(Minghui.org) The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) started persecuting Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline based on the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, in 1999. Prisons have been one of the main locations where the authorities attempt to force practitioners to renounce their faith, often through physical and psychological torture. More information has come to light that prisons in Tianjin have routinely drugged practitioners as part of their abuse.
Drugs As a Tool of Persecution
The family members of a Falun Gong practitioner heard from a person with knowledge of the Tianjin prison system that it is common practice for Tianjin prison employees to administer drugs to Falun Gong practitioners. The prevailing excuse is that, without drugs, practitioners are difficult to “control.”
They noticed that their family member, a practitioner who had been released from a Tianjin prison, showed signs of impaired thinking.
Another practitioner reported that when she was held in Tianjin Women's Prison, almost every practitioner there had been drugged.
The Women's Prison first applies severe physical torture to practitioners, including beating, hanging by handcuffs, food and sleep deprivation, subjecting practitioners to freezing cold, forcing them to stand or sit on stools for prolonged periods, and denying restroom use, among other abuses.
Long periods of such torture causes great harm both physically and mentally. Then the prison guards pretend to show concern for practitioners. They take practitioners' blood pressure and request that they take medication for high blood pressure. If practitioners refuse to take the medicine, the guards order inmates to put drugs that damage the nervous system into practitioners' food or water. They also administer drugs by IV infusions.
Even practitioners who had been “transformed” (gave up Falun Gong under pressure) were forced to take drugs in order to make them more compliant.
Tianjin Women's Prison authorities assign inmates to bring food to Falun Gong practitioners, who do not know what is in their food. But many have experienced memory loss, diarrhea, and general lack of strength after ingesting the food brought to them.
Over time, many practitioners have become insane or suffer severely impaired mental ability. A number of practitioners experience headaches, weep uncontrollably, become blind, lose feeling in their legs, or develop high blood pressure or heart disease. Some have become confused or listless, and some suffer memory loss.
Examples
Ms. Yao Shilan held a hunger strike for eight months at Tianjin Women's Prison. After the seventh month, the guards started to give her IV infusions. After receiving unknown drugs for 12 days, Ms. Yao developed a high fever and lost consciousness. After another two days on oxygen, she was unable to speak and frequently fainted.
Guards at Tianjin Women's Prison sprayed an unknown substance into Ms. Yang Jian's eyes and nose. She couldn't breathe and lost consciousness. When she woke up, the guards had prepared funeral clothes for her. On January 10, 2013, they informed Ms. Yang's parents that she had suffered a mental breakdown.
Guards at Tianjin Women's Prison made Ms. Zhang Yulan take unknown substances that induced nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. Her limbs became weak, and her eyesight deteriorated.
When Ms. Zhang refused to take the drugs, the guards drugged her food and drink instead. Once, she caught an inmate putting unknown substances in her drink. The inmate told her that she was acting on orders from prison officials.
Ms. Zhang's health deteriorated day by day, and she became increasingly ill. She had difficulty controlling her legs and gradually lost her eyesight. She could not sleep and lost her appetite. Eventually, she became blind and could no longer walk.
Ms. Xu Xueli developed heart disease due to torture at Tianjin's Women's Prison. She was taken to the hospital for IV infusions. When the unknown substance entered her bloodstream, she felt as if her head were going to explode and her eyes pop out of her head. The guards kept forcing her to take medicine. She did not dare drink the water that other inmates brought her, as the water clearly had sediment in it.
When Ms. Xu was released, she weighed only 84 pounds and had to be carried out. She had symptoms of a severe mental breakdown and felt that there was a camera in her head. She did not dare to look at things and felt as if something was crawling over her body. She was constantly tense and frightened.
Bureau of Justice and Bureau of Prison Administration Behind the Psychiatric Torture
Overseeing the prisons in the area are the Tianjin Bureau of Prison Administration and the Tianjin Bureau of Justice.
The Bureau of Prison Administration issued a document, “Measures on Strengthening Monitoring and Reforming of Falun Gong Practitioners,” to all of the area prisons. Every three months, the agency sends staff to the prisons to check on the status of each practitioner.
The Bureau of Justice and Bureau of Prison Administration assess practitioners every six months. They create special teams to work on practitioners who refuse to give up their belief.
These policies have led the entire prison system to apply severe measures against Falun Gong practitioners, including psychiatric torture through forced drug administration.
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Category: Psychiatric Torture
