Torture

  • Mr. Cui Shuyong Dies after Years of Persecution

    Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Cui Shuyong was arrested on the eve of the Chinese New Year in 2012 while distributing materials exposing the persecution of Falun Gong in a nearby village. He was taken to the Hebi Detention Centre and later sentenced to six years in prison. Mr. Cui developed tuberculosis at the detention centre. The prison refused to accept him because of his fragile health and he was released on bail. However, the 610 Office (an organisation of special agents just for persecuting Falun Gong) personnel continued to harass and threaten him after he returned home and his condition kept deteriorating. He passed away on November 20th, 2013.
  • More Than a Decade of Persecution: Jiangxi Police Continue to Detain Falun Gong Practitioner for Her Belief

    When the Chinese Communist Party started the persecution of Falun Gong in 1999, Ms. Ji Shujun, 50, was repeatedly arrested, detained and subjected to the regime's notorious “education through forced labour.” She was sentenced to three years in a labour camp in 2002 after she went to Beijing to appeal for justice for Falun Gong. In the Gaoyang Labour Camp, Ms. Ji was beaten with electric batons, forced to stand for prolonged periods and forced to stand outdoors in the bitter cold and snow. She staged several hunger strikes to protest the mistreatment.
  • Ms. Qi Yaru on Verge of Death After Torture in Heilongjiang Women's Prison

    Ms. Qi Yaru, 47, is a Falun Gong practitioner from Harbin, Heilongjiang Province. She was sentenced to 4.5 years in prison in 2012. Ms. Qi was brutally tortured in the Heilongjiang Women's Prison until she lost consciousness. The prison authorities declared, “We won't release her until she is dying.” Ms. Qi was only returned to her family on November 21st, 2013, after the prison received a medical certificate indicating that she was in a "coma and at risk of death."
  • Torture Methods Used at Jilin Prison to Force Practitioners to Renounce Their Faith

    The most cruel form of torture used at Jilin Prison is known as the "stretching bed." The victim's four limbs are tied to a special frame, which has four metal rings attached to the corners. The practitioner's hands and feet are affixed to the rings, and force is then applied to the rings. Then the body is lifted up in the air, stretching the four limbs, until the joints, muscles, flesh, and skin separate. It is extremely painful, and the victim loses consciousness in a few minutes. After a dozen minutes of this torture, the four limbs are dislocated, and the victim is rendered disabled. Mr. Tan Qiucheng was also affixed to the stretching bed. He bit through his tongue as a result of the pain from the torture.
  • Insights Into a Brainwashing Centre in the Xianning City Forced Labour Camp

    A brainwashing centre named the Xianning Legal Education Base (XLEB) was set up in the Xianning City Forced Labour Camp in October 2013, under the direction of the local 610 Office (an organisation of special agents just for persecuting Falun Gong) and the Politics and Law Committee in Xianning City. It's purpose was to force Falun Gong practitioners to renounce their belief in Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. Falun Gong practitioners were forced to watch three types of videos, as part of the XLEB's overall brainwashing strategy. One video specifically slandered Falun Gong and its founder, Teacher Li Hongzhi. The second video disparaged traditional Chinese culture, and the third video was a direct attack on Buddhism.
  • Recounting My Hellish Experience in Heilongjiang Women's Prison

    I am a Falun Gong practitioner from Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province, China. I was imprisoned in the Heilongjiang Women's Prison for six years for persisting in practising Falun Gong. Prison guards locked me in a tiny cell for almost two months, handcuffed to a metal ring cemented to the floor. They also handcuffed my hands behind my back for a year and a half, hung me by the handcuffs, forced me to stand outside in the freezing cold, and beat me repeatedly.
  • Ms. Li Guojun Tortured to Death in 2002

    Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Li Guojun was arrested in Weifang City on April 16th, 2002, and held in the Weifang Detention Centre for over a month while being subjected to a variety of tortures. She began a hunger strike, which lasted 12 days, to protest the inhuman persecution. She was later transferred to 610 Office (an organisation of special agents just for persecuting Falun Gong) Brainwashing Centre (at the Shouguang Party School), where she was persecuted to death. She was 37 years old. Ms. Li's body was covered with bruises and wounds from head to toe. Blood was dripping from the corner of her mouth, and she was covered with small red spots from electric baton shocks.
  • Mr. Liu Xifeng Being Severely Tortured in Shenzhen Brainwashing Centre

    Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Liu Xifeng taught at the Nantou High School in Shenzhen. Mr. Liu has been tortured in prisons for ten years during the past 14 years of persecution of Falun Gong, and has become disabled as a result. He is currently incarcerated in Shenzhen Legal School, which is actually the Xili Brainwashing Centre. His food has been poisoned with nerve-damaging drugs and he is a facing mental collapse. Mr. Liu's wife, Ms. Wang Xiaodong, was also a Falun Gong practitioner. The couple was arrested in September 2002. Ms. Wang's legs sustained numerous needle punctures and she died in July 2003, due to the relentless torture.
  • Ms. Zhao Xue Close to Death in Prison But is Still Refused Medical Parole

    Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Zhao Xue from Dalian City, Liaoning Province was arrested by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) agents in 2010 and was sentenced to five years in prison. She has been detained in the Women's Prison of Liaoning for three years. Due to the severe torture, she is unable to take care of herself and has to be in a wheelchair. Ms. Zhao's family has demanded her release on medical parole but were refused by the prison authorities.
  • Two Women Brutally Tortured for Refusing to Renounce Falun Gong: Teeth Knocked Out Due to Force-Feeding

    Falun Gong practitioners Ms. Lu Fulian and Ms. Lang Dongyue, both farmers, were brutally beaten and force-fed unknown drugs in Beijing Women's Forced Labour Camp. The force-feeding was so violent that some of their teeth were knocked out. They were arrested and tortured for their belief in Falun Gong. Later, Ms. Lang was sent to the notorious Masanjia Forced Labour Camp. When she was released in July 2009, she was nothing but skin and bones. She could no longer move her hands, so she could not take care of herself.
  • Firsthand Account: Torture and Brainwashing in a Shanghai Prison

    I am from Shanghai, the largest and most prosperous city in China. I would like to give my personal account of being tortured in the Shanghai Women's Prison for three and half years, for distributing Falun Gong informational materials. The guards instigated the inmates to torture me. I was not allowed to sleep before midnight, but was the first to be woken up in the morning. The ongoing sleep deprivation and torture made me feel as if I was living in hell. I thought I was on the verge of a mental breakdown and even considered committing suicide several times.
  • Mother and Daughters of Torture Death Victim Continue to Appeal for Justice

    The mother and two daughters of Mr. Qin Yueming, who was tortured to death in the Jiamusi Prison on February 26th, 2011, have resumed their efforts to seek justice for Mr. Qin. The family's efforts were disrupted in winter 2011, when the mother Ms. Wang Xiuqing and younger daughter Ms. Qin Hailong were thrown into the Qianjin Labour Camp for a one and a half year term. They were arrested because the authorities tried to force the family to withdraw its appeal that had been accepted by the Compensation Committee of the Higher People's Court in Heilongjiang on September 8th, 2011.
  • Elementary School Teacher Recounts Drug Torture and Electric Shocks at Labour Camps

    “One guard yelled, ‘Torture him to death and report it as suicide!’ Several guards rushed at me, twisted my hands behind my back, tied me up with bed sheets, and hung me from the upper level of a bunk bed, leaving my feet off the floor.” This nightmare happened to Mr. Gao Ke in the Suihua Forced Labour Camp, after he was arrested for the 12th time because of his belief in Falun Gong. This was his fifth labour camp detention.
  • An Engineer’s 84 Hours of “Hell on Earth” at a State-Owned Enterprise

    Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Zhang Huiqiang, in his 40s from Fushun City, Liaoning Province, was an engineer employed by the Fushun Ethylene Chemical Factory, a state-owned enterprise in China. In May 2002, three years after the Chinese communist regime launched the persecution of Falun Gong, he was arrested and detained in the basement of his workplace, where he was severely tortured for 84 hours.
  • Practitioners Physically Abused and Tortured in Dezhou City Detention Centre in Shandong Province

    Detention centres across China have detained practitioners and tortured them with beatings, slave labour, force-feedings, etc. since the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) began persecuting Falun Gong in July 1999. The practitioners' families also suffer from this persecution. Liu Yuxiu and Luo Baoqing were arrested on September 7th, 2013. They are still in at the detention centre and have been made to do forced labour from 6:00 a.m. until 10:00 p.m. every day, making flowers. They are not given enough to eat. This intense work is very hard on the eyes.