(Minghui.org) The prisons in China have been used by the Chinese Communist Party to detain and torture Falun Gong practitioners since the persecution of Falun Gong started on July 20, 1999. The following are details of persecution events that took place in two Beijing prisons.
Beijing Women’s Prison
With orders from former directors of the Third Ward of Beijing Women’s Prison, Zhang Haina and Dong Xiaoqing, and current director Li Qian, Falun Gong practitioners were subjected to torture methods including brainwashing, drug administration, sleep deprivation, and denied restroom use. Some practitioners developed urinary incontinence as a result of denied restroom use. Some inmates tortured the practitioners in blind spots of the surveillance cameras. They specifically pinched them, leaving bruises underneath their clothing. Numerous practitioners were tortured to death or became disabled.
The prison often holds criticism sessions that practitioners are required to attend, where inmates are arranged to give speeches to incite hatred towards the practitioners. They often accuse the practitioners of having mental disorientation and use that as an excuse to “help” them.
Another persecution tactic is to restrict the inmates who monitor the practitioners or share the same cell with the practitioners from washing up or sleeping. This is to isolate the practitioners and intensify the hatred against them.
Below are snippets of a few cases:
- Ms. Zhang Shuxiang was arrested on June 21, 2017 and sentenced to three years. She was transferred to the Third Ward on August 1, 2018, and subjected to intensified torture. In addition to having persistent high blood pressure, Ms. Zhang’s diabetes also relapsed. Claiming to be “helping her” control her blood sugar, the inmate assigned to monitor her gave her very little food for each meal and didn’t let her drink water. She soon became emaciated and incontinent. She also experienced organ failure and was on the verge of death. She was taken home in an ambulance on April 3, 2019 and passed away on March 30, 2021. She was 73 years old.
- Ms. Meng Xiuhua, then 63, of Yanqing County, was arrested on July 4, 2011 and sentenced to 3.5 years. When detained in Beijing Women’s Prison, she was forced to do hard labor without pay. She became mentally disoriented from torture. She had trouble organizing her speech and couldn’t express herself clearly. When her relatives asked her if she had been tortured or given unknown drugs, she only cried and did not dare to tell her relatives what had happened in the prison.
After Ms. Meng was released, she resumed practicing Falun Gong, and regained her health. She was arrested again on May 23, 2018 and sentenced to another 3.5-year term. This time, she became extremely weak and could not stand, yet the guards still forced her to do hard labor. She was also forced to write a statement that she volunteered to work despite her condition.
- Ms. Zhang Yinying, then 70, of Chaoyang District, was a worker at the Environmental Sanitation Bureau in Dongcheng District before she retired. She was secretly sentenced to three years in May 2017. The prison guards treated her as a mental patient and held her in solitary confinement, not allowing her to step out. They also put papers written with content slandering Falun Gong into her underwear.
- Ms. Kan Shufeng, then 73, was arrested by local 610 Office agents on September 1, 2017, and sentenced to two years. She was detained in the Third Ward of Beijing Women’s Prison and often forced to write self-reflection reports. She was also verbally abused by other inmates. Director Zhang made her stand in the hallway and shout 100 times, “I’m shameless!”
- Ms. Zhao Liuji, 69, of Yanqing District, was arrested in 2018, and sentenced to three years in 2019. At the Third Division in Beijing Women’s Prison, guards forced her into a surveilance blind spot in the cell and pinched everywhere. Her thighs and arms were bruised.
- Ms. Xu Na, a 56-year-old artist in Beijing, was arrested in July 2020 and sentenced to eight years on January 14, 2022. She was transferred from Beijing Dongcheng District Detention Center to Tianhe Prison Dispatch Office on September 20, 2023. She was taken to the Third Ward in Beijing Women’s Prison around November 2023. But she was soon removed from the Third Ward, and her current whereabouts aren’t clear.
- Ms. Gong Ruiping, 58, of Pinggu District, was arrested in July 2021. She was sentenced to 5.5 years on February 21, 2022, by Pinggu District Court. When in the Third Ward of Beijing Women’s Prison, the guards didn’t allow her to sleep or use the restroom, as she refused to renounce Falun Gong.
This was the second time that Ms. Gong served time in the prison. She was previously arrested in 2001 and sentenced to four years. She was held in solitary confinement and beaten on a constant basis. The ward director at the time, Tian Fengqing, instructed the guards to add toxic drugs to her food for nearly six months.
- Ms. Guo Jinxiang and Ms. Qing Xiuying both served ten years in the Beijing Women’s Prison. Ms. Guo became mentally disoriented and Ms. Qing developed severe diseases from the torture.
- Ms. Bian (first name unknown) went on a hunger strike to protest the torture, and was force-fed. The guards also tied her up and gave her toxic injections. Blood stains were seen all over her cell. She is now in a delirious state.
- Ms. Bu Jinxiang was injected with unknown drugs and is now in a delirious state.
Liulin Prison
Besides Beijing Women’s Prison, Liulin Prison has also been involved in persecuting Falun Gong practitioners. It was recently confirmed by the Minghui.org website that some practitioners imprisoned in Beijing Women’s Prison were transferred to the Liulin Prison, including elderly and infirm practitioners, as well as those who were injured from the torture or had infectious diseases.
Liu Yingchun, the deputy warden of Liulin Prison, has been persecuting Falun Gong practitioners for nearly 20 years. She is in charge of the ward specifically designated to persecute practitioners.
Liu was previously director of the Fourth Ward in Beijing Women’s Prison, where at least three practitioners, Ms. Geng Jin’e, Ms. Li Li, and Ms. Zhang Chunfang, were persecuted to death. Liu used various materials to brainwash the practitioners, especially with teachings from other religions.
Below are two cases of torture in Liulin Prison:
Ms. Wang Fenglong from the Fangshan District was arrested at home in 2014 and sentenced to four years in prison. While imprisoned at Liulin Prison, she was tortured, developed high blood pressure and diabetes, and suffered a stroke. She was released in April 2018 and passed away eight months later on January 20, 2019. She was 59 years old.
Ms. Chai Guijin from the Miyun District was arrested and sentenced to 2.5 years in 2017. She suffered from severe tuberculosis due to the persecution.
Related Report:
Crimes Committed by Huang Qinghua, Director of the 610 Office at Beijing Women’s Prison
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