(Clearwisdom.net) Under Jiang Zemin's orders to, "physically destroy" Falun Gong, Falun Gong practitioners have suffered many kinds of torture. All the tortures were used to augment the spiritual persecution in order to force Falun Gong practitioners to give up their practice and write the "Three Statements" (Guarantee Statement, breaking away statement, criticizing statement), and give up their beliefs. The following illustrate some of these tortures. They are part of over 100 torture methods used to persecute Falun Gong practitioners

1. Flying (an Airplane)
2. Needle and Thread
3. Swallow Flying
4. Damaging Force-Feeding
5. Hanging Upside Down
6. Hung up with Hands Shackled Behind the Back
7. Being Pressed Under the Bed
8. Burning Practitioners Bodies With Red Hot Objects
9. Feeding the Insects
10. Pouring Freezing Cold Water Over People
11. Electric Shocks
12. Stabbing with sharp objects
13. The Tiger Bench (Illustration)
14. Handcuffing and shackling so that the body is forced into a painful position and makes the victim move from one cell to another
15. Burying alive
16. Electromagnetic Shock
17. Exposure to the Baking Sun
18. Dragging Behind a Vehicle
19. Brutal Beating
20. Hanging Up in the Air
21. Handcuffing Hands Behind the Back with One Hand Crossed Over a Shoulder
22. Sitting on a Small Stool
23. Deprived of Sleep, Forced to stand
24. Forced-feeding Feces
25. Tacked with Push Pins
26. Exposed to Extreme Weather
27. Water Dungeon
28. Injected with Drugs
29. Sexual Abuse
30. Rape or Group Rape

Ten Methods Commonly Used to Torture Falun Gong Practitioners (Illustrations)

http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2004/6/19/49340.html

 

One of the tortures suffered by young women: heavy pressure applied to the lower abdomen

Another torture suffered by women: sexual assault

Long bamboo shoots are forced under the fingernails

Brutal force-feeding

Wang Yuzhi, a practitioner from Helongjiang Province in China, said: "During my hunger strike to protest the persecution, I was force-fed in the labor camp. Their measures were very brutal. Several prison guards and criminals tied my hands and feet and forced me down on a board. They covered my body with a white sheet with only my mouth exposed. Then they inserted the tube into my month, and held my mouth open by using a steel expander in order to pour in a corn gruel. They placed the container over six feet high to create the pressure necessary for the feeding. Because the food was very coarse and the tube was very thin, it burst the tube and sprayed everywhere." Steadfast Falun Gong practitioners were force-fed with concentrated salt, irritating chemicals and hot chili pepper mixed with water.

In April 2004, Dafa practitioners, Chu Lin (female) and Wei Jun from Xiaogan City, Hubei Province, were abducted by the local police. Chu Lin went on hunger strike to protest the persecution for 9 days. The police mistakenly inserted the tube into her trachea. She went into coma from suffocation. The police declared: "We are not responsible for her death!"

Beaten for a long period of time

Suspended in the air for long periods of time or immersed in a chamber pot

Burns

After being tortured to the point of passing out, they are revived by pouring cold water on them

Hypothermia torture and humiliation

Tiger Bench: many bricks are inserted underneath the practitioner's feet and their knees are brutally pressed down using boards or ropes.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2004/6/7/76496.html

Drawings of Torture Techniques -- Nos. 1 -- 7

http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2004/6/10/49058.html

(Clearwisdom.net)

1. Flying (an Airplane)

Words on illustration: The policeman says, "This is what you get for practicing! The Party will most certainly fix you!")

This is one of the common tortures used in labor camps and brainwashing classes on Falun Dafa practitioners who refuse to give up their belief. It is called "Flying," or "Jet Plane." In this torture, the head is bent down until it cannot go down any further, while the hands are pulled up and held up at the highest point against the wall. The practitioner is forced to hold this position unchanged for a long time period (more than 10 hours). If a practitioner refuses to comply, he/she will be shocked with an electric baton or beaten to the point of losing consciousness. Police will then roughly wake up the practitioner and continue the torture.

2. Needle and Thread

This is another commonly used torture inflicted on Falun Dafa practitioners who refuse to give up their belief. The practitioner is put in heavy shackles which are locked onto the ground (making it impossible to move). Then both hands are shackled between the thighs with a "Death Cuff" (a special handcuff that is extremely tight).

This torture forces the practitioner to sit for a long time, and he/she can not take care daily needs such as walking, standing, using the bathroom, or eating. This torture typically results in muscle damage, swelling of the hands and feet, sleeplessness, uneasiness, and even mental collapse. It is very hard to endure. All persons who went through this torture found it too painful to talk about.

This torture was previously used mainly by the Chinese police on violent Death Row prisoners. This evil torture is now used on peaceful Falun Dafa practitioners in order to force them into giving up their belief in Falun Dafa. Often those practitioners who are on hunger strike are tortured this way. At the same time, police order the other prisoners to take turns watching practitioners, and to deprive them of sleep.

3. Swallow Flying

This torture is commonly used by police hospitals, detention centers, and forced labor camps on Falun Dafa practitioners who refuse to give up their belief. The practitioner's lower body is tied onto the sides of a bed, with his hands intentionally handcuffed on the sides of the bed above or below, to the extreme, so there is no way to move. Some Falun Dafa practitioners are tortured like this for one week or several weeks, with some even tortured like this for as long as four months.

This torture prevents the practitioner from changing position even a bit, let alone turning the body. After a long period of time, the muscles are damaged, the mind becomes uneasy, scabies grow, and the practitioner experiences extreme pain.

Currently in police hospitals and clinics, this torture is used to mistreat Falun Dafa practitioners who are on hunger strikes, to force them to stop the hunger strike. The persecutors deceive the world's people by saying this is to save practitioners' lives. Normally, damaging force-feeding is administered along with this torture. If practitioners refuse to cooperate, they are also shocked with electric batons.

4. Damaging Force-Feeding

Word on the bottle is "Alcohol." The policeman says: "Can you handle going on hunger strike? We have plenty of ways to deal with you!")

This is one of the commonly-used tortures administered to Falun Dafa practitioners who hold hunger strikes.

Damaging force-feeding is not the same as the normal medical feeding procedure that is used to save lives. The persecutors in China use it as a cruel torture to force practitioners to give up their belief. Hence, this force-feeding is very brutal. According to reports, there have been up to 100 practitioners who died as a result of brutal force-feedings administered by non-professional persons (including prisoners), and a large number of practitioners experience serious side effects from these force-feedings.

Some practitioners are force-fed highly-concentrated salt solutions, chili soup, high-proof liquor, detergent, and even urine and feces. Some police instruct prisoners to torture practitioners who are being force-fed, such as forcing air into the tube, then stepping on the practitioner's stomach, which results in highly-concentrated salt solution spraying up from the stomach, burning the practitioner's eyes and nose. Some persecutors do not allow the practitioner to use the toilet, instead hanging the practitioner upside down, forcing them to urinate and defecate on themselves (see next illustration).

In order to prevent practitioners' resistance to force-feeding, body restriction torture is almost always used simultaneously. This includes handcuffing hands behind the back, using heavy shackles, helmets (to limit head movement), or Illustration 3 -- Swallow Flying.

5. Hanging Upside Down

This is one of the commonly used tortures inflicted by labor camps and brainwashing classes on Falun Dafa practitioners who refuse to give up their belief. This torture makes the practitioner's blood back-flush, and can result in loss of consciousness or even death after a long period of time. Sometimes the police forbid the practitioner to use the toilet, and hang the practitioner upside down to humiliate him or her.

6. Hung up with Hands Shackled Behind the Back

This is a very cruel torture commonly used by labor camps and brainwashing classes. With both hands shackled behind the back, and both feet off the ground or only the toes touching the ground, one is hung from a basketball support or a building beam, by the handcuffs. Both hands and arms will go numb from lack of blood circulation, and the arms can become disabled. At the same time, practitioners are often beaten with clubs and leather whips.

7. Being Pressed Under the Bed

This is another very cruel torture commonly used by forced labor camps and brainwashing classes on Falun Dafa practitioners who refuse to give up their belief. First, the practitioner's legs and feet are tied tightly together, with the arms and hands tied behind the back. Then the practitioner's neck and legs are tied together very tightly, almost causing suffocation. The whole body is then pushed under the bed (see illustration), and several people sit on top of the bed, forcibly pressing down on the practitioner's back, almost causing the spine to fracture. This torture often results in severe injuries.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.org/mh/articles/2004/5/21/75205.html

Drawings of Torture Techniques -- No. 8: Burning Practitioners With Red Hot Objects

http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2004/6/7/48979.html

(Clearwisdom.net)

8: Burning Practitioners Bodies With Red Hot Objects

One of the torture methods used in interrogation rooms, forced labor camps and brainwashing centers under the Public Security System is to use extremely hot objects to burn Dafa practitioners' bodies.

Police use lit cigarettes to burn practitioners' faces, often leaving black scars on their faces. Some of the most vicious police have deliberately burned the faces of beautiful young female practitioners, thus permanently disfiguring them.

This form of torture includes using cigarette lighters to burn practitioners' faces (even to burn their eyebrows off), their chins, hands, thighs, or private parts.

At other times, specially made iron bars are heated in burning charcoal until they become red-hot. They are then used to burn practitioners' chests and thighs.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.org/mh/articles/2004/5/26/75620.html

Illustrations of Torture Methods Used to Persecute Falun Gong Practitioners (9 - 12)

http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2004/6/11/49032.html

(Clearwisdom.net)

9. Feeding the Insects

(Caption: Police say, "Whoever does not obey us will be tied up outside as food for the mosquitoes!"

In the summer time, especially around dusk or dawn, the police strip practitioners of every piece of their clothing and handcuff them to a pole in a place where mosquitoes and other insects swarm. Practitioners are bitten over and over again all over their bodies by various insects. Not long after, their bare skin is covered with itchy bumps. Sometimes they cannot even open their eyes because their eyelids are so swollen.

This torture was often used by gangs of bandits in the past to punish captives who violated their rules. Sometimes people even died from being bitten by poisonous insects. Now this torture is used by police in Chinese labor camps to torture innocent people who believe in "Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance."

10. Pouring Freezing Cold Water Over People

In the freezing cold winter, the police instigate criminals to keep pouring cold water on practitioners, causing them to be frozen, suffer frostbite and numbness. Sometimes part or all of their body would become paralyzed. Some people even suffer loss of speech and memory.

11. Electric Shocks

(Caption: the prison doctor says, "Captain, he has passed out. The voltage won't go any higher. What shall I do?")

What is displayed here is called the electric needle. The police can adjust the electric current and voltage at will. If the voltage and current is high, the victim would bounce on the bed from the shock. He would suffer cramps all over his body and incontinence of his bladder and bowels. If the victim has a weak heart, he could easily die on the spot. Many practitioners on hunger strike are repeatedly subjected to such torture.

Other similar torture methods include: long-term shocking with high-voltage electric batons, cranking a hand-crank telephone to generate electricity to shock practitioners who are tied to with the telephone, using medical devices to generate electricity to shock practitioners, lining the walls and top of a small cage with electric needles to shock practitioners who relax or drift off to sleep while chained up bent over, unable to completely stand, squat or sit (a cruel form of sleep deprivation torture that is sometimes used for weeks on end), etc.

In order to achieve their goal, sometimes the police employ various means to make practitioners suffer even more. For instance, they shock practitioners with many electric batons simultaneously; they soak practitioners in water and then shock them; or shock sensitive parts of the body, including eyelids, soles of the feet, armpits, neck, etc. After the electric shock, the skin would be badly burnt, develop blisters and even fester. Such torture also causes damage to the internal organs and nervous system. Also, the victim suffers from psychological trauma.

What's more despicable is that the police shock practitioners' mouths, private parts and anus for long periods of time. They even shock female practitioners' breasts and private parts, sexually violating them while shocking them with the electro-shock batons.

12. Stabbing with sharp objects

The police use a screwdriver or other sharp object to stab the back of practitioners' hands, attempting to force them to give up their belief in Dafa. The victim will bleed profusely and often pass out due to the excruciating pain.

Such torture is extremely brutal. Other similar means include: nailing bamboo spikes into practitioners' fingers, chopping [hitting] practitioners' hands with hard-soled shoes, hammering practitioners' hands with a hammer or drilling into practitioners' hands with an electric drill.

2004-5-27

Chinese version available at http://minghui.org/mh/articles/2004/5/28/75748.html

13. The Tiger Bench (Illustration)

(Clearwisdom.net)

http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2004/6/12/49036.html

During this torture, police tie the victim's legs tightly to the Tiger Bench using belts. They then put bricks or some other hard objects under the victim's feet. They keep adding layers of bricks until the belts break. Victims endure unbearable pain and often pass out during these torture sessions.

Other tortures are often used on the victim at the same time, including shocking the victim with electric batons, cuffing the hands behind the back, burning the body with cigarettes, inserting wood slivers under the fingernails, stabbing the ribs with a sharp pen, hitting the cheekbones with a screwdriver, slapping the face, pricking thumbtacks into the face, and even reining the mouth with a rope (oftentimes the victim cannot close his mouth since the two corners of the mouth have been torn.)

5-29-2004

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2004/5/29/75918.html

Illustrations of Torture Methods Used to Persecute Falun Gong Practitioners (14 - 15)

http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2004/6/21/49400.html

(Clearwisdom.net)

14. Handcuffing and shackling so that the body is forced into a painful position and makes the victim move from one cell to another

Falun Gong practitioners have been brutally tortured in Chinese detention centers, prisons and labor camps (lao gai) because they refuse to give up their beliefs, and peacefully appeal for their most basic human rights. One of the torture methods is to handcuff and shackle practitioners so that their bodies are forced into painful positions, and then make them move from one cell to another, intentionally inflicting even more humiliation and pain.

The policeman said to the woman inmate who helped practitioners to pass around Master Li's articles, "crawl into each cell and tell everybody that you were wrong to pass around Falun Gong articles.

When using this method, the police handcuff a practitioner's hands behind their back. The practitioner is forced to kneel down with both feet shackled. At the same time, they connect the handcuffs and ankle shackles in the shortest possible distance so that the practitioner is unable to move into a different position. This causes enormous pain. This method is insulting and humiliating, inflicting psychological abuse on top of the physical abuse.

In the past, this method was only used on male criminals who committed serious offenses. But now, it is used to torture innocent Falun Gong practitioners, even women.

The guards force practitioners to kneel down and move from one cell to another. By using this humiliating method, they attempt to create a negative image of Falun Gong. According to an earlier Clearwisdom.net report, after learning the truth about Falun Gong, one inmate who had been sentenced to one year in prison (a non-practitioner) came to understand that Falun Gong practitioners are innocent and are being persecuted. She helped practitioners to pass around Master Li's articles. After the wardens found out, they used this method to torture her. She was handcuffed and shackled, forced to kneel down and move from cell #1 to #4 and then again from cell #4 to #1. They opened the door of every cell in order to humiliate her. Some criminals shed tears out of sympathy and they were beaten up by police.

15. Burying alive

One of the torture methods is to bury practitioners alive.

The police said, "If you die, it will be counted as a suicide."

This method is so heinous that they have to do it at night so that no one will see their crimes. Over half a dozen police officers drag a practitioner to an open rural area. They start a fire for light. Then they dig a hole and push the Falun Gong practitioner into the pit. They shine flashlights directly into the practitioner's eyes so that he cannot see them. They bury the practitioner up to his chest. At the same time, they constantly use electric batons to shock his head. They use this method to threaten and torture him, trying to break his spirit and make him renounce his belief.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.ca/mh/articles/2004/6/8/76497.html

A Hundred Tortures Illustrated (16 - 18)

http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2004/7/29/50795.html

16. Electromagnetic Shock

Falun Dafa practitioners are peacefully resisting government sponsored persecution in China in order to stay true to their faith. Electromagnetic shock is one of the many forms of torture they are subjected to in detention centers, labor camps, and brainwashing centers.

In order to torture steadfast practitioners, police place a type of electronic device onto the practitioners' heads or chests, which results in their instant collapse. This torture device can severely damage the brain and internal organs, resulting in loss of memory, confusion, lack of energy, extreme pain, but no visible injuries to the surface of the body, because the damage is inflicted by sound waves or vibrations.

The device includes an electric needle, like an electric baton, connected to either large or small needles, which can cause convulsions of all the muscles in the body. Ms. Zhao Ru in Jilin City, Jilin Province was tortured with this device. She collapsed instantly, and had to be carried off.

17. Exposure to the Baking Sun

Practitioners in China are peacefully resisting violent coercive methods used by the government in order stay true to their beliefs. Exposure to the baking sun is one of the tortures to which they are subjected in detention centers, labor camps, and brainwashing centers.

Police shackle steadfast practitioners outdoors under the baking sun, which results in dehydration, fainting, sunburn, etc.

During some of the brainwashing classes, police lock practitioners inside a poorly ventilated, stifling cell, and then turn on the heat to torture them.

18. Dragging Behind a Vehicle

Falun Dafa practitioners peacefully resist these torture methods, staying steadfast to their beliefs. Being dragged behind a vehicle is one of the tortures to which they are subjected in detention centers, labor camps, or brainwashing centers.

Police officers and camp guards drag practitioners with ropes behind a speeding vehicle, resulting in tragically deep, bloody flesh wounds that sometimes expose the bones.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2004/6/16/76666.html

Illustrations of Torture Methods Used to Persecute Falun Gong Practitioners (19-30)

http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2004/7/5/49890.html

Paintings by Lu Jing

(Clearwisdom.net)

19. Brutal Beating

The police tie practitioners' hands and then hang them up. They then proceed to beat practitioners with spiked clubs. Sometimes the beating lasts for several hours.

The camp guards order the inmates to beat practitioners, and reward the inmates by reducing their prison terms.

The police officers persecute female Falun Gong practitioners shamelessly. They strip off the female practitioners' clothes and then beat them. After the beating, there are cuts and bruises all over their bodies. A large number of the female practitioners are elderly women. Many female practitioners were beaten to death; however, the police told their families that they died from heart attack or made up some other stories. Sometimes, the police cremated the bodies without allowing the family members to see them.

20. Hanging Up in the Air

This is a very cruel torture. Practitioners' hands are tied with thin ropes and then they are hung up for several hours, or even several days. Sometimes, the rope was so tight it broke; and sometimes the rope cut into the flesh. Some practitioners lost consciousness while being hung up. In many cases, the practitioners were hung by their handcuffs, which caused broken bones. After the torture, some practitioners suffered injuries to their hands and arms. As a result they had difficulty using their hands and arms for a long time. Some suffered severe injury to their arms and hands, and thus became disabled.

21. Handcuffing Hands Behind the Back with One Hand Crossed Over a Shoulder

Practitioners' two hands are handcuffed behind the back with one hand crossed over a shoulder. First, the police push practitioners down to the ground on their stomachs and then step on practitioners' backs, then forcefully pull the two handcuffs to lock them together. It causes great pain to the practitioners.

22. Sitting on a Small Stool

This is not an ordinary stool. There are very small squares carved or molded on the surface. The police tie the practitioners so that they can't stand up. After sitting on the stool for a while, the small squares cut into the practitioners flesh, causing the buttocks to bleed and fester. This is a very cruel torture.

23. Deprived of Sleep, Forced to stand

The police order criminal inmates to watch practitioners 24 hours a day. Practitioners are deprived of sleep for several consecutive days or even half a month. However, the inmates take turns resting. When practitioners are sleepy, the inmates poke them with needles. Some practitioners were stabbed so often that it resulted in severe trembling.

24. Forced-feeding Feces

The police force-feed practitioner feces, and they even put feces on practitioners' bodies and on their faces.

25. Tacked with Push Pins

Police of Shenyang City, Liaoning Province have fastened more than 100 push pins on practitioners' bodies.

26. Exposed to Extreme Weather

In temperature of -20 -- 30^oC (-4 -- 18^oF) in winter, practitioners are allowed to wear only underclothes while being forced to stay outdoors for an extended period of time.

27. Water Dungeon

Practitioners were stripped naked and put in cells full of dirty water up to their chests. The cells are dark without any sunlight. The torture time is entirely according to the police officers' mood. Some practitioners were tortured to death and some practitioners' skin became rotten.

28. Injected with Drugs

Some practitioners were sent to mental hospitals, although they were mentally very healthy. The practitioners were injected with drugs that damage the nervous system and some suffered mental breakdowns as a result of this torture. When practitioners asked the officials of the mental hospitals why they were doing this, they replied, "We have no choice, Jiang ordered us to do so."

29. Sexual Abuse

The police shock female practitioners' breasts and genitals with electric batons, and they even insert electrical batons into the practitioners' vaginas to shock them. Even unmarried female practitioners have suffered this torture.

30. Rape or Group Rape

One policeman, or a group of policemen, rape female practitioners.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2004/6/17/77248.html