(Clearwisdom.net) Wuhan Women's Prison has been labeled a "model unit" for its brutal persecution of Falun Gong practitioners, and many such organizations from all over the country have come to learn from it. The women's prisons in Shaoguan City of Guangdong Province and Changsha City of Hunan Province even brought the steadfast practitioners from their prisons to this place in order to try to "transform" them. In particular, since Luo Gan [the head of the "610 Office," an agency created to persecute Falun Gong] visited Wuhan Women's Prison in May 2001, the persecution of practitioners has been ever more rampant.

There were about 200 practitioners detained in Wuhan Women's Prison, with jail terms of three, four, seven or eight years. Some were even sentenced to over 10 years. The torture methods used by the police were very despicable and barbaric. They arranged each practitioner to be monitored by four prisoners whose terms were very long. The practitioners were monitored 24 hours a day. No matter what they were doing, whether it was eating, sleeping, washing, or going to bathroom, they were constantly being watched. They were not allowed to contact any other people. The police instructed those prisoners to use whichever method of torture necessary to try to force a practitioner to give up Falun Gong. Doing so, they would be rewarded with merits or sentence reductions.

The guards made stickers with words and strange pictures attacking Dafa and Master, stuck them onto practitioners' backs, the walls, beds, and bed sheets, and even engraved them on practitioners' bowls and cups. Each practitioner was often besieged by seven or eight criminals, who then read out loud those defaming words. The reading of each paragraph was followed with discussion, and everyone was required to comment. When they forced the practitioners to comment, they would physically and verbally assault the practitioners did not give a satisfactory answer. Sometimes, the practitioners were forced to watch videos that defamed Dafa for more than 10 hours continuously. The practitioners would be physically tortured if they refused to watch.

The following tortures were often adopted to persecute the practitioners: Cuffed and hung up [With both hands cuffed, both feet off or only toes touching the ground, one is hung onto a basketball goal post or the beam of the building with the handcuffs. The hands and arms will soon become numb.], forced to stand straight up for long periods of time, "Digging the wall"[a practitioner is forced to stand at a certain distance from the wall, with his head leaning against the wall and body bending over at an angle. The longer one is forced to lean against the wall, the more pressure is felt on the head], forced-feeding, hung up with rope, brutal beating, forced to stand in the hot sun, exposed to mosquitoes in filthy places, forced to be stay outside in freezing temperatures without warm clothes, not being allowed to use the toilet, and being deprived of sleep for a long time.

Below are the situations of some practitioners:

Ms. Xia Huan, is a laborer in her 40's. She was illegally sentenced to three years in prison. When she was sent to the prison in May 2001, she refused to have her photo taken, thus not acknowledging herself as a prisoner who committed a crime. The head of the admission team Wang ordered the prisoners to cuff her forcefully. Two prisoners pressed her down and another one squatted behind her back, grabbing her hair and pulling it down, in order to take the photo by force. Because she refused to recite the prison rules, she was tortured with the method of "digging the wall" for two days. Since she was detained in the 4^th Section of No.1 Division, she was often deprived of sleep and was not allowed to use the toilet, as a punishment for refusing to write statements renouncing and slandering Falun Gong. Once at about 10:30 p.m., a prisoner Xiao Hong (Xiao used to be a guard in Shayang Forced Labor Camp and was sent to the prison for corruption. As many other guards in the prison were her classmates, she did whatever she liked in the prison) forced Xia Huan to write materials attacking Dafa, in order to accomplish her task assigned by the police. As Xia firmly refused, Xiao frenziedly squeezed Xia's neck. Xia struggled painfully until other prisoners pulled Xiao away. Xia reported the event to guard Liu Wei and team leader Wang Manli who were on duty, but they did nothing. Under the high pressure, Xia Huan yielded against her will. In May 2002 when she realized her mistake, she wrote solemn declarations, exposed what the criminals had done to her in front of hundreds of people, and did the exercises openly. Her hands were cuffed behind the back for one day and night, and she was then put into a solitary compartment. After she was released from there, she was deprived of sleep for a whole week. When Xia fainted to the ground due to insufficient food, water and sleep for two days, guard Wang Manli said to the prisoners who were designated to supervise her, "Give her a little water and let her continue to stand." Once, the instructor of No.1 Division Long Cuihua forced other prisoners who were on night and midday shifts to takes turns to accompany Xia Huan to stand, in order to stir up their hatred and poison their minds against Dafa.

Ms. Chu Dongju, 32 years old, is a farmer. Because she refused to cooperate with the evil, the guards often instigated the prisoners to beat her. She lost her hearing due to the beatings. She was locked in a solitary compartment for eight days without sleep, with her hands cuffed behind the back onto a metal door. Long Cuihua said to her, "Here, I'll make it hard for you to live and hard for you to die." When she was sent back to the 4^th section after the eight days, they continued to force her to stand straight, and asked her to do labor while standing. Guard Wang Li shouted out, "If you don't write the statement and obey us, you will stand there until you die."

Ms. Zhong Min, 40 years old, is a businesswoman. Because of her firm refusal to give up Falun Gong, she was often forced to stand against the wall for as long as a week, being beaten and insulted. She was forced to do heavy labor such as carrying heavy bags, and was later locked in a solitary compartment and handcuffed behind the back to a metal door. She was deprived of sleep for a long time, with the longest period being 15 days. Her legs were swollen and festered with yellow pus. The criminal Zhang Baoxiang collected ants from the ground and put them inside Zhong's clothes and poured cold water on her. When Zhong Min protested the inhuman treatment with a hunger strike, the criminal attempted to force-feed her with pig slop. Because another prisoner refused to cooperate and the attempt failed, Zhang brutally beat her.

Ms. Cui Hai, 54 years old, was a former supervisor in the Wuhan Chemical Import & Export Corporation. Because she went to Beijing to appeal for Dafa, she was illegally sentenced to three years in prison. Since May 2001, she has been detained in Hanxi Brigade of Wuhan Women's Prison, which is located in the suburban area. As she was steadfast in Dafa and did not cooperate with the evil, team leader Chen Ying often forced her to stand for durations of two days. Once, Chen Ying forced her to stand under the hot sun during the day, and let the mosquitoes and bugs bite her in the night. In such hot weather, she was not allowed to take a shower or to have any sleep. Seeing that she was still unyielding after two days of continuous standing, guard Chen Ying put up signs attacking Dafa and Master on the wall, and asked her to stand. She firmly refused. Chen Ying then cuffed and hung her up from the metal bars of a window, and still did not allow her to rest after taking the cuffs off. She was deprived of sleep for eight days. She was swollen so badly that her feet couldn't fit into her shoes, and it was very hard for her to go up stairs or to the bathroom. A prisoner gave her a pair of oversized shoes, which barely fit her feet. Many other prisoners could not bear to see such torture. Once when she was forced to stand under the scorching heat of the sun, a prisoner came to her and said in tears, "You suffered so much for your belief. I am truly moved."

Later, the guards forced her to do the heavy farm work, from 6 a.m. to the evening, in temperatures as high as 40^o C. She was the only one working in the entire field. At noon, in the evening and night, they attempted to brainwash her. Whenever the "Focal Point" program of CCTV showed something to attack and frame Dafa, seven or eight prisoners would be arranged to besiege her to force her to give comments. If she clarified the truth to them, they would start to harshly slander Master and Dafa with dirty words, and then attempt to force her to write her "understanding" again and again. At midnight, they took turns: some went to sleep, and some continued to insult Dafa. Everyday, they forced her to read and transcribe the materials or watch a video that attacked Dafa. She was asked to write three or four materials of "understanding" each day. She would run out to protest such an inhuman torture when she could not bear it any longer. Every night, she was not allowed to rest until 2 or 3 a.m. Just after 5 a.m., these tortures were repeated. In over four months of that summer, such tortures never stopped for one day. She was tortured to the point where she was no more than skin and bones.

The instructor of Hanxi Brigade Zhang threatened her, "You cannot leave here without being 'transformed.' Now, there are only four prisoners to watch you. If you don't cooperate, we'll add to six or eight prisoners to take turns to torture you day and night. We have plenty of prisoners here. I just don't believe that you are made of steel."

Ms. Yang Xianfeng, in her 40's, worked as a tailor. When she was illegally detained in the detention center, she was tortured until she was unable to walk. She was carried to the prison, and was detained in the No.1 Team of Disabled Prisoners. Because she resisted the evil, the guards deprived her of sleep for over a dozen days, and forced her to stand continously for many days and nights as a punishment. She fainted on numerous occasions and fell to the ground. The back of her head was hurt and bled profusely. Even so, the guards still tied her up to a pillar, forcing her to continue standing. The criminals often beat and abused her. As she firmly refused to write the "three statements" to give up Falun Gong, team leader Fan locked her up in a strictly monitored cell together with mentally ill prisoners, cuffed her hands behind her back onto a metal door, and deprived her of sleep for over ten days. Her swollen and festered hands were deformed, and her feet were swollen so terribly that it seemed she was wearing boots. Her lower body was swollen from the feet up to the thighs. Both of her legs turned black and blue, and were a terrible sight to behold. Many prisoners shed tears when they saw her. The criminals also deliberately opened and closed the metal door frequently, in order to repeatedly drag her in and out together with the door. Her cries of pain could often be heard. Because the strictly monitored cells were located beside the restroom, one had to pass by that area to use the restroom. Even in such a situation, Yang still did not give in. A person named Peng Jinxiu then drafted a so-called "Dissociation Statement", and got six prisoners to forcefully manipulate her hands, in an attempt to get her to sign the statement. She firmly refused and used all of her strength to resist. Then they pushed and beat her, some held her down, and some twisted her arm and tied a pen onto her hand to force her to sign. The sound of Yang's cries could be heard upstairs .

Ms. Peng Yan obtained the Fa when she was still a student. At the age of 22, she was illegally held in Wuhan No. 1 Dentention Center and sentenced to three years' imprisonment. At the end of July, 2001, she was transferred to the Spraying and Knitting Section of Wuhan Women's Prison. It was exposed to the world that her brother Peng Min and mother Li Yingxiu were both tortured to death by the police in Hubei City, Wuhan Province. So to cover up their crimes, the authorities blocked the source of the evidence and resorted to all means possible to try to transform Peng Yan. According to the prison guards, there was an order from the higher authority that Peng Yan be "transformed" in a short time.

From the detention center to the prison, Peng Yan has suffered terribly in the past three years. She suffered innumerable hardships but never gave in. The physical tortures had no effects on her at all. The prison organized a so-called "study class," which specifically targeted her. They reserved a whole building, which was for prisoners' dining and boarding. The police gathered over a dozen of prison guards from various sections who had extensive experience in persecuting Dafa practitioners. They were mainly instructors and team leaders, both the male and the female. In addition, they also gathered almost 20 "personal cangues" [Cangue, the name of an instrument of torture, is now used to indicate the person who was designated to supervise practitioners]. In this so-called study class, these people ate and lived together with her. Every day they ate and slept well, took very "careful care" of her life, and treated her as a child. From the head of the jail to each section person, each of them took turns to "attack the steadfast ones." The jail Commissioner Han Hanyun hypocritically regarded Peng Yan as his so-called "adopted daughter." In the video, Han publicly held Peng and said, "This is my daughter, who is the most disobedient." Han also promised to help Peng to solve her family problems, and to find her a job if she would be "transformed" and thus released. In addition, Han also gathered people from the Wuhan "610 Office*" and a group of collaborators [Former Falun Gong practitioners who have gone astray due to brainwashing and torture] inside the prison, attempting to deal with Peng. Their most insidious method was the order that if Peng was not "transformed," all prison guards involved would not be allowed to go home. As such, they continued for over 20 days. When Peng gave in, these guards were quite happy and excited, and they captured it on video to spread around and deceive people.

The prison guards routinely deprived the practitioners of sleep for a long time, and in the meantime carried out brainwashing in order to gain the control over practitioners' minds. The objective is to undermine the practitioners' will. However, most practitioners wrote solemn declarations to express their firmness in Dafa once they realized their mistakes. They exposed their personal sufferings and many facts by writing to the various departments in the prisons.

Inside the prison, there are no human rights. The police don't follow any laws when dealing with Dafa practitioners. They even added in parentheses, one sentence next to the section of freedom of religion and belief in the Constitution posted on the wall, "excluding Falun Gong." They are charged with enforcing the law, but they knowingly violated the law everyday. In order to deceive practitioners to obtain the "three statements," they were cruel and ruthless, and dared to do whatever inhuman things with the lowest degenerated means. When some practitioners asked the police, "The 'three statements' you got are fake, what's the use of them?" The police, "We just want the fake ones."

The above is merely a small portion of the persecution against Dafa practitioners by Wuhan Women's Prison. Under the Jiang regime, this kind of den of evildoers are everywhere in China. We believe that one day the facts of the persecution will be completely exposed, and the world's people will all know the truth.

* The "610 Office" is a bureau specifically created by the Jiang regime to persecute Falun Gong, with absolute power over each level of administration in the Party, as well all other political and judiciary systems.

October 26, 2003

Posting date: 11/16/2003
Original article date: 11/15/2003
Category: Eye Witness Accounts
Translated on 11/5/2003
Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2003/10/27/59552.html

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