(Minghui.org) Eight Falun Gong practitioners in Huanlai County, Hebei Province were arrested in July 2020 and tortured in a brainwashing center for days, where they were ordered to renounce their faith.

Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.

The eight Falun Gong practitioners were arrested on the streets on the morning of July 14, 2020. They were sent to the Dahuangzhuang Brainwashing Center later that day. The brainwashing center added 16 security personnel on the same day to closely follow the practitioners around the clock.

The Dahuangzhuang Brainwashing Center was set up in April 2004 in Huailai County, Hebei. Legal experts, doctors, psychologists and religious personnel were brought in to participate in the so-called “transformation” work. Practitioners are closely monitored and often beaten up when showing resistance.

Because Mr. Ding Yuming refused to watch the video program that defamed Falun Gong and told the brainwashing center staff the facts about Falun Gong, he was beaten up and detained separately in a room with no bed. The beatings resulted in many bruises all over his body. He also vomited, had diarrhea, and then lost consciousness. He was sent to the hospital and resuscitated. After he recovered a bit, he escaped from the hospital on July 17. He is still in hiding at the time of writing.

As Ms. Ji Shujun also refused to cooperate, she was confined separately in a room with no bed. She got beaten up later because she did the Falun Gong exercises. Her sheets and comforter were taken away, leaving her to sleep on the bare cement floor. Ms. Ji was released two days later, on July 16.

Also on July 16, Ms. He Yurong’s husband, daughter, and the village officials came to take her home. Several people pushed her down and forced her to stamp her fingerprint on the release documents. The village officials continued to monitor her after she was home.

Ms. Sun Guilan’s son and her village head signed her release document for her, after she refused to acknowledge it, when they came to take her home on July 15.

Ms. Xie Changmei, Ms. Zhang Haizhen, Mr. Xu Jun and Ms. Ren Zhuxia were released on July 25.

It was reported that practitioners Peng Xia, Zheng Weigui, Wang Yanjun, Zhang Yu and Jia Lei had been detained and tortured in the brainwashing center too. Jia Lei was detained for more than two months.