Employee of Liaohe Oil Field in Critical Condition After Being Tortured in Liaoning Women's Prison

Name: Hu Zhehui
Gender: Female
Age: 46
Address: Xinglong Street, Xinglongtai District, Panjin City
Occupation: Employee of the Well Logging Company of Liaohe Oil Field
Date of Most Recent Arrest: August 3rd, 2005
Most Recent Place of Detention: Liaoning Province Women's Prison
City: Panjin
Province: Liaoning
Persecution Suffered: Brainwashing, beatings, imprisonment, torture, force-feedings, physical restraint, detention

Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Hu Zhehui is in critical condition after being tortured in Liaoning Women's Prison. She is 5'5” tall and now weighs only 88 lbs.

After Ms. Hu began practising Falun Gong in 1996, she experienced great improvements both physically and mentally. Many of her illnesses disappeared without medical treatment, including heart problems and rheumatoid arthritis. Her moral character also began to improve. She would consider others first and worked hard without complaint regardless of her personal losses or gains. These improvements were witnessed by her family, relatives, neighbours, and colleagues.

To avoid persecution from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Ms. Hu had to leave her home. On August 3rd, 2005, she returned home to visit her daughter, but she was followed and arrested. The officers severely beat and tortured her using many torture devices. When she went on a hunger strike to protest her arrest, she was brutally force-fed. She was stretched and bound all day for 39 days, and was unable to move her arms or legs. She was on the verge of death after the long-term torture.

On the morning of September 12th, 2005, Ms. Hu was carried into a courtroom and legally tried despite her physical condition. She was sentenced to 15 years in prison and then carried into the First Ward of Liaoning Province Women's Prison after maintaining her hunger strike for over 70 days. Former head of the ward, Sun Dexue, and former chief of the First Group, Wu Hong, subjected her to brainwashing. They also assigned four inmates to monitor her around the clock. Ms. Hu was tied to a bed and force-fed. She was forced to kneel down to watch videos and read books that slandered Falun Gong. She was not allowed to talk to others, and she was constantly beaten; she had bruises all over her body. Inmates doing labor often heard piercing screams from the room that was used for “transforming” [forcibly renounce Falun Gong] practitioners. The screams terrified the inmates.

Later on, the new head of the ward, Xia Ru, and the new chief of the group, Chen Ying, subjected Ms. Hu to even more brutal persecution. Chen Ying instigated inmates to persecute Ms. Hu. The food and groceries Ms. Hu's family brought in for her were divided up and taken by the inmates. Ms. Hu was forced to stand in only her bra and underwear during the Chinese New Year. When she objected to it, she was beaten, which caused her to bleed from her nose and mouth. The inmates stuffed her mouth with socks and forced her to clean up the blood that had dripped on the ground.

The inmates poured boiling hot water onto Ms. Hu, and her arms were burnt and festering. When Ms. Hu reported it to Chen Ying, Chen accused her of trying to frame others. One inmate stepped up to try and prove that Ms. Hu was beaten. Chen slapped her face in front of the other inmates, saying that it was to help her remember. Chen was selected as the “Model Guard” across all prisons in Liaoning Province and was awarded a merit by the authorities. The First Group of the prison was selected as the “Excellent Unit.” For her “outstanding performances,” Chen was transferred to the 610 Office (an organisation of special agents just for persecuting Falun Gong) of the prison to be in charge of the persecution of all imprisoned practitioners.

Ms. Hu refused to “transform” and was repeatedly persecuted. In December 2010, inmate Ding Hua severely beat Ms. Hu with the excuse that she was too slow in washing herself. Ding had beaten Ms. Hu several times before. Ms. Hu began another hunger strike to protest the persecution. On the eighth day of her hunger strike, guard Liu Xiaohan and inmates Bing Guoying and Cheng Lihua forcibly took her to the hospital and force-fed her. On the sixth day of the force-feeding, Cheng cried after witnessing the force-feeding and after listening to the piercing screams. After one month of hospitalisation, Ms. Hu returned to the prison with the support of two inmates. She became very emaciated and weak.

Ms. Hu was not allowed to use the toilet at will. She was beaten if she stayed too long. They often poured cold water over her and she was not allowed to speak with others at all. Moreover, oftentimes she was not allowed to eat, she was often kicked and beaten, and she was frequently slapped across the face.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2012/1/4/251466.html