(Minghui.org) “A middle-aged woman stripped off all my clothes down to my underwear and forced me to lay on the cold concrete floor, in the presence of one of the male guards. My immediate reaction to this unbearable humiliation was to jump up and dash myself against the wall. As if they had already anticipated my move, they pulled me back by wrapping my bra around my neck and yelled, 'Don't even try!'”
This is an excerpt from the personal account of Ms. Lin Jianping, 53, detained for six years in Shandong Prison for her belief in Falun Gong. Between 2004 and 2010, guards and inmates (instigated by guards) used beatings, hanging, force-feeding, drug injections, and other forms of torture in attempts to “transform” and force her to renounce their beliefs.
While Ms. Lin was incarcerated, her 80-year-old mother-in-law begged for her release while on her knees. Her husband and daughter endured many sleepless nights.
Worrying about her day and night, Ms. Lin's mother fell ill and passed away. Before her death, she was terrified at the sound of police sirens passing by her home. Her mother-in-law also passed away from depression-related illnesses.
Ms. Lin was finally released on November 18, 2010. The following is her account of abuses suffered during her imprisonment.
Beginning of the Persecution
When the Communist Party first banned Falun Gong, I was baffled and thought the authorities didn't know Falun Gong well. Later, when I watched slanderous TV programs and practitioners being persecuted, I couldn't keep silent anymore.
Recounting my own experiences, I started to tell others, “Falun Gong is good. Learning Falun Gong can not only bring one good health, but also teach one to be a good person. One can benefit from it so much.”
Sleep Deprivation in Qixiaxiaozhuang Brainwashing Center
I was arrested on September 26, 2004 and sent to the Qixiaxiaozhuang Brainwashing Center. Domestic security police officers Wang Jun and Tang Gongming arrested me at home. They also ransacked it and extorted 1000 yuan from my family.
At the brainwashing center, I was forced to watch videos slandering Falun Gong. They didn't allow me to sleep at night. I was handcuffed to the window frame and not allowed to close my eyes. A few days later, my hands were numb and painful, and my head was dizzy.
After being detained there for 37 days, I was sentenced to three years of forced labor.
Cuffed and Hanged for Seven Days in Wangcun Forced Labor Camp
In winter 2005, I was taken to the office for on-duty guards because I refused to wear the name tag for criminals. Wang Huiying, the division head, ordered guard Li Ying and others to torture me. They cuffed my left hand to a heating pipe in the corner of the wall and my right hand to a metal window bar. The windows were covered with newspapers to prevent the scene from being seen from outside.
The guards seemed so familiar with the procedure when hanging me. I recalled a few practitioners who had mental breakdowns after being subjected to the same torture method. One practitioner couldn't move his limbs one night and was carried out. If I didn't have such an experience, I would never think the “on-duty office” was being used to torture the practitioners.
Seeing that my hands were not purple enough from the hanging, Li Ying tightened the cuffs. When my whole hand was dark purple, she said, “That's the best effect.” The extreme pain made me almost pass out several times, yet the guards accused me of faking it. Li then started to read me articles slandering Falun Gong.
While Li Ying was not present, some other guards with some conscience remaining would loosen the rope and handcuffs a little when seeing me in such a painful state. However, Li Ying would re-tighten them when she found out.
I was tortured like this for seven days. After I was finally let down, my feet were so swollen that they couldn't fit into my shoes. The fingernails on my thumbs were dark purple. My legs were swollen as big as the size of my pants.
As part of the brainwashing, I was forced to write a “criticism report” denouncing Falun Gong. However, I wrote down my true torture experiences. When Li Ying saw that I didn't criticize Falun Gong, she and another guard grabbed my hand and forcibly wrote down what they wanted me to write. She said, “This is your writing, too, and it counts.”
I started a hunger strike to protest the persecution. They used a tube to force-feed me. After each session, they would leave the feeding tube in my nose for a long time.
Torture Illustration: Force-feeding
As punishment, I was forced to stand straight in the on-duty office for long periods of time. I was not allowed to sleep and had only a short nap before daybreak. The perpetrators took turns brainwashing me.
The division head Wang Huiying said to me, “If you become mad like Li Ping, who wiped her face with feces, I will let you go.” Li Ping was another practitioner who had been tortured in the on-duty office for a long time and eventually had a mental breakdown.
Tied to the “Death Bed” in Qixia Detention Center
At the end of 2005, I was taken to Qixia Detention Center for interrogation. A police officer told me to sign a piece of paper. When I refused, he taunted me, “You're just like an ant to me. I can easily kill you, as if stepping on an ant.”
I shouted, “Falun Dafa is good!” I started a hunger strike in protest. Deputy Xi Shaowei led other guards to punch and kick me before putting me in handcuffs and shackles.
They then tied my limbs to a bed for many days. A doctor from a mental hospital was called in. Under the guise of giving me injections, they stabbed my body all over with needles. Even the inmates in charge of monitoring me couldn't bear to watch and begged the guards to let me go. I was finally released from the “death bed.”
Torture re-enactment: “Death bed”
In addition, I was extorted over a thousand yuan in Qixia Detention Center. Four months later, I was sentenced to three more years in prison (on top of the original three-year term) and transferred to Shandong Women's Prison.
Abuses I Suffered in Shandong Women's Prison
1. Hair Pulling
Guard Qiu Xiuxin often jumped on the table to pull my hair and hit my face, leaving many scars. Watching handfuls of my hair fall to the ground, Qiu laughed and boasted, “I almost pulled out all of your hair, but I wouldn't admit what I did.”
Photo: Dark and thick hair before imprisonment
Photo: To make my thin hair look better, I curled my hair after I was released
Once, Qiu kicked me in the back while I was seated on a bench. I couldn't get up from the ground for a long time.
I wrote a letter to Qiu, advising her not to continue doing evil deeds. She stabbed my face with a palm leaf stem and punched and kicked me, leaving multiple injuries.
2. Strangling
In prison, I was assigned to a division specifically for torturing Falun Gong practitioners. Because I refused to do forced labor or answer roll calls, I was locked in solitary confinement several times. Because the room's windows and door were tightly sealed, I suffered several heat strokes during the hot summer.
Guard Xue Yanqin instigated inmates to torture me. One inmate Zhu Huifen grabbed my hair to force me to watch videos slandering Falun Dafa.
The inmate Qiao Ruimei pressed her knee against my back, while another surnamed Du grabbed my hands. Qiao grabbed my collar and yanked backwards, strangling me.
3. Injected with Unknown Drugs
For a while in that prison division, whenever I laid down, four or five inmates, under orders by the guard Xue Yanqin, would hold me down and inject an unknown drug into me. The injections triggered symptoms including restlessness, slow responsiveness, watery eyes, drooling, skull-splitting headaches, and paralyzed limbs.
I asked the inmate Sui Xin to find out what kind of injection it was from the guard. She asked twice and didn't say anything after coming back, so each day I called out, “What are you injecting me with? Stop it!” At that time, I was not even able to speak the words clearly. They continued to give me these injections for nearly 20 days.
4. Head Bashed Against Table Corner
The guards and inmates realized it was futile to try to “transform” me and force me to give up my beliefs. When I called out, “Falun Dafa is good!” Yao Qingqing kicked me in the head. Inmate Zhu Huifen praised her, “You are doing great!”
To force me to clean the restroom, inmate Du Shufeng tried to wipe feces on my face with a dirty broom.
Once, Zhu hit my right ear so hard that it started bleeding, and I was unable to hear clearly. She then grabbed my hair and bashed my head against the corner of a table. I vomited a lot of blood, which seeped into my bra.
Zhu and Qiu then dragged me on the floor back and forth like a mop before using my clean clothes to wipe up the remaining blood. Finally, Qiu ordered me to wash the bloody clothes.
5. Suffocated and Stripped
In solitary confinement, the lack of surveillance cameras allowed inmates to torture me using all kinds of means. Qiu sealed my mouth with cloth used to dry feet. Others twisted my arms. Zhu almost suffocated me by holding a quilt over my face.
A middle-aged woman stripped off all my clothes down to my underwear and forced me to lay on the cold concrete floor, in the presence of one of the male guards. My immediate reaction to this unbearable humiliation was to jump up and dash myself against the wall. As if they had already anticipated my move, they pulled me back by wrapping my bra around my neck and yelled, 'Don't even try!'
6. Brutal Beatings for Practitioners Refusing to be “Transformed”
I learned that other steadfast practitioners in the prison had been subjected to similar abuses. One night, I heard sounds of a beating from the next room. Inmate Wang Cunyan waved her fist in front of me and threatened, “Don't interfere! Don't say anything or we'll beat you to death.” The next day, I questioned Qiu, “Who did you beat last night?” She claimed the sound came from a kung fu movie.
Several days later, I heard sounds of a beating again and someone calling out “Falun Dafa is good!” I immediately shouted back “Falun Dafa is good!” to support my fellow practitioner.
I later learned the practitioner was named Song Yun, who had her period and wanted to go back to her cell for a pad. The inmates refused her request because she refused to be “transformed.” When her blood dripped on the floor, the inmates blamed her for dirtying the floor and proceeded to beat her. Later, the guard Xue Yanjin forced her to admit publicly that she deserved to be beaten.
Another elderly practitioner was beaten so badly that half of her face turned a rusty color, which took a long time to heal.
7. Wrapped in a Bed Sheet and Used as Punching Bag
During the 2008 Olympic Games, practitioners who refused to be "transformed" were targeted for intensified persecution. One late night, while I was being forced to stand for a long period of time as punishment, Qiu led a dozen inmates to wrap me in a bed sheet. They punched and kicked me until they were exhausted.
Afterwards, I was unable to stand firmly and had difficulty putting on clothes. My lips were swollen, and my front teeth were loose, which made it difficult to eat. The next day, Qiu taunted me, "Do you know who beat you? How many people beat you?"
I was denied a medical exam until 20 days later, when I had almost recovered. The guard Xue Yanqin called the prison doctor out of the room during my exam. The doctor later informed me, “The blood in your ear was caused by you digging your finger in it.”
One day, Qiu gathered six or seven inmates, who stood in a line and took turns punching and kicking me. Each time I fell, they pulled me up and continued beating me. Qiu said, “If you die, the prison would bury you. If not for the authorities' permission, we wouldn't dare do this to you.”
8. Forced to Sign “Five Statements” Renouncing My Faith
To force me to sign statements “voluntarily” renouncing my belief in Falun Dafa, several inmates opened my clasped hand to squeeze a pen in. Some held my arms down, some held my head by grabbing my hair, while others grabbed my legs. When I refused to cooperate, Li Yun, a “transformed” practitioner, stabbed the back of my right hand with a pen.
Qiu said, “Even if you refuse to sign it, the division head will still publish it online, and people outside will know you've been 'transformed'!”
9. Writing Dirty Words on My Body
When I refused to cooperate with my punishment of standing for long periods without sleep, Qiu Xiuxin, Zhang Aiping, and other inmates wrote dirty words on my body, clothes, and bed to slander and insult Falun Dafa, Master Li Hongzhi (the founder of Falun Dafa), and myself. Du wrote Master Li's name on the floor and ordered me to sit on it. When I didn't refused, they beat and verbally abused me.
10. Hiding Practitioners During Prison Inspection
Once, I was ordered to sit in a police car waiting outside the prison. I didn't know what game they were playing, so I refused. The guard Zhu Huifen and others carried me into the police car, where I saw another practitioner who was on a hunger strike at the time. We were taken far away from the prison to the police hospital.
We later learned that there was a prison inspection that day, and they hid the steadfast practitioners in case we called out for our innocence.
11. Almost Killed by Force-Feeding
To protest my mistreatment, I held a hunger strike for more than 50 days. Still in solitary confinement, each day five or six people force-fed me through my nasal passage. Once, they inserted the feeding tube into my trachea, and I almost choked to death.
Sometimes, inmates would bang pots together next to my ear to deprive me of sleep. All day long, a CD player blared propaganda slandering Falun Dafa.
Enduring many years of persecution, I would have collapsed long ago if I didn't hold Dafa in my mind.
Summary of Key Persecution Facts:Name: Lin JianpingGender: FemaleAge: 53Address: UnknownOccupation: Enterprise Management Section, Qixia Foodstuffs Main FactoryDate of Most Recent Arrest: September 26, 2004Most Recent Place of Detention: Shandong Women's PrisonCity: JinanProvince: ShandongPersecution Suffered: shocking with electric batons, sleep deprivation, forced labor, brainwashing, forced drug injections, force-feeding, beatings, hanging, sexual assault, denial of restroom use, extortion
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