[Clearwisdom.net] I am a Falun Dafa practitioner who was once unlawfully detained beyond the sentenced term in Tangshan City No.1 Detention Center in Hebei Province. I have experienced and witnessed a series of tortures that the detained Falun Gong practitioners suffered. The following is a personal account of what I witnessed between October 2000 and the present.

1. Practitioners are injected with a drug that destroys the central nervous system

The guards in the detention center deceived Dafa practitioners into going out into the yard with the excuse that they wanted to have a talk with them. They pushed, pulled and even carried the practitioners into waiting cars. They drove them to Ankang Hospital, which was established by the police department in Yuehe. At the hospital, practitioners were given fake treatment (none of these practitioners had any illness), and then were bound by their legs and arms to the bed and given intravenous infusions. The vile people poured the drug dosages into the IV bottles. When we asked them what type of drug it was, they lied and told us that it was a nutritional supplement. The perpetrators refused to show us the medicine's packaging; however, we found out that it was a drug that inhibits the central nervous system. An overdose of this drug can make a person handicapped or even cause death. The vicious people treated these practitioners, who are healthy both physically and mentally, as severe mental patients. Practitioners exposed them at that very moment, "Why don't you dare show us the drug? You are torturing us. You are guilty and immoral. Stop doing this."

After being forcibly given the drug dose, we, in succession had various physical reactions. Most of us were lethargic and felt dizzy. Some practitioners vomited, some could not see anything, and some were not able to stand steadily and felt as if they were standing on thick cotton. We were kept in such a state for several days. When we tried to reason with them, they not only failed to realize that they did something wrong, but also said, "Because you practice Falun Gong, you should be treated like this." After these practitioners were sent back to the detention center, some felt weak and tired, and some had headaches. The practitioners said, "Without Dafa in our hearts, we would not have been able to endure. We could have become insane from the torture. It is the great Buddha law that gives us indomitable will, firm belief, and helps us break through the evil persecution."

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2. Torture using super high voltage electric needles

In December 2000, Shang Shiying (alias), a Dafa practitioner who had been injected with drugs, was taken out of the ward and sent to the Ankang Hospital. She was forced to stay there for over 10 days. This time, the thugs again forcibly restrained her to the bed. Two nurses took electric needles in their hands. One nurse asked, "How many units shall we use for her?" The other one said, "Let's use more units to punish her since she is so obstinate. Use 60 amperes." One nurse became a little scared and said, "It's too strong. 30 amperes is the maximum. We may cause death." But the other one said, "No problem. They are not scared at all. Let's make her suffer bitterly." "But that'll cause death." "Then use 50 or 40 amperes." Finally they decided to use 40 amperes, which is considerably more than the maximum. After a long time, Shang Shiying regained consciousness and was left alone in the ward.

Electro-shock treatment [also known in the West as ECT] with electric needles is only used for people with mental diseases. Real mental patients, after being treated with the electric needles once, would be scared whenever they saw the needles again. As a result, they would never make any trouble. We can imagine how much injury is caused by electric needles and what courage and will it takes for a clearheaded, physically healthy person to endure such treatment. She actually endured and said, "I once again experienced their cruel torture against practitioners, and have become more determined in Falun Dafa. At that moment, if I did not have Dafa in my heart, I would never have been able to endure. I really would have gone insane from the agony. It is Dafa and our Teacher that gave me the courage to survive and the spiritual strength to struggle. I once again feel the greatness of the Buddha law."

The extremely cruel officials in the detention center had planned to blot out Dafa from practitioners' minds with electric shock; however, it turned out to be the opposite of what they intended. The vicious cruelty lets more and more practitioners see the persecutors' true nature, and strengthens the genuine practitioners' righteous belief. As our Teacher says in the article Coercion Cannot Change People's Hearts: "The steadfast, righteous thoughts of a cultivator transcend all human understandings, transcend all human thinking, and can never be understood by everyday people. At the same time, they cannot be changed by everyday people, because humans are not able to change enlightened beings."

Last year, several practitioners held a hunger strike protest in Ankang Hospital. During their hunger strike, the guards handcuffed them to the heating pipes for the entire night in order to prevent them from practicing the exercises. The practitioners called out to each other from fear of being in danger. When it was dawn, an elderly practitioner lost consciousness. Her pants were wet with urine.

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3. Brutally force-feeding practitioners

In order to protest the persecution, practitioners began successive hunger strikes between October 2000 and January 2001. However, the vile people didn't curb their cruelty; on the contrary, they became more cruel and aggravated. They went against normal human nature, force-feeding practitioners once every day and then once every three days. Every time, each person was force-fed three bags of soybean and milk powder with a lot of salt. After the force-feeding, the practitioners suffered terribly, feeling as if they had a severe disease. Theie intestines and stomachs burned; they had stomachaches, headaches and were extremely sick. Some vomited, felt oppressed, and even had thick blood in the feces. Their noses also bled. Sometimes it was impossible to stop the nosebleeds and, in the end, there was human tissue in the blood. Dafa practitioners told the officials, "You will cause death, and you are torturing people." They said, "It's good for you. If you die, we'll say that it's because you practice Falun Gong." When we resisted their torture, they ordered the female and male guards, and the criminals to deal with each practitioner by pushing, pulling and dragging them. They even used electric batons to shock the practitioners and put shackles on them. Sometimes two people were shackled to one another and force-fed. Sometimes, the tube was repeatedly inserted into the stomach until it was in the right place. Some practitioners had been on a hunger strike for as long as 40 days. They are simply a group of common women! They suffered such bitter torture only because they persisted in what is true and refused to give up their belief.

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4. Sitting on "the iron chair"

The guards in Tangshan No.1 Detention Center put shackles on determined Dafa practitioners and beat them with electric batons. Moreover, they prepared "the iron chair" especially for Dafa practitioners. Only one person can sit on "the iron chair" at a time and this person is rendered completely unable to move while on it. If they need to use the toilet, they would have to wait for the police to help them. Some had handcuffs and shackles put on. From October 2000 until now, this torture has been used on practitioners. The legs become swollen after only one day and several days later the whole body is swollen. People are tortured like this for at least several days; some are tortured for as long as half a month. In order to achieve their purposes, the authorities make arrangements according to circumstances. For instance, if there was only one practitioner, they would confine her in the observation room in the forbidden zone to prevent other practitioners from finding her. During the winter, it was freezing in that room and the door was closed the entire time. Whatever happened inside could not be seen from the outside. For example, after practitioner Shang Shiying (alias) was sent back from Ankang Hospital, she was immediately locked up in this room. Because she was not able to get out of the chair to use the toilet at all, she wet her pants. She felt very cold even while wearing cotton-padded trousers, yet she was forced to sit on the ice-cold "iron chair" with both hands and feet cuffed. After changing her clothes, the warden head had tears in her eyes. In order to prevent such cruelty from happening again, Shang Shiying started a hunger strike to protest, but the vile thugs force-fed her. Several days later when she was released from "the iron chair", the shackles and handcuffs could not be taken off because her legs were so badly swollen. Finally they had to be broken open.

There was another practitioner who was forced to sit in this room, on "the iron chair" for 13 days and 13 nights because she refused to cooperate with the evil authorities. In December 2000, the guards put shackles on several practitioners, all together, and forced them to sit on "the iron chair" for 8 days and 8 nights. They had never experienced such torture. They were not allowed to use the toilet, so these practitioners had to hold feces and urine back, which absorbed back into their bodies. Even the police officers with consciences had tears in their eyes. During those eight days, these practitioners explained the principles to them without discontentment or hatred. They continually persuaded the police not to continue what they were doing while telling them the truth of Dafa and its principles. The thugs taped their mouths to stop them from speaking. The practitioners then began a hunger strike which lasted over 30 days. When they were released from "the iron chair" on the eighth day, their whole bodies became swollen and they could not stand steadily. They felt pain all over, and their hips and thighs became very swollen. Even the criminals said, "Dafa practitioners are really great!"

This is an account of what happened in Tangshan No.1 Detention Center. Among these Dafa practitioners who were persecuted, maybe some are your beloved friends, neighbors, colleagues. All kind-hearted people, please think this over with your own conscience and minds! In the No. 1 Detention Center, there have been so many practitioners persecuted. In the Tangshan area, there is the No.2 Detention Center, Hehuakeng Labor Camp, Hebei Provincial Labor Team (Kaiping), and numerous brainwashing classes, police stations and detention centers, in each County or District. In all places that are detaining Dafa practitioners, they are persecuted with the same level of cruelty as in the Tangshan No.1 Detention Center. Moreover, some places are even more vicious and the police have tortured Dafa practitioners so brutally that they have become handicapped or have even died from the torture. It's so bad, just in this small Tangshan area. We cannot imagine how many Falun Gong practitioners throughout the country are still suffering such torture! Kind-hearted people, do not be deceived by evil any longer; wake up quickly!

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