October 15, 2013 | By Xincheng
(Minghui.org)
The annual US-China human rights dialogue took place on July 30-31 this year in Kunming, Yunnan Province. At the conclusion of the talks, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs declared that the Chinese are enjoying the best human rights protection ever in history.Such a shameless claim couldn’t be further from the truth, and I don’t even have to list all the Chinese regime’s human rights violations. Here I’d like to share three images whose striking resemblance is more than enough to unveil the true state of human rights in China.
Image 1: A Photo Taken in May 2013
Key feature : A special forces squad member yanked a villager’s hair and dragged her on the ground.
Background story : A fully armed special forces squad was dispatched to Jin’ou Village, Yongjia County, Wenzhou City, Zhejiang Province on May 29 this year to crack down on residents who protested the government’s policy of confiscating their land. One man was held down and brutally beaten by a group of 4 or 5 officers. A woman (seen in the above photo) was pushed down and dragged on the ground.
When the photo went viral in July, outraged bloggers called for people to identify the officer in the photo. His handling of the woman was so ruthless and totally deprived her of dignity.
Image 2: A Torture-reenactment Photo Taken in 2002
Key feature : A police officer yanked a female Falun Gong practitioner’s hair and dragged her on the ground.
Background story : When Zhang Yuhua from Jilin City, Jilin Province appealed for Falun Gong in Beijing on January 16, 2002, she was arrested and sent to Shijingshan Detention Center. Two officers from Shijingshan District Police Department, one named Li Peng and the other one with police badge number 043364, tried to get her to disclose her hometown address.[1] When she refused, they knocked her down and dragged her on the ground by her hair. They also spit in her face and kicked her in the head and ribs, all the while claiming that nobody cared if she died. Later, a third officer named Wang Ning gave her another round of savage beating. As a result of being dragged and beaten her face became extremely swollen and her legs turned purple and black. She had great difficulty walking. After her release, she reenacted the torture she endured and took pictures of it to expose the brutality of the police.
Image 3: An Oil Painting Created in 2005
Key feature : A female Falun Gong practitioner had her feet tied to the back of a moving motorcycle and was dragged to death.
Background story : On January 28, 2006, the 9th Freedom, People’s Choice Exhibition organized by Australian Amnesty International held an awards ceremony. One practitioner’s oil painting, “The Death of a Truthfulness, Compassion, Tolerance Believer” won the People’s Choice award.
According to artist Zhao Xijie, the painting depicted a true story that took place in June 2001 at Gaiguo Township of Macheng City, Hubei Province. Two local Falun Gong practitioners were dragged to death by motorcycles because they wouldn’t give up the practice. Mr. Zhao said he sent the painting to the exhibition, hoping to raise more awareness of the persecution of Falun Gong in China and to help end it.(excerpts from Falun Gong Practitioner’s Artwork Wins Award at Amnesty International Art Show .)
Striking Resemblance Shared by the Three Images
The three images were created in a span of one decade, yet they show almost identical content – a victim was subjected to the dragging torture. All of the images depict how agents of the communist regime brutalize Chinese citizens. The regime has clearly extended its persecution of Falun Gong practitioners to other people in society.
One More Example of the Dragging Torture
All three images show how the victims were dragged on the ground—a torture method commonly used on detained Falun Gong practitioners. For instance, Xin Shuhua, a practitioner from Benxi, Liaoning Province, was once subjected to this torture method repeatedly for two full months.
Ms. Xin was stripped naked and handcuffed to a radiator in a small restroom from December 2005 to January 2006. The guards kept the window wide open to freeze her in the cold every day. Only during meal times did they allow her to wear some clothes. They didn’t stop abusing her. In fact, they subjected her to more chilling torture. Three times a day, they dragged her by her foot shackles down the stairs to the cafeteria. The skin on the back of her head and her entire back was abraded and broken open. The staircase and the hallway leading to the cafeteria were covered with her blood. The guards did this very covertly as they always used a secret passageway.
Worrisome Human Rights Conditions in China
The dragging torture depicted above is just one of numerous torture techniques the regime developed to brutalize its own citizens. However, recalling the victims of one single torture technique is more than enough to reveal the true state of human rights in China.
The regime is not only persecuting Falun Gong practitioners, but also other groups of Chinese citizens. Anywhere, and at any time, anyone could be a victim. When Falun Gong practitioners tell people how they are being oppressed, they are not only safeguarding their own rights, but everyone else’s.
Note: [1] In order to not threaten the safety of other people, Falun Gong practitioners often refuse to disclose their names and addresses.
