(Minghui.org) The strict confinement management district (Twelfth Division) in Shaanxi Province Women’s Prison is located on the second level of the prison. It is used specifically to persecute Falun Gong practitioners and other religious believers. There are a total of nine cells and each cell has two inmates who monitor practitioners. No one has any freedom there.
Between 2002 and 2020, more than 250 Falun Gong practitioners were detained there and subjected to various forms of torture, including being forced to stand or sit for long periods, shocked with electric batons, being handcuffed and hung up, having their hands cuffed behind their backs, sleep deprivation, exposure to extreme cold or heat, force-feeding, and involuntary drug administration.
All practitioners are forced to watch videos that slander Falun Gong and its founder Master Li Hongzhi. Those who refuse to watch the videos or write thought reports were forced to stand or squat from morning to night regardless of their age or physical condition. Some were tortured for six months and they were given very small amounts.
The daily activities of practitioners and religious believers were restricted. They were only given cornmeal steamed buns to eat. Those who refused to transform were allowed to use the restroom only three times a day at 6 a.m., 2 p.m., and 10 p.m. As a result of being denied toilet access, some wet or soiled their pants.
The guards repeatedly harassed them, urging them to hurry up while eating or showering. As a result, elderly practitioners often slipped in the shower, with bone fractures a common occurrence.
Once, an inmate expressed sympathy for practitioners and urged the guards to stop the torture. However, the guards felt that she was rebelling and transferred her to a different cell. Those who were actively involved in the persecution had their sentences reduced.
Below are some specific torture cases.
Partially Paralyzed But Still Forced to Stand
As a result of the torture she suffered in a detention center, Ms. Qiang Xiaoxia became paralyzed (hemiplegia) on one side of her body. After she was admitted to the prison, an inmate took away her wheelchair and forced her to walk or stand, causing her to fall several times. Each time she fell, the inmate pulled her up and forced her to continue standing. Ms. Qiang was also denied access to the restroom and she was deprived of food
Hemoglobin Drops to Dangerous Level After Standing and Squatting for 10 Months
Ms. Li Xianghong was subjected to more than ten months of torture for refusing to renounce her faith, Falun Gong. She was forced to stand or squat from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. Within two months, her calves were covered in red rashes. She was given only a mouthful of porridge for breakfast and dinner, with no lunch. Sometimes that little food was taken away if the inmate deemed she had a “bad attitude” and would not transform.
The long term squatting and starvation caused Ms. Li to suffer pain over her entire body. She became so weak that she often fainted. Yet the inmates still verbally abused her and ordered her to renounce Falun Gong.
Despite the intense pressure, Ms. Li remained firm in her faith, so the inmates escalated the torture by forcing her to do military-posture squats for long periods of time, while two inmates watched her. As a result, she lost feeling in her right leg and she also developed severe anemia. A physical exam revealed that her hemoglobin level was only 50 g/L (normal range for adult women is about 110-150 g/L), placing her at risk of going into shock.
Woman in Her 70s Locked in a Metal Cage
Ms. Luo Changyun, in her 70s, was to forced to wear a cotton-padded jacket during the hot summer, resulting in nosebleeds. When she insisted they remove the jacket, the guards locked her in a metal cage for three months.
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