Torture

  • The Chengdu "Law Education Centre" Violates the Law

    The Xinjin Brainwashing Centre has received orders to force practitioners to renounce Falun Gong by any means necessary. The most vicious means is the administration of drugs that damage the central nervous system. First they mix a type of drug with food, which interferes with normal physical functions. After victims take this drug, they experience a variety of physical ailments. Then they would claim to treat the victims' illnesses with drugs that damage the central nervous system, causing excruciating pain and sometimes feelings of paranoia and mental instability. After their release, practitioners who have been persecuted this way often suffer serious after-effects to their brain, heart and stomach. They often experience memory loss, lethargy, panic attacks, heart palpitations, stomach cramps and other symptoms.
  • Mr. Dong Liantai Dies as a Result of Persecution in Changlinzi Forced Labour Camp

    Mr. Dong Liantai, 45, was arrested and detained several times. In July 2008 he was taken to Changlinzi Forced Labour Camp. In order to try to force him to give up his faith, the guards tortured him by tying him to a "Tiger Bench" and force-feeding him mustard oil and highly concentrated salt water, which hurt his stomach and throat terribly. He was coughing severely, could not sleep, and he felt a hot, burning sensation in his chest and stomach, all of which caused him to pass out. In less than 12 weeks, Mr. Dong was near death due to the torture. The authorities released him and he on September 19, 2008, with a high fever and in extreme pain.
  • 67-Year-Old Ms. Chen Xiurong Died as a Result of Persecution in Qinhuangdao City, Hebei Province

    Ms. Chen Xiurong, in her 60s, began practising Falun Gong in 1996 and benefited both mentally and spiritually. She went to Beijing to appeal against the persecution in 2000, but she was injured as a result of being brutally beaten by a government employee. After that, local police often harassed and ransacked her home. They threatened her, took her Falun Gong books, and took her into custody at the local police station. Her family feared persecution, so they helped the police to restrict her personal freedom. She had symptoms of a stroke in 2004 and died in August 2007 at the age of 67.
  • Ms. Wang Liqiu Brainwashed in Jilin Women's Prison

    On February 13th, 2007, Ms. Wang Liqiu was arrested by police. The arresting officers forced eight bottles of a mustard solution into Ms. Wang's nose, causing her to go into shock. After pouring cold water on her to wake her, they continued torturing her until she was on the verge of death. With no evidence of any wrongdoing, Ms. Wang was still sentenced to three years at the Jilin Province Women's Prison on November 23rd, 2007. The guards put her on a torture device called the "stretching bed." While imprisoned, Ms. Wang and her fellow practitioners were brainwashed every day. They are also forced to study materials slandering Falun Gong.
  • Large Scale Arrests and Abuses of Falun Gong Practitioners in Qidong County, Hunan Province before the Beijing Olympics

    Before the Beijing Olympics, in Hunan Province, the 610 Office and local police stations in every township in Qidong County ordered police to arrest Falun Gong practitioners on a large scale and detain them. They ransacked practitioners' homes, and confiscated Falun Gong books and informational materials and valuable personal property. The police also beat practitioners. On August 4th, several police officers climbed up from the first floor through the security grill and broke into practitioner Shi Zhenhua's window. Seven officers dragged Ms. Shi into the police car and took her to the police station. Zhou Aimin kicked and beat Ms. Shi. Her legs were severely injured and her chest and back were badly bruised. Then the police took Ms. Shi to the county detention centre.
  • 50-Year-Old Ms. Liu Yanqin Tortured Severely in Qingyuan County, Liaoning Province

    During the time leading up to the Olympics, police arrested 50-year-old Ms. Liu Yanqin. She was tortured for two days and a night in a detention centre. The torture was so severe that Ms. Liu was hardly able to take care of herself from this point onward. Ms. Liu was shackled by her hands and legs to a tiger bench. The police officers beat and cursed her, force-feeding her liquor. They blocked her mouth and forced her to breathe it in through her nose. They also put a burning cigarette into her nostril and forced her to inhale the smoke. [Editor's note: Falun Gong practitioners do not drink alcohol or smoke]. Her fingers lost all mobility and she could no longer feed herself. She was vomiting, and her body and face were covered with bruises.
  • Persecution of Falun Gong Practitioner Ms. Li Jingyan from Weifang City, Shandong Province

    Ms. Li Jingyan appealed for Falun Gong to the government officials in the winter of 2000, telling them of the benefits of the practice. They were arrested and detained in a local retirement home. Li Jingyan tried to talk to the guards, "We practise Falun Gong and try to be good people. Why do you beat and detain us?" They immediately beat her with police batons. She lost consciousness and was sent to the town hospital for emergency care. On February 26th, 2006, Ms. Li was arrested at home. Police subjected her to a beating, breaking her nose in the process. On July 9th, 2008 Li Jingyan was arrested again and sent to Wangcun Forced Labour Camp.
  • Ms. Zhang Yijie Recounts Nine Years of Persecution

    The Party has spared no means to try to coerce Falun Gong practitioners to renounce their belief. While at the labour camp, I was several times held in solitary confinement, a small, dark room. The first time, they did not let me sleep for 18 days, and the second time I was forced to stand continuously for 42 days and nights, while nine people took turns torturing me and attempted to coerce me to write a guarantee statement to renounce Falun Gong. I also sustained severe injury in my lower back and legs from beatings. I endured endless, unspeakable abuse: complete isolation, drawn-out starvation, toilet use restriction, sleep deprivation, beatings, and psychological abuses too numerous to count, that left me with wounds and near-blindness in both eyes, and stunted speech.
  • Older Practitioner Mr. Qin Daqun Died as a Result of Abuse in Custody in Chongqing City

    After the persecution started, Mr. Qin Daqun, 56, was taken into custody at the Geleshan Brainwashing Centre. On October 5th, 2005, he was arrested by officers from the Shapingba District Police Department and sentenced to one year of forced labour, which he served in the Xishanping Forced Labour Camp. On May 19th, 2008, the police arrested Mr. Qin. The police detained him in the Jiangbei Detention Centre, where a guard assaulted him from behind and another guard kicked him in the chest, causing him to pass out on the floor. Later he was admitted to hospital, emaciated and dying. Mr. Qin's family picked him up on August 28th, 2008. He died at around 3:00 p.m. on September 5th, 2008.
  • Police Involvement Suspected in Mrs. Shi Guiying's Unnatural Death

    On October 28th, 2005, Ms. Shi Guiying went to visit her nephew. On October 30th, her son received a phone call from police saying that she had been taken to the police station after falling off a motorcycle, that she was unconscious and needed to be picked up. Ms. Shi's family took her from the police station to the hospital. She was found to be completely paralysed and unable to speak. Ms. Shi passed away on September 10th, 2006.
  • A Letter Written in Prison by Ms. Liu Fengmei for Her Family

    On August 27th, 2008 when the Chinese Communist Party Court sentenced me to 13 years of imprisonment, my heart was trembling. At that moment I saw even more clearly the evil nature of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which is made up of gangsters and resorts to violence and deceit. I knew that the result of this trial would be too much for my family and all my relatives to bear. During the four-day-long trial, a Beijing lawyer argued a not-guilty defence. At the trial several practitioners explained the tortures they had been subjected to and showed the court their scars from the electric baton shocks. Not a single judge came over to look. They were completely indifferent. In the end, the judges publicly read out a statement fabricated by the police.
  • Mourning the Death of Falun Gong Practitioner Mr. Yang Guang

    I was shocked to hear that Falun Gong practitioner Yang Guang from Changchun had died in Jilin Prison. I was so sad and wanted to cry, but I have no more tears. His death is one more addition to over a dozen practitioners that I knew that died in the persecution. It is hard to imagine the torture Yang Guang endured. In eight years, he was subjected to all sorts of inhuman treatment. He was in critical condition many times. He was incontinent, suffered muscular atrophy, and was only skin and bones. His legs were crippled and his toes were rotten and deformed. When he was no longer able to walk, he had oedema throughout his whole body and could not eat, yet the prison authorities still refused to release him for medical treatment.
  • Elder Sister Tortured to Death and Younger Sister Facing Sentence

    On March 13th, 2008, Ms. Gu Jianmin died as a result of the persecution. In June 2006, she was arrested and sentenced to one year of forced labour. Within a few months of being released from detention, she was arrested again and later died as a result of the persecution. Her younger sister, Ms. Gu Jihong was arrested in July 2008 and is facing a sentence. This is the third time that she has been arrested. In June 2000, she was sentenced to three years in prison. In June 2005, she was sentenced to one year of forced labour but was not released on time. The sisters suffered persecution during the past nine years because they practised Falun Gong.
  • Ms. Feng Zuoru Passed Away in Tianjin

    Ms. Feng Zuoru, a Falun Gong practitioner, was held in a labour camp for three years. She was tortured and suffered a severe relapse of diabetes while in custody. Chinese Communist Party officials arrested her in 2001 when she distributed Falun Gong materials. They sentenced her to three years of forced labour without trial. She persisted in her belief at the Banqiao Labour Camp in Tianjin, and the authorities sent her to the Strictly Controlled Division, where they physically and verbally assaulted her. The abuse was around-the-clock and went on until she suffered a relapse of diabetes. The authorities ignored her condition and instead starved her. In addition, they forced her to do heavy manual labour in a toxic environment. She passed away on August 8th, 2008.
  • 22-year-old Ms. Gao Xi Suffers a Mental Breakdown After a Month of Torture in Labour Camp

    On September 30th, 2007, Ms. Gao Xi was arrested by police while distributing Falun Gong informational materials and imprisoned in Sanshui Women's Labour Camp. She was an intelligent and attractive 22-year-old woman. After a month of torture, she had reached the point of mental breakdown, her body was weak, and she was no longer able to speak. In 2008, during the Chinese New Year season, drug addicts assigned to monitor Ms. Gao forced her to take a cold bath for up to two hours, and they cut off her hair. Sometimes she was forced to stand continuously day and night, her face was covered with fingernail scratches, and the back of her head was swollen, bruised and was bandaged. The drug addicts frequently abused and berated her. In April 2008, she was released because she showed symptoms of schizophrenia.