"Handcuffed to a Cross"--A New Method of Torture in Gaomi City Detention Center of Shangdong Province (Illustration)

By a Falun Dafa Practitioner in Shangdong Province, China

(Clearwisdom.net) On July 18, 2000, 57-year-old Falun Dafa practitioner Ms. Zhong Sulan from Gaomi City of Shangdong Province was reported while distributing Falun Gong truth-clarifying materials. On July 20, policeman Zang deceived her into going to her work unit where he arrested her and she was illegally detained for one month. In the detention center, Falun Dafa practitioner Ms. Wang was on hunger strike to protest the illegal detention. Ms. Zhong joined the hunger strike.

The superintendent of the detention center, Liu Hongyun, said, "Yesterday we just received an advanced weapon (cross-handcuff) to deal with Falun Gong. Let's start with those two. Put them outside and let the mosquitoes bite them."

On the fourth morning of Ms. Zhong's hunger strike, those vicious people in the detention center handcuffed her and Ms. Wang to the cross. Their heads, arms and legs were fixed up on the cross and could not move at all. Ms. Wang had been on a hunger strike for many days. When they force-fed her, they used adhesive plaster to fix the rubber tube, which was inserted into her nose, on top of her head. Ms. Wang could barely breathe. The salt and soy milk powder mixture was overflowing from her mouth and nose. She appeared to be in so much pain that the inmates secretly wiped her nose and mouth. Even the tough male prisoners broke into tears.

The perpetrators were afraid of others seeing these despicable deeds, so they transferred Ms. Wang indoors and left Ms. Zhong Sulan in the yard. Li Yong from the police department tried to trick her, "If you tell me the sources of Falun Gong materials, I will tell them to put you down immediately." Ms. Zhong closed her eyes and ignored him. At that time, most of the inmates in the 17 cells could see Ms. Zhong, and the majority of them were not Falun Gong practitioners. They continuously encouraged her, saying, "Zhong Sulan, hold on."

It was very painful to be fixed on the cross, regardless of how one tried to change positions. Such malicious instruments were designed specifically to torture Falun Gong practitioners.

At about 4 or 5 o'clock in the afternoon. Director Li came and told others to take Ms. Zhong Sulan into a room. Others said, "Liu Hongyun arranged this. Without his orders, nobody dares to change it." Director Li said, "Liu Hongyun is not here. We can't bake her to death in the sun. Unlock her and let her walk in by herself." They locked her up again after she entered the room.

Liu Hongyun came back when it became dark. Ms. Zhong was locked in a cell after she had been released from the cross. However, Ms. Wang was still handcuffed on the cross. Several Falun Gong practitioners went on group hunger strike to demand the release of Ms. Wang. She was then released that night.

Because four Falun Gong practitioners persisted in practicing the exercises together every day, Liu Hongyun led others in forcibly pushing them out of their cells and cuffed three of them on the crosses (only three crosses were available in the detention center) and one on an iron chair. Then they threw the practitioners into the grass and shouted, "Let's see if you'll keep practicing after the mosquitoes bite you for a night."

There were many mosquitoes. Ms. Zhong's toes were bitten so badly that they were bleeding. Two hours later, the deputy superintendent was on duty. He found Liu Hongyun and said, "What if they are bitten by snakes?" The deputy superintendent then let practitioners go back to their cells.

Some practitioners persisted in practicing Falun Gong exercises and reciting Zhuan Falun. They also taught other inmates Falun Gong. The guards then increased the persecution. Three practitioners were tortured until they had become very weak. Among them, Ms. Li was locked on the cross and was only released after she nearly passed out. Two people carried her into the cell. Her face was very pale and her eyes were closed. She could not hold her head up and could not sit up either.

The police tried to extort money from Zhong Sulan's family, demanding that they pay to bail her out. However, her husband did not cooperate with them. He was not a practitioner, but from his wife's personal experience of benefiting from Falun Dafa, he understood that Falun Dafa is good and the persecution is illegal. Those policemen thus went to her workplace. The management of her work unit immediately paid to bail her out. They said, "Falun Gong is good and Ms. Zhong is a good person."

After that, when distributing truth-clarification materials, Falun Gong practitioners all tried their best to distribute the materials to those people who worked in the detention centers but still had goodness in their hearts, as well as the kindhearted coworkers in their work units. Hopefully they can better understand Falun Dafa and thus have a good future.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2004/9/23/84810.html

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