By a Falun Dafa practitioner in China

(Clearwisdom.net) Authorities in Beijing, the capital of China, have recruited police from all over the nation to suppress Falun Dafa practitioners everywhere. Beijing police have invented wicked methods for physically torturing Falun Dafa practitioners over long periods.

Those running detention centers in Beijing have even used these wicked methods to inhumanely abuse law-abiding citizens through the use of the legal loophole of prison "standards." If Falun Dafa practitioners detained there refuse to comply with these standards, the police use a more cruel method of physical punishment, a higher "standard," to persecute them. In this way they could deny direct involvement in the suppression of Falun Gong and inflict serious punishment by claiming that the practitioner "had violated the standards and disrupted the order of the detention center."

These methods of physical punishment can be forcefully carried out by general supervisors and vicious collaborators(1) without a police officer's presence or any tools of torture.

This also assists the police since even someone who dies from the tortures has no marks on their body, just the symptoms of a heart attack and a burst blood vessel in the brain. Instead of calling it torture when persecuting steadfast practitioners, they say it is intended to make them think about their faults and change their thinking while facing a wall.

Today, we would like to let the word's people witness the so-called "civilized law enforcement," the reality of these "standards" in the Beijing detention centers, and the so-called "pleasant education and liberation" propagated in the media. We would like everyone to consider whether an ordinary person would follow such "standards." Falun Gong practitioners have suffered considerably for not following them, despite their being in violation of the constitution and the criminal law. No attempt to disguise this behind the law can change the fact that they have persecuted Falun Gong practitioners.

1. "Handcuffed Behind the Back"

The detention centers attached to the Tiananmen Branch of the Police Department and other branches often handcuffed Falun Gong practitioners' hands behind their back when they refused to give their names, verbally defended the innocence of Falun Gong, or practiced Falun Gong exercises.

As shown in the picture, the two arms are handcuffed together at the back, one from above and the other from below which is extremely painful. Since it is difficult to handcuff the two arms like this, police often put the arms together suddenly and forcefully while the victim is unprepared, which can easily cause bone fractures.

2. "Squatting with Hands Holding the Head"

This is a posture in which Falun Gong practitioners are required to pose while waiting for registration after being sent to the Beijing Prisoner Dispatch Center for detention in forced-labor camps. This center was established specifically for persecuting practitioners.

After arriving there for registration, everyone must squat while holding both hands on their head. Their eyes were only allowed to look at their toes. If someone was discovered looking elsewhere the prison guard or police officer would beat them on the head or neck. Prior to early 2001, people were even required to squat while raising their heels. If someone could not do it, they would be kicked in the buttocks.

Every Falun Gong practitioner sent here for illegal detention was required to write a "Guarantee Statement" at registration stating, "I was sent for forced-labor reform as I disturbed the stability of the social order. I guarantee that I will follow the rules and regulations of the forced labor camp." Basically, not one Falun Gong practitioner acknowledged that he or she had committed such unusual "crimes" or was "a prisoner for forced labor reform." Virtually nobody cooperated. As a result, the police used violent methods to force them to write, so it took a long time to register each one. In the meantime the rest had to wait for their turn in this posture. Many older practitioners and those who were very weak due to previous labor camp persecution collapsed or fainted but the police kicked them to make them stand up again.

3. "Report. Yes. Yes."

Those Falun Gong practitioners who refused to write a "guarantee statement" or to put on forced-labor camp uniforms were sent to a different room to be severely tortured under the pleasant-sounding guise of "practicing the standards."

"Report," "Yes," "Yes" are the "behavioral standards" within the Dispatch Center corresponding to three different actions. If someone wants to ask the police a question, they have to stand up straight and say "Report." When the police call one's name, they have to put their arms over their head, squat, and say, "Yes." Finally, when one hears a police order, they have to lower their heads and overlap their hands at the lower abdomen (with the left hand on the inside and the right hand on the outside), while stand up straight, and saying "Yes."

The police forced Falun Gong practitioners who refused to write "Guarantee Statements" to do these hundreds of time in quick succession without making any mistakes, despite their being easily confused. This repetitive squatting and standing led to practitioners having swollen legs and walking bow-legged.

4. Walking with Hands Folded and Head Lowered

One had to walk close to the wall in the Dispatch Center while lowering the head, folding the arms and marching on the floor. If a group of people walked together, they had to march simultaneously and keep their eyes looking at their toes. If one looked slightly ahead to see where they were going, the policemen would curse at them and humiliate them. Since looking straight at the police was never allowed in the Dispatch center, if one came across a police officer they had to stand still facing the wall. Even though it was impossible to see them coming without looking up, they would say, "Use your ears to listen." If someone failed to stop, some of the policemen would come over right away and slap them on the face.

Later at the end of 2001, after Falun Gong practitioners' group resistance, this was made more severe by having to walk in lines.

5. "Kneeling to Get Meals"

The Chinese people don't seem to have the right to eat since the media always says that they should thank the government for allowing them to eat.

Therefore, when the police illegally interrogated Falun Gong practitioners, they always asked irrationally, "Did so-and-so do something wrong by giving you food?" Although this had nothing to do with practitioners' opposition to the persecution, it was taken to extremes in the Dispatch Center.

Everyone detained there (mostly Falun Gong practitioners) had to kneel on one leg to beg each day for his or her three meals from the police. Later on, after resistance by one group of practitioners after another, it was changed to bowing 90 degrees while saying, "Prisoner so-and-so from such-and-such Brigade, such-and-such Section asks for a meal." Those who spoke in a soft voice or made mistakes would be punished by having to stand aside without being given a meal, while those who refused to say the words or refused to squat were immediately taken away to an office to be tortured by the police who had been distributing meals and the nearby guards.

6. "Riding an Airplane"

This is the cruelest physical punishment and it is really too painful to describe. After Falun Gong practitioners were sent to the forced labor camps, they were not allowed to join the other "groups" for forced labor and sleep. Instead they were required to stay in the corridor, the lobby, or the waterhouse and listen to "collaborators"(1) brainwashing them with lies that slandered Falun Gong. Those who refused to write the "Three Statements" (2) were not allowed to join the "group" and were deprived of sleep. Those who refused to acknowledge that Falun Gong was [slanderous term omitted] were usually tortured with "riding an airplane."

This posture requires that one's head points downward, the back of the neck is against the wall, and the arms are raised with the hands touching the wall. Most people feel that their head will explode and cannot tolerate it for even ten minutes. However, Falun Gong practitioners were forced to "ride an airplane" for at least an hour. In Beijing's Xinan Forced Labor Camp, one practitioner was forced to stay like this for a whole night simply because she refused to renounce her belief. The police even encouraged prisoners to persecute her by threatening to deprive those in her group of sleep and secretly appointing a "monitor" to punish her. The next morning, this Falun Gong practitioner lost consciousness and fell down and rolled underneath the bed beside hers.

At the beginning of 2000, when the first Falun Gong practitioners who were sent to the forced-labor camp for transformation resisted it, the police asked the supervisors to help force all the practitioners to "ride an airplane" in a long line down the corridor.

Since this could easily cause a person's death, the police used other long-term methods to torture Falun Gong practitioners if they still persisted in their belief after being made to "ride an airplane." These included depriving them of sleep, forcing them to eat in painful postures, and continuously brainwashing them with slanderous lies about Master and Falun Dafa to confuse them. Since practitioners had benefited both physically and spiritually from Falun Dafa these twisted lies was the most unbearable abuse. All of these tortures truly damaged them in both mind and body.

7. "Gecko Crawling the Wall"

This posture requires a person to stand on one leg while lifting the other. The upper body is held against the wall, as are the two arms that slant to the side and cause an imbalance of the body. However, the upper body must always be kept straight.

8. "Facing the Wall"

This is a common torture method in the forced labor camp, requiring one to stand facing the wall for up to 18 days and nights continuously. Practitioners' legs become swollen to the point of blistering and their feet begin to bleed as soon as they put on shoes. The more extreme form of "facing the wall" requires one to stand with both feet against the base of the wall, heel to heel forming a straight line with the toes facing outward. The whole body, from the head to the feet, must stick to the wall, including the tip of the nose, and the eyes must remain open, staring at the wall. At such a short distance this could cause blurry vision and dizziness. If one closed their eyes, the police would hit them on the head since the bruises cannot be seen through the hair.

9. "Squatting Like an Army Corps"

This is also a routine punishment involving squatting. The police are required by their superior officers to complete an annual drill which requires them to squat in the sun for several hours with their body weight resting on one leg while their upper body is kept straight and their two hands are placed on their knees. Some policemen even faint on the spot. Knowing how painful this can be the police modified it to torture Falun Gong practitioners. They were forced to squat like this for several days, some for more than 40 days without a break. Also, their hands were not allowed to be placed on their knees, but had to remain face up in front of them. This allowed the police to beat them any time they could not squat. If a practitioner refused to squat, the police would order over ten people to get together to pull the practitioner's hair, press down on their shoulders, pull their arms, and force them to squat.

10. "A Beauty Looking in the Mirror"

This is a very strange punishment involving standing. It requires one to stand on a bent leg with the other held behind its knee. One hand is placed at the back of the head and the other in front of the face. In the Beijing Law Education Center, one policewoman from the Beijing Female Forced Labor Camp who had come to brainwash Falun Gong practitioners once ordered a male practitioner illegally detained there to stand in this humiliating posture, but he refused to do so.

11. "Riding a Motorbike"

This is similar to a martial arts posture. After being tortured by various methods for several months, the Falun Gong practitioners who still refused to be brainwashed would be sent to the training center unit where they were persecuted using extensive physical punishment including electric shocks and being placed in a cage. "Riding a motorbike" was one of the frequent methods used in this unit. One had to stand with two legs bent, the two arms extended out, and the two hands making fists. In this way, all of the limbs suffered at the same time.

September 10, 2004

Notes:

1. Collaborators: Former Falun Gong practitioners who have gone astray due to brainwashing and torture.
2. Three Statements: Practitioners are coerced under brainwashing and torture to write these as proof that they have given up their belief. Created by the "610 Office," the Three Statements consist of a letter of repentance, a guarantee to never again practice Falun Gong, and a list of names and addresses of all family members, friends and acquaintances who are practitioners.

Posting date: 9/29/2004
Original article date: 9/29/2004
Category: Eyewitness Accounts
Translated on 9/18/2004
Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2004/9/11/83950.html

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