(Minghui.org) A husband from Dandong City found his home in shambles and discovered a search warrant on the bed. He immediately realized that his wife had been arrested again for her faith in Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline being persecuted by the Chinese communist regime.
He received a notification two days after he returned home that his wife, Ms. Song Guixiang, had been arrested. It took several days before he found out that she was being held in the Dandong First Detention Center.
Prior to her latest arrest, Ms. Song was twice given forced labor and sentenced to five years in prison for practicing Falun Gong. She was brutally tortured during each of her detentions. Her family worries that she may be tortured again for exercising her constitutional right to freedom of belief.
Most Recent Detention
Police officers from the Yuanbao District Police Department broke into and ransacked Ms. Song's apartment when the couple was away on April 12, 2016. The officers confiscated two copies of Zhuan Falun, a MP3 player, and posters and pictures related to Falun Gong.
A search warrant without a signature or authorization was left on the bed. A formal detention warrant arrived in the mail two days later, but it did not specify where Ms. Song was being held.
On the next day, April 15, Ms. Song's 80-year-old father went to the police department. He believed that his daughter was innocent and demanded her release. However, the officers told him that since they did not arrest his daughter, they did not know where she was being held.
Ms. Song's family did not find out about her detention location until days later. For them, her latest arrest evoked memories of her past detentions.
First Detention and Torture
Ms. Song went to Beijing to appeal for the right to practice Falun Gong after the persecution began in July 1999. She was arrested, taken back to Dandong City, and detained in the Dandong City Detention Center, where she was tortured for refusing to give up her belief.
Xie Zhiying, director of the detention center, forced her to walk while carrying a heavy iron block. The block had two chains attached that were cuffed to her ankles. It was so heavy that her skin had chafed off. Two guards pushed her forward and beat her if she stopped walking.
After walking around the detention center, they cuffed her arms and legs for six days and nights. The wounds on her ankles became infected, and huge scars can still be seen today.
Tortured in Masanjia Forced Labor Camp
Ms. Song was transferred to the now defunct Masanjia Forced Labor Camp in November 1999. Because she refused to renounce Falun Gong, she was tortured. She was released on October 20, 2001.
However, she was arrested again by officers from the Dandong City 610 Office and Dandong City Police Department on November 20, 2001.
Because she attempted to do the Falun Gong exercises, Xie Zhiying, the director of the detention center, brutally beat her. Xie also cuffed her arms and legs so that she could not move, and then instructed guards to beat her.
She was transferred to Masanjia Forced Labor Camp in December 2001. Guards cuffed her arms behind her back and handcuffed her to a bed for many days. She was not allowed to go to the restroom and had to wear soiled pants. At the same time, they tied up her legs with rope.
Ms. Song went on a hunger strike to protest the torture. Guards force-fed her with water containing mashed garlic and salt.
The guards used a special iron chair to torture practitioners. They forced her to sit in the chair with her hands cuffed behind the back and her feet tied to the chair legs.
When Ms. Song was on the brink of death due to the torture, the guards called her family in the middle of the night and told them to pick her up. They forced her family to pay 7,000 yuan before they released her.
Tortured in Liaoning Women's Prison
Ms. Song was again arrested in Dandong City on November 11, 2006, and given a five-year prison term. She was taken to the Liaoning Province Women's Prison and held in the No.2 Division.
Li Jing and Li Xuena were in charge of the No. 2 Division. She was forced to watch propaganda videos attacking Falun Gong and stand for entire days without moving.
It was winter, but Ms. Song was not given a winter jacket or warm shoes. She was deprived of sleep. Whenever she closed her eyes, two prisoners poured cold water over her head. They tortured her for nine days, which included food and sleep deprivation, pulling her hair, and beating her until she passed out.
They took her to a hospital and were told that she had a heart problem and needed to rest. That was not enough to stop the torture, however.
Ms. Song was held in a small cell several times. If she refused to read anti-Falun Gong propaganda, guard Wang Jian would order prisoners to stuff her mouth with socks.
Ms. Song went on a hunger strike to protest the abuses she suffered. On the eighth day, guard Zheng Juqiu ordered the hospital to force-feed her.
Perpetrators' contact information:
Sun Yu, Party secretary, Yuanbao District: +86-13841555777Tang Lijie, director, Yuanbao District: +86-13704152197
(For more names, please refer to the Chinese version.)
