Ms. Tan Qi Miscarried after Being Severely Beaten and Has Been Incarcerated for Nine Years

Name: Tan Qi
Gender: Female
Age: 31
Address: Unknown
Occupation: Unknown
Date of Most Recent Arrest: September 18th, 2004
Most Recent Place of Detention: Masanjia Women's Prison
City: Kaiyuan
Province: Liaoning
Persecution Suffered: Electric shock, sleep deprivation, forced labour, beatings, imprisonment, solitary confinement, force-feedings, extortion, physical restraint, home ransacked, detention, denial of toilet use

At 11:00 p.m. on September 18th, 2004, more than 200 officers from the Benxi City Pingshan District 610 Office (an organisation of special agents just for persecuting Falun Gong) and the Domestic Security Division, the Community Committee personnel, and several dozen police cars surrounded the home of Ms. Tan Qi and her husband, Mr. Liang Tielong, and broke in. The officers ransacked the home and confiscated a computer, printer, Falun Gong informational materials, nearly 10,000 yuan¹ in cash, and other valuable personal belongings. The officers arrested the couple and took them to the Dabailou Detention Centre in Benxi City.

Even though Ms. Tan Qi was pregnant at the time, Guard Zhang Pujuan instigated the inmates to beat her. The inmates beat and kicked her. She fell down and rolled all over. The inmates took turns beating and torturing her. They grabbed her hair and smashed her head against the wall, shocked her with electric batons, and deprived her of water and sleep. Ms. Tan was black and blue all over and couldn't stand up. The torture caused her to miscarry, and she bled profusely. The guards still wouldn't let her go. A male guard held Ms. Tan's head, inserted a plastic tube into her stomach, and force-fed her with lots of salty water. Ms. Tan started to choke and could hardly breathe. She vomited and had watery stools after that.

In April 2005, Ms. Tan was sentenced to nine years in prison by the Benxi City Court. She has been incarcerated ever since in the First Ward of the No. 9 Prison District in Masanjia Women's Prison.

Ms. Tan benefited physically and mentally from practising Falun Gong. After the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) started to suppress Falun Gong, local police officers kept her under surveillance and arrested her five times.

On the evening of October 11th, 1999, Ms. Tan was going to take a train to Beijing to appeal for justice for Falun Gong. The ticket agent reported her. She was held in the office by the railroad police officer and later taken to the police department by armed police officers. The officers confiscated all of her money and released her the next day.

On November 1999, a group of officers, including Shangfeidi Town Police Station director Yu Hongshuai and officer Han Bo, arrested Ms. Tan and took her to the Kaiyuan Detention Centre. Guard Qi shackled her hands and feet with a chain that weighed nearly 90 pounds, attached her to an iron ring at the centre of a board bed, and locked her in solitary confinement. She couldn't stand up straight or lie down and had to sit in one position with her arms and legs together. She was deprived of sleep and was given only two small meals a day. She was only allowed to use the restroom once a day. She was locked up like that for two weeks and her wrists, ankles, and buttocks turned black. She was released after more than one month of detention.

At noon on December 22nd, 1999, Shangfeidi Town government personnel, including Liu Xiaodong, head of the Party Committee and officers Li Chunguang and Han Bo from the police station, arrested Ms. Han and her father and took them to the Kaiyuan Detention Centre. On January 10th, 2000, Ms. Tan was taken to the Xinchengzi Forced Labour Camp by officers from the Kaiyuan Police Department and 610 Office.

In an attempt to “transform” [forcibly renounce Falun Gong] Ms. Tan and meet the “transformation” quota set by their supervisors, the camp guards locked her in a small concrete cell 80 cm long by 50 cm wide by 100 cm high. There was one small hole on each side of the cell for monitoring. Ms. Tan had to squat down, wrap her arms around her knees, and stay in that position the whole time. She couldn't move and was only allowed to go to the toilet once. Once a day she was given a small bun no bigger than a fist. She was deprived of sleep, and the guards would yell at her when they saw her dozing off. After only a few days, Ms. Tan lost the feeling in her buttocks. They turned black and the flesh began to separate from the bones. She couldn't stand or walk and was in excruciating pain every minute. This lasted for 16 days. She returned home on September 1st, 2000. Her sister also returned home from Masanjia Forced Labour Camp.

On September 15th, 2001, Ms. Tan's family was reported to the authorities. Her whole family, including her parents, sister, and herself, were taken to the detention centre by officers from the Kaiyuan Police Department and the 610 Office. They were beaten and their home was ransacked. The officers confiscated a lot of their personal belongings. On November 1st, 2001, the police released Ms. Tan, her mother, and her sister after extorting money from them. Her father was sentenced to prison. It was the harvest season and their crops were still in the fields.

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/2011/12/4/250171.html