How Gansu Province Women’s Prison Persecutes Falun Gong Practitioners Incarcerated for Their Faith

(Minghui.org) When Ms. Wang Yuxia, 57, was taken to Gansu Province Women’s Prison in the capital city of Lanzhou on July 24, 2017, three guards shocked her eyes, nose, and mouth with electric batons after she refused to acknowledge herself as a criminal. An inmate also sat on her to stop her from moving during the torture session. The corners of Ms. Wang’s eyes and mouth and her legs started to bleed and burn. Pus continued to ooze out of the wounds for 40 days.

Torture illustration: Shocked with electric batons

Since the Chinese Communist Party started the persecution of Falun Gong in July 1999, countless practitioners have been sentenced and tortured for their belief, including those being held in Gansu Province Women’s Prison.

The guards who tortured Ms. Wang were Sun Liwei (already transferred to the Lanzhou Political and Legal Affairs Committee), Xiao Yan, and Cao Yiwei (transferred to the Education division). The inmate who assisted the guards was Zhang Xiaoxuan. After Sun was transferred away, she continued to collude with another officer in the Political and Legal Affairs Committee to threaten detained practitioners to renounce their faith.

Ms. Wang Yuxia

Ms. Wang of Qingyang City, Gansu Province, started practicing Falun Gong in March 1996 and recovered from several health issues, including uterine prolapse, cholecystitis, and a gastric ulcer. After the persecution of Falun Gong started, she was detained five times in a detention center and twice in a forced labor camp and made to do manual labor. She was often harassed by officers from the 610 Office and the justice department.

On February 17, 2016, Ms. Wang was arrested for filing a criminal complaint against Jiang Zemin, the former head of the communist regime who ordered the persecution of Falun Gong. The police slapped her in the face. When she refused to give her fingerprints in the Ning County Detention Center, seven officers beat her and locked in solitary confinement once for doing Falun Gong exercises.

Ms. Wang was sentenced to five years and fined 5,000 yuan on December 29, 2016, by the Qingcheng County Court. She appealed, but the Qingyang City Intermediate Court upheld the verdict on July 23, 2017. She was admitted to Gansu Province Women’s Prison on July 24, 2017.

During the first six months in the prison, Ms. Wang was ordered to write guarantee statements to renounce her faith. She was also forced to squat on her left leg while keeping her right leg bent. The squatting lasted throughout the day and she was forced to do it every day for six months.

For the first six months, she was given a small bun every morning but no food in the afternoon. She had to get up at 6 a.m. and was not allowed to wash, eat, or use the toilet. She had to urinate and defecate in her pants. After washing her clothes in the winter, she was forced to put the wet clothes back on. Her legs became misshapen and disabled, and there was a bloodied bump on her left knee.

After six months, she was still forced to squat in the same position but could now eat.

The guards transferred Ms. Wang’s sister, Ms. Wang Gaixia, who was also incarcerated for practicing Falun Gong, to the same cell. The sisters were forced to watch each other being beaten by the guards. Her sister was also forced to swear at her. Because Ms. Wang refused to be “transformed,” the guards refused to let the inmates sleep and forced everyone to stand and beat her.

Ms. Wang and her sister both sustained fractured arms. Her sister was forced to swear at the founder of Falun Gong and write “thought reports.” When Ms. Wang refused to answer any of the guards’ questions, she was dragged to the restroom and beaten by more than ten inmates. The inmates also pushed the toilet brush into Ms. Wang’s mouth.

Torture illustration: Beatings

Ms. Wang was also sworn at every day by the inmates and forced to write “thought reports.” She refused and was dragged to the restroom to be doused with cold water. The torture lasted from October 24, 2017, to February 2018. When she refused to write statements to renounce her faith, an inmate bit her thumb and used her bloodied thumb to write the statement.

Torture illustration: Dousing with cold water

Ms. Wang was released on February 16, 2021.

Other Cases of Practitioners Imprisoned and Tortured

Ms. Liu Wanqiu of Lanzhou City was shocked with electric batons twice a day for refusing to renounce her faith. Her hands were handcuffed to a bed and she was denied the use of the toilet, so she had to soil her pants. The guards ordered her daughter to come to the prison to wash the clothes for her and forced her to wear the clothes while they were still dripping wet. The guards also forced her daughter to “transform” her.

Ms. Wang Ruilin was 66 years old when she was sentenced to five years. She was not allowed to use the toilet at night and had to relieve herself in her washbasin. However, an inmate surnamed Zhang pushed her head into the toilet bowl and pinched her neck until she was foaming at the mouth. Zhang also kicked Ms. Wang’s lower body until it became severely swollen.

Ms. Wang Yuqin was 68 when she was sentenced to five years. At Gansu Province Women’s Prison in 2019, an inmate punched and kicked her every day and also poured boiling water on her neck, burning it.

Ms. Miao Cuihua of Jingtai County was sentenced to five years. An inmate made Ms. Miao, who was in her 70s, massage her. The same inmate had also forced Ms. Wang Yuqin to buy daily necessities for her.

Ms. Liu Yong, a 71-year-old former teacher in Guazhou County, was sentenced to five years. When she was serving her last year in the prison, she saw the guards torturing other practitioners and criticized them. Guard Sun order inmate Zhang to torture Ms. Liu and deprive her of sleep. She was made to stand every night and kicked on her head in a room with no surveillance cameras. She became blind and was given a small trolley to push around. Ms. Liu’s hip was injured and she had to spend 20,000 yuan to have surgery to fix it.

Ms. Yan Ping of Jiayuguan City was sentenced to four years. This was her second prison term for practicing Falun Gong. When she was serving her last year in the prison, the guards ordered her to slander Falun Gong. She refused and was barred from using the toilet or buying toilet paper. She was also not allowed to rest in bed. An inmate wrote guarantee statements on her behalf but the guards stopped her when they found out about it.

When Ms. Qiang Weixiu of Qingyang City refused to be “transformed,” the inmates forced her to squat and did not let her sit. When she refused to cooperate, she was pinned down and beaten. She was also handcuffed, put on a drip, denied restroom use, and not allowed to wash.

Ms. Zhang Guilan and Ms. Xu Guifang were often beaten by inmates. During the holidays, the prison gave the inmates extra food—but not to Ms. Zhang and Ms. Xu.

Ms. Liu Lixia of Jiayuguan City was sentenced to seven years. She was serving her last two years in prison when the guards didn’t let her eat. She was forced to stand every day until midnight, eventually becoming emaciated, and was hospitalized. She remained in the hospital for over five months, and her belongings were thrown into the storage room.

Ms. Zhang Jianhua of Lanzhou City was sentenced to four years when she was 78 years old. She was forbidden from using the restroom at night and had to use a chamber pot. The next morning, she was forced to drink her own urine.

Ms. Li Xiulan, in her 70s, of Zhenyuan County was sentenced to three years for not renouncing her faith. She was taken to Gansu Province Women’s Prison to be persecuted.

Ms. Fan Ailing, 58, of Qingcheng County, was sentenced to three years in January 2021. She was taken to Gansu Province Women’s Prison on June 19, 2021.

Ms. Zhang Xuelian of Jiuquan City was arrested and sentenced to three and a half years. In April 2011, she was admitted to Gansu Province Women’s Prison. This is her second imprisonment.

Other practitioners who were imprisoned include:

Ms. He Niudui (70 years old and imprisoned for the third time)Ms. Lv GuiqinMs. Jiao LiliMs. Li Maowa (71 years old)Ms. Li MingyuMs. Yang Mei (developed Kashin–Beck disease due to the torture)Ms. Bai Xianglan (84 years old and sentenced to four years)Ms. Duan Xiaoyan (her front teeth were knocked out and her back was injured due to the torture)

Perpetrators’ contact information:

Zhang Zhen (张震), president of Gansu Women’s PrisonZhu Hong (朱鸿), vice president of Gansu Women’s Prison: [phone]Nian Xuefeng (念学峰), vice president of Gansu Women’s Prison: [phone]

(More perpetrators’ contact information is available in the original Chinese article.)