(Minghui.org) Fan Qingping, manager of Ward 14 in Hebei Women’s Prison, has been closely following the persecution policy since July 1999. Together with other officials and guards, she has been responsible for holding practitioners in solitary confinement and having them beaten, shocked with electric batons, freezing them, depriving them of sleep, denying them access to a toilet, force-feeding them, making them stand on burning plates, and stabbing them with needles. A number of practitioners were injured, some died, and others ended up with mental disorders.
Ward 14 is meant for newly arrived inmates or those about to be released. But it is often used to persecute Falun Gong practitioners. Besides torture, the guards also play videos that defame Falun Gong and Mr. Li Hongzhi, founder of the practice, all the time to try to brainwash them. Worn down by the intense physical and mental abuse, practitioners are forced to sign statements to renounce their belief.
Below are several examples.
Deaths of Two Practitioners
At least two practitioners lost their lives as the result of the brutal treatment. Ms. Gao Suzhen, a practitioner in Shijiazhuang City, was sentenced to a four-year term after signing a petition to rescue a detained practitioner. In Hebei Women’s Prison, she was tortured and humiliated, which led to life-threatening conditions many times. In the end, officials released her on bail due to poor health after extorting over 30,000 yuan from her family. Her family then spent at least 250,000 yuan keeping her in a hospital over the following year but to no avail. She died at the age of 64 in March 2018.
According to Ms. Gao, when she was held in Ward 14 in Hebei Women’s Prison, guards took her to a room with no security camera, grabbed her head, and knocked it against the wall. Inmates swore at her, slapped her in the face, and hit her in the head. They also bit her hands, wrote defamatory words on her body, and stabbed her hands with pens. Similar mistreatment continued after she was later moved to Ward 17.
Another practitioner, name unknown, also died in early 2011. Because of her determination to practice Falun Gong, guards and inmates hit her with boards, metal spoons, plastic benches, and other objects so hard they broke them. She was severely injured and sustained damage to her internal organs. The solitary confinement cell was cold and wet, and she screamed at night she was in so much pain. The guards on duty ignored her and she died that night. News of her death was not released, and officials threatened inmates with serious consequences if anyone dared to leak the information. The practitioner’s name thus remains unknown.
Two inmates (not practitioners) also died because of Fan. One was Man Guiying, 45, who died in January 2011, and another (name unknown) was from Shandong Province.
Brutal Torture
After Ms. Cao Shulan, a practitioner from Cangzhou City, was arrested in January 2012, Yunhe Court sentenced her to seven and a half years. She was in Ward 14 for 16 months and was forced to stand up straight for 24 hours straight. Her hands, legs, and feet became so swollen that she could hardly walk. When guards ordered her to read materials slandering Falun Gong, she protested, and guard Kong Lingguang shocked her face and body with an electric baton until it ran out of electricity. To force her to sign statements renouncing her belief, guards and inmates once deprived her of sleep for seven days.
Torture illustration: Shocking with electric batons
Ms. Sun Fuqin, an elementary school teacher in her 50s from Zhangjiakou City, was admitted to Ward 14 in May 2012. The guards ordered inmates to torture her every day. One day, a guard ordered seven inmates to carry her to the office, where they stuffed her mouth with rags and shocked her clavicle with electric batons. Her shoulder area was seared, and she passed out as her body went into spasms. As a result of long-term physical and mental torture, she had problems with her blood pressure and an irregular heartbeat.
Another practitioner, Ms. Zhang from Tangshan City, was sentenced to five years in January 2009 and put in Ward 14 of Hebei Women’s Prison. Although she was in her 70s, the guards shocked her lower body with electric batons. They also stabbed her with needles, forced her to stand on burning plates, and deprived her of sleep.
Ms. Liu Xiaorong, 43, is a physician from Longhua County. After being put in Ward 14 in May 2006, she and three other practitioners went on a hunger strike to protest the mistreatment. Deputy directors of the prison Zhang Yi and Han ordered inmates to torture her. They force-fed her three times a day and watched her 24 hours a day to restrict her freedom. Inmates Lan Qizhi, She Qiaoling, and others took turns brainwashing her every day from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Ms. Li Xiumin, 56, is retired from Hebei University of Science and Technology. After being taken to Ward 14 in February 2008, she was forced to do unpaid labor including threading beads, stacking plastic sheets, and arranging flowers, from morning until after 10 p.m. She eventually developed eye problems. During an examination in the hospital, a doctor said that her eyes were diseased. Ms. Li told Fan how Falun Gong had benefited practitioners and was wrongfully suppressed. “Seems you are a good person,” Fan responded. “We will send you somewhere to ‘transform’ you.” In March 2008, Ms. Li was sent to Ward 13 for intensive brainwashing.
Ms. Huang Xiuling, 29, was a graduate of the Agricultural University of Hebei and she was sent to Ward 14 in late 2010. Guard Wang Ye (police ID 1335110) brainwashed her nearly 20 hours a day. After that failed, Wang tortured her by depriving her of sleep, forcing her to stand still for a long time (till midnight or 2 a.m. while getting up at 5 a.m.), and solitary confinement. In the daytime, she was also made to do unpaid labor. After being forced to stand still for over two months in the summer, Ms. Huang’s legs were so swollen that she could not remove her own clothes. In addition, officials wouldn’t let her contact her family and refused to let her family visit her. They even prohibited her from using the toilet and cleaning herself.
Ms. Zhang Xinhua, 40, was also forced to stand up straight and still for two weeks. She was sent to Ward 14 in 2012. Guards watched her 24 hours a day and did not allow her to talk to anyone. Because of her determination to not give up her faith, inmates swore at her. When she refused to pose for a picture, several prisoners grabbed her hair and took the picture anyway. When she insisted on doing the exercises, inmates stopped her and removed all her clothes.
Ms. Zhao Baoli, 57, worked for Chengde Power Supply Company. After being put in Ward 14 in January 2012, she was mistreated there for 13 months. She was allowed to use the toilet only three times a day, which caused other problems. In addition, she was forced to sit still on a small plastic bench from 6 a.m. till 9:30 p.m. every day. Later on, she was forced to stand still from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. every day. In addition, guards and inmates forced her to watch slanderous videos all day long to brainwash her.
Ms. Bai Junjie, 65, from Zhangjiakou City was sent to Ward 14 in January 2006. At that time, the ward with divided into 13 teams. A leader was assigned to each team, who would order other inmates to torture practitioners.
Another practitioner, name unknown, was in her 50s. Several inmates, including Li Aifen and Shi Meixian, beat her so badly that she was bruised all over. The practitioner called officers for help, but the inmates did not stop and the officers did not intervene either.
Another practitioner, name also unknown, was 35. She was forced to sit still on a small bench until midnight and she was not allowed to speak. After some time, this practitioner developed a mental disorder and sometimes had nightmares that made her scream. This incurred even harsher mistreatment. Inmates often beat her in the bathroom and forced her to stand in the hallway. Occasionally, inmates removed all her clothes, sealed her mouth with tape, and dragged her around on the floor naked. Later on, she was force-fed with nerve-damaging drugs.
Contact information
Hebei Women’s PrisonShitong Road, Luquan District, Shijiazhuang City, Hebei Province 050222Phone number: +86-311-83939604
115: Persecution > Perpetrators Involved in Persecution of Falun Gong
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