At Shibalihe Women’s Labor Camp in Zhengzhou City, Henan Province, hundreds of female Falun Gong practitioners are detained. The treatment they suffer at the hands of the officers of the labor camp is extremely brutal: they are often tortured and beaten, as well as forced to perform military-style drills each morning.

One of the torture techniques that is used regularly by the personnel of the labor camp is the “Tying the Ropes” method. In this torture technique, the police tie up the practitioner with a thin rope, circle the rope around her neck, and tie her hands behind her back. Then the police use all the force they can muster to tighten the rope. The rope becomes tighter and tighter around the body of the practitioner, and makes it more and more difficult for her to breathe. The pain is so intense that the practitioner sometimes loses control of her bladder. There are instances when the rope was tightened enough to break a practitioner’s arm. 

Between late December of 2001 and January 13, 2002, under the order of Director of the labor camp, Wu Hongru, more than one hundred female practitioners were stripped of their jackets and sweaters, and tortured with the “Tying the Ropes” method. From 63 year-old elders to a 17 year-old teenage girl, no one was spared. Besides being tied up, the practitioners were forced to maintain a half-squat position as wooden sticks and bricks were placed behind their knees. They had to bend at the waist and lower their head. In addition, to using the “Tying the Ropes” technique, guards often engage in other forms of abuse while the prisoners are still in this painful position. Such abuse includes beating practitioners with electric batons and burning them with cigarettes.

An additional way in which the labor camp personnel torture the practitioners is through forced military-style training. The practitioners are forced to participate in boot-camp style training every morning, even when they have just been released from torture and still have difficulties lifting their arms or holding things in their hands. In addition, any sign of disobedience during these drills results in additional beatings, regardless of the ages of the practitioner.

Below are individual cases detailing this violent abuse:

Ms. Cui Qiuju, female, 36, a resident of Wen County, Henan Province. During her detention in the Shibalihe Women’s Labor Camp in Zhengzhou City, Henan Province, Ms. Cui was beaten by criminals to the point that she spat blood. She was beaten because she had gone on a hunger strike to protest the persecution. Later, the labor camp was afraid of being held responsible in case she was to die and so they sent her back to Wen County in early December 2001. Three months later, after she had recovered, they arrested her again. Ms. Cui again went on a hunger strike, and on the third day of her hunger strike, she was brought to the office building of the labor camp, where she was tortured. The guards used the “Tying the Ropes” technique to torture her, as well as electric shocks and rubber batons. She was tortured for three days and nights, and incurred severe injuries as a result of these beatings. She had purple bruises all over her body, and could not move her arms. She was not allowed to sleep for 3-4 days. She is presently locked in a dormitory and is not allowed to make contact with the outside world. Recent information indicaties that she is suffering from kidney necrosis and that all of her internal organs have incurred an injury of some degree.

Ms. Ding Xiangying, 57, an official of the Jingwei Polymer Fabric Plant in Jiaozuo City, Henan Province. In 1999, Ms. Ding was arrested and sent to the Shibalihe Women’s Labor Camp, where she was placed in Team 4.. Ms. Ding was constantly beaten and brutally tortured by guards and inmates. Once, she was pushed so hard that she fell on a glass bottle and the smashed glass cut her body. Another time, she was hung up and beaten for five days and four nights.

Ms. Ding Xiangqin resident of Henan Province. Director Wu Hongru and several guards tied Ms. Ding’s hands behind her back and then hung her up using used a wooden stick, pushed through the hollow of the arms and tied to a rope. While in this position, she was kicked, beaten, and burned with cigarettes. The guards tortured her for 24 hours. During her detention, even her bathroom visits were watched by inmates and she was not allowed to buy sanitary napkins.

Ms. Wang Junying, Ms. Yan Aiying and Ms. Wang Guihua have also suffered such torture. On one occasion, Ms. Wang Guihua was tortured for four days and nights. Her lower back was injured severely from this, and she still has difficulty walking.

Similarly, on June 23, 2002, Ms. Hu Tieling’s spine was severe injured after she was beaten. She has been paralyzed and unable to walk since then.

Under the order of Deputy Chief of the Third Division of the labor camp, Hu Zhaoxia, several guards tortured Ms. Wang Aifang using the “Tying the Ropes” method. They used this method to torture her three times within three days. On another occasion, she was tied up and kicked in the abdominal area until it became black and blue.

Ms. Yang Xiuhua, 63, a resident of Luohe County, Henan Province. She was also tortured with the “Tying the Ropes” method, and as a result she could not stretch her arms out to full length. In addition, although her original detention period ended over a  year ago, she is still being detained.

In March 2002, Jia Meili, chief of the No. 3 Division, forcibly took Ms. Han Fulan to the labor camp’s new office building, tied her up and beat her. Ms. Han was also tortured for three days and nights by police officer Zhang Nan. After two days of torture, Ms. Han lost consciousness and was urinating blood. To prevent her from screaming, the officer used a rope to tie her mouth shut. After the torture, her mouth was terribly swollen and her shoulders were an unrecognizable mess of blood and flesh. Her clothes were completely torn off. For several months, her body could not touch water because of these injuries. There are still two very deep scars left on her shoulders.

Ms. Xu Bishan and Ms. Ding Xiangqin fainted many times as a result of the torture to which they were subjected. They had cuts and bruises all over their bodies from being subject to “Tying the Ropes” torture.

Ms. Yan Hong’s hands were so terribly swollen after she was tortured that she could not even move them. 

Ms. Yan Liping, Ms. Zhu Xianzhi and Ms. Yuan Xiangfan can no longer take care of themselves after having endured such treatment while in detention..

In May 2002, Jia Meili, Ren Yuanfang, Hu Zhaoxia, Ji Jianmin, Wang Nan, Han Jixin etc. extended the detention period of more than ten practitioners. Among them, the sentences of Ms. Wang Xiaodong were extended for four months and the sentences of Ms. Xu Yunpu, Ms. Xu Bishan, Ms. Wei Guirong and Ms. Su E were extended for three months.

From May 23 to June 4, 2002, police officers Jia Meili, Ren Yuanfang, Wang Nan, Hu Zhaoxia, and Han Jixin teamed up with other policemen to take fifteen practitioners including Ms. Chen Lijun, Ms. Han Fulan, Ms. Song Fengxian, Ms. Yang Aiqin, Ms. Qiao Rongxu, Ms. Li Xiurong, Ms. Jin Jianqiu, Ms. Zhou Hongying, Ms. Zhang Baoju, Ms. Wang Hongxia, and Ms. Wang Aifang, and force them to do military training in the sun when the temperature was approximately 98-100 degrees Fahrenheit. Some practitioners were forced to be in a half-squatting position and were then tied up with ropes. Ms. Wang Aifang was beaten by policewomen Zhang Hui and Ma Lan. Several days later, under the order of Zhang Hui and Ma Lan, Ms. Wang Aifang was beaten by inmates.

Ms. Zhang Baoju was locked in a small room by Jia Meili, Hu Zhaoxia, and Ren Yuanfang. For a month, she was not allowed to fall asleep until 2 a.m.each night, but was nevertheless forced to wake up at 4 a.m.. During this month, she was not allowed to close her eyes during the daytime either.

At the end of May 2002, some of the practitioners went on a hunger strike and then the guards tied a number of them up, including: Ms. Cai Qiao, Ms. Yang Chunlan, and Ms. Zhang Hanwen. Ms. Zhang Hanwen’s leg was broken as a result of the torture she was subject to by officer Chen Lanying and one of the camp guards. Since then she has been unable to get out of the bed and has been separated from the other practitioners and not allowed to be seen by anyone.