(Clearwisdom.net)
[Editor's note: The principles of Falun Dafa teach people to cherish life and that suicide is sinful. Under the terrible persecution, however, some practitioners have adopted extreme methods. Such behavior is wrong. We hope that all Dafa practitioners will take the principles as Teacher.]
In 2005, the persecution of Falun Dafa practitioners in Tiebei Prison of Changchun City was rampant: cases were frequently reported of practitioners being put into "small cells" (1) and tortured. Among those who were put into the small cells are practitioners Mr. Gao Changsuo, age 60, Mr. Liang Zhenxing, Mr. Zhang Beiqi, Mr. Yang Xiaohai, Mr. Wang Hongliang, Mr. Shi Chengbin, a Falun Dafa practitioner (name unknown) from the Yanbian Korean National Minority Autonomous Region (recently sent to Tiebei Prison from Beijing City), Mr. Chen Liwei (who learned Falun Dafa in a detention center in 2000), Mr. Li Ming, and another practitioner, name unknown (who learned Falun Dafa in prison). Because they all steadfastly practice Falun Dafa, these Falun Dafa practitioners were tortured in the small cell, where they were beaten by the prison guards with electric batons, punched and kicked viciously, and tortured with the tiger bench, the "stretching bed" (2), and other brutal torture methods.
Three vicious incidents of persecution against Falun Dafa practitioners occurred in 2005. The first incident involved Mr. Gao Changsuo. Mr. Gao Changsuo was put into a small cell simply because he steadfastly practices Falun Dafa and refused to be "transformed". In the small cell, Mr. Gao smashed his head against the metal blades of a heater in order to protest the persecution. [Editor's note: the teachings of Falun Gong prohibit harming lives, including one's own life. Such behavior is not in accordance with the teachings of Falun Gong and is never encouraged.] Blood was shed immediately and he passed out. Later, he was sent to the Jilin Province Police Department Hospital for medical treatment. From there, he was taken to the prison's Third Division, where he continued to be severely tortured until December 2005. The prison guards brutally tortured Mr. Gao with all kinds of methods. They also sent two "transformed" practitioners, Pan Zhaotian (male) and Jin Ming (male), to assist them in pressuring and brainwashing Mr. Gao Changsuo in hopes of "transforming" him. Mr. Gao Changsuo went on a hunger strike numerous times to protest the persecution. He continues to protest the persecution, and his situation is serious.
The second case involves Mr. Liang Zhenxing. After Falun Dafa practitioners in the prison encouraged many inmates and prison guards with a conscience and sense of justice to do the "three withdrawals" (withdraw from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the CCP Youth League and withdraw from the CCP Little Red Guards), many inmates awakened and wrote withdrawal statements. They all gave their names to Mr. Liang Zhenxing because he had a way to send the withdrawal statements through the mail from the prison to where they could be published in a timely manner. On one occasion, however, due to unknown reasons, the letter was not received by the recipient and was instead sent back to the prison. As a result, Mr. Liang Zhenxing's actions were exposed. Because it concerned the "three withdrawals" and exposing the atrocities of the Chinese Communist Party, it shocked the prison leaders and management. This incident also involved an inmate who learned Falun Dafa in the prison and helped to send the letter, and a worker who helped to mail the letter (later dismissed from work because of this). Mr. Liang Zhenxing and the inmate both suffered intensified persecution and were put into small cells, where they suffered all kinds of brutal torture.
The third incident involved Mr. Shi Chengbin (previously reported on the Minghui/Clearwisdom website: http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2005/12/23/117141.html). Mr. Shi Chengbin jumped off the factory roof to protest the persecution. A prison guard, upon learning that Mr. Shi's life was not endangered from the fall, put Mr. Shi into a small cell, tortured him with body-stretching and forced him onto the floor. This resulted in a bone fracture in his foot and severe injury of the thoracic and lumbar vertebra. Mr. Shi Chengbin let out ear-piercing cries because of the pain. Even so, Mr. Shi was tortured by the stretching method for another hour before he was taken to the hospital. At the hospital, sixteen inmates rotated in shifts twenty-four hours a day to monitor him. Now Mr. Shi Chengbin cannot turn his body over in bed. After this happened, the warden of the Tiebei Prison, Zhou Zhong (male), organized a meeting with all of the prison divisions chiefs. During the meeting, Zhou Zhong said, "As long as Shi Chengbin does not die, we do not shoulder any responsibility."
Notes:
(1) Locking up in a Small Cell
The detainee is locked up in a very small cell alone. The guards handcuff practitioners' wrists behind the back into a fixed position in which the practitioners cannot move or lie down. The small cell is very damp and completely dark. Detainees have to urinate and defecate in the cell. Only half of a regular meal is served to detainees locked up in the small cells. During the night, rats are running around. The stench in the small cell is so bad that it is difficult to breathe.
(2) Stretching Bed
The guards fix the steadfast practitioners' limbs on a specially made bed on which there are 4 rings. Practitioners' hands and feet are fixed in the rings. Then the guards apply force to the rings, so that the practitioner's body will be pulled up away from the bed as their limbs are stretched. If more force is exerted, one will pass out in a few seconds. If one is left in this position for more than ten minutes, all his/her muscle and bones in the limbs will be dislocated and the person will be maimed permanently. Moreover, the police forbid others to take care of the maimed practitioners. See illustration on http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2005/2/11/57390.html
