Healthy Man Dies While Being Held in Psychiatric Hospital for His Faith
(Minghui.org)
Name: He JingruChinese Name: 何镜如Gender: MaleAge: 67City: HuizhouProvince: GuangdongOccupation: Gardener and former basketball playerDate of Death: May 20, 2025Date of Most Recent Arrest: 2024Most Recent Place of Detention: A psychiatric hospital
Mr. He Jingru of Huizhou City, Guangdong Province was taken to a local psychiatric hospital after he was arrested in 2024 for his faith in Falun Gong. Perfectly healthy before his arrest, he died in the hospital months later on May 20, 2025. He was 67. Details about the possible torture or involuntary drug administration he suffered aren’t clear.
Mr. He, born in July 1957, was repeatedly targeted for his faith after the Chinese Communist Party ordered the persecution of Falun Gong in 1999. He served a three-year forced labor term (January 2001 – January 2004) and three five-year prison terms (July 2003 – July 2008, January 2010 – January 2015, and April 2017 – April 2022).
During his 18 years of prior detentions, Mr. He was subjected to numerous forms of torture, such as savage beatings, being scalded with boiling water, involuntary administration of toxic drugs that damaged his central nervous system, being hung up, and sleep deprivation. His arm was broken after a beating session in 2012, while he was serving his second prison term.
Three-Year Labor Camp Term
After the persecution started in 1999, Mr. He went to Beijing three times to appeal for the right to practice Falun Gong and was arrested each time. After holding up a banner at the Tiananmen Square during his third trip in January 2000, he was given three years at the Sanshui Forced Labor Camp in Foshan City, Guangdong Province.
First Five-Year Prison Sentence
Mr. He was arrested again in July 2002 for raising awareness about the persecution. He was sentenced to five years and admitted to the Sihui Prison in Guangdong Province. As he refused to renounce Falun Gong, the guards used various torture methods on him, including pouring boiling water over his face and hands; submerging his head in filthy water; depriving him of sleep; and placing burning cigarettes over his nose, knowing that he didn’t smoke. All of his upper teeth were knocked out.
When Mr. He remained firm in his faith despite all the torture, the guards injected him with a toxic drug. He lost his sanity and did everything the guards ordered him to, including writing a statement to renounce Falun Gong.
Torture reenactment: submerging one’s head in filthy water
The drug administration also caused Mr. He to experience muscle atrophy in his arms and legs. He was unable to walk on his own and had to be carried by two inmates when he used the restroom. Shortly before his prison release, the prison arranged three inmates to train him to walk, in order to cover up the persecution he suffered.
Second Five-Year Prison Sentence
Mr. He was arrested again on January 28, 2010 and sentenced to another five-year prison term. He was admitted to the Beijiang Prison in Shaoguan City, Guangdong Province on November 12, 2010.
Under the directions of prison guards, the inmates took the seat off from a chair and forced Mr. He to sit on two one-inch wide wooden beams. They tied his feet and restrained his arms to the “chair” for two days. He was also denied any food or water during the time, and he had to relieve himself while sitting on the chair. An inmate stomped on his feet, further immobilizing him.
On December 23, 2010, the inmates took Mr. He to a room specifically set up to persecute practitioners. They cuffed his hands behind his back and hung him from a window frame for three days.
Torture illustration: hung up by the wrists from the back
Seeing that Mr. He still wouldn’t renounce his belief, the guards sprayed oil on pieces of paper and lit them on fire in front of him. The type of oil used (carminative oil) prevented flames but produced toxic fumes and smoke that went directly into his nostrils.
After three days of torture, Mr. He couldn’t move his limbs. Accusing him of faking an injury, the inmates stabbed his hands with toothpicks. They stopped after seeing no reaction from him. Then, an inmate grabbed his hands and forced him to copy a statement renouncing Falun Gong.
The sputum that Mr. He coughed out looked like yellow mud. He was diagnosed with serious lung infections by the Shaoguan Hospital. His hair turned gray within two months of incarceration.
Because Mr. He clarified the facts about Falun Gong to other inmates during a prison meeting, guard Zhang Jiwen was furious and removed him from the conference room. In the following days, Zhang ordered an inmate to cook breakfast for Mr. He. When Mr. He ate it, the food reeked of drugs. He noticed that the muscular atrophy in his arms worsened.
In late 2012, Mr. He went on a hunger strike to protest the brainwashing. The guards played propaganda videos slandering Falun Gong around the clock in front of his bed. He protested. Inmates then beat him and broke his arm.
Eight months later, he finally gained some feeling in his left hand. He couldn’t move his right hand until he was released from prison.
Third Five-Year Prison Sentence
Mr. He was arrested another time on April 4, 2017, after being reported for writing “Falun Dafa is good; Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance is good” in public places. The arresting officers from Huidong County Domestic Security Division held him at the Huidong County Detention Center.
The Huidong County Court sentenced Mr. He to the third five-year term with a 10,000-yuan fine in late March 2018. He was again tortured while serving time at the Beijiang Prison. Guard Liu Chuankai once ordered an inmate to handcuff him behind his back for a month. He became incapacitated as a result.
After Mr. He was released on April 3, 2022, the authorities forced him to stay at a senior center, where he was monitored by the staffers around the clock. The staffers even followed him when he returned home to visit his family members.
Related Reports:
Falun Gong Practitioners Forced to Study Buddhism in Two Guangdong Prisons
Imprisoned in the Past for a Total of 15 Years, Guangdong Man Is Detained Again for His Faith
Physical and Drug Torture Leads to Muscular Atrophy for Practitioner from Guangdong Province