(Minghui.org) After the Chinese Communist Party launched the persecution of Falun Dafa in July 1999, practitioners have suffered illegal arrests, incarceration and torture. As the result of torture, many practitioners sustained permanent injuries or even died.
Hongzehu Prison in Suqian City, Jiangsu Province is one of many prisons that have actively participated in torturing practitioners.
Mr. Pan Xujun and Mr. Tang Xueyong were incarcerated and tortured in Hongzehu Prison at one point. After being tortured, Mr. Pan died in November 2020, and Mr. Tang could no longer walk.
Another practitioner, Mr. Cao Fulin, 68, from Yancheng City, was tortured in 2022 because he refused to transform and cooperate with the guards in the 5th ward.
The following are more details pertaining to the persecution of Mr. Pan and Mr. Tang.
Mr. Pan Xujun
Mr. Pan Xujun from Pei County, Xuzhou City was an English teacher at the Pei County Middle School. Officers from Chengzhen Police Station arrested him in May 2015. He was later tried in Pei County Court and sentenced to 5.5 years. He was tortured to death in Hongzehu Prison on November 8, 2020, ten days before his scheduled release.
Mr. Pan Xujun
When Mr. Pan was incarcerated in the 11th ward of the prison, he refused to follow the guards' orders and went on a hunger strike for over a year to protest the persecution. He refused to wear the prison uniform, and guards made him stay naked, even in the winter.
The inmates once tied a long rope around his genitals and walked him around to humiliate him. He had to constantly wear handcuffs, shackles and a helmet. The guards put him in a straitjacket to immobilize him when he slept at night.
In September 2020, the prison authorities intensified the torture of practitioners who refused to renounce their faith. An inmate in the 5th ward named Xie Donghui was transferred to the 11th ward in November 2020 to perform torture. A few days later, a practitioner in the 11th ward died, and it’s not clear whether that was Mr. Pan. Instead of being held accountable for being one of the perpetrators that caused the practitioner’s death, Xie received two months of sentence reduction and went home in December 2021.
Inmates Wu Jiang and Yan Fei were known to have tortured Mr. Pan.
Mr. Tang Xueyong
Mr. Tang Xueyong lived in Sheyang County, Yancheng City, Jiangsu Province. He was arrested on June 28, 2014 and held in Chengbei Police Station. His Falun Dafa books, DVDs, computers and printers were confiscated. The Sheyang County Court sentenced him to 8 years and 10 months in November 2016.
Mr. Tang was taken to Hongzehu Prison in early 2017. According to other practitioners held in the same cell with him, Mr. Tang insisted on meditating and was pepper sprayed by the guards, but he didn’t give up his faith. The guards then put handcuffs, shackles, and a straitjacket on him, and tortured him in solitary confinement. He remained in firm in his faith despite the torture.
Torture illustration: Straitjacket
Inmate Wang Shi in the 3rd ward put Mr. Tang in a choke hold on April 19, 2018, which caused him become unable to speak and swallow for a long time. Seeing that he remained steadfast, the guards continued to instigate other prisoners to torture him. They swore at and beat him, and forced him to listen to audio tapes that slandered Falun Dafa. A guard had inmate Han Cong stab Mr. Tang’s eyeballs many times a day. His right eye’s retina detached, and he suffered bleeding in the eye on May 31, 2018. Another inmate Xue Minghao punched him in the head repeatedly on June 7, which caused his teeth to become loose.
Mr. Tang reported the torture by the inmates to the Suqian City Procuratorate. The prison quickly transferred Han to another ward to hide him from the investigation. The guard who instigated Han to torture Mr. Tang was reprimanded, and threatened Han in retaliation.
Mr. Tang was later transferred to the 11th ward and put under strict management. He went on a hunger strike and was force fed with milk and corn. The cost of the food was deducted from Mr. Tang’s cash account. After 30 days of hunger strike, the guards stopped force feeding him, fearing that he might die as a result.
Two people from Suqian City Procuratorate went to the prison in June 2022 to investigate the torture of Mr. Tang. Before they left, they ridiculed Mr. Tang, “What’s the use of practicing Falun Gong? You can’t even walk now.”
Past Persecution of Mr. Tang
Mr. Tang was first arrested in 2000 and given one year of forced labor for going to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong. Shortly after being released, he was arrested again in 2001 for handing out Falun Dafa fliers and later sentenced to three years in Hongzehu Prison.
The guards incited two inmates to hold Mr. Tang’s arms and kick the backs of his knees. After he got up, the inmates kicked the backs of his knees again, and this was repeated dozens of times. He was frequently tortured like this and very soon, both of his legs were severely injured. The guards forbade him from sitting down, and his lower legs became swollen.
While Mr. Tang was facing non-stop torture, his older brother, Mr. Tang Xuebin, was serving a ten-year term in the same prison for his shared faith. The guards once stripped Mr. Tang Xuebin, immobilized him on a wooden board, and placed him in a bathroom infested with mosquitoes.
Mr. Tang Xueyong was released in late 2004, only to be arrested again months later and given another prison term in Nanjing Prison.
Related reports:
Schoolteacher Dies 10 Days Before Prison Term Ends, Family Suspects Organ Harvesting
Jiangsu Teacher Still Incarcerated after Wrongful Prison Term Ends
Falun Gong Practitioner Mr. Pan Xujun Brutally Persecuted in Hongzehu Prison in Jiangsu Province
Excellent Teacher Pan Xujun in Critical Condition after Seven Years in Prison (Photo)
Imprisoned Man in Critical Condition after Guards Order Inmates to Beat Him
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