Ireland: Official Doctor’s Report on the Effects of Frequent Torture and Mistreatment on Recently Released Practitioner Zhao Ming

I interviewed Mr. Zhao Ming in St. Patrick’s Hospital taking his personal testimony following his release from detention earlier this year. I have the full permission of Zhao Ming to write this report and to highlight his experiences at the hands of the Chinese authorities. His case was highlighted extensively by the media and appeals were made repeatedly on his behalf by the Department of Foreign Affairs, by the Minister for Foreign Affairs and by An Taoiseach Bertie Ahern. Zhao Ming is a single man who is a computer post-graduate computer science student at Trinity College Dublin. He told me that he first learned Falun Gong for physical health reasons as he described a number of symptoms including lethargy, debility and frequent flus and colds. He told me that he had developed a liver problem during his first year at University although the exact nature of this is unclear and he received various herbal preparations for this. He also had difficulty with concentration and sleeping during his postgraduate years. However he began practising Falun Gong regularly in 1995 and he felt immediate physical and mental health benefit from this. He came to Ireland in March of 1999 to take up a Masters of Science Degree in Computer Science. He returned to China in December of 1999 during the Christmas break. On the 4th January 2000, having been perturbed by the official Chinese government crackdown against Falun Gong he went to the state appeals office to make a personal appeal to the government and to recount the personal benefits that he had derived from the practice. However he was immediately arrested and was sent back to his hometown. His passport was confiscated and he was unable to find work at this period. In May of 2000 he returned to Beijing and was immediately arrested in the company or other Falun Gong practitioners by plain-clothes police.

He was initially sent to a detention centre and moved frequently between various detention facilities and then was finally sent to a labour camp in July of 2000. He described his initial first week in detention as being in his words "peaceful" but as a result of the fact that no charges were pressed against him and he was still being detained in spite of this, he went on a hunger strike for ten days and the prison guards immediately encouraged other inmates to force feed him. He recalls being forced fed by other inmates in the labour camp who opened his mouth with a toothbrush and forced him to eat. He told me that he aspirated or inhaled food into his lungs on two occasions as a result of this causing him extreme physical discomfort. He began a second hunger and thirst strike, which lasted for eighteen days, and he tells me that the authorities responded by restraining him and inserting an intravenous drip into his arm to hydrate him. In terms of the conditions in the labour camp in which he was held Zhao Ming told me that he felt the worst aspect of his treatment was what he described as the “mental torture” being meted out to him in the camp. The other detainees in the camp had been apparently convicted of ordinary crimes and were generally forced to work mainly wrapping chopsticks. Falun Gong practitioners he told me were singled out and were not immediately made to undertake this work. Zhao Ming told me that he and other Falun Gong practitioners were made to watch videos and listen to tapes and supplied with anti Falun Gong written material all in an effort to make them renounce their beliefs in Falun Gong. They were repeatedly told that the practice of Falun Gong was evil. However, few practitioners renounced Falun Gong as a result of this forced study. Detainees who refused to renounce Falun Gong were also subjected to frequent physical and psychological punishment. Sleep deprivation was particularly common and he recalls being repeatedly woken at 2 to 4 am and sometimes being denied any sleep at all. He was frequently subjected to physical torture and brutality and described how the prison authorities would encourage other detainees to physically assault him during the first month of his detention. He recalls being repeatedly kicked and punched on his thighs and after two weeks of this ‘treatment’ was unable to walk. He also developed severe constipation and was unable to evacuate his bowels as a result of this physical brutality. During the second month of his detention he told me that he was frequently forced to adopt what was termed the ‘military squat’ and during one two week period he was forced to spend up to ten hours per day in a squatting position with a result that his legs became numb and extremely painful. He was also handcuffed to a chair and kept awake at night by other inmates. He recalls being forced to stand intermittently for up to 20 hours per day for 2 to 3 days in a row and remembers his feet and hands swelling as a result of this. He tells me that occasionally but not very frequently electric shocks were administered through cattle batons and this appeared to have been the worse aspect of the physical torture that was inflicted on him particularly when up to six batons were applied simultaneously. Thus the physical torture that he described appears to have been systematic, consisting of primarily sleep deprivation, being forced to adopt postures and squatting positions in addition to severe psychological pressure to renounce his peacefully held beliefs in Falun Gong. Zhao Ming felt that the physical punishment was ‘tailor made’ to be applied to individuals according to the intensity of their beliefs and dedication to Falun Gong and would be escalated if overt resistance to the labour camp regime was demonstrated. Zhao Ming told me that his original sentence was for one year but that this was extended for ten months as a result of his refusal to renounce Falun Gong and I gather he spent twenty two months in detention in the labour camp in total.

In terms of the effects of this experience on him Zhao Ming tells me that he hasn’t lost hope or hasn’t changed his beliefs in Falun Gong in any way. He tells me that the recall of this memory is extremely painful and upon his release recently he has had a number of nightmares although his sleep pattern appears to have settled now to six hours continuous sleep per night. He tells me that he hasn’t any symptoms of depression or of posttraumatic stress disorder. He does however subjectively and objectively I feel, have difficulty recalling all his experiences and finds it extremely painful to do so. He would admit feeling some numbness and detachment from memories of some of the severe treatment that was meted out to him. He tells me that he frequently wondered if the food that he was given was drugged or interfered with in any way. He certainly has no hostility or mistrust towards mistrust towards people in general or estrangement from his friends or peer group as a result of his experiences. There is no evidence of alteration in his personal beliefs or adherence to Falun Gong. He denies any significant alcohol consumption currently. In terms of ongoing physical symptoms he describes paraesthesia and numbness in both thighs as a result of repeatedly being forced to adopt a squatting position. He has been referred to a Neurologist Dr. Orna Hardiman in Beaumont Hospital for a formal consultation regarding these persistent symptoms. Zhao Ming tells me that he intends to resume studies for his MSc. in Computer Science this year.

My overall impression is thus that Zhao Ming is a remarkably strong individual who despite being a victim of a systematic and organised torture by the state, he has showed evidence of reintegrating with his peers and his studies. The support that he has received from those who championed his cause during his detention in my view has been invaluable in helping him to adjust to his adverse experience.

Signed - Dr Declan Lyons MB MSc MRCP MRCPsych