Torture

  • Shanghai Police Set Up Barriers and Checkpoints Outside Courthouse during Trials of Falun Gong Practitioners

    On October 21st, 2008, Shanghai Xuhui District Court held trials for Mr. Liu Peng, Ms. Zhang Xumei, and Ms. Zheng Yan. Mr. Liu's lawyer defended him. This is the first time the lawyer defended Falun Gong practitioners in the Shanghai area. The Shanghai authorities were afraid of people protesting the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) persecution of Falun Gong, so they dispatched police to set up barriers and checkpoints outside the courthouse. There were more than 30 uniformed police officers in the vicinity of the courtroom. In addition, a lot of plain clothes officers walked around keeping an eye on pedestrians and vehicles. There were even plain clothes officers sitting inside tea houses at the corner. One insider said, "There are more than 80 police officers in the area, patrolling on foot and in vehicles."
  • Ms. Li Fengyun and Her Husband Arrested and Savagely Beaten by Police in Jilin Province

    Police arrested Ms. Li Fengyun and her husband, Mr. Shen Quanhui when a farmer reported them for distributing Falun Gong leaflets exposing the persecution near Toudao Town. Back at the station, Ms. Li and her husband were put in separate rooms where they were monitored and interrogated. When the officers asked Ms. Li her name and address, she did not tell them. As a result, they savagely beat her, then handcuffed her behind her back, pulled her hair, slapped her face, and beat and kicked her. They also forced her to stand still for hours, not allowing her to fall asleep. Officer Zhang ruthlessly kicked Ms. Li in the stomach, causing her to collapse on the ground, unable to get up. She also heard piercing screams and sounds of vomiting coming from a nearby room where her husband was detained.
  • Practitioners Suffer Continual Abuse and Torture at the Heizuizi Women's Forced Labour Camp in Changchun City, Jilin Province

    Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Wang Pingrui, 21, was arrested along with her mother in May 2008. She was sentenced to two years of forced labour at Heizuizi Women's Forced Labour Camp, where she was tortured beyond her physical and emotional endurance. Because Ms. Wang did the Falun Gong meditation guards hung her up on a bunk bed with her feet not touching the floor and was then beaten. She was beaten frequently. She periodically suffered blackouts due to this torture.
  • Ms. Liu Zhenxia Tortured at Labour Camp in Zibo City, Shandong Province

    Ms. Liu Zhenxia, a Falun Gong practitioner, was held at the Shandong Province No. 2 Women's Forced Labour Camp. She was not allowed to sleep and was forced to stand for long periods of time consecutively. Because she refused to cooperate with the guards, Ms. Liu Zhenxia was forced to stay in the toilet. She was not allowed to have warm clothes, even during the cold winter. Guards ordered prisoners to pour cold water on the floor and forced her to sit on the wet floor wearing only light weight clothing. They swore at her and beat her until her face was swollen. She suffered inhumane torture constantly and became emaciated as a result of the abuse. Standing constantly for 24 hours without sleeping, being hung up on iron window frames and being tied to a bed using a special straight jacket are all very common ways to torture Falun Gong practitioners.
  • Administration of Hunan Provincial Hospital for Women and Children Involved in Persecuting Falun Gong Practitioners

    Ms. Zhang Xiaomei, over 40 years old, was sent to Hunan Provincial Mental Health Hospital in 2000 because she practises Falun Gong. She was injected with harmful drugs that caused her to suffer from a constant runny nose and salivation. She was imprisoned in the mental hospital for one month before she was released. Soon after, she was forcibly sent to the Baimalong Women's Forced Labour Camp in Zhuzhou and tortured.
  • Jin Pang's Olympic Pain

    One month before the Olympic Games, on July 9th, Jin Pang said more than a dozen police officers and officials from China's extra-judicial '610 Office' broke into her parent's home, arrested them and confiscated valuables. They are now being held in Weifang City Detention Centre. In 2001, Jin’s mother, Cao Junping, was arrested along with eight other Falun Gong practitioners. They were detained in a cold cement cell that was less than nine square metres and beaten by mobs they say were led by the town’s Party leader. The goal was to force them to renounce their practice.
  • On the Eve of the Olympics, an Unbreakable Will

    In an image that so rarely escapes from China, Zhang Lianying is telling her story of horror. In Beijing Women's Forced Labour Camp Zhang was slapped, kicked, beaten, strangled, abused, deprived of sleep, had her private parts attacked. She was beaten or strangled into a coma 14 times. She says all parts of her body were violated and injured. Because she refused to renounce Falun Gong she recounted: “They tied up my hands and feet, lifted my feet and tied them to a chair, and used a rope from strips of bed-sheets to tie my neck to the back of the chair—so tight that I could not move."
  • Viciousness at Hebei Province Women's Forced Labour Camp During the Olympic Games

    There were relatively fewer beatings in Hebei Province Women's Forced Labour Camp prior to the Olympic Games. But as soon as the Olympics started on August 9th, 2008, the situation began intensifying and practitioners were severely persecuted, the worst point being around August 20th. Practitioners were physically abused, beaten, cursed at, and humiliated--all of which are prohibited according to policy. In order to force determined practitioners to wear the uniforms, they ripped the clothes from female practitioners, cut apart their underwear with scissors, and chained them to a wooden board bed. These practitioners were then beaten, electrically-shocked, tied up, and tortured by other means.
  • The Persecution of Married Couple Mr. Liu Ruping and Ms. Zhang Chenglan

    Falun Gong practitioners Mr. Liu Ruping and his wife Zhang Chenglan were arrested on the afternoon of August 12th, 2008. Going downstairs Liu Ruping shouted, "The police are arresting me!" One officer immediately attacked his face with pepper spray, making him cry, cough uncontrollably and making his nose run. The agents took Ms. Zhang Chenglan to Jinan City Detention Centre and then she was sentenced to 18 months forced labour. Mr. Liu was released from Jinan Detention Centre on September 28th.
  • Ms. Zhou Yanyi, Mr. Fan Shuilin, and Ms. Lan Ming from Luotian County, Hubei Province, Persecuted

    After she started practising Falun Gong, all Ms. Zhou Yanyi's diseases went away. However, because she believed in Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, she was arrested three times and sentenced to forced labour. In addition, more than 10,000 yuan was extorted from her by the authorities during the span of her arrests. Ms. Zhou's hypertension returned while she was in a detention centre and because of this she was refused admission to Wuhan Forced Labour Camp. To make her do forced labour, police officers He, Ye, and Zhou force-fed her drugs by prying her mouth open with an instrument, breaking several of her teeth in the process.
  • Ms. Han Ming Died in 2003 Due to Poisonous Injection in Guizhou Province--Additional Information

    Ms. Han Ming was detained twice for persisting in Falun Gong cultivation, and on February 28th, 2001, she was sentenced to two years of forced labour. While detained in the Guizhou Province Women's Forced Labour Camp, she was injected with an unknown drug, which caused her entire body to suffer muscle atrophy. She died on March 20th, 2003, at the young age of 30.
  • Ten Year Old Locked In Iron Cage for Giving Falun Gong Brochure

    A 10-year old girl, Cheng Siyang, in southern China’s Sichuan province was slapped by police and shut in an iron cage for giving her teacher a Falun Gong brochure. Police later ransacked her home. Both of her parents were arrested on August 7th. According to a classmate, Siyang had told her about the benefits of Falun Gong, and how it taught people to be kind. She had also told her friend that it was wrong for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to persecute Falun Gong. Siyang returned to school on August 11th, with bruises all over her body.
  • Victims' Family Members Sue the Police for Stealing 600,000 Yuan in Cash

    On July 10th, 2008, police broke into the home of Falun Gong practitioners He Yixing and Zhang Yueqin, a married couple. Using two fire department vehicles with ladders, they broke the balcony glass to enter the home and arrested the couple. They also confiscated a large amount of personal belongings. Later, the police arrested Zhang Yueqin's daughter He Yan and daughter-in-law Sun Fengli from their work places. The police stole many items from Zhang Yueqin's family, including a van, valuables and 600,000 yuan in cash. The cash comprises the funds that Zhang Yueqin's first daughter borrowed to open a business and the funds for He Yixing and his wife's retirement. Zhang Yueqin's elder brother has sued police officer Chen Hong and others from the Lubei Police Department for their crimes.
  • 14-Year-Old Girl Severely Beaten by Police

    On August 24th, 2008, a 14-year-old girl went to Linjiang Street Police Station and asked them to release her 38-year-old mother, Zhang Libo, who had been detained there for more than three months. The girl was driven away. On August 25th, when she went back a second time, she was beaten by the police and injured. The police warned her that if she continued to ask for her mother’s release again, she would be sent to a juvenile detention centre.
  • Police Repeatedly Attempted to Murder Practitioner Li Haiqing in 2004 in Binzhou City, Shandong Province

    Police arrested Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Li Haiqing, 45 years old, and sent him to the Bincheng Detention Centre four times for his persistence in practising Falun Gong. He was given a three-year forced labour sentence and a four-year sentence in a detention centre. The persecutors tortured and maltreated Mr. Li ruthlessly. They injected him with unknown drugs, hit his vital parts with electric batons and subjected him to other severe abuses. The guards also struck Mr. Li's head, chest, and other vital parts, causing him to lose consciousness three times. On another occasion the guards suffocated Mr. Li until he passed out. After the guards failed to kill Mr. Li, they hired some people who pretended to be inmates to kill him. After several murder attempts failed, no one would attempt to kill him any more.