(Clearwisdom.net) The Quad-City Times Newspaper reported on May 21, 2004 that Falun Gong practitioners of a "Van Tour to Support the Lawsuit against Jiang Zemin" arrived in the city and exhibited torture methods used in the persecution of Falun Gong in China. The report stated, "'This baby was tortured to death,' Yeong-Ching Foo said, pointing to a photograph taped to the side of a minivan parked Thursday afternoon in front of the Scott County Courthouse, Davenport.

Around her, Xuzhuang Bian and Huy Lu tightened the wing nuts on a wooden device used to pull standing prisoners off the ground by their wrists -- a torture method called "tying the ropes." Huy then put on a police officer's cap as Xuzhuang and Yeong-Ching donned white robes splattered with fake blood.

Huy tied Xuzhuang's hands above his head, and Yeong-Ching strapped herself to a "tiger bench," a thin board with no back support that prevents people subjects from lying down by tying their hands behind their back."

The report also carried a photo "Niensan Chaw, a member of the National Tour for Justice, resides in a cage in front of the Scott County Courthouse as part of a demonstration Thursday of Chinese torture practices used against practitioners of Falun Gong."

According to an investigative report by World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong (WOIPFG), the following torture techniques have been used: shocking with electric batons; forcing the practitioners to stand for a long time; using the "Tiger Bench" (1) branding the practitioners' bodies with red-hot irons; pouring boiling water on the practitioner's back, then scrubbing the wounds with a toothbrush, followed by smearing salt into the wound; forcing the practitioners to kneel, handcuffing them, burning their bodies with fire, burning their muscles and private parts with cigarettes; and many other horrendous things.

Falun Gong is a peaceful practice system for both mind and body improvement based on universal principles "Truthfulness, Compassion, Tolerance". Falun Gong has spread to over 60 countries and over 100 millions people have benefited from the practice. However, in China, the peaceful and beneficial practice is persecuted. The former leader Jiang Zemin and his followers carry out the inhumane persecution, which has resulted in over 960 deaths of documented cases and hundreds of thousands practitioners being imprisoned in jails, labor camps, detention centers and mental hospitals. Jiang and his followers have been sued in many countries for their torture, genocide and crimes against humanity.

The report stated, "Huy, Xuzhuang and Yeong-Ching were in Davenport with five other Bay-area California residents as part of a 21-city van tour to promote awareness about a class-action lawsuit filed by Falun Gong practitioners against Jiang, now the leader of the Chinese military. The suit, filed in 2002 under the Alien Tort Claims Act and Torture Victim Protection Act, charged Jiang with torture, genocide and crimes against humanity."

California Rep. Tom Lantos filed a court brief supporting the Falun Gong. On May 27, the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago will hear oral arguments for the case. It was reported that the Van Tour, which consists of 8 northern California Falun Gong practitioners, has embarked from the Chinese Consulate in San Francisco on May 11. They will visit about 10 states and 20 cities before arriving in Chicago on May 21.

The report stated that "Yeong-Ching has a personal stake in the lawsuit. Her fiancé, Charles Li, an American citizen and Falun Gong practitioner, has been in Chinese custody for more than a year without being formally charged, she said.

Tears welled up in Yeong-Ching's eyes as she told how Li had been beaten in an attempt to force him to renounce Falun Gong, and deprived of sleep for up to three days at a time. The Chinese government refused to let Li send letters out of the country until he went on an eight-day hunger strike, Yeong-Ching said. Then, she said, authorities inserted a feeding tube through Li's nose, running it down to his stomach, and they left it in for 33 hours."

The demonstration caught the attention of local residents. The report stated, "Curiosity lured David Thacher from his apartment across the street, and he expressed interest in possibly helping the group.

'I don't see how a leader can persecute people in his own country,' he said as he scanned the group's posters which told of more than 1,000 deaths by torture and thousands more people sent to labor camps or mental hospitals. 'That's pretty sad.'"

(1) [Practitioners are forced to sit on a small iron bench that is approximately 20 cm (6 inches) tall with their knees tied together. With their hands tied behind their backs or sometimes placed on their knees, they are forced to sit straight up and look straight ahead. They are not allowed to turn their heads, close their eyes, talk to anyone or move at all. Several inmates are assigned to watch over the practitioners and force them to remain motionless while sitting on the bench. Usually some hard objects are inserted underneath the practitioners' lower legs or ankles to make it harder for them to tolerate this abuse (see illustration on http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2001/11/24/16156.html];

Reference

Falun Gong demonstrates in the Q-C

By Calvin Hennick

http://www.qctimes.com/internal.php?story_id=1028511&t=Local+News&c=2,1028511