Ms. Zhu Xia, female, 32, is a resident of Chengdu City, Sichuan Province. Address: Apt. 1, Unit 3, Building 4, 5 Jinrong Road, Guangrong District, Chengdu City, Sichuan Province. Tel: +86-28-7643584.
Since July 1999, Ms. Zhu has often been arbitrarily detained for practicing Falun Gong, including during her pregnancy and while she was nursing. In January 2001, when Ms. Zhu went to Tiananmen Square to appeal to the government, a policeman beat her and hit her eight-month-old baby with a baton. The next day, a Chengdu government official whipped the baby with a leather belt. On August 15, 2001, the police sentenced Ms. Zhu to forced labor and sent her to the Nanmusi Women’s Labor Camp, where she was detained for 14 months. The labor camp authorities tortured her in every conceivable way. Guard Zhang Xiaofang instructed the inmates to stuff her mouth with a dirty cloth. Then they dragged her over ground that was covered with rough tiny rocks. The skin on her back, hips, and thighs was torn and covered with rocks and blood. Then Zhang and some inmates tortured her on a “tiger bench.” They put several bricks on her thighs. One inmate then sat on the bricks, and moved around a lot to intensify the pain. Later Zhang and the inmates took turns grabbing her hair and hitting her head against the wall. Zhang told her, “I will hit your head until you have a cerebral concussion and become a lunatic.” Besides the physical torture, she was often not allowed to use the restroom, bathe, or change her clothes. Inmates were ordered to curse her. In the summer, she was forced to remain exposed to the sun, and in the winter she was forced to stand outside wearing hardly any clothing. She was deprived of sleep for long periods of time. She was often forced to stand or sit for a long time without blinking.
On October 27, 2002, Ms. Zhu’s term ended, but the chief of the Chengdu City “610 Office,” He Yuanfu, transferred her to the Pengzhou City brainwashing center, the Pi County brainwashing center, and the Xinlu County brainwashing center in succession to further persecute her. Because of the continued sleep deprivation and physical and mental torture in the brainwashing centers, she had a mental breakdown. She often hallucinated or was delirious. Even after her mental breakdown, He Yuanfu refused to release her. As a result, her mental condition worsened, becoming very severe. She often cried or laughed at any time of day or night, knocked on doors and windows, and excreted everywhere. She was finally released on April 2, 2004.
Ms. Zhu’s husband, Wang Shilin, also a Falun Gong practitioner, is still detained in the Xinhua Labor Camp in Mianyang City.
In the “tiger bench” torture, the victim’s knees and thighs are tied to a narrow wooden or iron bench, with the hands tied behind the back. Increasing the number of boards or bricks inserted under his feet creates excruciating pain. The police often use this device to immobilize Falun Gong practitioners to force-feed them.
