(Clearwisdom.net)

(Continued from Part 1- http://www.clearwisdom.net/html/articles/2011/10/31/129106.html)

Forced Brainwashing and Physical Abuse of Detained Practitioners

During the past few months numerous brainwashing centers in Wuhan City have swelled with newly admitted Falun Gong practitioners: Chenjiaji Brainwashing Center in the Jiang’an District added 7 practitioners; Qiaotouwan Brainwashing Center in the Qiaokou District added 7; Erdaopeng Brainwashing Center in the Jianghan District, 13; Yangyuan Brainwashing Center in the Wuchang District, 19; and Hubei Province Brainwashing Center (a.k.a. Banqiao Brainwashing Center), 9.

Hubei Province Brainwashing Center, set up by the Hubei Province 610 Office, tops all the brainwashing centers as the most brutal in its abuse of detained practitioners. Most practitioners sent to this brainwashing center are considered primary targets of persecution by the 610 Office. In order to make these practitioners renounce their belief, the guards not only force them to go through countless brainwashing sessions, but also subject them to physical abuse.

Below are some commonly used methods of torture:

Grabbing the practitioner’s hair to slap him/her in the face;
Hitting the person in the head or even slamming his/her head hard against the wall;
Choking the person by squeezing his/her neck;
Brutal beatings with hard objects;
Kicking and stepping on the person's feet;
Forcing the practitioner to stand for long periods of time;
Shocking the practitioner with electric batons;
Sleep deprivation;
Denial of restroom use;
Suspending the person by his/her handcuffs.

Each brainwashing session lasts 45 days. The guards normally start physically abusing practitioners in the middle of the session. This way, the wounds incurred by the injured practitioner will have time to heal.

In addition, the guards often humiliate practitioners by cursing at them. They also prohibit communication between practitioners. Sometimes they intentionally withhold food and then claim the practitioners are on hunger strike. This leads to brutal force-feeding. When they do offer any food, they put unknown drugs in it, which causes practitioners to have mental problems.

Due to long-term forced standing and sleep deprivation, some practitioners have lost consciousness and fallen down. Those who remain steadfast are subjected to intensified brainwashing sessions. Practitioners Zhang Su, Zhang Weijie, and Xiong Weiming were such examples.

Many practitioners remain mentally disoriented a long time after their release from the brainwashing center.

Practitioners Sentenced to Forced Labor or Prison

The Wuhan 610 Office and the Domestic Security Division recently filed a request with Wuchang District Procuratorate to indict nine practitioners: Zhang Weijie, Zhang Su, Li Guohua, Xiong Weiming, Xia Yang, Zhu Chunlian, Feng Zhen, Feng Yun, and Han Shuhua.

It has been confirmed that at least three of them were sentenced to forced labor and seven to prison this year alone.

1. Three Practitioners Sentenced to Forced Labor

Of the practitioners admitted in March, three women were sentenced to forced labor.

Ms. Xu Lihua, 37, was arrested while talking to people about Falun Gong in a farmers’ market on March 23. After being held in Wuhan City First Lockup for about two weeks, she was transferred to Wuhan City First Detention Center on April 6. She was later sentenced to one and a half years of forced labor and is now in Hewan Forced Labor Camp, where she has already been tortured beyond recognition.

Ms. Zeng Xianmei, in her 40s, was taken away from home on the afternoon of March 22. The police ransacked her home and confiscated her son’s computer, cell phone, and more than 6,000 yuan in cash. Not long after, Wuhan Domestic Security Division sent her to Erdaopeng Brainwashing Center. She was later sentenced to one and a half years of forced labor, but the labor camp refused to accept her after she failed the required medical examination.

Ms. Cai Rufen, a teacher at Xinzhou District Middle School, was detained for 15 days after her arrest on March 4. She was later transferred to Wuhan City First Detention Center, where she was kept for an additional month before being sentenced to forced labor.

2. Seven Practitioners Sentenced to Prison

Mr. Tang Haian is from the Wuchang District. Wuchang District Court tried him on January 10, but they didn’t inform his family until just one hour before the proceedings commenced. The prosecutor just asked a few simple questions and quickly adjourned the session. His family received a notice on January 13, informing them of his five-year sentence. At present, he is being held in Fanjiatai Prison in Shayang, Hubei Province.

Ms. Wu Bilin, in her 60s, is from the Jiang’an District. She was sentenced to five years on March 28, but the prison refused to accept her due to her poor health caused by long term detention. Wuhan City 610 Office and Wuhan City Police Department head Hu Xukun personally ordered her arrest, charging her with accompanying practitioner Li Shihong’s mother to appeal for Li. Prior to this arrest, she was detained and forced to go through brainwashing on more than 12 occasions.

Hongshan District Court tried Ouyang Haiwen, Liu Shehong, Zhang Jingzhou, and Peng Liang on May 14. All four practitioners were brutally tortured while in detention. Mr. Ouyang Haiwen was so weak that he needed an oxygen tank and several nurses to accompany him to the trial. The prosecutor gave each of the four practitioners sentences ranging from three to five and a half years in Fajiatai Prison. Wuhan 610 Office stationed more than 200 police officers inside and outside of the courthouse. Four practitioners who happened to pass by the courthouse were arrested. Five days before the trial, Wuhan 610 Office also seized Ms. Peng Yan, who hired a lawyer to defend her older brother, Peng Liang, and whose younger brother and mother both died as a result of the persecution. Unable to bear the plight of his family, their father developed a mental disorder.

Mr. Liu Mulan, born in Wuhan, worked odd jobs in Huizhou City, Guangdong Province, prior to his arrest. He was sentenced to three and a half years by a Huizhou court on September 16 for posting flyers containing information about Falun Gong.

Three Practitioners Died as a Result of Persecution

After suffering years of persecution, three female practitioners died this year alone.

1. Ms. Wang Yujie

Ms. Wang Yujie

On March 11, 2010, Ms. Wang was illegally arrested while posting notices clarifying the facts about Falun Gong next to Manchun Police Department. She was slapped in the face by Officer Chen. Her personal belongings were taken and she was detained for 15 days in Wuhan City First Detention Center. Later, she was secretly transferred to Erdaopeng Brainwashing Center in the Jianghan District by the Jianghan District 610 Office.

On April 2, 2010, Ms. Wang, who was 23 years old, was secretly sentenced to one year of forced labor and detained in the 6^th Division at Hewan Forced Labor Camp in Wuhan City.

In the labor camp, team head Hu Fang ordered drug offenders to torture Ms. Wang. She was forced to squat for six days and nights. She was monitored by drug offenders who deprived her of sleep.

Because she remained steadfast in her belief, Hu Fang ordered drug offender Cao Wenli to break her left leg and hit her in the head. After that, Cao Wenli and another convict, Zhou Yan, handcuffed her, shocked her with an electric baton, beat her for 40 minutes, and pulled out a huge clump of her hair.

Guard Hu Fang dragged Ms. Wang into the “oven room” and left her on a baking bed for over 12 hours, from 6 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. She was drenched in sweat and nearly fainted from the heat. Her head felt as if it was going to explode. The excessive heat caused her great harm.

She was forced to do slave labor in the factory and was monitored 24 hours a day. She was also not allowed to talk to anyone or receive visitors.

Ms. Wang was supposed to be released on March 11, 2011. At 9 a.m., Wang Yang, Xiantao City 610 Office head, and Zhou Guohuai, head of the Domestic Security Division, drove to the forced labor camp. They took Ms. Wang to the notorious Hubei Legal Education Center, a brainwashing center.

After Ms. Wang had been subjected to two months of brainwashing, Wang Yang from Xiantao City 610 Office and Xiao Aiyun from the Domestic Security Division escorted her back to her hometown in Xiantao City, Hubei Province.

Soon after she returned home, Ms. Wang began to experience excruciating pain in her forehead. She was in extreme pain and felt as if she was about to collapse. She kept sweating and threw up whatever she ate. This continued for four months. She finally went to the hospital and was given an injection, but it was useless. Her hands curled up and she started to cramp. She then became blind. After months of suffering, she passed away on September 3; she was only 24 years old. (Full story: "The Persecution Suffered by Wang Yujie, a Young Woman from Hubei Province, before Her Death")

2. Ms. Li Youyun

Ms. Li Youyun

Ms. Li Youyun died on February 20, 2011, at the age of 65. Just four months before her passing, Xu Jingping and three other police officers from Qiaokou District Domestic Security Division broke into her home to harass her.

When Ms. Li went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong in 2000, she was arrested and sent back to Wuhan. During her 18-month detention in the Qiaokou District Brainwashing Center, the guards forced her to stand in triple-digit heat for long periods of time. They placed a pile of plates on top of her head and beat her savagely whenever any of the plates fell. In the middle of the night, they tied her hands behind her back and left her standing in the grass barefoot to feed the mosquitos. They also made her run laps and didn’t allow her any water or food. To make her suffer even more, they would not let her use the restroom and deprived her of sleep for six straight days. When she passed out they rushed her to the hospital. But as soon as she regained consciousness, they brought her back to the brainwashing center to continue the abuse.

3. Ms. Yu Yimin

Ms. Yu Yimin

Ms. Yu Yimin after becoming mentally disoriented

Ms. Yu Yimin passed away on August 5, 2011, at the age of 49. Before she passed away, she was arrested five times, sent to Jianghan District Brainwashing Center three times, and served one year of forced labor.

The guards at Jianghan District Brainwashing Center laced Ms. Yu’s meals with unknown drugs every day from November 2002 to January 31, 2003 (Chinese New Year’s Eve). As a result, she suffered partial memory loss and had sharp pain in her feet, which gradually went numb. The guards once slammed her head against the wall repeatedly. After her release, her company fired her. She began to show symptoms of a mental disorder beginning in 2003. Since she couldn’t walk, she had to crawl. During the eight years when she remained mentally disoriented, the community Party secretary, Cao Xinyun, claimed that her practice of Falun Gong led to her insanity and that she deserved it. He even went to her home to insult and humiliate her.

Appendix: List of 87 Practitioners Arrested in 2011 (Translation omitted; see original Chinese article)