Saturday, July 14, 2012

Brutal Persecution Suffered by Female Falun Gong Practitioners in China – Part 3: Torture in Medical Facilities and Forced Drug Administration

October 26, 2011 | Summary report by a Clearwisdom correspondent in China


(Clearwisdom.net)
Part 3 – Torture in Medical Facilities and Forced Drug Administration
One of the means the CCP often uses to brutally persecute female Falun Gong practitioners is to send those practitioners who were originally healthy to a mental hospital and inject them harmful drugs or other experimental drugs, which would severely damage their nervous systems and cause internal organ failure or even death. In order to pressure them to give up their belief in Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, the CCP has detained them in drug rehabilitation centers, mental hospitals, and/or forced labor camps. The CCP isolates them from the outside world, deprives them of sleep, forces them to watch propaganda videos, and brutally beats them, causing injury, disability, and even death. This is another tactic the CCP carries out under Jiang’s mandate of “destroy them physically.”
Special Rapporteur on Torture Mr. Manfred Nowak said in his report about his visit to China that 66% of the complaint cases submitted to the UN from China were Falun Gong-related, and 8% of them occurred in Chinese mental hospitals. In January 2009, Mr. Nowak submitted a report to the United Nations that stated, “Moreover, in many cases, their detention and/or forced treatments are not subject to judicial review.” For instance, at the time of the Special Rapporteur’s visit to China, “’enforced drug rehabilitation programs’ were a specific form of administrative detention.”
Falun Gong Human Rights Working Group’s spokesperson Dr. Chen Shizhong raised this issue at the 13th session of the UN Human Rights Council. He stated: “The CCP authorities were not able to destroy Falun Gong practitioners’ wills through torturing their bodies. They gradually expanded the use of drugs, harming their nervous systems to destroy their ability to uphold their beliefs and consciences.” It was said on the official website of the Falun Gong Human Rights Working Group that the group has submitted more than 1000 cases of persecution to the United Nations, governments around the world, and international human rights organizations.
According to statistics, more than 200 Chinese mental hospitals have used drugs to torture and/or cause the deaths of practitioners who have refused to give up their beliefs. These brutal tactics still continue in China. “Mental treatment” has become a tool in political persecution.
1. Ms. Qi Bingshu, Over 60 Years Old, a Well-Known Painter
Ms. Qi Bingshu is the granddaughter of the famous painter, Mr. Qi Baishi. Before she began practicing Falun Gong, Ms. Qi had multiple health conditions and a serious bleeding problem. Her face was always as white as paper and she was frequently bedridden. After she practiced Falun Gong however, all her diseases miraculously disappeared.
On April 25 1999, Ms. Qi stood in the first row of practitioners who went to Zhongnanhai (Chinese central government compound) to appeal to the government. She stood for the whole day without eating, drinking, or even sitting down.
After July 20, 1999, she went to validate the truth about Falun Dafa many times and was consequently arrested—she is very determined. Because Ms. Qi would not give up her belief, her brother forcibly sent her to a mental hospital with help from the local police station and the doctors in the Daliushu Mental Hospital in Dabeiyao Town, the Chaoyang District in Beijing. The doctors in the mental hospital said that she had a “Qigong mental disorder” and gave her forced injections and drugs. They also claimed that she couldn’t be released until the “incident” with Falun Gong was over. Before Ms. Qi was detained, she looked just over 40 due to practicing Falun Gong. Since she’s been illegally detained and tortured, her hair has turned completely white and her hands constantly shake, making it extremely difficult for her to paint anymore.
2. Ms. Ma Yanfang, 33, from Xingshigou Village, Darehe Town, Zhucheng, Shandong Province
Ms. Ma Yanfang was employed at the Zhucheng Ceramics Factory. She started practicing Falun Gong at the end of 1997. At that time her husband, Zhao Bingjun, was serving in the Beijing Army Division.
Ms. Ma Yanfang
After the CCP started to persecute Falun Gong, Ms. Ma went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong. She traveled on foot for 17 days to reach Beijing. At the time, she only carried ten yuan. On her way, she drank river water, ate cold buns, and slept in fields. In order to raise money, she even cut off and sold her long hair. She just wanted to tell the government that Falun Dafa was good and that it was not wrong to believe in Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. She was arrested in Beijing and sent back to her place of employment to be detained. She went on a hunger strike to protest. The factory sent her to a mental hospital in Zhucheng.
On June 9, 2000, Ms. Ma asked Party secretary Wang Liqun, deputy president Zhang Zhijian, and Jiang Zhuxiang, chief of the Security Section, to give her back the Falun Dafa books they had taken from her home. The factory then sent her to the mental hospital for the second time. Ms. Ma Yanfang died in Zhucheng Mental Hospital in September 2000. According to an eyewitness, there was a dark bruise on her neck and bruises on her legs. At that time, Ms. Ma’s husband and father were present.
3. Ms. Fan Lihong, 27, Unmarried, Employed at the Xining Auto Engineer Factory in Qinghai Province.
Ms. Fan was sent to the Qinghai Women’s Forced Labor Camp for a one-year term. In May and June 2001, the forced labor camp put her in a mental hospital because she refused to give up her belief. She was force fed unknown drugs in the mental hospital. It was also said that the guards stripped off all of her clothes because she did not cooperate, shocked her with electric batons, and confined her for seven days. The guards spread a rumor saying that she was a mental patient and wanted to commit suicide.
Ms. Fan was sent to mental hospitals many times afterward. After being released from the mental hospitals, Ms. Fan did not want to eat or drink and was muddle-headed. Her eyes looked dull and she couldn’t take care herself. Her body was found in Qinghai People’s Park in December 2001. When a reporter tried to get the details from the park authorities, the person on duty refused to answer, saying, “I cannot comment on this incident. I would have to take responsibility if I said anything.”
4. Ms. Yu Lixin, 36, from Nongan County, Jilin Province
Ms. Yu Lixin
Prior to practicing Falun Dafa, Ms. Yu Lixin was suffering from nine different diseases. She went to many renowned doctors but all of them failed to cure her. She turned to Falun Dafa in 1997, and several months later a miracle took place: every one of her diseases disappeared!
Ms. Yu was an official at the Jilin City Workers’ Union [a government department] in Jilin Province. She was fired from her post because she refused to give up practicing Falun Gong. On October 14, 1999, she was detained in the First Detention Center and went on a hunger strike to protest the persecution. Guard Xing Shufen beat her and ordered other detainees to brutally force feed her.
Torture re-enactment: Unknown drug injection
On March 5, 2002, the police arrested her at her residence. Officers with the Zhihe Police Station of Jilin City used all kinds of brutal torture on Ms. Yu, such as the Tiger Bench. Additionally, they tied up her emaciated body and hung her up by the ropes. More than once, she was at death’s door as a result of the brutal torture. On March 8, 2002, she was again sent to the Jilin Province Women’s Prison, where she went on a hunger strike to protest the persecution. She was later transferred to Jilin Province’s Police Hospital.
At that time, her blood pressure dropped to zero, but the police at the hospital still did not release her. They injected her with drugs to destroy her central nervous system. She fell into a coma in the hospital on April 5, 2002. The personnel in the hospital cut her veins open and injected unknown drugs. After two months of such torture, Ms. Yu passed away at 10:20 a.m. on May 13, 2002.
5. Ms. Dong Jingzhe, 32, a Graphic Designer
Ms. Dong Jingzhe
On March 5, 2005, about 50 to 60 plainclothes policemen from the Shenyang Domestic Security Division, the Tiexi District Domestic Security Division, the Shenyang 610 Office, and the Zhengyang Police Station in the Shenhe District seized Ms. Dong Jingzhe in front of the building where she lived in the Shenhe District. Her husband and mother were also taken away.
Ms. Dong was taken to Masanjia Forced Labor Camp and tortured. In March 2005, guards shackled her to a metal bed and injected her with over 70 vials (five 500 ml. vials per day) of an unknown drug that caused paralysis in her legs. Throughout the persecution, she did not cooperate and continued her hunger strike in protest of the illegal detention. The guards in the labor camp force-fed her in a savage way. The force-feeding made her vomit blood and left her unable to open her eyes. She nearly lost the ability to talk.
On June 22, 2005, when Ms. Dong’s family came to pick her up from the Masanjia Labor Camp Hospital, she was on the brink of death. Her organs had failed and her limbs were paralyzed. She was arrested because she participated in the rescue of Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Gao Rongrong, who was dying due to abuse while in detention. Ms. Gao had been beaten by the police in Longshan Forced Labor Camp in Shenyang City. They shocked her face and body with electric batons for seven hours straight. (Ms. Gao died from persecution in June 2005). Ms. Dong was sent to a brainwashing session in Zhangshi Labor Camp, and then to Masanjia Labor Camp, where she was brutally tortured. From the beginning of her illegal detention, she undertook a hunger strike to protest.
6. Ms. Su Juzhen, 49, from Gucheng, Qiansuo Town, Suizhong County, Huludao City, Liaoning Province
Ms. Su Juzhen
Ms. Su Juzhen had suffered from severe heart disease, stomach problems, gallbladder disease, roundworms, and pancreatitis, among other conditions. She began practicing Dafa in 1996, and soon all of her illnesses disappeared.
On October 31, 1999, Ms. Su was sent to the No. 1 Women’s Camp in Masanjia. Division head Wang Yanping stripped her naked and shocked her with electric batons until large blisters appeared on her body and face and she was covered with dark bruises.
Qiu Ping and other guards took Ms. Su to the Shenyang Hospital and got a few bottles of drugs used to treat mental disorders. Ms. Su was forced to take the drugs every day and finally became mentally disordered.
During the 2002 Chinese New Year, several of Ms. Su’s family members helped her leave Shenxin Forced Labor Camp. Her limbs were limp, her eyes were unfocused and non-blinking, and she had a blank expression on her face. She didn’t eat until 22 days after she returned home. Her family later discovered unhealed wounds around her genitals and puncture marks on her body. Ms. Su did not talk, was losing her memory, and was unable to take care of herself. Despite this, Wang Fuchen, head of the Political Security Section, still instigated the police to take her 19-year-old daughter to a brainwashing center. Ms. Su’s physical condition deteriorated and sometimes she ran outside in the middle of night stark naked. Ms. Su could not eat for more than 130 days before she passed away on April 8, 2006.
On April 9, 2006, Ms. Su’s family saw that her skull, calf bone, and ribs were black. According to the specialists, drug poisoning was the reason.
7. Ms. Xu Hongmei, 37, and Ms. Shen Zili, 49, from Qiqihar, Heilongjiang Province
Ms. Xu Hongmei
Ms. Shen Zili
At around 4:00 p.m. on January 13, 2007, when Ms. Shen Zili, Ms. Xu Hongmei, and Ms. Hou Yaqian (all had been forced to leave their homes due to persecution) arrived at Ms. Hou Yaqian’s temporary residence, several police officers broke in, illegally arrested them, and took them to the Qingyun Street Police Station.
Officer Yi Zhanhui dragged Ms. Xu Hongmei to the first floor from the fourth floor and tortured her by tying her to a bed with her legs and arms stretched far apart and tying her up. He then hung her upside down four times and upright once. Ms. Xu Hongmei shouted, “Falun Dafa is good!” The police beat her until she lost consciousness. Yi Zhanhui woke her up with cold water and continued torturing her. He then locked her in a metal cage.
Torture re-enactment: Hitting the victim’s head against wall
The police from Qingyun Street Station tied Ms. Shen Zili to a chair with adhesive tape and hit her head against the wall until she lost consciousness. They continued beating her after she regained consciousness.
Ms. Xu Hongmei and Ms. Shen Zili were tortured for five days and nights. They both were badly injured and developed organ failure. On February 23, 2007, they were carried into the hospital while wearing shackles. After both women were injected with “bovine serum albumin.” They appeared to be dying and were in deep comas. They vomited blood and went into convulsions. They swelled up, had difficulty breathing, and lost consciousness.
On February 27, 2007, they both passed away, one at 4:30 p.m. and the other at 8:50 p.m. Ms. Xu Hongmei’s husband was sentenced to 13 years in prison. He is still in Tailai Prison in Heilongjiang Province.
8. Zhao Zhongling, 44, Employed by the Jinjiang Electric Machinery Factory in Chengdu, Sichuan Province
On March 22, 2007, a staff member from the Jinniu District Procuratorate called Ms. Zhao Zhongling repeatedly, asking her to come in for a “talk.” Ms. Zhao complied and was taken to the Pi County Detention Center. She began a hunger strike to protest the persecution and was later transferred to Qingyang Hospital. The hospital put her on an IV against her will, causing her to lose the ability to speak. Ms. Zhao was arrested ad detained five times before she passed away.
Ms. Zhao Zhongling
Ms. Zhao was sentenced to two years of forced labor in 1999 because she appealed for Falun Gong. She was very skinny when she was released. Later on she was arrested and sentenced to three years in prison because she talked to people about Falun Gong and distributed Falun Gong materials. She was taken to the Xinjin Brainwashing Center after being released. On November 15, 2006, she was arrested by Liu Wangyan and other officers from the Simaqiao Police Station for talking to people about Falun Gong near Simaqiao. On March 23, 2007, she was arrested for the fifth time when she went to the Jinniu District Procuratorate. On April 23, 2007, Liao Xiaobing, a doctor, and another person from the Simaqiao Police Station went to Ms. Zhao’s home, telling her parents to visit her. They said that Ms. Zhao was on a hunger strike, was very weak, and that her daily medical expenses were very high. Ms. Zhao’s younger sister went to visit her on May 4, 2007. At that time, Ms. Zhao could not say anything but appeared to be in a lot of pain and made just a few hand gestures to her younger sister. Ms. Zhao, 44, passed away at 4:50 a.m. on May 5, 2007. Her family was not allowed to see her body.
The next day, the Jinniu District Procuratorate dispatched personnel to Ms. Zhao’s home, announcing a “decision,” even though Ms. Zhao had passed away. According to the decision, Ms. Zhao was sentenced to three years in prison because she went to the police station to distribute Falun Gong fliers.
9. Ms. Huang Min, 53, the Deputy Head of the Chengdu City Middle and Small Enterprise Administration Bureau
Ms. Huang Min
Party officials at different levels persecuted Ms. Huang Min for persevering in her belief in Truth-Compassion-Forbearance. She was held in the Sichuan Province Women’s Labor Camp in Nanmusi, Zizhong County, and tortured for 19 months.
Officers from the Funan Police Station of the Qingyang District Police Department and from the Funan Street Administration Committee arrested Ms. Huang at her rented room on the morning of May 19, 2005. One official would not let her put on socks or change her clothes. They covered her head, handcuffed her, and dragged her away. They took her to the Xinjin 610 Office Brainwashing Center, where six people pinned her to the ground and force-fed her. They knocked out a tooth and violently inserted a feeding tube until her throat bled. Ms. Huang pulled the tube out and the abusers inserted it again, saying, “Go ahead and pull it out; we can put it in again. In the end, you are the one who gets hurt.”
Torture re-enactment: Brutal forced feeding
Ms. Huang was arrested on the street at 5:00 p.m. on March 4, 2007. Participating in the arrest were officers from the Chengdu City National Security Bureau and the Qingyang District Police Department. She was held at the Chengdu Detention Center, the Xinjin Brainwashing Center, and Qingyang Hospital in Chengdu.
She was held in a room with a tightly-closed door. The police forbid anyone to open it. The room was only 12 square meters [129 square feet] with a small window toward the top of the wall. The window was barred and the metal bars were closely spaced. The air in the room was stifling in the summer. There were three single beds in the room; one for Huang Min and two for female inmates assigned to monitor her.
Ms. Huang was chained to the middle bed by her hands and feet. The chains weighed about 25 kg [55 lbs]. Her fingernails and toenails were about 20-30 mm [0.79-1.18 inches] long. Her pants had been thrown away because they were so filthy. Her lower body was covered with a badly soiled and foul-smelling bed sheet. Electronic monitors and eight guards were posted outside the room.
The Qingyang District did not inform Ms. Huang’s family until early June 2007, saying Ms. Huang had been arrested and detained in the Xinhua Community Health Service Center. The hospital issued a critically ill notice. When Ms. Huang’s family asked to visit her, the police took an “Arrest Notification” and asked her family to sign the document. Otherwise, they were not allowed to visit her. Ms. Huang’s second younger sister was also forced to sign the document. Ms. Huang started to eat at the urging of her family.
The family requested a meeting with Ms. Huang through the Qingyang District Court in late June 2007. They were able to see her and she was eating well at the time. She weighed about 110 lbs. The family was told on August 15 that she passed away at 7:30 a.m. Cremation took place later that day, against the family’s will.
Ms. Huang weighed around 25 kg [55 lbs] at her death. Her eyes were slightly open, and her head was tilted to the right. Her mouth was wide open, completely exposing the upper front teeth. One tooth was missing, in the middle of the lower front row. An unknown yellow substance covered her mouth and teeth, and also leaked from the corner of the mouth. Her body had a strong medicinal odor. Her fingers were frozen in a tight grip. There were also a few bruises on her forearms.
10. Ms. Liu Zhimei, 22, from Sanqing Village, Tuanwang Town, Laiyang City, Shandong Province.
Ms. Liu Zhimei
In 1997, Ms. Liu Zhimei’s high school grades were recognized as the top in all of Shandong Province. She was admitted to the Chemical Engineering Department at Tsinghua University with exempt status, meaning she did not have to take the national college entrance exam. She started practicing Falun Gong in 1998. Jiang Zemin’s regime launched the nationwide persecution of Falun Dafa in July 1999. Because she practiced Falun Gong, school officials told her parents to take her home. The university refused to let her register in September and later suspended her without explanation or documentation. The university officially expelled her in March 2001. She was arrested at her temporary apartment in Beijing’s Haidian District in May 2001 and was then detained in the detention center of the Seventh Section of the Beijing Police Department.
In detention, Ms. Liu was tortured so badly that she was almost unrecognizable. She also sustained injuries to her chest, and several of her fingernails fell off. A guard put one leg of a chair on her instep and then sat on the chair to crush her foot. In November 2002, the Haidian District Court in Beijing sentenced 22-year-old Ms. Liu to 12 years in prison. She was transferred to the Shandong Women’s Prison.
Between the end of 2002 and 2008, before Ms. Liu Zhimei was released, guard Deng Jixia took Ms. Liu to the prison clinic almost daily. Inmates there injected her three times a day with 50 ml of unknown drugs each time. In 2003 she began to exhibit signs of mental abnormality. People often heard her cries of “I am not sick! I don’t want any shots, I don’t take drugs!” escaping from the prison’s so-called “education” section.
Ms. Liu once recalled the names of some of the drugs she was given, including such powerful anti-psychotics as Clozapine, Sulpiride, Sodium Valproate, and others. Her left middle finger is deformed and the second knuckle is enlarged and cannot straighten. A medical professional stated that it might be caused by the effect of the long-term injections of harmful and unnecessary drugs.
Prison officials called her father in October 2008 and told him to pick up his daughter on November 13. He went to prison and took her home at 2:00 p.m. on November 13, 2008. Ms. Liu told her father that she went through a physical exam three days before her release and was told she had a hole in a molar and needed an injection, supposedly costing 600 yuan, but the prison gave it to her for free. She behaved normally during the first two days at home. On the third day, however, she started to exhibit abnormal mental behaviors. She grew anxious and didn’t sleep all night. She quickly lost her memory and did not know her age.
Her mother was dealt a huge blow when she learned that Ms. Liu was sentenced to 12 years in prison and eventually became paralyzed in 2007. When she finally saw her daughter in 2008, her cherished daughter suffered a mental breakdown before her eyes within a few days. Grief-stricken, her mother died three months later at the age of 62.
(To be continued)
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