(Clearwisdom.net) The CCP arrested Falun Dafa practitioner Mr. Zhang Xiangfu from Fangzheng County, Heilonagjiang Province four times because he persisted in practicing Falun Gong. At the Fangzheng Detention Center he was forced to carry a stick on his back. At Tiananmen Square, a police officer pushed him to the ground, stepped on his head and beat him until his face became deformed. At the Changlinzi Forced Labor Camp the guards burned his hands until they turned black and his fingernails fell off. The back of his hands were scorched. He was also forced to sit in a metal chair for 15 days straight. The perpetrators also invented a torture. They installed handles on needles and shot them at the practitioners like darts. The needles stuck deep in the flesh and caused excruciating pain.

Mr. Zhang Xiangfu started practicing Falun Gong in July 1998 and benefited tremendously from the practice. He was arrested for the first time on September 15, 1999, shortly after the persecution began. Chou Yongsheng, head of the Political and Security Section from the Fangzheng County Police Department led people to arrest him at home and sent him to the No. 2 Detention Center in Fangzheng County. They released him on October 8, after extorting over 200 yuan as a food fee. During detention, Mr. Zhang was forced to carry "The Stick" for doing Falun Gong exercises. "The Stick" is similar to a handcuff, except the part that connects the two rings is not an iron chain but a steel bar. Mr. Zhang was handcuffed behind his back for three days. His hands were severely swollen as a result. While kept in this position, he could not eat, relieve himself or even sleep. After three days, the perpetrators cuffed Mr. Zhang's hands in front of his body for about one week.

On October 18, 1999, at around 9:00 p.m., Chou Yongsheng led a group to break into Mr. Zhang Xiangfu's home and asked him, "Do you still practice Falun Gong?" Mr. Zhang said, "Yes." They then took him to the Shahezi Police Department and handcuffed him to a torture chair for a whole night. The next day the perpetrators sent him to the Fangzheng County Custody Center where they held him for over one year. Mr. Zhang held several hunger strikes during detention and was force-fed. They pried his mouth open and inserted a thick tube through his mouth into his stomach. His mouth was severely scraped and he vomited and almost choked. His throat made loud noises that could be heard from far away. The inmates also beat and kicked Mr. Zhang.

Brutal persecution in Beijing

In 2001, Mr. Zhang Xiangfu went to Beijing to peacefully appeal for Dafa. On July 1 the police savagely beat him in Tiananmen Square when he was doing the Falun Gong exercises. The police struck him to the ground and hit his head with police batons. They stepped on his head, gagged him and beat him until his head became deformed. They took him to the Tiananmen Police Station where they demanded to know his address. He refused to reveal his address because if he did, he would be sent back to his local region and his family and acquaintances would be punished. The perpetrators again beat his head before sending him to a small building at the Yanshan Police Department. About five men in security officer's uniforms started beating him in the afternoon and didn't stop until the next morning. The perpetrators pinned him to the ground, beat him and kicked him. They put an electric fan in his face and handcuffed him to a metal chair. The next morning, about three perpetrators beat him and banged his head against the wall. They also hit his head and face. Mr. Zhang's face was bloody and swollen. The beating lasted late into the afternoon, when the perpetrators kicked his chest with both feet and elbowed him. They yanked out clumps of his hair and kept kicking his legs with their hard police boots.

After 48 hours of torture, Mr. Zhang was sent to the No. 2 Detention Center of the Yanshan Police Department where inmates often beat him. Mr. Zhang protested the persecution, so the perpetrators handcuffed him to a metal fence so high that he felt as if he was being torn in two. At the same time he was wearing shackles. Around 1:00 a.m. the head of the detention center let him down and put him in a chair. He ordered Mr. Zhang to stretch out his arms and handcuffed him to a railing for three days.

Mr. Zhang showed symptoms of severe illnesses and was sent to a hospital where he was diagnosed with hypertrophy of the heart. The doctor said Mr. Zhang had cancer. They at first planned to take him back to the Yanshan Police Department, but two police officers threw him out of the car soon after they left the hospital. Mr. Zhang's clothes had been taken away at the custody center. Although it was August, he was wearing a sweater and short sweatpants. The patrolling police mistook him for a panhandler and sent him to a shelter. He was later sent home.

After he returned home, the police arrested Mr. Zhang and sent him to the police department. He was later detained at the No. 2 Detention Center in Fangzheng County. The next day Chou Yongsheng and Li Kun interrogated him. Li Kun whipped Mr. Zhang with a cattle prod until his arms and back were swollen and covered with bruises. They sent him to the No. 1 Detention Center and handcuffed him to a chair. Two guards almost broke his arms by violently pushing them backwards and upwards. Ten minutes later the guards sent Mr. Zhang back to the No. 2 Detention Center where he was held for the next seven months. He was released after holding a hunger strike.

On June 17, 2002 a group led by Chou Yongsheng arrested Mr. Zhang when he was distributing flyers in Tianmen Township in Fangzheng County. He was detained for three months and then sentenced to three years of forced labor. On September 12 he was sent to the Group Drill Division at the Wanjia Forced Labor Camp. Five days later he was sent to Division 5 of the Changlinzi Forced Labor Camp.

Tortured at Changlinzi Forced Labor Camp

Division 5 at the Changlinzi Forced Labor Camp was established for the express purpose of persecuting Falun Gong practitioners. It is also called a Special Control Group. The perpetrators at this division are hardcore criminals who invented many torture methods. On arriving, two inmates dragged Mr. Zhang to a room and tortured him.

They used one of the cruelest torture methods on him. They pushed his shoulders and legs until they almost dislocated the bones. Then they pushed him to the ground and asserted brute force on him to cause internal injuries. After a while they took him to another room where they forced him to squat on a brick. They whacked his back with a long wooden stool. They beat and kicked him if he made the slightest movement or if his feet left the surface of the brick.

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Dafa practitioner Mr. Huang Tiecheng was tortured until his knees were injured and he couldn't stand up. He couldn't climb the stairs and the inmates beat him and didn't let him eat breakfast. Division head Yang Yu handcuffed him to a bed and shocked him with electric batons for a long time. Because he had difficulty standing, for three days and nights, his whole body weight was shifted to his hands. Two inmates monitored him. One day when inmate Zhao Shuang was on duty, he shocked Mr. Huang's body including his private parts and poured cold water over him. The inmates who monitored him didn't let him sleep. A group of inmates hit his chest and face until his lips bled profusely. They poured lots of cold water on him and then opened the window to expose him to the freezing temperatures. They hung him up by his hands and took turns shaking his arms once in a while when he lost feelings in them. Due to the savage torture he could not eat and vomited everything. After he was let down he passed out and vomited bile. He was diagnosed with liver damage at the clinic. The perpetrators are continuing to persecute him.

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Some inmates burned the practitioners' hands with cigarette lighters. Mr. Zhang Xiangfu's nails turned black from the burnings. His fingernails fell off and pus seeped out. The backs of his hands were also black from the burning. The practitioners were forced to squat until l1:30 p.m. and were forced to squat after they got up at 5:00 a.m. the next morning. The perpetrators swung at the practitioners' heads with heavy rubber clubs tied to strings. Mr. Zhang felt like his head was going to split open. The perpetrators often beat practitioners like this and each practitioner was beaten countless times.

The inmates also tied metal nails with wires and hit the practitioners' heads with them. The practitioners experienced great pain in their heads, which became swollen from the beatings. The inmates often hit the practitioners' backs with the legs of a stool, causing internal organ damage and bone fractures. They couldn't sleep at night because they experienced great pain whenever they moved. Inmate Yang Xiaodong kicked the practitioners with brute force until his shoes broke. The perpetrators also stabbed the practitioners' backs, heads and other parts of their bodies.

The perpetrators in Division 5 of the Changlinzi Forced Labor Camp tortured the practitioners with a method called "tightening the string." An inmate grabbed the tip of a practitioner's fingertip. Then another inmate inserted a toothbrush between the two fingers and forcibly rubbed the practitioners' fingers together until the flesh was rubbed off and the bone exposed. Some practitioners have had many fingers injured from this torture. The inmates also poured bottles of water down the practitioners' necks.

The perpetrators in Division 5 persecute the practitioners from 5:00 a.m. until past 11:30 p.m. daily. One day Zhao Shuang, the head of Division 5 called the practitioners out and shocked them one by one with electric batons. The guards struck Mr. Zhang Xiangfu's head with police batons filled with lead. A bump instantly rose up and his head hurt as if it was splitting open. Then they shocked his head with electric batons. They forced the practitioners to squat until 1:00 a.m. Once, the perpetrators put the electric batons inside Mr. Zhang's clothes and shocked him. Pan, a guard at Division 5, shocked Mr. Zhang's face with electric batons until fluid seeped out of his face. Guard Zhao Shuang kicked Mr. Zhang's ears until they bled. Guard Pan also threw a rat on Mr. Zhang's head while the inmates violently struck his head with rubber clubs.

On November 15, 2002, Dafa practitioners were detained in solitary confinement. The bunks were wet and cold. The perpetrators didn't provide any quilt or bedding. One day Zhao Shuang went to the solitary confinement cells and stripped off the practitioners' coats. He ordered the inmates to open the windows to expose the practitioners to the freezing wind. Ten days later Mr. Zhang developed a serious case of scabies and was transferred back to Division 2. After one year of detention in Division 2 he was transferred to Division 1. During the time he was held in Division 1 he was forced to peel 17.5 kg of onions each day, as did other practitioners. Tears gushed from their eyes because of the odors emanating from the onions. The practitioners were not allowed to sleep until they were done with the assigned workload. They often worked until 11:30 p.m. One university student named Shi Kuangyuan lost his eyesight due to the persecution during this period.

One year later Mr. Zhang was transferred back to Division 5. Guard Zhao Shuang brutally beat a Dafa practitioner. Dafa practitioners protested against the torture, and a dozen inmates beat practitioners Mr. Zhang, Gong Wenyi and Yang Wenjie until their noses and mouths bled and the blood spilled onto their clothes. Yang Wenjie and Gong Wenyi were injured from the beating. All three practitioners were detained in solitary confinement and handcuffed to a railing. Seven days later Mr. Zhang was sent back to Division 5 where he was forced to sit on a metal chair for 15 days. His feet and legs became swollen and his buttocks festered. He was also forced to do slave labor. Gong Wenyi and Yang Wenjie were sent to other divisions where they were forced to sit in torture chairs.

Soon, guard Zhao Shuang ordered a few inmates to strike Zhang Xiangfu to the ground and hit his head with police batons; they stepped on his head, gagged and beat him until his head became deformed, while guard Zhao Shuang shocked his head with electric batons. One day, Wang Kai, the political head of Division 5 ordered three inmates including Li Chunlong to torture him until his nose bled, and Li Chunlong pinched Mr. Zhang's genitals. Practitioner Mr. Yang Wenjie was held in Division 5 and was also brutally tortured. The perpetrators shocked Mr. Yang with electric batons until he became incontinent. Zhao Shuang also publicly slapped Mr. Yang's face.

The perpetrators in Division 5 also forced the practitioners to do intensive labor. The head inmate beat the practitioners and forbade them to sleep until 3:00 a.m. if they didn't meet their quota. Once he violently hit Mr. Zhang's head until blood came out of his ears. The practitioners get up at 5:00 a.m. and sleep only two hours a day. A lot of practitioners are on the brink of a mental breakdown due to sleep deprivation. The authorities from Division 5 accepted work from four factories. Mr. Zhang was often forced to stay up until 3:00 a.m. because he couldn't finish the heavy workload.

Head inmate Dong Hebin often beat the practitioners. One day he hit Mr. Zhang's back with a ring of keys. Mr. Zhang asked, "Why did you hit me?" Dong Hebin screamed, "So what if I hit you?" He beat and kicked Mr. Zhang until his nose bled. the blood spilled onto his clothes and his face became swollen. He kicked Mr. Zhang's sides until he couldn't breathe. Later Mr. Zhang realized two of his ribs were broken. Dong Hebin also beat practitioner Mr. Zhou Feihong because he tried to pull the perpetrators away.

Practitioner Mr. Shi Zuosheng shouted, "Falun Dafa is great," when he got up in the morning, so the division head cuffed him to a metal chair. He was wearing only a sweatshirt and sweatpants in late January. The perpetrators didn't allow him to wear any more clothes, but they still handcuffed him in a chair for one day and one night. Zhao Shuang shocked Mr. Shi's private parts with an electric baton while shocking his other body parts with another electric baton for a very long time. One day when division head Qiang entered the solitary confinement cell; he ordered the inmates to bang Mr. Shi's head against the wall and told the inmates, "Do that until he dies!" One inmate violently kicked Mr. Shi's head until his shoes broke. Mr. Shi protested the persecution so Zhao Shuang tied him to a bed for seven days. He was weak when he was let down and vomited.

The gross abuses due to the persecution at the Changlinzi Forced Labor Camp far exceed those described here. We will expose them further.