(Minghui.org) More than 30 Falun Gong practitioners are currently detained at the Gansu Women’s Prison. They are suffering tremendous physical and mental torture by guards and inmates.
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a meditation system based on the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. Since the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) began to suppress the group in July 1999, a large number of practitioners have been detained, imprisoned, and tortured for their belief.
Tortured and Injured
Ms. Guo Caiping from Qingyang City, already in her 70s, was beaten by inmates Wang Lei and Zhang Yu almost daily. Inmates grabbed her by the hair and knocked her head against metal doors. Wang poured chilled water down her neck, while Zhang beat her, pushed her down on the floor, and dragged her around by her collar. It nearly suffocated Ms. Guo and left her face and body bruised. She was denied bathroom privileges and often forced to squat for a long time.
Ms. Duan Xiaoyan, also from Qingyang, was shocked with electric batons by guard Wei Ying. Her face turned purplish-black, and she was close to losing her eyesight. Guards forced her to write a thought summary, and do a rewrite if it deemed to be unsatisfactory. Inmates Jiao Lijuan and Fang Lin stabbed Ms. Duan’s buttocks with pens.
Ms. Zhang Youfu is from Baiyin City. She was shocked by guard Wei Ying with electric batons numerous times. Guards ordered her to malign the founder of Falun Gong in front of other inmates. When she refused, they wouldn't let her use the bathroom. Ms. Zhang was also forced to squat for a long time and inmate Li Haoxi beat her.
Ms. Li Mingyi from Gangu County was fed nerve-damaging drugs. She was not allowed to sit and suffered miserably.
Because of refusing to write a thought summary, Ms. Liu Wanqiu from Lanzhou City was prohibited from using the bathroom, and thus soiled her pants. Gao Juan took her to the bathroom and poured cold water over her. At night, the persecutors removed all bedding, and she had to sleep on a wooden board. Not only that, guards handcuffed her hands to the bed frame making her unable to turn over. Because her pants were wet from the urine for a long time, her bottom festered. This torture lasted for over five months. Additionally, she was forced to write statements renouncing Falun Gong. Ms. Liu, about 60, was taken to a prison at the same time as her daughter. Guards forced her to do things against her will, threatening to otherwise hurt her daughter.
Ms. Zhang Jianhua, over 80, from Lanzhou City, is also suffering in Gansu Women’s Prison. Guards Sun Liwei, and Wei Ying, repeatedly demanded that she renounce her faith. They demanded she write a thought summary every day that slandered the founder of Falun Gong, and herself. As Ms. Zhang refused, inmates Zhao Ruixiu beat and kicked her, and forced her to stand for a long time. Guards also demanded her to denigrate Falun Gong and the founder in front of inmates. Without her own bucket, Ms. Zhang urinated at night in a bucket that belonged to someone else. Inmate Zhang Xiaoxuan forced her to hold the bucket and drink the urine in the bathroom.
The above tortures are not isolated. Almost all practitioners detained in Gansu Women’s Prison have suffered like this.
Death of a Practitioner
Ms. Xu Huixian, a retired teacher from Zhenyuan County, was sentenced to a three- year term in 2015. She was emaciated, and in a life-threatening condition due to torture in the prison. Shortly after her release on June 18, 2016, she died on July 8.
Ms. Xu was extremely weak, and could not speak during her final days. Other than sleeping, she was quite agitated at times. Practitioners, who also were detained in that prison said that Ms. Xu probably was given drugs before her release.
Category: Torture of Women
