Seven Common Torture Methods Used to Persecute Falun Gong Practitioners
By Zhao Ming (Ireland) and Chen Gang (USA)
August 11, 2003 (Clearwisdom.net August 12, 2003) In forced labor camps, policemen use many different methods to physically
torture Falun Gong practitioners, including forcing practitioners to stand still
or sit still in a fixed position for a long time, handcuffing a practitioner to
a bed for a long time, forcing practitioners to squat down or run for a long
time, confining practitioners to a boiler room during hot summer days, and so
on. The police use all of these torture methods for the purpose of exceeding the
limits of people's endurance and thus destroying their will. To accomplish this,
they are willing to go to all kinds of extremes. Many Falun Gong practitioners
who have endured long periods of physical and mental torture such as sleep
deprivation, beating, cursing, and intimidation often experience symptoms such
as their hair turning gray, severe weight loss, body pain, damage to the
functioning of their bodies, depression, and memory loss. The more significant
thing is that even after the physical injuries and pain are healed over a period
of time, the mental and psychological trauma often continue to hurt people for
the rest of their lives. In order to break people's will, control people's minds, and completely
destroy the confidence and dignity gained from their moral and spiritual
beliefs, Jiang Zemin and the nationwide "610 Office" [an agency
specifically created to persecute Falun Gong, with absolute power over each
level of administration in the Party and all other political and judiciary
systems] have adopted dozens of brainwashing methods, both hard and soft.
The following are seven of the most common torture methods used to persecute
Falun Gong practitioners in the forced-labor camps in Beijing, which are under
the control of the "610 Office." The situation could be even worse in
other areas of China. Punishment by being forced to stand for a long time The victim has to stand still for a long period of time without any movement.
However, after the nerves in the feet have been under pressure for a long time,
the victim will easily collapse. Falun Gong practitioner Zhao Ming from Ireland
was once forced by the police in the Xin'an Forced Labor Camp to stand for over
20 hours a day and for days on end, and his hands, arms, feet and legs were all
swollen. His feet were swollen so much that he felt like his shoes were getting
smaller and smaller every day. His feet were extremely painful from the soles to
the heels. Punishment by being forced to sit for a long time During one period, the police tried to brainwash us. They ordered a group of
ruffians to force us to sit and listen to the audiotapes of their crooked and
evil theories. We were forced to sit for 15 to 16 hours a day, except for a
fixed time for toilet use and meals. We were not allowed to move at all. If
someone moved a little, the police would order a ruffian to brutally beat that
person. Such a long period of sitting resulted in pain in the lower back and
hips. In Unit #5 of the Tuanhe Forced Labor Camp, Falun Gong practitioner Liu
Yongping once received this type of torture. Mr. Liu was also brutally beaten
with a plastic bench by inmates who were under orders from the police. The bench
eventually broke from the great force used to beat practitioners. Punishment by being forced to "fly" The victim is forced to stand with his two legs straight, with his head bent
down until the face is pointing to the ground, while the arms are pulled
straight to the back until the arms are straight and the fingers are pointing to
the sky. After a little while, the victim feels dizzy, and has weak legs, sore
arms, rapid breath and heavy sweating. Punishment by being handcuffed to a bed for a long time Lying on the bed looks easy. But the police handcuff or tie practitioners'
hands and feet to the bed and prohibit them from getting up for months on end.
Eventually the victims have bedsores and every part of the skin that touches the
bed feels extremely painful. It also causes great pain to the arms after the
arms are handcuffed to the bed and extended for such a long time. Punishment by being forced to squat down There were two types of squatting torture: squatting on two legs and military
squatting. Some times the victims are forced to hold their heads with their arms
while squatting, with both elbows pulled inside their two legs. The victim feels
sore and numb legs and pain in the lower back. The longer this torture lasts the
more severe the pain becomes. The military squat is one of the most vicious
physical torture methods. The police in the forced labor camps often use it to
torture Falun Gong practitioners. The victim is forced to squat down with one
foot in the front and another in the back, with about one small step of
separation. The rear foot only has the front half touching the ground and almost
bears all the body weight. Normally this will feel very painful after only a few
minutes. It causes great pain to the rear foot and rear leg and could even cause
complete loss of feeling and control in the leg. When Zhao Ming was detained in the Xin'an Forced Labor Camp, the police once
ordered several young inmates to force him do the military squat. After one leg
lost feeling, he was forced to switch legs. He was forced to do it for over ten
hours a day. Eventually his two soles felt so much pain that it felt almost like
the bones of his feet were directly touching the ground. Punishment by being forced to run The police in the Tuanhe Forced Labor Camp force Falun Gong practitioners to
run. If the practitioner gets exhausted, they order people to push him on. When
someone cannot run any more even with people pushing behind him, the police
order people to drag the practitioner further. Some practitioners' clothes were
torn into pieces. Policeman Yue Qingjin in the Tuanhe Forced Labor Camp confined Falun Gong
practitioner Li Xupeng in the summer time inside the boiler room where the big
furnace for boiling water was. The room temperature was very high. Whoever
stayed inside the room felt it was unbearably hot and humid, causing breathing
difficulties. In such an environment, one could easily get exhausted and some
even lost consciousness. Mr. Li Xupeng was confined in the steamy room for as
long as one month and eventually collapsed. Electric Shock Normally an electric baton has voltage of tens of thousands volts. When it
discharges continuously, it emits blue light with static-like sound. When the
electric current goes through a person's body, it feels like one is being burned
or being bitten by snakes. Every shock is very painful like a snakebite. The
victim's skin turns red, broken, burned and festering. There are even more
powerful batons with higher voltage that make the victim feel like he is being
hit with a hammer. According to the regulations for safe usage of the electric
batons, the electric batons should not be applied to people's heads, chests,
faces, or private parts. However, the police in the forced labor camp purposely
applied the electric batons to people's heads, chests, and private parts. In
order to prevent resistance from the victims, usually the police tie up the
victims first or just use handcuffs. A normal person gives up resistance after a
couple shocks. But when the police used the electric batons on Falun Gong
practitioners, their purpose was to torture the practitioners so they often used
ten or more batons to shock the practitioners simultaneously. They even
concentrated their shocks on the head, chest and other sensitive parts and
shocked the practitioners for long periods. Force-Feeding The medical force-feeding method is "to feed through the nostrils,"
namely inserting a tube into the nose and through the throat and gullet into the
stomach. However, the police in the forced labor camps aim at torturing people.
Even when doing force-feeding through the nose, they still tried to torture
those who were on hunger strikes. They would use no lubricant on the tubes. When
inserting the tubes, they would purposely push and pull the tubes repeatedly to
make the victim feel great pain in the nasal cavity. The victim would also
experience nausea, vomiting, and a severe cough. Every time when the
force-feeding ended, there was blood on the tube. The police also used the
illegal direct forced feeding method very often. They would tie up the victim
and then order other inmates to force open the victim's mouth and use steel
spoons and other hard objects to damage the victim's mouth and teeth. Such
brutal force-feeding methods could easily force water and food into the trachea,
causing lung damage and life-threatening danger. Many Falun Gong practitioners have died from such brutal force-feeding. Among
them was Mr. Liu Xuguo, a 29-year-old engineer from Shandong Province, who died
on February 11, 2002 from the lung damage caused by the force-feeding conducted
by the police in a forced labor camp in Jining City, Shandong Province. Ms. Mei
Yulan, a 40-year-old Falun Gong practitioner from Beijing, was forced-fed by an
inmate (under orders from the police) with a thick salt solution and soymilk on
May 17, 2000 in Chaoyang Detention Center. She later experienced five days of
headache, and then vomited blood and passed away on May 23, 2000. The above are
two cases that have been previously revealed by overseas media about Falun Gong
practitioners who died as a result of force-feeding. Mr. Chen Gang himself was
also tortured in the Bejijing forced labor camp under the excuse of
force-feeding.
Chinese version available at
http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2003/8/12/55480.html
Yearly Archive
Printer Version
feedback@clearwisdom.net