Ms. Gao has been detained for about a year and is in critical condition from gross abuse. Her family was called with news she was critically ill, then told she was recovering. When the family was allowed to see her, she spoke of being tortured and showed obvious signs of torture. After this she was refused release for medical treatment and her family was not allowed to see her again.
After being arrested on July 9, 2008, Ms. Kong Xi has suffered over two months of torture and is on the verge of death. Several of her family members have also been detained.
Ms. Gao Guofeng in Critical Condition from Abuse, Authorities Deny Request to Take Her to Hospital
Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Gao Guofeng in Heilongjiang Province was tortured at Qianjin Forced Labor Camp in Harbin City. She was beaten black and blue, and also experienced symptoms of dizziness, high systolic blood pressure of 180, loss of consciousness and weakness. She also became unable to speak in clear sentences. The guards' severe beatings of her head affected her central nervous system. She felt numbness in her legs and was able to walk only with assistance.
On the evening of September 5, 2008, the camp officials notified her family that Ms. Gao was critically ill. The next morning the camp officials called the family and told them that Ms. Gao was getting better, and they didn't need to come. The family was confused.
When the family arrived at the camp, the guards first had the family promise to take her for outside treatment before they would allow them to see her. The family was shocked when they saw Ms. Gao. She was almost unrecognizable. In less than a year at the camp, a normally healthy person had to depend on others for assistance and was in a state of paralysis.
When the family questioned numerous prison guards about how she was beaten and who was responsible for this, Ms. Gao said while shaking, "In addition to frequent beatings and verbal abuse, they tortured me using a method called the "big hang up" (1) that made me lose consciousness several times. Now I am unable to walk. Just a couple of days ago, one of the guards beat me on the head. You can see the marks now. The next day I felt numbness and weakness in my legs while I washed my face. I had no coordination in my legs and I lost my ability to walk." Ms. Gao continued, "I practice Falun Gong to be a better person. I did not commit any crime. I want to go home with you. I don't want to stay here any longer and suffer from this inhuman torturing!"
The relatives returned to the camp the next day and prepared to take Ms. Gao to a hospital for treatment, but the camp officials changed their mind, saying Ms. Gao could receive better care at the camp clinic. The relatives asked to talk to the top camp officials. Guard Huo Shuping and another section chief refused and claimed that Ms. Gao's health was back to normal. The relatives queried how a person in critical condition yesterday could be recovered within one day? Who could believe such a thing? The family asked for some kind of documentation stating that Ms. Gao was normal. Guard Huo didn't provide documentation and added, "Even though we don't have a document of approval, we can't let you to see her." Huo Shuping also denied beating Ms. Gao. Finally, the family was forcibly taken out of the camp.
The family was worried about Ms. Gao's health and appealed her situation to officials at the City Judicial Bureau. The bureau official contacted the forced labor camp. On September 9, 2008, the family went to the camp again and asked to visit and seek outside medical care for Ms. Gao. The camp director insisted that no visitation was allowed and also tried to falsely assure the family by saying, "Ms. Gao is back to normal now. She will become emotional if she sees family, which may cause the recurrence of her old illness. If this is the case, the family will be held responsible."
The following is background information for Ms. Gao Guofeng:
Ms. Gao Guofeng, 53, used to live in Shuangcheng City. Because she once wore a jacket with the wording "Falun Gong is good, The world needs Truth-Compassion-Forbearance," Dongfang Police Station arrested and held her at the City Detention Center for two weeks and then transferred her to Qianjin Forced Labor Camp to serve a two-year forced labor term. She is now in the 2nd Group.
Huo Shuping (female, ID# 2341136, Cell phone: 86-13936202056), leader of the 2nd Group, is personally involved in Ms. Gao's abuse and mistreatment. Guard Huo mercilessly tortured many practitioners using various methods. She previously worked at the Wanjia Forced Labor Camp and was involved there in torturing practitioners. Over there, practitioners were beaten, shocked with electric batons and also tortured using the "big hang up" method, and the tiger bench. Practitioners were deprived of sleep and forced to work long hours. The crimes committed at Wanjia Forced Labor Camp have been exposed to the world via the Internet. To cover their tracks, CCP officials transferred all Wanjia Forced Labor Camp guards to Qianjin Forced Labor Camp, a new facility a few miles away from Wanjia. Of them, guard Huo was the leader of this progression of atrocities.
When Ms. Gao shouted "Falun Dafa is good" at the camp, guards Huo Shuping and Sui Xuemei verbally abused her, beat her, and grabbed her by the hair and banged her head against a wall. Ms. Gao's face was badly battered. They locked her in a cage in a position where she couldn't stand straight nor squat completely. They tortured her further with the "big hang up" for thirteen days. Her only daily food was a bowl of rice porridge. Ms. Gao went on a persecution protest hunger strike. She was force-fed, which resulted in her vomiting blood, almost suffocated her and endangered her life. Guard Huo and others deprived Ms. Gao of sleep. When she began to fall asleep, they used a water gun, electric shocks and a used-needle piercing her eyelids, along with beatings to wake her up. They also provided very little food for her for a long time.
Ms. Gao has been detained for about a year, and she is in critical condition
from gross abuse. Guard Huo attempted to deny any wrongdoing. She even
challenged Ms. Gao's relatives to provide evidence that Ms. Gao was beaten.
Note:
1. "Big hang up": There are two forms in this torture: (1) With both hands cuffed behind the back and only the toes touching the ground, one is hung by a rope that is tied to the metal window frames. (2) One hand of a practitioner is cuffed to one bunk bed and the other hand to another bed, and the two beds are pulled in the opposite directions. One feels extreme pain as the body is pulled.
Young Woman Tortured to the Verge of Death at Weifang City Detention Center
After over two months of torture, Ms. Kong Xi is on the verge of death.
Ms. Kong Xi, approximately 30 years old, is a practitioner from Weifang City, Shandong Province. After she was arrested on July 9, 2008, she was detained at the City Detention Center. She held a hunger strike to protest the persecution. Once, the detention center guards tied her to a cross constructed with metal poles for seven consecutive days and nights with her arms fixed by long rubber bands and feet shackled together, causing excruciating pain.
After she was released from the metal cross, she was not able to walk and had to be carried. She remained in this condition for several days. She was tied to the cross every three days, each time she was forced to have an infusion or be forced-fed.
Ms. Kong used to have a happy family. Both of her parents are guards at the Weibei Prison. Her mother Li Xiyun used to suffer from heart disease, anemia, and several other ailments. After she started to practice Falun Gong in 1996, all of her physical problems were gone. After the persecution of Falun Gong started, Ms. Kong's father could not withstand the pressure and divorced her mother. On February 6, 2001, Ms. Gong and her mother were sent to the Brainwashing Center in Weifang Industry School. Officials from Weibei Prison put wooden bars on the door to their home for 17 days and forcibly kept them there during Chinese New Year. They were detained in the brainwashing center for over a month. After they were released, they were forced to leave their home to avoid further persecution.
On the evening of April 25, 2004, ten days before Ms. Kong's wedding day, agents from the Domestic Security Team arrested her fiance Li Jiangang. Then a dozen agents went to Ms. Kong's home to arrest her and her mother. Ms. Kong and her mother managed to escape, but the agents confiscated the money they were going to use for the wedding. Mr. Li Jiangang was sentenced to three years of forced labor.
At approximately 4 a.m. on July 9, 2008, officers from the Development District Police Branch in Weifang City tricked Ms. Kong and her mother into opening the door by pretending that they were there to read the water meter. The police confiscated all of their Falun Gong books and valuables. Ms. Li Xiyun managed to escape. Between 7 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. on the same day, section chief Ding from Weifang City Police Department led over a dozen officers to break into Mr. Li Jiangang's home and arrested him and his mother Ms. Zhang Yufang.
Mr. Li Jiangang is the nephew of Ms. Chen Zixiu, a practitioner from Weifang City that died as a result of the persecution. Ian Johnson of The Wall Street Journal won a Pulitzer Prize for a series of articles on the persecution of Falun Gong, the first of which was focused on Ms. Chen.