Ms. He Bigang from Loudi City, Hunan Province Persecuted to the Point of Mental Collapse

Name: He Bigang
Gender: Female
Age: 46
Address: Loudi City, Hunan Province
Occupation: Electrical repair worker
Date of Most Recent Arrest: February 28th, 2001
Most recent place of detention: Hunan Province Women's Prison
City: Changsha
Province: Hunan
Persecution Suffered: Detention, forced to quit job, handcuffed and shackled, beatings, hung up, force-fed water mixed with cement powder, electric shock, forced injections.
Key Persecutors: Assistant Prison Director Zhao Lan

At midnight of February 28th, 2001, Falun Gong practitioner Ms. He Bigang was arrested from her home by a group of police led by Wang Lina and Liang Hui from the National Security Team in Loudi City. She was later secretly sentenced to seven years by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and detained at Hunan Province Women's Prison. She was persecuted until she suffered a mental collapse. She was released on March 3rd, 2008, and she is still suffering from a mental disorder today.

Ms. He Bigang was born on December 24th, 1965. She was an electrical repair worker at Lianyuan Iron and Steel Group Revitalization Electrical Equipment Factory in Loudi City. Before practising Falun Gong in October 1998, she suffered from ear drum damage, which caused deafness in that ear, and gynecological problems. After practising Falun Gong, her health was greatly improved.

After July 20th, 1999, the Chinese Communist Party led by Jiang Zemin, [former leader of China and instigator of the persecution] began the persecution of Falun Gong. For a long time, He Bigang endured harassment and threats from Chen Jinlian, the party secretary of Lianyuan Iron and Steel Group Revitalization Electrical Equipment Factory, and the Liangang Branch Police Station. At the end of 1999, she was arrested and held at a detention centre for 24 hours. One morning in April 2000, she was arrested for doing the Falun Gong exercises in a park and detained for 15 days.

In October 2000, Chen Jinlian ordered policeman Yuan Zhenzong from the Liangang Branch Police Station to take Ms. He to the police station. Chen Jinlian forced her to write documents to give up her practice of Falun Gong and to quit her job. After working there for 20 years, she was given a small severance pay and denied government housing. This led to her husband divorcing her, and she went back to live with her parents.

At midnight on February 28th, 2008, police officers Wang Lina and Liang Hui from Loudi City National Security Team brought a group of people, who broke into He Bigang's parents' home and arrested her, claiming that someone had reported her making Falun Gong informational materials. They detained her at Loudi City Detention Centre for nearly two years. At the detention centre, He Bigang refused to wear an inmate uniform and insisted on doing the exercises, telling people the facts about Falun Gong, and writing that Falun Gong is good. Police put handcuffs and shackles on her. For eight days and eight nights, they would not take those handcuffs and shackles off, even when she was eating or using the toilet.

In December 2002, Loudi City CCP staff members secretly sentenced He Bigang to seven years, and did not allow her family see the verdict. Then they secretly sent her to Hunan Province Women's Prison.

After taking office in 2001, Zhao Lan, an assistant director at Hunan Province Women's Prison, has been in charge of overseeing the persecution and trying to force Falun Gong practitioners to give up their belief. Zhao Lan required guards to instigate criminal inmates to persecute Falun Gong practitioners. If inmates agreed to take part in the persecution, they would be released early. Zhao also ordered guards to torture Falun Gong practitioners both mentally and physically.

When Falun Gong practitioners protested the persecution with a hunger strike, Zhao Lan said, “Your death will be like a dog's!” In order to get guards and criminals to hate Dafa and its practitioners, she had everyone in the prison watch videos slandering Falun Gong. Zhao Lan also frequently organized brainwashing sessions and strict management teams.

Zhao Lan sent those Falun Gong practitioners whose terms had already expired to 610 Office branches, where they continued to be persecuted. Hunan Province Women's Prison selected some particularly brutal criminals to torture Falun Gong practitioners. They used all kinds of torture methods, such as using high-voltage electric batons to shock female Falun Gong practitioners' private areas. For those practitioners who protested with hunger strikes, they would force feed them with urine and feces. Guards adopted brutal torture methods such as the “tiger bench,” “fly like an airplane,” or “death bed.” They also tortured practitioners by clipping their fingers, using steel needles to poke their fingertips, and other methods. They also injected toxic drugs into Falun Gong practitioners, which severely harmed their central nervous systems.

During the second half of 2004, the No. 1 Branch of the No. 6 Jail District of Hunan Province Women's Prison established a special brainwashing session made up of Zhao Lan, guards Zhou Chan, Deng Jin, Yuan Lihua, Mao Huiping, Xiao Ping, Li Jun, Luo Jian and over 30 inmates. One term of the brainwashing session was about three months. They caused serious harm to Falun Gong practitioners both physically and mentally. If Falun Gong practitioners protested with hunger strikes, guards would order criminals to force-feed them. The inmates were told, “If any of the Falun Gong practitioners die due to force-feeding, you will not be held responsible. Let's see who is more powerful, Falun Gong or the Party.”

Deceived by communist propaganda, these guards became frenzied in persecuting Falun Gong practitioners. Practitioners were first required to memorize the jail code of conduct, CCP slogans, and propaganda materials slandering Falun Gong. If a practitioner said things like “Falun Gong is good,” guards would order criminals to tape the practitioner's mouth shut. Some practitioners' front teeth were knocked out. Some practitioners were hung up from the metal window bars for a long time, with only the tips of their toes touching the floor. Some practitioners were forced to kneel with their hands handcuffed behind their backs, and made to stay in that position for a long time. They would handcuff Falun Gong practitioners for many days and would not allow them to go to sleep. After several days of torture like that, their hands would be swollen and become infected. New wounds would appear before old ones healed. Some Falun Gong practitioners were forced to stand in a military pose for seven days and nights straight, and were not allowed to sleep. If they did not keep their eyes open, the guards would use nylon rope tied up in knots to strike their faces and eyes. After standing for long periods of time, practitioners' legs would become swollen up to the waist. Some practitioners were forced to squat for long periods of time. When they fell to the ground, criminals would pour scalding water on their backs. Meanwhile, the guards would curse Falun Gong and write slanderous words on the walls.

At the end of 2005, the prison started another violent brainwashing session. Each Falun Gong practitioner was locked in a room with two criminals, who took turns monitoring her around the clock and kept her from sleeping. Each day the practitioners could not use the restroom more than twice. Beatings, forced standing for long periods, and wearing shackles and handcuffs happened frequently. The practitioners were also forced to remain squatting for long periods and doused with cold water in the winter. If the practitioners refuted the lies in the slanderous videos, they were tortured more severely, such as having their limbs and head pulled in different directions and being hung up by their arms, handcuffed behind their back, with only the toes touching the ground. The practitioners were also shocked with electric batons to the point of incontinence and bleeding from the mouth and nose. Some became disabled from these tortures. Some practitioners became dazed and disoriented as a result of the ongoing brutality.

In April 2006, the brainwashing session facility was moved to a hidden location above the cafeteria. Guards brought practitioners who were firm in their belief to “study sessions” and handed them over to criminals to monitor. Each day over a period of months, these practitioners were forced to remain standing, and were deprived of sleep. If they closed their eyes or moved, they were violently beaten. The perpetrators would punch and kick practitioners in the head, knocking them unconscious. They restricted practitioners from eating, drinking, or using the toilet until they gave up their belief. The practitioners were tortured until they became confused and incontinent. Due to the long-term standing, the practitioners' legs became badly swollen, and they couldn't get back up after falling down. Then they were forced to squat, and if they could not do that because of the pain, criminals would push their shoulders down until they were in a squatting position. This was extremely painful and caused long term injury, even disability. They could only walk with great difficulty after suffering this kind of torture, and some could not walk at all. When the practitioners tried to talk to the inmates about the goodness of Falun Gong, the inmates would knock them down to the ground, stuff their mouths with dirty cloth, and report it to the guards. They were then instructed to hang up the practitioners and let them dangle in the air, so that the entire body weight would hang upon the wrists by the handcuffs. This torture severely injured Falun Gong practitioner Yan Hong from Changde, Hunan Province, but the prison authorities would not give her any medical treatment. Instead, they escalated the persecution by forcing her to peel beans in ice-cold water, which resulted her skin becoming infected and her fingernails falling off. Some practitioners were tortured until their hair turned gray and they became emaciated. Some suffered from amnesia or mentally collapsed.

He Bigang was repeatedly brainwashed, and when she did not give up her belief, she was beaten by several people, hung up, force-fed with water mixed with cement powder, shocked with electric batons, and given injections of toxic drugs. She eventually suffered a mental collapse and had a lasting, severe mental disorder. The prison would not release her on February 28th, 2008 when her term expired. They extended her term for another three months to continue the persecution. The person who went to the prison to pick her up argued with the prison authorities and fought for Ms. He to be released. Then the three months was changed to “probation.” On March 3rd, 2008, He Bigang was finally released. At that point she was emaciated and mentally unstable.

It has been over three years since He Bigang returned home. She is still very skinny and mentally confused. She has been living in her parents' home under their care.

Hunan Province Women's Prison:

Warden: Zhao Xingyun
Political commissar: Nie Wei
Zhao Lan, Deputy Warden:
+86-731-2323007 (Office)
+86-731-2323878 (Home)
+86-13308498728 (Mobile)

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2011/7/12/243809.html