Torture Cannot Shake Falun Gong Practitioners’ Faith

(Minghui.org) Before the recent United Nations International Day in Support of Victims of Torture on June 26, Falun Gong practitioners held numerous events to highlight the ongoing persecution of Falun Gong in China since 1999.

Practitioners in Auckland, New Zealand held a rally on Queen Elizabeth Square on June 20, calling for an end of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)’s persecution of Falun Gong practitioners.

Multiple government dignitaries spoke at the event to support practitioners. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Hon Marama Davidson, 1st Minister for the Prevention of Family and Sexual Violence, sent letters of support to the event.

The brutality of the CCP has violated the Declaration by United Nations, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, United Nations Convention against Torture, and other human rights laws.

Nearly 100 Torture Methods

The CCP began to suppress Falun Gong in July 1999. Its former leader Jiang Zemin, who launched the persecution, issued directives to “defame their [Falun Gong practitioners’] reputation, bankrupt them financially, and destroy them physically.”

An extralegal organization was established on June 10, weeks before the persecution was launched. Known as the 610 Office, this agency has implemented numerous policies from Jiang, including “no consequences if practitioners are beaten to death,” and “counting beating deaths of [practitioners] as suicide,” and “directly cremating [practitioners’] bodies without checking their identities.” As a result, Chinese authorities have used numerous kinds of torture methods on detained Falun Gong practitioners in attempts to make them renounce their faith. Data shows that at least 4,600 Falun Gong practitioners have died as a result of torture they suffered in labor camps, detention centers, or prisons.

These torture methods are applied in conjunction with mental abuse. The purpose is to force practitioners to give up their belief and write statements to renounce their faith and to defame Falun Gong.

The brutal methods include handcuffing, foot chains, dungeons, water dungeons, death bed, sitting still for a long time, solitary confinement, cuffing to a metal chair, the tiger bench, tying up tightly, puncturing flesh with nails, pulling fingernails with pliers, stabbing fingers with needles, force-feeding through a nostril, force-feeding pepper water, force-feeding concentrated salt water, and force-feeding dung soup.

Other torture methods include sexual abuse, keeping female practitioners in male cells, forced abortions, rape, detention in mental hospitals, forced injection of nerve-damaging drugs, and electric needles. Moreover, officials have harvested organs from living Falun Gong practitioners, sell them for profit, and cremate their bodies.

Various torture methods Falun Gong practitioners have been subjected to while detained for their faith in China.

Harrowing Torture Leading to Disability and Death

Ms. Qian Youyun is a resident of Wuhan City, Hubei Province. After a coworker told her about Falun Gong in 1998, she began to practice in May that year and benefited from it both physically and spiritually. She was later persecuted for about 20 years for her belief. This included repeated labor camp and prison terms. In addition, she was kept at detention centers and brainwashing centers.

Sometimes Ms. Qian was hung up high for weeks, handcuffed behind her back during solitary confinement for two weeks, and forced to stand for months in the winter with doors and windows open. In addition, Ms. Qian was deprived of food, sleep and the use of a toilet. She was once kept in a basement with the air conditioning set to a very low temperature for 90 hours; at other times she was left outside under the scorching summer sun when it was 39^oC (or 102^oF) while being bitten by mosquitoes. As a result of torture, she was emaciated and disfigured. She also fell into a trance and was sometimes in a coma.

Mr. Pan Xujun was an English teacher in Pei County, Jiangsu Province. After beginning to practice Falun Gong in August 1996, many of his diseases disappeared, including chronic rhinitis, otitis media, and proctitis. His family became happier, and he was also well-liked by his neighbors and his students. After being arrested in May 2015, Ms. Pan was sentenced to 5.5 years in Hongzehu Prison, Jiangsu Province in 2016. Ten days before his scheduled release, he died of torture at 55 on November 8, 2020.

The abuse of Mr. Pan included harassment, arrest, brainwashing, and imprisonment. He was beaten, deprived of sleep for long periods of time, and force-fed. He had cold water poured in his collar and shoes in the freezing winter. He also had water poured into his nose while his mouth was covered. He was also subjected to freezing, had his feet scalded with boiling water, and handcuffed in the back for a long time. Sometimes guards and inmates repeatedly choked him, almost killing him.

Police in Nong’an County, Jilin Province arrested nearly 20 Falun Gong practitioners on July 15, 2020. They included Mr. Jiang Quande, a former employee of Nongan Grain Storage Bureau, and his wife, Ms. Sun Xiuying. Mr. Jiang was already emaciated, but police detained him anyway. It was not until he was extremely weak and on the verge of death did police allow his family members to pick him up. After returning home, Mr. Jiang relied on nutrient solution injections to survive.

Even before he died on August 25, 2020, about a month and a half after his last arrest, he still had scars from torture he suffered years ago. Mr. Jiang’s son once asked police to temporarily release his mother to take care of Mr. Jiang. Nongan police said they would not do that unless the family signed documents to renounce their belief. Mr. Jiang always told his son that they could not do that.

Mr. Jiang was tortured in labor camps for a total of one and a half years and in two different prisons for a total of 11 years. The facilities included Chaoyanggou Labor Camp, Fenjin Labor Camp, Changchun Police Department, Shiling Prison, and Gongzhuling Prison. During his detentions, he was tortured in many ways including with the tiger bench, being forced to sit still for a long time, suffocation by having his head covered with a plastic bag, bamboo sticks being nailed into his fingers and nipples, electric shocks all over, and being tied up tightly. Some of the torture methods were repeated more than 10 times. This led to Mr. Jiang having bruises and blood all over and a disability in his right arm.

Torture illustration: suffocation by covering the head with a plastic bag

Safeguarding Principles

What was described above was only a glimpse of the severe and lengthy abuse that Ms. Qian, Mr. Pan, and Mr. Jiang suffered for their belief. Moreover, the physical pain, mental stress, and harm brought to their families and families like them are beyond words.

In the Communist Manifesto, Karl Marx wrote, “A spectre is haunting Europe — the spectre of communism.” The past hundred-plus years have shown that communism is a specter with a nature of class struggle, hatred, brutality, and lies. Therefore, it contradicts traditional values and the universal principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance.

Despite the harsh persecution by the CCP in the past 22 years, Falun Gong practitioners have managed to remain peaceful and calm. This is because they simply want to be better citizens following the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. Their unshakable faith has enabled them to stand strong when faced with brutal torture and slanderous propaganda.

From ancient times to modern society, countless examples have shown that no totalitarian regime will last long and that the righteous will prevail in the end. Many high-ranking CCP officials have been removed and prosecuted in recent years, and over 380 million Chinese have renounced their memberships in the CCP and its two youth organizations, the Communist Youth League and the Young Pioneers. As more people join the movement to reject the CCP, the regime gets closer to being phased out of history.