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Unimaginable Torture Methods in the 21st Century

Aug. 8, 2021

(Minghui.org) According to Minghui.org, the first three months of 2021 reported 28 deaths of Falun Gong practitioners who lost their lives to the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) persecution. Although held at different detention facilities in various locations, all of the practitioners died of torture, with no exception.

Among them, 16 practitioners died in prisons, 8 died in detention centers, 2 died in police stations, and one was beaten to death while held at the local village Party committee office.

All these detentions, despite the torture, were illegal since Falun Gong practitioners did not commit any wrongdoings in upholding their faith. But in its propaganda, the CCP often portrays its prisons and other detention facilities as places where “tender care is given to inmates to help them correct their mistakes.” In reality, however, these facilities are like a hell that operates extrajudicially, with guards abusing and torturing detainees, especially Falun Gong practitioners, without having to face any consequences.

While the 21st century boasts an omnipresent Internet and overflowing information, the torture of Falun Gong practitioners and many other unimaginable crimes that take place in the CCP’s prisons and detention centers remain largely unknown to the outside world, due to the strict information censorship in China.

Below are some examples citing torture of Falun Gong practitioners.

Force-fed Salt for 29 Days

One would normally feel terrible after taking a sip of highly salty water. But when Mr. Li Hongwei, a practitioner from Shenyang City of Liaoning Province, protested his illegal detention in 2017, guards at Hunnan Detention Center force-fed him salt mixed with milk for 29 days in a row.

Because of this, Mr. Li’s stomach became hardened and he could not defecate. After two years of endless pain due to damage to his internal organs, he died at age 58, on June 8, 2021.

“Let her eat but don’t allow her to use the toilet.”

Ms. Zhang Yanqin, 65, was a resident of Xiangtan City, Hunan Province. While detained at the Hunan Province Women’s Prison, she was forced to attend brainwashing sessions and ordered to renounce her belief. Once in front of others, a guard instructed an inmate assigned to watch Ms. Zhang on how to abuse her, “Let her eat but don’t allow her to use the toilet.”

All practitioners transferred from local detention centers to the prison since 2017 were abused this way. First they were kept at the Admission Division for two months to go through intensive military drills as a form of torture. They were then moved to the High Security Division, also known as “Transformation” Division. Guards forced practitioners to stand for a long time with no access to a toilet. Every time a practitioner relived herself in her pants, she was only allowed to remove her pants for a brief rinse under the water. She then had to put the wet pants back on, even during the winter. But she was not allowed to cleanse her body. As time went on, her buttocks became covered with crusts of dried feces and urine, causing festering of the skin.

Ms. Zhang’s employer was notified by prison officials on December 12, 2020 that she had died. Her family was asked to plan her funeral.

“You can torture [practitioners] however you want as long as they remain alive”

The Jinan Prison in Shandong Province resumed slave labor on July 22, 2020, amid the pandemic. To boost productivity, officials gradually increased the workload, from 400 pieces per day, to 600, 800, 1000, and even 1,600 pieces per day.

Colonel officer Gong Piqi

Mr. Gong Piqi was a retired colonel officer in Qingdao City, Shandong Province. After he and over ten other imprisoned practitioners refused to do the slave labor, they were called to another room and ordered to watch videos that defamed Falun Gong. Because of high blood pressure, Mr. Gong wanted to lean against the wall for a rest. But the inmates assigned to watch him said no.

In addition, guards ordered the inmates to torture practitioners recklessly. “You can torture [practitioners] however you want as long as they remain alive,” said one guard to inmates repeatedly.

In the end, Mr. Gong died on April 12, 2021. Upon death, his head had visible wounds, and bleeding from the ears. His head was swollen and wet.

A Doctor Subjected to 40+ Torture Methods

Dr. Wu Qun worked at the clinic owned by Chongqing Ceramics Company before he opened his own clinic in 1997.

He began to practice Falun Gong in May 1996. Within one month, the numerous diseases that bothered him for 36 years were gone, including severe rhinitis, gastric problems, arthritis, and insomnia.

Torture illustration: Pricking fingers with a needle

Falun Gong enabled Dr. Wu to become a better person with improved medical skills, but he was detained for a total of nearly eight years for his faith in Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, including three labor camp terms, one prison term, and six criminal detentions.

In addition, Dr. Wu was tortured with more than 40 different methods during his various detentions. The torture methods included beatings, burnings, pulling hair, pulling eyebrows, digging ears, covering up mouth, choking the throat, pricking fingers and thighs, burning eyebrows and fingers with a lighter, burning palms with a cigarette, and smoking mouth, nose, and eyes with burning mosquito coils.

Dr. Wu is still being held at the Yongchuan Prison in Chongqing City.

Pouring Boiling Water on Back: Common Tools with Unbearable Pain

The third round of the “transformation” campaign against Ms. Xu Guixian started on June 1, 2020, in Ward 5 of Liaoning Women’s Prison. But Ms. Xu did not yield, and refused to write statements against her will to slander Falun Gong.

A tragedy then took place in cell 404 at 8 p.m. on June 4. Inmates Xiao Miao and Song Lanjie poured boiling water on the back of Ms. Xu. At the same time, inmate Li Feifei firmly held down Ms. Xu, making her unable to move.

Several inmates in the same cell saw this incident. The officers on duty were Li Zhe and Li Yan. Clergy in charge was Yang Min and supervisor of Section 6 was Niu Jingjing.

Pouring boiling water

On the next morning, people saw that Ms. Xu’s jacket was soaked with bloody water, which kept dripping for several days. To cover it up and prevent others from seeing it, guards assigned inmates to take Ms. Xu for cleaning separately. Starting in August 2020, Ms. Xu started a two-month hunger strike.

Splitting Legs Beyond Physiological Limit

A new Transformation Division was formed at Wangling Prison in Zhuzhou City of Hunan Province in October 2017, to force practitioners to renounce their belief.

Among all the torture methods in Wangling Prison targeting practitioners, the cruelest one was called “killing a pig” or “splitting legs.” Two inmates pulled apart the victim’s arms behind his back, while another two inmates stretched the two legs apart. This continued until both legs formed a straight line. The pain was unbearable and the victim usually screamed loudly. In the end, the extreme agony often made the victim lose consciousness and become unable to make any sound.

Splitting legs

Mr. Hu Wenkui, a practitioner in his 30s from Changde City, was once tortured this way, which led to incontinence. He often defecated and urinated on himself or in the bed. In the end, he developed a mental disorder.

The splitting legs was only one of the many torture methods used at Wangling Prison. There were even more cruel and despicable torture methods. “We have lots of experiences dealing with Falun Gong practitioners,” some officers boasted. Two officers, Li Gang and Liu Shaoliang, were especially ruthless toward practitioners. Both are from You County in Hunan Province.

It is important to point out that while the guards who tortured Falun Gong practitioners in the CCP’s detention facilities across China should face consequences for their crimes, the CCP, which ordered the perpetrators to do so and rewarded them for their evil deeds, is the root cause of the crimes.