Ms. Zhao Jiafang Died after
Labor Camp Personnel Injected Her with Unknown Drugs
Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Zhao Jiafang, 64 years old, lived on Songnan Street at the Songzao Coal Mine in Qijiang County, Chongqing City. She began practicing Falun Gong in October 1996. At the end of 1999, Ms. Zhao went to Beijing to appeal for the right to practice Falun Gong and was arrested. Songzao Coal Mine Police Station CCP Secretary Yang Mingyu (male) went to Beijing to pick her up and detained her for 30 days in the Qijiang County Detention Center. Officers Yang Mingyu and Yu Zhengming ordered Ms. Zhao's family to pay 3,000 yuan to cover Yang Mingyu's trip to Beijing, otherwise they would deduct the amount from her husband's low salary.
In August 2001, led by He Xinqiang, several local policemen and security guards arrested Ms. Zhao Jiafang at her home. They had her sentenced to eight and half years in prison for the so-called crime of "obstructing the law" and took her to Yongchuan District Forced Labor Camp.
In the past several years of brutal
treatment, Ms. Zhao was constantly forced to work overtime doing slave
labor. Her eyesight was blurry and she could not finish her work. She
passed out three times in the camp. She was finally taken to the labor
camp clinic, but after she was injected with some unknown drugs, she
appeared to have difficulty breathing. To avoid being held responsible
for her death, the labor camp authorities released her for medical
treatment on October 1, 2007 and she was picked up by her family. Her
family immediately took her to the Coal Mine Employee Hospital, but she
did not recover. She died at 3:40 a.m. on December 21, 2007.
Jilin Prison and Jilin Province Women's Prison Use
the "Stretching Torture" on Practitioners
"The Stretching Torture," also called the "Stretching Bed," is one of the most brutal forms of torture used by Chinese Communist Party authorities to persecute Falun Gong practitioners. It is similar to the "Dead Person's Bed," however, the bed is removed and the practitioner's body hangs in the air. This causes more severe harm to the body and is more brutal (see photo, below). This torture is most often in Jilin Prison and Jilin Province Women's Prison, also known as Heizuizi Women's Prison. Later the CCP used it as so-called "experience" in persecuting Falun Gong practitioners and "promoted" it everywhere. Many practitioners in Liaoning, Heilongjiang, and other places have been disabled or killed after being subjected to this torture.
A demonstration of the Stretching Bed
The "Stretching Bed" Causes Immediate Injury
In Jilin Prison, the "Stretching Bed" is created by placing two single beds together and placing the practitioner in the middle of two beds with the arms and legs tied and tightened to the four outer corners of the beds. After a period of time, the two beds are forced apart and bricks are squeezed into the space between the beds. Every time a brick is squeezed in, more harm to the body results. The victim cannot move his or her hands or feet at all. As those administering the torture swing, stretch, pull and force the beds apart, the flesh of the wrists and ankles is slowly ripped open. The hands and feet lose circulation, and the bone joints are stretched apart. Those who are subjected to this form of torture are in instant, unbearable pain. Falun Gong practitioners who have been tortured like this have experienced extreme pain and distress as well as muscle tears and bone fractures. Some practitioners became mentally disordered, and others disabled.
Jilin Prison Set Up over Ten Stretching Beds to Torture Male Practitioners
In October 2003, Jilin Prison set up an area with over ten dark rooms (small cells) and falsely called it the "psychological correction center" in order to persecute Falun Gong practitioners further. Every small room had a Stretching Bed. A guard would fix a practitioner to the bed, restrain his arms and legs with iron cuffs, and torture him at will. Practitioners were kicked, beaten, stomped on, burned with boiling water, stabbed with needles, and deprived of sleep. The most brutal tactic is to position the person was with the abdomen facing up and then adding things under the back, mainly cotton-padded quilts, thermoses, planks, and so on. This increases the pressure, suspending the entire body in air. The limbs are stretched tightly and the joints are stretched apart, causing extreme pain. Because the back is arched and the head is titled backward, breathing is very difficult and the victim's face turns pale.
Some practitioners are tortured this way for over ten days, three weeks, and even one or two months. This leaves the body seriously devastated, the muscle withered, and the limbs disabled. Some victims have had to lean against a wall to walk and became thin and emaciated. In the winter their hands and feet have become frostbitten.
According to our information, ten Falun Gong practitioners have died as a result of torture in Jilin Prison. They are: Liu Chengjun, Zhang Jianhua, Cui Weidong, Wei Xiushan, He Yuanhui, Hao Yingqiang, Lei Ming, Sun Changde, Wang Qibo, and Cao Hongyan. Many other practitioners have become disabled from the torture.
Jilin Province Women's Prison Torture Every Steadfast Practitioner with the Stretching Bed
This horrifying torture is also used in Jilin Province Women's Prison. In this prison, the Stretching Bed consists of a single bed. The victim's limbs are fixed to the four corners of the bed. The bed boards are then removed and the back is supported only by a half-inch thick iron pipe. The rest of the body is suspended in the air. Weights are then put on the legs, resulting in extreme pain. All the joints in the body feel like they are being cut open. The practitioner is tied like this 24 hours a day and left to urinate on herself until she is "transformed." Persons subjected to this torture often wish for death. The number of practitioners who have been tortured like this and the serious degree of this torment are far more than what has been told here. Every practitioner that refuses to give up her belief has been "stretched," not just once, but several times; some can't even remember the number of times they have suffered this excruciating torture.
Ms. Song Yanqun, a practitioner from Shulan City, Jilin Province, was a teacher of English in Harbin German Japanese School. She was illegally sentenced to 12 years in prison. In May 2005, after Ms, Song was subjected to the "Stretching Bed" at Jilin Province Women's Prison, her entire left leg lost feeling and was cold all day long. The bones inside her right arm and hand were unbearably painful. Her hand shook fiercely and she lost the ability to write.
Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Song Weixiang was hung on the "Stretching Bed" for 168 hours, with her arms and legs supporting the weight of her entire body and bedding pressed on her legs. As a result, her limbs lost feeling, her legs were swollen to twice their normal size, and she lost the ability to care for herself for a long time.
Practitioner Ms. Cheng Jie was tied on bed with washboards under her body.
Ms. Song Huidan was locked up in an area of the prison for the old and disabled. Fu Shuping and others tied her arms and legs to four corners of a bed and pulled out the bed boards, leaving her to hang in the air. They then put bedding on her legs to increase the weight.
Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Wang Liqiu was tortured with the Stretching Bed just after she arrived at Jilin Province Women's Prison in November 2007. For a period of time afterwards, she was unable to get out of bed or walk.
Ms. Guan Peixia, a farmer from Jiaohe, was detained because she refused to give up Falun Gong. She was tortured many times in the old and disabled area of the prison by area chief Fu Shuping. She has been beaten by other prisoners, supervised 24 hours a day, and tied on a bed with ropes several times. They also tortured her with the Stretching Bed. She was tied to four iron poles at the corners of the bed for two days and nights, her limbs hanging apart in the air. This caused severe injury to her back, arms, and legs. She still can't stand for long periods of time and often has pain in her lower back. She can't work or pick up heavy objects and has difficulty taking care of herself. She appears to have developed a severe heart problem.
Ms. Sun Lihong is a worker who refused to "transform." The collaborator Diao Shuanyun pulled off her clothes and forced her to stand for a long time. Collaborator Chen Yanmei from Changchun slapped her face with a paint brush, leaving scars which still remain. Ms. Sun was verbally abused and beaten by criminal inmates. She was tied to a bed for over six weeks and had to urinate on herself for the entire time. Ms. Sun was left with a sequela and now has to run to the bathroom every 40 minutes. She has become mentally abnormal and unresponsive. She is meek, slow to react, and has difficulty comprehending what others are saying.
Ms. Wang Xingxiang is a resident of Dehui, Jilin Province. She is a housewife in her mid-50s who has refused to give up Falun Gong. During her imprisonment, Ms. Wang was brutally tortured many times and was often secretly tormented by "helpers." They hung her in the air or tied her arms and legs to the four corners of a bed. This stretching torture caused her severe injury, so that her arms now lack strength and suffer from long-term numbness.
In April or May 2007, Ms. Wang Xingxiang was again isolated to be tortured. In severe hot weather, she was tied in bed for long time. She was not allowed to change clothes or shower. The supervising prisoners helped her use the toilet only at their convenience. If nobody helped her, she had to soil herself. Ms. Wang already suffered from bedsores. Her erHHbody and mind have suffered incredible trauma, yet she continues to be persecuted.
It has been reported that seven practitioners have been tortured to death in Jilin Province Women's Prison so far. These practitioners are: Yu Lixin, Deng Shiying, Wang Xiuyun, Yang Guiqin, Yang Guijun, Han Chunyuan, and Jiang Chunxian. Several have suffered mental collapse, including Yang Mingfang, Ban Huijuan, Wang Guohua, He Shurong, and others. Because the flow of information from the prison is severely restricted, the facts reported here are only what is generally known.
It is said that Jilin Province Women's Prison is still detaining over 100 Falun Gong practitioners. They are all being persecuted in the Prison Education Area on the 4th floor. Some are made to do forced labor while others are subjected to brainwashing attempts in the cell. Guards isolate and persecute practitioners who are steadfast in their practice and refuse to "transform." They are monitored by other prisoners, sleep is forbidden, and they are tortured with the Stretching Bed.