By a Dafa practitioner in Beijing

(Clearwisdom.net) Dafa practitioner Ms. Zhuang Yanhong is 46 years old. She received a bachelor's degree from the Department of Philosophy of Peking University and a Master's degree in ethics from Renmin University of China. After graduation she taught at the Human Sciences Institute of Beijing University of Technology. She began practicing Falun Dafa in March 1994. After the persecution began on July 20, 1999 she persisted in Dafa practice and clarified the truth to people. She was illegally detained five times and cruelly tortured.

Zhuang Yanhong was born with only one kidney. She also had severe migraines. When she had a migraine attack she had to take morphine. After she began teaching at Beijing University of Technology, due to her illness, Professor Zhuang could not finish her semester assignment and could not participate in scientific research. After she began practicing Dafa in 1994, dramatic changes came over her and she looked younger than her actual age. Now, not only can she finish her assigned work on time, she is also involved in many scientific projects.

After the persecution began, Zhuang Yanhong persisted in practicing Falun Dafa and clarified the truth about Dafa to various people. In 2001, perpetrators from Beijing's Police Department tried to send her to a brainwashing class. In order to avoid the persecution, Zhuang Yanhong wrote a letter to her supervisor explaining her situation, and left.

On December 27, 2001, perpetrators from the Changping Police Department arrested Zhuang Yanhong and sent her to the Changping Detention Center, where the enforcers beat her numerous times. Zhuang Yanhong held a hunger strike and was brutally force-fed. The perpetrators pushed her to the ground and dragged her around. They pinned her limbs and torso down and hit her head and face. They forcibly inserted a feeding tube into her throat and in doing so they punctured her throat is several places.

In January 2001, Zhuang Yanhong was sent to the Legal Training Center in Beijing City's Police Department where the perpetrators took turns verbally abusing, threatening, humiliating and otherwise tormenting her. They also tortured her and allowed her only one or two hours of sleep daily, in the mornings, for over 20 days.

Zhuang Yanhong was detained in solitary confinement since early 2002 at the Legal Training Center for half a year, during which time she was savagely tortured and interrogated. She almost had a nervous breakdown. She was released on parole on July 9, 2002, yet the perpetrators continued to monitor her.

The solitary confinement cell is only two meters long and 1.5 meters wide. It is sealed off by two metal doors on both ends. In the summer, the temperature outside exceeds 40 Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit), and it is so hot inside the cell that the detainee can hardly breathe. When Zhuang Yanhong asked the guard to open the window, the guard answered, "I cannot! Orders from my superiors! If you really cannot take it we'll have a doctor over to give you pills and injections." Several weeks later the police allowed a small vent to be opened by a crack.

Zhuang Yanhong was deprived of all her human rights and freedom, and her dignity was trampled. She was treated worse than the criminal inmates. She had to wash and relieve herself inside the cell. Every time she moved she had to say, "report" to the guard on duty before she was allowed to move. For the rest of the time she could only sit upright on her plank bed. If she disobeyed, the guards would verbally abuse her. She lived in complete isolation from the outside world and was not allowed to talk to anyone outside her cell. She was not allowed to write letters to her family, which is why her family didn't hear from her for half a year. She was not allowed to take a shower or trim her nails for several months and was not given hot drinking water for two months. Nor was hot water provided for showers.

What's worse, because the confinement cell is built in a deserted, rural area and is in disrepair, bugs of all types and shapes would crawl into the room from the sewer pipe and sink, and they hid inside holes in the wall and in Ms. Zhuang's clothes and quilts. They ran rampantly over Zhuang Yanhong's food, bed and utensils.

After repeated requests, the guards gave her a small cake of insect-repellent soap. However, after spraying the wall and ground with bug spray, Zhuang Yanhong experienced dizziness, nausea, heart palpitations, muscle paralysis and numbness from inhalation of toxic chemicals.

The more than six months of torture and abuse left Zhuang Yanhong very weak. In the two or three months after her release, her kidney and intestinal functions were very poor. She had back pains, dizziness, heart palpitations, muscle weakness and could eat and drink only very little. Her blood pressure and blood sugar were both abnormal. Her reactions were slow and her memory deteriorated. She couldn't speak without stuttering, which showed she was psychologically traumatized.

After several months of Fa study and exercises, Zhuang Yanhong has gradually returned to normal.