Doctor Ge Huaiqiang Suffers Four Years of Torture, Not Allowed to Return to Work

Name: Ge Huaiqiang
Gender: Male
Age: 48
Address: Unknown
Occupation: Medical doctor in Cangzhou City Second Hospital
Date of Most Recent Arrest: May 7th, 2003
Most Recent Place of Detention: Jidong Prison in Hebei Province
City: Tangshan
Province: Hebei
Persecution Suffered: Interrogation, detention, imprisonment, shocked with electric batons, sleep deprivation, forced labour, brainwashing, beatings, torture, force-feeding, physical restraint, home ransacked, fired from workplace

Dr. Ge Huaiqiang, 48, was a medical doctor at Cangzhou City Second Hospital. After he began to practise Falun Gong in September 1997, his lower back pain and mouth ulcers disappeared. Dr. Ge was detained in 2003 and suffered four years of abuse and torture. He has been unable to regain his employment at the hospital for nearly 5 years, as management hasn't let him return since his release from prison.

Arrested at Work; Home Ransacked

Dr. Ge and other practitioners went to Beijing to appeal for the right to practise Falun Gong in July 1999, shortly after the persecution began. Police stopped them and detained them at the Xinhua Police Department in Cangzhou City. Afterward, following orders from the 610 Office (an organisation of special agents just for persecuting Falun Gong), officials from his workplace assigned people to monitor practitioners.

At around 3 p.m. on May 7th, 2003, on orders by the Cangzhou 610 Office, agents from the Yunhe Domestic Security Division searched Mr. Ge's workplace while he was at work. They then called his wife back home and ransacked the couple's house, confiscating a personal computer.

Dr. Ge was taken to Yunhe Domestic Security Division. He was interrogated all night long and deprived of food and sleep.

The next day, police took Dr. Ge to the Cangzhou Domestic Security Division. They continued to interrogate him, as well as beat and kick him. Later they took him to Cangzhou Second Detention Centre. On May 9th, 2003, he was transferred to Cangzhou First Detention Centre.

Force-Fed and Tortured at Cangzhou First Detention Centre

Dr. Ge went on hunger strikes many times to protest the detention. To punish him for protesting, his hands were cuffed and he was force-fed. Criminal detainees stood on his leg muscles, causing him great pain and his legs to swell. Afterward, he had difficulty walking. After force-feeding, detainees punched his abdomen and lower back. They also also burned his toes with burning threads and kicked at his handcuffs with their feet, injuring his wrists.

After one hunger strike, Dr. Ge was forced to sit on a small stool for a long period of time. It was summer and hot, and as a result his bottom developed an ulcer that oozed pus.

Another time, after being force-fed, Dr. Ge had to pull the tubing out of his body himself, because it had not been pulled out for long time. On other occasions, detainees violently beat him. Due to a beating, one of his eardrums was perforated. His ear rang and, because of headaches and dizziness, he had difficulty walking.

At one point, guards deprived him of sleep for four consecutive days. Afterward, detainees beat him with a belt and made him perform forced labor. Sometimes he had to work until one or two o'clock the next morning.

Yunhe District Court sentenced Dr. Ge to four years of imprisonment on December 24th, 2003. Dr. Ge appealed to Cangzhou Intermediate Court. However, Cangzhou Court sustained the original indictment on February 10th, 2004.

After being tortured at Cangzhou First Detention Centre for 10 months, Dr. Ge was malnourished, emaciated, and his legs were swollen. On March 15th, 2004, Liu Jianguo, political head of Cangzhou First Detention Centre, and Ma Chunsheng, head of the detention centre, sent him to Jidong Prison in Hebei Province.

Tortured Again at Jidong Prison

While Dr. Ge was detained at Jidong Prison, guards deprived him of sleep for five consecutive days and forced him to watch videos that slandered Falun Gong. He was also forced to listen to guards or inmates read books that slandered Falun Gong, and even forced to transcribe such books by hand. Occasionally, inmates made him sit on a small stool facing a wall or stand for long periods of time, and although his bottom was still injured, he was forced to continue working.

Dr. Ge's phone calls to family, as well as family letters, were restricted. His family would travel a long distance to visit him, but were sometimes denied visitation.

When Dr. Ge requested an unconditional release, guards Li Shizhuang and Ma Jianshan ordered two inmates to grab his arms and hold him while the guards shocked his head, neck and back with electric batons. Education officer Huang Liansheng also slapped his face, causing him to bleed.

Because he refused to “transform” [forcibly renounce Falun Gong] Dr. Ge was held and tortured in the Intensified Unit. As a form of abuse, he was forced to do marching drills. Sometimes he was only given a steamed bun and two bowls of soup for the whole day. He was mistreated in this unit for more than 40 days.

Dr. Ge's term expired on May 8th, 2007, and he was released. After returning home, he went to his former place of employment, Cangzhou City Second Hospital, many times to talk with the hospital director and human resources management to get his job back. However, he has not been allowed to resume working at the hospital.