On July 19th, more than ten, practitioners from different places who had refused to tell the police our names and home addresses upon arrest in Beijing, were sent to the Zhao County detention center in Shijiazhuang city of Hebei Province. At the detention center we were brutally tortured.
As soon as we had been arrested in Beijing, we started a hunger strike. After we arrived at Zhao County, the police at the Zhao County police station did the so-called "Ideological Work" on us everyday till late at night. During this time, some fellow practitioners were brutally beaten and verbally abused.
On the third day we were at the detention center, which was the 23rd, two fellow practitioners from the women's prison were called out for interrogation. They did not return that night. Not until the night of 24th did we learn that they had been put into a cage and force-fed with tubes. Meanwhile, three male practitioners were also put into the cage and force-fed. During the forced-feeding, their screams and vomiting could be clearly heard throughout the prison.
Four fellow practitioners and I decided to have a talk with Chief Wang, the officer in this police station in charge of the "Ideological Work" on Falun Gong practitioners. On the morning of the 25th, we told the Discipliners (Note: The people in a Chinese prison or labor camp whose role is to discipline inmates) that we wanted to talk with Chief Wang. They immediately brought Wang to us. Then we all went to the Discipline room. The five of us sat opposite of Chief Wang. I said, "How do you do, Chief Wang? We are Falun Dafa practitioners who cultivate ourselves based on Truthfulness, Benevolence, and Forbearance, the cosmic characteristics. We are all good people. We stepped forward to safeguard the Fa (law and principle of the universe), which is the most righteous thing to do. We did not commit any crime. You should not physically punish us." Chief Wang said," I don't know how the Beijing police treated you, but I guarantee that you have not been touched at all while you are in Zhao County." I pointed at a practitioner from Jilin Province and said to her, "Why don't you tell your story?" She pointed at the wound on her arm and said," this is from being bound up with rope. They pulled my hair and slapped my face. They even said they would strip off my clothes." Another 50-year-old practitioner told her experience of being beaten by three policemen.
I said, "The policemen in Zhao County have broken the law when they enforced it. You not only have beaten us but also were going to strip us. If any of us are released in the future we will expose your evil deeds on the Internet and let the whole world know of them." Chief Wang said:" I am not afraid if you put my name on the Internet. I am, at most, just a Deputy Chief of the police station, and what I say doesn't always count." I said, "Regardless how much your words count, since it happened at the Zhao County police station, you, as the head of the police station must be responsible. Also, three male practitioners and two female practitioners were put in a cage. I wonder if you know about this or not?" Wang said, "I know this. We did this to protect their lives. They refuse to eat so we had to force-feed them." I said, "Why do you have to put people in a cage in order force-feed them? I heard their hands were hung up, and the tubes were left in their body once they were stuck in. The practitioners were not even able to speak. You are using force-feeding as an excuse to abuse the practitioners physically. Chief Wang, how long are you going to leave them in the cage?" He said, "As soon as they start eating and cope with our work we will let them out." I said, "You mean you will leave them there forever if they don't tell you their names and addresses?" He said, "Yes." I said, "Chief Wang, let me tell you something: we Falun Gong practitioners are dignified and righteous, we did not commit any crime. We will never agree to your unreasonable request. We request that you release us unconditionally. If one day you use the same stuff on me, I will kill myself by ramming my head against a wall. We are innocent. I will act as I say." At last, I said, "Chief Wang, I hope you will treat Falun Dafa practitioners well within the scope of your power. By doing so, you will leave yourself a route of retreat. We are truly innocent."
That night, five of us female practitioners were tricked into going outside our prison cell and were forced into cages. There, we were force-fed with tubes. I heard that the cage was particularly made for us after we were arrested. It was made by welding steel bars together. It was 80cm (31.5") high, 50cm (19.7") wide and 1 meter (39.4") long. After being put into the cage, each hand was handcuffed to one side of the cage. Tubes hanging from the roof of the cage were put into the stomach through the nose. In this position, we could only sit still. The cage held our bodies entirely motionless, and we were not allowed out.
On the first day that I was force-fed through a tube, I had a severe headache, threw up and could not talk. Mosquitoes fill this remote detention center, and they tormented those of us in the cages especially as we could not escape them in any way. We could not sleep at night because of the bites. During this night, my fellow practitioners were taken away one after another. On the morning of the 26th, a few people came and took me out of the cage. As soon as I was released I suddenly slammed my head against the wall. A person who was dark and fat stopped me. He angrily pulled my hair and lifted his hand to strike me shouting, "What do you want? What do you want?" But when he saw the many tubes stuck in my nose he put down his hand. They escorted me to the Fourth Detachment of Criminal Police. I now understood that my case would be handled by the Criminal Police. That dark and fat person pointed at someone and said to me, "This is the head of the Fourth Detachment." They handcuffed me to a tree and interrogated me for a while, then they sent me back to the detention center and put me in the cage again.
On the second day, the Head of the Detachment came to interrogate me again. They did not take me out of the cage but had four prisoners lift the cage and move it to the interrogation room. During the interrogation, the Head of the Detachment reached into the cage, pulled my hair and slapped my face. He also burned my face with a cigarette lighter. Later, he grasped my ribs and pulled them with great force. The interrogation went on in this way for two days. Later, a policewoman asked me from outside the cage why I did not tell them my name and address. I answered, "I did not commit any crime so I request that I be released unconditionally." She said, "That is impossible. Do you dare to say you would rather die in the cage than tell us your name and address?" I answered, "Yes, I would rather die in the cage than tell you my name and address." She turned around and went away. From that day on, nobody came to interrogate me again. My entire throat and esophagus become swollen because of the tubes. I could not make any sound. On the eighth day I was in the cage, which is the 31st, the president of the County Hospital came. He said the tubes had been left in my throat for too long. The esophagus was swollen. The tubes needed to be removed and I needed an infusion.
Later, I was set free from the cage after I promised them I would eat. Only two criminals and I were left in the cell. I taught them the Falun Gong exercises, which we practiced together, and we also tried to memorize Master's articles everyday. One after the other the two criminals obtained the law.
On August 14, the Chief of the police station came to talk to me. He said, "I asked you to memorize the prison rules when you came in. Now, how many rules can you recite?" I said, "When I came here I said I would not recite them because I am not a criminal." He said, "I also asked you to recite them, would you do it?" I said, "No." He said, "How about 50 of them?" I said, "No." He asked me," You are not allowed to practice, why do you still practice?" I said," As long as I live, I will always practice." He asked," Can you obey the rules here?" I said, "No, the rules are for the criminals, but I am not a criminal." He said, "If you keep practicing we will punish you according to the rules." I said, "Do whatever you want." Two days later, which was the 16th, two people from the Zhao County police station came and asked me to write a letter promising that after I was released from prison I would quit practicing and go home instead of going to Beijing. I said, "It is completely right for us to safeguard the Fa. I will not write any such letter. I will not give you a single word." They told me if I did not write the letter they would not release me. I said I would stay then. Later, they charged me 300 Yuan RMB (Chinese currency) for food and set me free.
A Practitioner from Mainland China
October 2000
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