Illustrations of Torture Methods Used to Persecute Falun Gong Practitioners (Part I)

Torture Illustration 1: Flying (an Airplane)

In this torture, the head is bent down until it cannot go down any further, while the hands are pulled up and held at the highest point against the wall. The practitioner is forced to hold this position unchanged for a long period of time (more than 10 hours). If a practitioner refuses to comply, he/she will be shocked with an electric baton or beaten to the point of losing consciousness. Police will then roughly wake up the practitioner and continue the torture.

Torture Illustration 2: Needle and Thread

The practitioner is put in heavy shackles which are locked to the ground (making it impossible to move). Then both hands are shackled between the thighs with a "Death Cuff" (a special handcuff that is extremely tight).

This torture forces the practitioner to sit for a long time, and he/she cannot take care of daily needs such as walking, standing, using the toilet, or eating. This torture typically results in muscle damage, swelling of the hands and feet, sleeplessness, uneasiness, and even mental collapse. It is very hard to endure. All persons who went through this torture found it too painful to talk about.

This torture was previously used mainly by the Chinese police on violent Death Row prisoners.

Torture Illustration 3: Swallow Flying

The practitioner's lower body is tied to the sides of a bed, with his hands intentionally cuffed to the sides of the bed above or below, to the extreme, so there is no way to move. Some Falun Gong practitioners are tortured like this for one week or several weeks, with some even tortured like this for as long as four months.

This torture prevents the practitioner from changing position even a bit, let alone turning the body. After a long period of time, the muscles are damaged, the mind becomes uneasy, scabies grow, and the practitioner experiences extreme pain.

Torture Illustration 4: Damaging Force-Feeding

Damaging force-feeding is not the same as the normal medical feeding procedure that is used to save lives. The persecutors in China use it as a cruel torture to force practitioners to give up their belief. Hence, this force-feeding is brutal.

Some practitioners are force-fed highly-concentrated salt solutions, chilli soup, high-proof liquor, detergent, and even urine and faeces. Some police instruct prisoners to torture practitioners who are being force-fed, such as forcing air into the tube, then stepping on the practitioner's stomach, which results in highly-concentrated salt solution spraying up from the stomach, burning the practitioner's eyes and nose. Some persecutors do not allow the practitioner to use the toilet, but instead hang the practitioner upside down, forcing them to urinate and defecate on themselves.

Torture Illustration 5: Hanging Upside Down

This torture makes the practitioner's blood back-flush, and can result in loss of consciousness or even death after a long period of time. Sometimes the police forbid the practitioner to use the toilet, and hang the practitioner upside down to humiliate him or her.

Torture Illustration 6: Hung up with Hands Shackled Behind the Back

With both hands shackled behind the back, and both feet off the ground or only the toes touching the ground, one is hung from a basketball support or a building beam, by the handcuffs. Both hands and arms will go numb from lack of blood circulation, and the arms can become disabled. At the same time, practitioners are often beaten with clubs and leather whips.

Torture Illustration 7: Being Pressed Under the Bed

This is an especially cruel torture. The practitioner's legs and feet are tied tightly together, with the arms and hands tied behind the back. Then the practitioner's neck and legs are tied together very tightly, almost causing suffocation. The whole body is then pushed under the bed, and several people sit on top of the bed, pressing down on the practitioner's back, almost causing the spine to fracture. This torture often results in severe injuries.

Torture Illustration 8: Burning Practitioners With Red Hot Objects

Police use lit cigarettes to burn practitioners' faces, often leaving black scars on their faces. Some of the most vicious police have deliberately burned the faces of beautiful young female practitioners, thus permanently disfiguring them.

This form of torture includes using cigarette lighters to burn practitioners' faces (even to burn their eyebrows off), their chins, hands, thighs, or private parts.

At other times, specially made iron bars are heated in burning charcoal until they become red-hot. They are then used to burn practitioners' chests and thighs.

Torture Illustration 9: Feeding the Insects

In the summer time, especially around dusk or dawn, the police strip practitioners of every piece of their clothing and handcuff them to a pole in a place where mosquitoes and other insects swarm. Practitioners are bitten over and over again all over their bodies by various insects. Not long after, their bare skin is covered with itchy bumps. Sometimes they cannot even open their eyes because their eyelids are so swollen.