Extreme Brutality Against Falun Gong Practitioners Jailed at Liaoning Women’s Prison

Based on an original report from Minghui.org

Located in the northwestern suburb of Shenyang City, Liaoning Province, is the Liaoning Women’s Prison. It is one of the largest and most notorious prisons in China, known for abusing incarcerated Falun Gong practitioners, and in some cases, causing their deaths.

In addition to the torture and brainwashing, Falun Gong practitioners have also been forced to do labor without pay inside the prisons—producing clothing, textiles, and handicrafts— for both domestic consumption and export.

Below are two cases that testify to the ongoing brutality in the Liaoning Women’s Prison.

Diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer and Immobilized from Torture

Ms. Xie Baofeng, a Falun Gong practitioner in her 60s, has been arrested many times due to her refusal to renounce her faith. After the persecution began in 1999, she was put in a forced labor camp once for two years, given ten years in prison in 2004, and five years in 2017. 

Between November 2017 and March 2018, while serving time at the Liaoning Women’s Prison, Xie had frequent stomach pains, but prison authorities ignored her symptoms until she collapsed. She was sent to the prison hospital where the doctor then transferred her to the intensive care unit (ICU) of Shenyang Hospital. There, she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

She fell unconscious for three weeks in the ICU before the hospital announced that she was critically ill. The hospital then billed her family over 100 thousand yuan. She later regained consciousness, which surprised the doctors, who believed that she had no chance of recovery. After her discharge, she was sent back to prison.

Upon returning to prison, Xie had lost the ability to walk and was wheelchair-bound. Even so she was forced to do labor-intensive work during the day and not allowed to rest at night. While she was working, she was forced to sit on a small stool, which hurt her lower back and legs, and ruptured the flesh on her buttocks.

Former Hotel Owner in Critical Condition After Inhumane Abuse in Custody

Before the persecution of her faith in 1999, Ms. Jiang Wei was the owner of the luxurious Landun Hotel in Liaoning Province. She took up Falun Gong in 1998 and recovered from medical ailments such as hepatitis and gynecological problems through the practice.

When she went to Beijing to appeal the persecution of Falun Gong in October 1999, the police arrested her and sentenced her to three years in a forced labor camp. Two years after she was released, in April 2004, she was arrested again and sentenced to eight years in prison. Her latest arrest took place in 2015 and she was given 12 years in 2016.

Years of illegal incarceration cost her her marriage and tens of millions of yuan from her business and properties. The tortures she endured and the unknown drugs she was injected with in a mental hospital eventually caused her to become emaciated and diagnosed with stomach cancer.

Below are details of her incarceration. 

Physical Abuse and Injection with Unknown Drugs in Mental Hospital 

While being held at the Masanjia Forced Labor Camp in October 1999, the guards often tortured Jiang with electric batons, force-fed her, and stretched her body in contorted positions until she lost mobility. She was also forced to do unpaid labor for 17 hours a day and was often beaten until she passed out. Near death, Ms. Jiang was transferred to Gujiazi Mental Hospital in Shenyang City in November 2001 and given an injection that damaged her central nervous system and made her lose her memory. She was also given six bottles of unknown IV infusions, three doses of unidentified pills, and other injections for two days until she became unresponsive.

Then, the hospital staff members tied her up and applied high-voltage electric shocks to her head and limbs. She screamed incessantly until a nurse stopped it, seeing that she was dying. She spent a total of 29 days in the mental hospital, and it almost killed her.

Vomiting and Stomach Cancer

Jiang was arrested again on April 2, 2004, and sentenced to an eight-year prison term. She was force-fed concentrated salt water for five months in a detention center before being moved to Liaoning Women’s Prison in September 2004. There, the guards beat her, stomped on her chest, and injured her lungs.

Jiang was locked up in a small confinement chamber for half a year. Cold and hunger caused her to vomit daily, and she eventually developed stomach cancer. She was released on June 27, 2012, only to be arrested three and a half years later for seeking justice for all the torture she suffered during the persecution.

Emaciated with Severe Edema and Transferred to “Intensive Training Unit”

Jiang filed a criminal complaint in June 2015 against Jiang Zemin, former Chinese leader who launched the persecution of Falun Gong, and was subsequently arrested in November of that year.

Jiang said in the complaint:

“Because of the persecution, I lost my freedom and my family. I was unable to fulfill my roles as a daughter, wife, or mother. The bitterness and sadness of being separated from my family was overwhelming.

As a practitioner of Falun Gong, I have overcome many ordeals to deliver this complaint to the hands of every judge and prosecutor. I hope you use the power vested in you to bring back justice.”

Jiang was kept in a detention center after the arrest and went on a hunger strike to protest the persecution. The guards handcuffed her to a board and force-fed her four times a day.

The judge at Shuangta District Court then sentenced her to 12 years in prison on March 21, 2016. She was put in Liaoning Women’s Prison on October 23, 2016.

In July 2018, Jiang was put in solitary confinement. The space was so small that she could not stand up. She was forced to eat, sleep, and relieve herself in that place. Due to the inhumane conditions that she was forced to live in, she began to vomit uncontrollably and suffer generalized edema. Fifteen days later, she was rushed to a hospital.

Her two daughters visited her on July 30 and immediately burst into tears upon seeing the emaciated woman with severe edema in front of them.

In April 2019, Jiang was transferred to an “intensive training unit” that was dedicated to torturing Falun Gong practitioners. There, she was often beaten and not given anything to eat.

Article: https://en.minghui.org/html/articles/2021/5/23/193286.html