66 Year Old Nanjing Falun Gong Practitioner Ms Duan Xiangdi Recounts Painful Memories of Intolerable Torture She Suffered in Mental Hospital and Forced Labour Camp

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Narrated by Dafa practitioner Ms. Duan Xiangdi in China (facts were recorded and organized by inside sources)

Because I practise Falun Gong, the police sent me to the 9th Ward District of the Nanjing Psychiatric Hospital, where I was abused for more than two months and where I endured indescribable medical torture. A few months after my release, the police arrested me again without cause and sentenced me to one year in a forced labour camp without trial because I did not renounce my belief in Falun Gong

Falun Gong Healed My Illnesses

I am 66 years old and live on Nanjing City. I began to practise Falun Gong on May 26, 1996. After no more than ten days of practice I no longer suffered any pain from my previous illnesses. I had previously been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, was feverish daily and my entire body ached. Just reading the book "Zhuan Falun" once [containing Falun Gong teachings and principles] relieved my bodily suffering and stopped the fever. I had poor eye-sight and was unable to read the words in the newspaper clearly. However, ten days later, I could see the Chinese characters very clearly. The symptoms of pancreatic cancer disappeared. I experienced the happiness of being healthy and free of pain.

However Jiang's regime has banned the practice of Falun Gong and no one is permitted to follow the principle of Truth-Compassion-Tolerance. Those who do not comply are arrested and subjected to a horrific array of abuse in order to force them to renounce their belief..

The Torture I Was Subjected to While Detained in the Mental Hospital

On January 25, 2000, I planned to go to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong. The local police station arrested me before I could leave and sent me to a psychiatric hospital without my consent. They even lied to my children. They told my children that they were protecting me by sending me to the psychiatric hospital because otherwise I would have been sent to the Northwest Forced Labour Camp. My children were told that I would be released in two weeks and they could visit me. My children believed their lies and were deceived into signing the documents to commit me.

On the third morning in the 9th Ward District of Nanjing Psychiatric Hospital, a few strong young nurses pulled and dragged me to the No. 1 Ward, forcible pressed me down on the bed, and tied my head, hands and feet to the bed with a cloth strap. I could not move and was force-fed just to torture me. At that time, a total of 14 medical staff members treated me cruelly. The supervisory nurse of the 9th Ward District force-fed me. This person in charge told me: "You are evil. I want to stop you from being evil...." At that time my oesophagus was blocked, I could not breathe and felt unbelievable pain. Yet, I clearly understood in my heart that I could not die, because I had to clarify the truth to the medical personnel. After that thought I could slowly breathe again.

They inserted a tube into my nose, filled it with medicine, and also intravenously injected a large dose of medicine, which is generally used for those with mental diseases. The strong drugs had a damaging effect upon my central nervous system. Due to the effects of the medicine, I could neither stand nor sit properly, as my entire body felt paralyzed. But this did not deter me from explaining the facts about the persecution of Falun Gong to the doctors. I slowly walked to the doctor's office. I needed all my strength. I told them that I was not ill. I was 62 years old in 2000 and how dare they treat me like that! Didn't they have any morals? Their response was to forcibly press me down on the sofa in the hall and medicate me again. I was unable to move after this. There were a great number of nurses in the hall, but nobody dared to speak up. After that I was medicated daily against my will. I could not stand, sit or lie down comfortably. I felt very weak and dizzy. I was disoriented, confused and could not attain peacefulness.

A few days later, my child came to visit me. I cried and asked to leave the hospital. My child also knew that the police had lied, but felt helpless. He child wanted to take me home after two weeks, but the doctor refused to give his permission without the local police station's consent. My child called the local police station and the police told him to wait a few more days. A few days later, he requested my release again, but the police said the local police station lacked authority to release me, as they required consent from the higher level city and provincial government. My child asked, "You said two weeks, but it is nearly a month now!" The police answered, "We do not have the authority." Then my child knew for certain that they had lied and became alarmed. I had been detained in the mental hospital for two months and four days and was forced to pay 8,000 yuan [500 yuan is the average monthly income for an urban worker in China.]. I suffered mental and physical injury, as well as financial loss to my family. Besides this was terrible abuse of the country's medical resources.

My child saw that I had been inhumanly tormented in the hospital and thus frequently requested the local police station to release me, as I was not mentally ill and had asked to leave the hospital. So, the police finally agreed to release me from the hospital but would not permit me to return to my home. The authorities ordered my child to send me back to my home town in the countryside so the authorities could avoid having to take responsibility for my case in their jurisdiction. My child had no choice but to agree. The police forced him to show them my travel ticket. On March 30, 2000, I left the hospital and went back to my hometown under guard. The police asked my child not to give me any financial support and told the villagers in my home town that they along with the local police station were required to monitor me.

I realized deep in my heart that my purpose for going to my hometown was to tell people the facts about Falun Gong. I told every one I met that Falun Dafa is good. The local police station announced that they would arrest me. I simply paid no attention. People around me all knew that Falun Dafa is good. Thus, the local police station ceased monitoring me.

I Was Detained in Judong Forced Labour Camp of Jiangsu Province Without a Reason

After I had lived in my hometown for several months, I returned to Nanjing once more. On December 28, 2000, the police again arrested me and summarily sentenced me to one year in a forced labour camp. Not surprisingly, there was no charge given on the sentencing document.

On January 21, 2000, I was sent to the Judong Forced Labour Camp in Jiangsu Province. Falun Gong practitioners shouted in the courtyard in unison, "Falun Dafa is good!" The police of the forced labour camp grabbed six practitioners. The police beat and kicked them, tortured them with electric batons and burned them with heated metal clubs. The police even forced practitioners to hold the electric baton with both hands and not drop it. Then they shocked practitioners two hands until they were burnt and completely blistered. Then the practitioners were taken to confinement cells. All Falun Gong practitioners requested the police to release them. The police did not relent, so all of us began a group hunger strike. The police asked the criminals to bring us in for force-feeding. The doctor intentionally randomly inserted a very thick plastic tube into our nose, and pulled it back and forth to puncture the pharynx and larynx. Practitioners' mouths were full of blood, and their faces became swollen and blue.

We were inhumanly tortured daily by the police, and yet we were forced to say "Greeting cadre!" If we were unable to make a sound, we would be punished. One month that I did not write the "monthly comments" [Note: practitioners are forced to write comments that are analyzed by the authorities to determine whether the brainwashing and torture tactics are achieving the effect of forcing practitioners to renounce their belief or whether they require further torture to force them to renounce their belief in Falun Gong], so female police officer Zhou Ruihua dragged me to an empty room that contained a number of torture instruments on the table. Zhou Ruihua patted the table and evilly said, "I will make you suffer for the whole night!"

I was very confident and without fear. I told Zhou the benefits I had obtained since practising Falun Gong. At last she left with an excuse. After she came back, her manner had become untroubled. I encouraged her good behaviour with compassion; the policewoman did not dare to touch me, but asked me to show her the exercises. She did not allow me to sleep or use the toilet, and asked the criminals to watch me. She released me near dawn. My inmate practitioner told me, when I was detained in the confinement cell, Zhou Ruihua threatened the practitioners in my cell, "Duan Xiangdi is locked up down there, and she has written the statement. Do you still refuse to write it? If you do not write it, you will be detained in the confinement cell as well." I told fellow practitioners that I did not write any statements to renounce Falun Gong. Practitioners that had relented cried in deep anguish.

In the Judong Forced Labour Camp, you often see steadfast Falun Gong practitioners covered in bruises from the torture they received. Most of us are about 50 to 60 years old. The following is what I witnessed in the forced labour camp:

The Facts of Persecution of Falun Gong Practitioners by the 4th Squadron Guards in Judong Forced Labour Camp, Jiangsu Province

One day we lined up in the courtyard to listen to the broadcast slandering Falun Gong. Nanjing Southern Suburb Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Li Suqing then said Falun Gong is good. The police pulled her into the office and closed the door. Several male police were called in to torture her with electric batons. All of us could hear her pitiful screams. A few days later, she was detained alone in a cell. I saw her one-day and noticed that Li Suqing's facial expression looked distorted, and she was barely recognizable. She told me the male and female police, including Zhou Ruihua tortured her with six electric batons. She fainted, and then they poured cold water over her. When she woke up, she saw herself lying on the cement floor in a water puddle. Those police continued to electrically shock her. She could not remember how many times they tortured her like this. It was only her steadfast faith in Dafa that let her live through this torture.

My inmate practitioner Ms. Zuo Yingai is from Zhenjiang City, Jiangsu Province. When the guard came, she didn't get up fast enough. The police took her to an empty room and instigated criminal Huo Yan to violently beat her. Ms. Zuo's leg was broken by the beating. A practitioner surnamed Shi from Zhenjiang was also tortured to the point of having her legs broken. The forced labour camp did not provide any medical treatment. All of us presented the facts to instructor Xu of the 4th Squadron. She said she could not believe it. We took off Ms. Zuo and Ms. Shi's pants and showed her their swollen and bruised legs. She said nothing. Since then the police made all efforts to cover up their persecution. For example, they turned the broadcast volume up when they beat people, so we would not hear the sound of torture and anguished screams.

Falun Gong practitioners downstairs once shouted: "Help!" All the practitioners in our cell then shouted: "Don't use violence, don't beat people!" A few police ran upstairs, yelled at us, electrically shocked and beat us.

I also saw two young female Falun Gong practitioners were forced to write the guarantee statement to denounce the practice. The criminals were ordered to beat them if they did not write it. I saw the criminals hold the badminton racket, and hit the practitioner's head with the handle. They forced her to squat and did not permit her to move. At that time I shouted, "Don't beat people." However that criminal stood against the window to keep me from seeing it and tortured her more ruthlessly. They forced her to write the statement to renounce her belief, deprived her of sleep all day and night long. The young practitioner was tormented badly, mentally collapsed, and lost control of her bowels.

Another practitioner who is close to my age was detained for 21 days because she refused to write the guarantee statement. She was not allowed to sleep, use the toilet or drink water. It was very cold at that time, her whole body was full of bruises, her legs and feet turned blue and purple, and swelled considerably. She could not squat down, so she put her swollen hands on the ground to balance herself. The criminals stepped on her hands forcefully. Her hands were broken and full of blood. However the police just ignored it.

In order to receive a bonus from the higher authorities, the police tried every conceivable method to force one Falun Gong practitioner to renounce his belief. They often tortured practitioners by forcing them to stand under the hot sun in summer, and suffer the cold in winter. The authorities often use indescribable methods to torture and abuse Falun Gong practitioners.

In the forced labour camp, I have experienced all kinds of torture, but the most painful was the torture to my soul. After being tortured one day until I was disoriented and confused, I wrote the "guarantee statement, repentance statement, exposure and criticism statement." [statements that require a practitioner to renounce their belief, break with the practice and give the names of their fellow practitioners to the police] When I became more clear minded and realized what I had done, I felt I had dropped down and fallen into great despair!

I hereby solemnly declare that all I have written in the "610 Office" [an agency specifically created to persecute Falun Gong, with absolute power over each level of administration in the Party and all other political and judiciary systems.] brainwashing centre and the forced labour camp, and all I said and did which was not in accordance with Dafa to be null and void! Falun Gong gave me a second life. My steadfast faith in Dafa is rock-solid!


Chinese version available at http://minghui.org/mh/articles/2004/2/18/67782.html

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