many Falun Gong practitioners, I went to Beijing to appeal for an end to the persecution of Falun Gong despite the risk of my personal safety. But I was arrested then sentenced to one year of forced labour. I had experienced beating, torture and all kinds of mistreatment. I almost lost my life a couple of times.

“In mid December while I was under detention in the Chengdu City Alison Office in Beijing, I was handcuffed to a post outside for almost 20 hours. Meanwhile, I was punched and kicked, and also interrogated with torture.

“After I was taken back to Chengdu City, I was held in the Qingyang District Drug Rehabilitation Centre. When practitioners were forced to run as a torture method, I refused. So I was stripped down to underwear and handcuffed behind my back to the ground in a small cell. The police then poured cold water on me. Then I was hung up to the metal bar of a gate, the police punched me and the female police officers kicked me with their high heels. When I kindly told them not to do evil deeds, they stuffed toilet paper, dirty socks and towels into my mouth. Later, they sealed my mouth with tape. After another practitioner lost consciousness twice, the police stopped torturing us.

“While I was held at the Zhi'an Detention Centre in Chengdu City, I was pulled outside and handcuffed behind my back to a post for simply saying that appealing is a citizen's lawful right. Since I always smiled, a police officer was upset about it and harshly beat my head with his baton. He also poked my nose, mouth, chest and belly with his baton tip. The other police officers watched from a distance but nobody stopped him. When I returned to my cell, my cell mates wiped my face with tears and sympathy. They condemned such torture.

“When I was held at the Lianhua Village Detention Centre, I tried to do the Falun Gong exercises everyday. I was handcuffed and shackled for nearly 30 days for doing it. Sometimes, I was handcuffed behind my back.

“In mid January 2000, I was taken to the Dayan Forced Labour Camp in Ziyang City, Sichuan Province. At the beginning, the camp officials and the inmates did not know anything about Falun Gong. Practitioners were often beaten up or punished. Since practitioner Mr. Wang Xuzhi refused to cooperate, the camp guards often tied him up and beat him. The section chief Wang Yu also punished him physically or forced him to do labour work throughout the night. The high-ranking officials pretended not to know about the torture. Once after the beating, Mr. Wang Xuzhin and I decided to report the mistreatment to them in the labour camp. When we reported the beating to them the next day, they did not listened to us. In front of more than a dozen high-ranking officials, Wang Yu kept beating Mr. Wang and nobody stopped him. When I criticised the officials, they became angry and order a few inmates to torture me. They pushed me to the ground and stripped off my shirts and tied me up tightly. Then they stepped on my calves to pull me up to a kneel-down position. They started to clap my face with their shoes. My nose and face became swollen and my mouth bleed. I was not untied until I lost consciousness. However when I woke up, I was tied up again.

“A few days later in the morning, I saw a camp guard beating several practitioners that were tied up for practising the exercises. We tried to go down to stop the beating but several inmates stopped us. So Mr. Wang Xunzhi and I started to do the exercises. The camp guards came and beat me up with batons and tied me up with other practitioners. We all started to go on a hunger strike to protest the persecution.

“I hope that my suffering would inspired the officials and the inmates to have compassion. I like to sincerely tell them that Falun Gong is righteous and practitioners should have a lawful practice environment.

“Several of us practitioners were transferred to the strictly controlled section. We were brutally tortured for several days. The camp guard cried to us, 'The strictly controlled section is a living hell.'

One day when we were working, camp guard Qu Wenhao and several others suddenly started to beat us. One of them beat our backs with a steel rod. Another beat our heads with a bamboo pole until we bled. One used huge wooden sticks to poke our backs and shoulders. Another lashed our backs with split bamboo poles, drawing blood on our backs. Some others threw bricks or other objects at us... They did not let us rest at lunch time or sleep at night and we were forced to work the entire time. Because of the highly concentrated base in the chemical paste we were forced to use to make fireworks, our hands were burned and bled; they hurt a lot. We advised them not to mistreat us, but they said it was intentional.

“For four days and three nights non stop, we were not allowed to sleep, eat or drink. We were constantly beaten, and we became physically weak. Some practitioners' lives were in danger. Practitioner Mei Lunxian became very weak after being beaten and tied up for more than thirty minutes. He collapsed to the ground. When we saw it, we could not hold our tears. We encouraged ourselves to persist, thinking that justice will prevail. The torture ended on the fourth evening.

“Later, I was taken to the mechanics factory. I met some kind people who had taken care of me and I sincerely thank them here. My health condition improved. Until July 2000, the labour camp started to intensify our brainwashing sessions. The practitioners were all sent to various places to do dirty and hard work. We were also sent to the brainwashing sessions in the afternoons and evenings until 2 a.m. Then the next day, we had to start work at 4 a.m. I was forced to work under the baking sun. Everyday, I had more than a dozen cuts or injuries. My pants were wet all day but I could not change or wash them. Sometimes, they would lecture me the entire night and would not let me sleep intentionally. Later, they forced me to run through the night. With their crazy curses and lies, long-term threats and pressure, and brutal physical torture, my mind and body could no longer stand it. To appease them, I wrote a letter renouncing my faith in Falun Gong in the end of August 2000. Afterwards, I thought really hard and looked inward for about twenty days and realised that I was wrong. I found my shortcomings and my attachment of selfishness. Before I left the labour camp, I corrected my mistake under huge pressure. Now I declare again that all my writings against Falun Gong around September 2000 are null and void.

“Compared with the persecution experience of other practitioners, mine is just the tip of an iceberg. Here, I appeal and speak the truth so as to wish all kind people to distinguish between good and evil. I sincerely call upon you to stop the persecution.

“After I was released from the labour camp, my workplace fired me and took back my apartment. The local police station refused to register me. No other government agency helped me. But I have to live and take care of my mother.

“In January 31st, 2001, I was learning how to type while in an Internet cafe when I was arrested again. In the police station, Yang Wenbin, an official from the Chengdu City Jinjiang Police Department in charge of Falun Gong persecution interrogated me. He cursed and threatened me. He slandered Falun Gong and its founder. In February, when I was detained in the detention centre, Yang slapped and threatened me during the interrogation. After the investigation, I was released but was still under house arrest.

“On March 16th, 2001, I was arrested again. I started a hunger strike right away. I became weaker and weaker. I started to write this appeal letter to the provincial government. Although the procuratorate had declared my innocence, but I was not released. Despite my weak condition, on June 21st, 2001, I was sentenced to one and a half years of forced labour. The next day, I was taken to the Mianyang City Xinhua Forced Labour Camp. At the labour camp hospital, I was force-fed. Five inmates accompanied me all the time. I wrote an appeal letter but did not receive any response.

“I like to safeguard the universal principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance and to improve myself. I should not be sentenced to forced labour or persecuted. Last year, I was held long-term and tortured. Now I am under detention again, my health condition has become worse. I should have my freedom and live a normal life with a healthy body. My mother is over 70 years old and not well. She needs my care and support. While I was under detention last year, she was afraid that I would be tortured to death. She travelled a long distance to visit me in the cold winter and hot summer. Practitioners like to take care of their family, but the brutal persecution has cost many practitioners' their freedom, so they are unable to take care of their families. Some dare not go back home and some families have fallen apart. I ask for my immediate release.

“I must deny the repeated detention and persecution. Allowing the punishment on me is to condone the evil persecution, and add the fuel to the flame. My hunger strike was not to commit suicide. Suicide does not conform to the requirement of Falun Gong.

“If my detention is prolonged, I might lose my life. I believe righteousness will defeat the evil. The ancients have a saying, “Having heard the Dao in the morning, one can die in the evening.” But I must declare again that I treasure my life and I would not commit suicide. If I lost my life, that is due to the evil persecution.

“I sincerely call again to stop the persecution of Falun Gong, bring justice to Falun Gong and our Teacher, and release all the Falun Gong practitioners held.”

On March 8th, 2011, Mr. Jiang passed away at the age of 43.

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://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2011/3/25/238059.html