(Clearwisdom.net) Since July 20, 1999, when the persecution of Falun Gong began, detention centers and labor camps in China have been major places for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to carry out state terrorism and to persecute Falun Gong practitioners. The CCP has exploited state run organizations and the police to carry out the systematic, bloody suppression of Falun Gong practitioners. It has exhausted its countless methods of cruelty and torture.

I. Numerous Torture Methods

Brutal Beatings: The following are forms of beating the prison guards have often used: handcuffing and shackling practitioners' hands and feet, while twisting and squeezing their wrists and ankles; hanging practitioners up with iron chains and beating them; forcing practitioners to sit on a board full of spikes with the sharp ends pointing upward; beating practitioners using iron or wood clubs; depriving practitioners of sleep; binding practitioners to a big sand bag, then beating and kicking them or covering their heads with a piece of cloth and beating them fiercely; dragging them by the hair and banging their heads on the wall and ferociously kicking practitioners' private parts. They often use a loudspeaker to drown out the practitioners' tragic cries. Some practitioners were beaten to death. Some practitioners' internal organs were severely injured from the beatings and they vomited blood. Many practitioners passed out numerous times during the beatings. Others have had their skulls fractured, their hearing destroyed, their ear(s) torn off, their eyes blinded and their teeth broken due to the savage beatings. There are also cases in which practitioners' bones were fractured. Some practitioners were disabled and some have had to have their limbs amputated.

On June 27, 2002, Falun Gong practitioner Li Xiaojin, a young teacher in Guangzhou University, was illegally arrested and taken to the brainwashing center inside the Huangpu Drug Rehabilitation Center of Guangzhou City. He was beaten to death the next day.

Electric Shock: Electric shock is one of the most common methods that the guards use to torture practitioners. They use electric batons with tens of thousands of volts of current to shock practitioner's oral cavities, the tops of their heads, chests, private parts, breasts, hips, anus, thighs, and soles of their feet. Sometimes they use more than one baton to electrically shock practitioners or they keep shocking one place for a long time until that place is burned. The smell of blood and burning flesh permeates everywhere. The electric shock generates blue sparks, together with a harsh noisy sound. When electrically shocked, the practitioner feels as if he/she is burned by fire, or bitten by snakes. The skin turns purplish black, becomes red and swollen and eventually becomes infected, festers and seeps pus.

In 2001, the guards in the Sanshui Forced Labor Camp used three electric batons with tens of thousand of volts to shock Hong Haoyuan, a Falun Gong practitioner in Chaozhou City, Guangdong Province. They shocked him in his anus for over ten hours every day and beat him savagely using a wooden bench that is about 4 feet long. His internal organs were severely injured. All attempts to rescue Hong Haoyuan failed and he died as a result of torture.

"Crucifix Torture:" The guards bind Falun Gong practitioners so that their bodies are in the shape of a cross or bind the practitioner directly to a crucifix for extended periods. The practitioner is suspended in the air in the upright position and cannot move at all. A common way is that all four limbs are stretched to the extreme with the hands handcuffed to the rail or the iron bar of a bed and the feet shackled to the iron bar on the other end of the bed. Extended torture in this suspended position make the handcuffs cut deep into the flesh. The whole body becomes stiff and the practitioner loses consciousness. Even more is that the guards forbid victims to sleep. As soon as practitioners close their eyes, they beat them or shock them with an electric baton. The practitioner has to relieve his bowels in this position. Sometimes, the practitioner is not given any food or water and is put outside under the baking sun in the hot summer.

Guard Wang Ying and others in the First Detention Center and the Second Detention Center of Zhuhai City have used the "crucifix torture" on Falun Gong practitioners. Practitioner Ms. Zhou Meilin was subjected to this torture for more than 70 hours. When she was released from the crucifix, she was unable to move. She sustained injuries to her kidneys, stomach and intestines. Her hands and arms were seriously injured and there were numerous pressure sores on her back and hips.

"Five Horses Pulling the Body Apart:" Four guards press the practitioner to the ground with his or her back facing up. Two of them pull the practitioner's hands to both sides in opposite directions with full strength while the other two pull the practitioner's feet. They then lift the leg up and bend it toward the practitioner's back. The victim feels excruciating pain in the four limbs. Both hands and feet swell up after the torture. The practitioner cannot squat or stoop down for several days, even when trying to relieve himself. For days, the victim cannot fall asleep because of the excruciating pain. Another form of this torture method is to cuff the practitioner's hands on two beds (the kind of bed with upper and lower berth). The perpetrators then pull the two beds in two opposite directions with all their might. This torture method is similar to the notorious ancient cruelty, "Five Horses Pulling the Body Apart."

Burning Practitioners with Fire or Boiling Water: The prison guards burn practitioners' hands, face, soles of the feet, chest, back, nipples and private parts using a cigarette lighter. They also place a red-hot electric iron on practitioners' legs or pour boiling water over their bodies.

Personal Monitors: The guards assign several inmates or hire hourly contractors to personally monitor one Falun Gong practitioner. The guards have already brainwashed these personal monitors so that they will actively assist them. Under their watch, they each monitor and record the practitioners' every word and action 24 hours a day and report everything to the guard on duty. The guard then comes up with a persecution scheme. The personal monitors collaborate with the guards to implement the persecution scheme. They beat, curse and torture practitioners at will and deprive them of sleep.

Tying up the legs: A practitioner is forced to double-cross his legs. Then the guards kick the knees. Two of them tie the practitioner's legs together with a thick rope and pull the two ends of the rope in opposite directions. Another guard supports the practitioner's back to prevent the practitioner from moving. They force the practitioner to sit in this position for a long time. Practitioners are forbidden to close their eyes or to sleep. An inmate then reads materials slandering Falun Dafa to the practitioner. The guards may insert earphones into the practitioner's ears forcing them to hear fabricated slander defaming Falun Dafa at maximum volume. If the victims fall asleep or close their eyes, the guards or an inmate savagely beats them, force-feeds them pepper sauce or shocks them with an electric baton. Under this torture method, some practitioners have had their legs broken or disabled

At the end of 2002, guard Hua Shaoxia and others in the Chatou Forced Labor Camp in Guangzhou subjected Dafa practitioners Jiao Jian (from Beijing) and Tang Yiwen (from Guangzhou) to this torture method. The torture caused their legs to be broken and they were thus disabled.

"Big Hang Up:" There are two forms of this torture. (1) With both hands cuffed behind the back and only the toes touching the ground, the practitioner is hung by a rope that is tied to the metal window frames. Very soon, the handcuffs cut into the flesh and the bones. It is an extremely cruel torture. (2) The guard ties the practitioners' hands and one leg with a rope and hangs him up. The whole body weight falls onto the tip of the toe of the other leg. Some practitioners were hung up and then brutally beaten for several days. As a result, they were severely injured or disabled.

Solitary Confinement: The guard isolates a practitioner from others and takes him somewhere else to be threatened and tortured. The torture methods include beating, kicking and shocking the practitioner with high voltage electric batons. Practitioners are then locked in a small cage designed so they cannot stand up or sit down and have to maintain an awkward half-crouching position. The practitioner has to eat, drink, and relieve himself inside the cage. He is also deprived of sleep. The guards take turns monitoring and torturing the practitioner physically and mentally.

Sexual Abuse: The guards grasp the male practitioners' testicles and squeeze them. They shock male practitioners' private parts with electric batons for extended period of time until the victim is severely injured and the affected parts become infected, fester and bleed. For female practitioners, they brutally beat and shock their chests, breasts and private parts. They even use cigarette lighters to burn practitioners' nipples and insert the electric baton into the female practitioners' vaginas to shock them. Sometimes, they bundle several toothbrushes together and insert the bundle into a female practitioner's vagina and twist the toothbrushes. They use hooks to attack female practitioners' private parts. Male guards blatantly touch female practitioners' sensitive parts in public to humiliate them.

(To be continued.)