Hebei Women's Prison Using Inmates to Conduct Brutal Force-Feedings on Falun Gong Practitioners

Zhang Jianru, an inmate at Prison Section 8 in Hebei Women's Prison, participated in the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners.

Zhang Jianru was ordered by prison guards to conduct force-feedings on Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Ku Jinge in 2007. She forcefully squeezed Ms. Ku’s trachea, restricting her normal breathing. She also used pieces of paper to cover and seal her mouth. After she administered a force-feeding, she yanked out the feeding tube, causing Ms. Ku to vomit. Zhang collected the vomit with a container three times, and attempted to force-feed it back to her. She stopped only after the prison guard didn’t want to see it.

Zhang Jianru also conducted force-feeding on practitioner Ms. Dou Yongzhi, during her 54-day hunger strike in 2008 in protest of the persecution. The prison director refused to send Ms. Dou to the hospital and ordered the force-feeding to be continued in prison. However, Zhang Jianru refused to comply, claiming that it was impossible to do the force-feeding effectively in prison, so she was allowed to take Ms. Dou to the hospital in order to continue.

After Zhang finished force-feeding Ms. Dou, she suddenly dropped down to one knee. She was in unbearable pain and couldn't walk. Later, her knee became swollen. She received an injection, but the swelling and pain became even worse. The only option was to drain the liquid from her knee, and five syringes of liquid were drained daily. She hadn't recovered by the time she was released from prison. Additionally, she was unable to eat solid food. Upon her release, her weight had fallen to about 50 kg (110 pounds) - all signs of the karmic retribution she'd received for her bad deeds, and also warnings to her that she should not persecute good people. (See note below)

Several prison doctors ordered prisoners to conduct force-feeding on Falun Gong practitioners. Once, the prison video recorded a doctor conducting force-feeding on a practitioner. Inmates were ordered to conduct the force-feeding most of the time, because the officials wanted to transfer the burden of any accidental injury or death of practitioners to the unskilled prisoners performing the force-feeding, and claim no responsibility to the outside world.

Editors' Note: In both Western and Chinese culture, the principle of retribution, that is, being held ultimately accountable for one's own actions, is widely accepted. The fundamental teaching of Falun Gong is the characteristic of the universe, "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance." The universe will reward actions that are in harmony with this principle, while actions such as beating, torturing and murdering people will incur retribution. Stated another way, good deeds will be rewarded with good, while evildoings will meet due retribution. Articles such as this one are meant as a compassionate reminder of this principle to those who would commit wrongdoing. While many of those who persecute Falun Gong are merely "following orders," the universal law requires that they too be held responsible for their actions, and that only by reversing their course of wrongdoing may they escape retribution.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2011/11/24/249760.html