(Minghui.org) A Hubei man suffered numerous forms of torture, including being held in solitary confinement, being beaten, having needles stabbed into his fingernails, and being restrained on a board, in Fanjiatai Prison.
Mr. Wei Long, 48, was arrested for his belief in Falun Dafa, a Buddha school mind-body practice, and sentenced to six years in prison. The following is his account of how he was abused.
I am from Hubei but I lived in Beijing. I made a banner that said, “Falun Dafa Is Good, Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance Is Good” on November 7, 2010. I hung it up on a crossover in the Haidian District in Beijing in early morning.
The police arrested me the next day. I was detained in the Haidian Detention Center for a year before I was put on trial in the Haidian District Court.
Even though I made sound arguments and my questions left the public prosecutor speechless, and even though there was no clear evidence or any legal basis for his decision, the judge sentenced me six years in prison.
I filed an appeal, but it was rejected six months later. I was detained in Beijing for another seven months before I was taken to Fanjiatai Prison in Shayang County, Jingmen City, Hubei Province.
Fanjiatai Prison is where most Falun Dafa practitioners in Hubei Province end up. It is where violence is used to pressure them to “transform,” that is, to give up their belief. The prison is awarded over 100,000 yuan (US $15,000) for each practitioner it “transforms.” The prison, in turn, rewards each guard who participates in “transforming” the practitioner 20,000 to 50,000 yuan. The prison inmates who help in this have their terms significantly reduced.
Because I would not admit guilt or follow the prison rules imposed on criminals, the guards tormented me spiritually and physically for the four years I was imprisoned there.
When I first got there, a guard ordered inmates to beat me, force me to stand for a long duration, not let me go to the bathroom, deprive me of sleep, verbally abuse me, and even stab needles into my fingernails.
The guards also assigned inmates to monitor me around the clock and not let me talk to other Falun Dafa practitioners.
I was put in a solitary cell for 45 days beginning in March 2015 for refusing to follow the rules. The guards tied my hands and legs to a board so that I couldn't move for three days.
I was taken to the “strict management” division for 11 months starting in December 2015, when I refused to wear the prison uniform. I was tied to a board four times in one month, once for five days straight.
I was locked in a freezing cold cell by myself in December, with only a single layer of clothes.
The new deputy guard manager of the “strict management” division did not like me for not wearing a uniform or following rules. He gave me an ultimatum in August, 2016. When I didn't give in, he handcuffed my hands to a door frame and hung me up until I lost consciousness.
They then took me down and tied me to a tiger bench for six days. I was not allowed to go to the bathroom. I held a hunger strike to protest for six days.
During those six days, the manager ordered guards to carry me and the “tiger bench” to the prison's factory twice to humiliate me in front of other inmates. Another prison manager ordered inmates to write words that slandered Falun Dafa and Master on my body to torment me spiritually.
Six days later, the prison was afraid that I might die, so they took me off the tiger bench and locked me in a solitary cell for three more months.
I was released on November 8, 2016, at the end of my term.
