Mr. Zhao Xianghai Detained in Psychiatric Hospital for Four Years - Mother Denied Visits

Name: Zhao Xianghai
Gender: Male
Age: Unknown
Address: Unknown
Occupation: Crane Driver for the Coal Preparation Section of the Xiangtan City Steel Company Coking Plant
Date of Most Recent Arrest: August 2007
Most Recent Place of Detention: Xiangtan Municipal Number Five People's Hospital (Psychiatric Hospital)
City: Xiangtan
Province: Hunan
Persecution Suffered: Forced injections/drug administration, torture, physical restraint, wrongful detention in a psychiatric hospital

Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Zhao Xianghai, of Xiangtan, was placed in a psychiatric hospital in 2007. He has been tortured there for more than four years and injected with unknown substances. He is physically very weak. Recently, when his mother went to visit him, she was rudely driven out by the hospital staff and left without seeing her son.

Rude Treatment of His Mother

On December 19th, 2011, coinciding with the head of Hunan Provincial 610 Office (an organisation of special agents just for persecuting Falun Gong) Chen Shulin arriving in Xiangtan, Mr. Zhao's mother also arrived in Xiangtan to visit her son. After traveling from Liuyang City, Hunan she never did get to see him.

A hospital staff member yelled at her: “Zhao Xianghai is a special person. He is not allowed to have visitors. That's the punishment for practising Falun Gong.” The staff then threw the food that she had brought for Zhao to the ground. Mr. Zhao's mother picked it up and told the staff that it was food. When the medical staff opened the door, Mr. Zhao's mother rushed inside. She saw her son's room but it was locked. Through the window, she could see her son on a bed on the far side of the room, wearing handcuffs and foot shackles. Mother shouted her son's name. Mr. Zhao removed the handcuffs and walked toward her. Some staff rushed in and forced him back while his mother was dragged outside.

Mr. Zhao's mother cried, “God! You also have your child. Why won't you let me see my son and talk to him! You will receive retribution for this!” She was so angry that she foamed at the mouth. When she got home, she kept murmuring, “My son will be punished by the doctors.” When asked why, she explained, “He managed to get his hands out of the handcuffs.”

Tortured for Four Years

Because Mr. Zhao firmly believes in Falun Gong, he was sent to a forced labour camp by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 2006. In August 2007, he was taken to the Xiangtan Municipal Number Five People's Hospital (Psychiatric Hospital) by the Xiangtan 610 Office, aided by his company's managers. The hospital claimed that they would continue to keep him there because Mr. Zhao had not paid the large medical bill he owed.

Mr. Zhao is one of the earliest Falun Gong practitioners in Xiangtan. He started his cultivation practice in 1998. He is a kind, honest, tolerant, and healthy person. At work, he was responsible, hardworking, and helpful. People praised him as an exemplary employee who would work without seeking any reward. When a practitioner saw him in 2000, he was a healthy young man without any mental problems at all.

Zhao's Appeal

Messages that Mr. Zhao managed to send from the psychiatric hospital were all written on cigarette boxes, which he used since he had no paper. His messages were about talking to the CCP staff with a kind heart, asking his family to look for an attorney, and hoping his friends would rescue him. Among other notes, he also wrote the following appeal on November 23rd, 2011.

Procuratorate and the Related Offices:

Hello!

I am Zhao Xianghai, a former employee of Xiangtan Steel Company Coking Plant. The managers of Xiangtan Steel Company arranged for me to be taken from the Xinkaipu Forced Labour Camp, Changsha, Hunan and put in the Xiangtan Municipal Number Five Hospital on August 7th, 2007. That was more than four years ago.

I believe that I don't have any mental problems, that I should not be locked in a psychiatric hospital, that I should not be chained to an iron bed, and that I should not be put in handcuffs and foot shackles.

Therefore, I am appealing. Please check my case, conduct a legal investigation, and give me back my freedom. According to the “Mental Hygiene Law,” the party of concern can request to be released from the hospital. Hence, I am requesting to be released! I hope that you will look into my request and uphold justice.

I hope I will be released so that I can contribute to my company and to society. I hope that I can create original entertainment works for people's cultural life.

Thank you!

Appellant: Zhao Xianghai

Related reports:

Falun Gong Practitioner Zhao Xianghai Detained in the Xiangtan Psychiatric Hospital for Four Years (http://www.clearwisdom.net/html/articles/2011/7/2/126393.html )

Falun Dafa Practitioner Zhao Xianghai from Xiangtan City, Hunan Province Forcibly Taken to a Psychiatric Hospital (http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2007/10/31/90984.html)

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2011/12/23/250914.html