(Minghui.org) Ms. Cui Jian from Dalian City in Liaoning Province has been brutally tortured many times since the Chinese Communist Party started the persecution against Falun Gong in July 1999. Below is Ms. Cui's account of persecution that she endured.

Arrested Twice While Appealing in Beijing

Fellow practitioners and I went to Beijing at the end of October 1999 to appeal for Falun Gong. We were arrested near the Beijing Appeals Office and taken to the Liaoning Province Beijing Office. We were escorted back to Dalian by police from Houjiagou in the Shahekou District of Dalian. They confiscated all my money (seven or eight hundred yuan), and took us to the Yaojia Detention Center for 15 days. My family was forced to pay 3000 yuan before they would release me.

Nine practitioners, including myself, went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong again in January 2000. However, the train was stopped before it reached Anshan, and we were escorted back to our hometown. The next day, many police came to interrogate us. A couple of practitioners and I were take to the Dalian Drug Rehabilitation Center that night, while the rest of the practitioners were taken to the Yaojia Detention Center. I was detained for over a week and my family was forced to pay 1000 yuan before my release.

I was called to the police station the next day and was detained again, along with three other practitioners. Two of them were brother and sister who had just been released from a detention center and had not been home yet. They were detained because they refused to write a guarantee statement stating that they would not go to Beijing to appeal again. Police and personnel from the resident committee took turns monitoring us 24 hours a day.

The head of the police station and an overweight officer, who was sent from an upper level authority, continually slandered Dafa, and constantly criticized and insulted us. They did not allow us to go home to celebrate the Chinese New Year. In order to protest the illegal persecution, we started a hunger strike. They eventually allowed us to return home on the seventh day of the New Year.

Beaten with Electric Batons at Dalian Forced Labor Camp

I was reported to the police while putting up truth clarification posters in November 2000. I was arrested and my home was ransacked. Two officers from the domestic security division handcuffed me to the railings of the interrogation room in the police station. They shocked my hands with electric batons and tried to force me to tell them where I got the materials from, but I refused.

The officers later took me to the Yaojia Detention Center, where I was forced pick beans and sit on a small bench for long periods of time. I was persecuted there for over 50 days, before being transferred to the Dalian Forced Labor Camp where I was sentenced for 1.5 years.

From my arrival at the labor camp, I was frequently searched, threatened and scolded by the guards. I also witnessed many practitioners being dragged away to be tortured. Ms. Li Ping refused to sign her name on a guarantee statement and was so badly beaten that her hips and thighs became black and purple.

On the early morning of March 19, 2001, the guards started to play songs slandering Falun Dafa through high volume speakers on the second and third floors. Practitioners were forced to stand with their bodies bent at the waist to 90 degrees and had to look at slanderous words that were written on paper and put on the floor. The guards then went around beating practitioners with electric batons. I could hear the painful screams throughout the building all the time. Some practitioners' faces were covered with blisters due to the electric shocks. I also saw three guards push a practitioner down to the ground and grab her hands to force her to sign her name on a piece of paper.

I was taken to a room, where guard Wang Jun and two others used electric batons to shock my neck, back, waist and ears. They also used two electric batons to shock my head at the same time. I then collapsed on the floor. After I got up, they continued to shock me. They grabbed my hands to tried and force me to sign my name on a paper, which had words slandering Falun Gong written on it. Then they dragged me downstairs, where deputy head Zhang Baolin ordered me to read words slandering Master on a piece of paper. When I refused, they dragged me to the hallway and forced me to stand with my body bent 90 degrees for a long time. The guards kept coming over to kick me and shock me. The blisters I got from the electric shocks took a very long time to heal.

The guards forbade me from having a shower, and my body was covered with scabies. I suffered from constant anxiety, fear and depression, and was on the verge of mental collapse from the physical and mental torture.

Stretching Torture and Forced Labor at Masanjia Forced Labor Camp

A few officers from the domestic security division broke into my workplace on July 7, 2005, and arrested me. I refused to answer any of their questions at the police station, and was transferred to the Yaojia Detention Center that night. In the detention center, I was forced to do hard labor producing handcraft products, and had a quota every day that I had to complete. I was kept there for over two months.

On September 23, 2005, I was sentenced to two years of forced labor, and taken to the notorious Masanjia Forced Labor Camp.

I was assigned to the third team in the camp, which was specifically for practitioners who were new arrivals. Two inmates monitored me every day, while a few collaborators tried to get me to renounce my belief. The inmates followed me everywhere and forbade me from talking to anyone.

Once, the guards forced me and other practitioners to attend a brainwashing session. When we refused to go, they dragged us to the room. Another practitioner and I went on hunger strike to protest the persecution.

In April 2006, a group of male guards were transferred to the camp temporarily. They detained practitioners who refused to be renounce their belief downstairs and got a few thugs to force us to peel a large quantity of garlic. If we did not do it, they would brutally beat us. Some practitioners' had their legs broken, while others were dragged by their hair and rammed against the wall. My face was severely deformed due to the brutal beatings. One week later, I was transferred to the second team, where guards took turns monitoring me 24 hours a day. I was often searched and I witnessed other practitioners being frequently beaten and put in solitary confinement.

Some male guards were transferred to the labor camp again in July. They started to brutally persecute the practitioners. I was taken downstairs where guard Li Jun interrogated me. He realized that I was very firm in my belief and started yelling at me. He kicked me and used a bench to push me very hard against the wall.

Guard Li, later cuffed my left hand to the upper frame of a bunk bed and my right hand to the lower frame. I could not stand up or squat down, and my arms were stretched to the extreme. I was forced to stand in this awkward position for long periods of time. My arms were soon in extreme pain. The guards loosened the handcuffs for a little while every two or three hours and then stretched me again. They finally stopped the stretching torture at 2:30 a.m. and cuffed both my hands to the same bed to allow me to sleep for a while. However, I was woken up at 4 a.m. and they started to stretch me again. It was such a physical and mental torment. I still had the symptoms of palpitations long after the torture. I couldn’t straighten my back and had numbness in my hands for over six months.

Torture re-enactment: Stretched and forced to stand in awkward position

Female guard Zhang Lei once complained that I was too quiet in reporting my labor camp number. She insulted me and humiliated me in front of the others.

The first and second teams of the labor camp were later combined together. Practitioners were put with other inmates and had to do hard labor for 14 to 15 hours every day. We had to sew clothes using a sewing machine on a production line. We were woken up at 5:30 a.m. and were not allowed to rest after lunch. If we did not finish our quota, we were not allowed to sleep. Once, we were forced to work until 1 a.m. Practitioners were monitored 24 hours a day, even when we went to the restroom.

Personnel from the education section of the labor camp once ordered me to recite the 30 labor camp rules. I refused. Guard Rong Xiu'e then dragged me to the warehouse, where she slapped me in the face and berated me. She also stripped off my clothes, including my underwear, saying that she was looking for Falun Gong materials. She then dragged me to the guardroom, where the head of the team Ren questioned why I did not recite the rules. When I said that I am a Falun Gong practitioner, she slapped me in the face and did not allow me to mention Falun Gong again. Deputy head of the team Wang Shuzhen came over and kicked me and yelled at me. Then she used the stretching method to torture me again.

Another time, guards searched my coat and found copies of Master Li's new articles. Guard Rong Xiu'e slapped me in the face and told the inmates to watch me closely at every moment. In addition, Guard Rong increased the forced labor terms by five days for those who were monitoring me, and published it on the information board of the cafeteria. This was done to incite hatred against practitioners amongst the inmates. The two inmates who were sent to monitor me vented their anger and tormented me.

Forced to Take Unknown Drugs in Fushun Brainwashing Center

After my release from Masanjia, personnel from the Shahekou District Political and Legal Affairs Committee and Houjiagou Police Station prevented my family members from collecting me at the labor camp. Instead, they took me to the Fushun Brainwashing Center, where I was monitored constantly every day. Chen Ying pretended to be nice to me, but reported my every action to her superiors. They tried all kinds of tactics to try and get me to renounce my belief.

My body became very weak from the persecution. Chen Ying and guard Wu Wei forced me to take unknown drugs. My head felt like it was being split open and my eyes bulged. It was very painful. I suffered like this for the whole night.

I was persecuted at the Fushun Brainwashing Center for three months, before the local police and people from the residential committee took me to the police station. The police wanted me to take my photo, and have my name and fingerprint on their documents. I refused everything that they wanted me to do, and was eventually taken back home.

Summary of Key Persecution Facts:Name: Cui Jian (崔健)Gender: FemaleAge: 50 Address: Dalian City, Liaoning ProvinceOccupation: Unknown
Date of Most Recent Arrest: July 7, 2005
Most Recent Place of Detention: Fushun City Brainwashing Center (抚顺洗脑班)City: Fushun
Province: Liaoning
Persecution Suffered: Detention, extortion, home ransacked, interrogated, electric shock, forced labor, torture, beatings, drug administration