In September 1999, Mr. Zhou Zhichang was arrested and detained in the Shuangcheng Detention Center in Shuangcheng City. Mr. Zhou was kept shackled for most of his eight-month detention. To protest the prolonged arbitrary detention and maltreatment of long-term shackling, Mr. Zhou went on a hunger strike.

During Mr. Zhou's hunger strike, the guards ordered criminal inmates to torture him. They picked him up and rammed his head against the wall. On the sixth day of his hunger strike, the guards tied him to a "tiger bench" and fixed an iron mask on his face. The iron mask has iron wires that hook to the teeth, forcing the mouth to remain open. The guards then force fed Mr. Zhou. Mr. Zhou vomited blood after the forcefeeding.

Both hands and feet were shackled

On the evening of May 6, 2000, the ninth day of his hunger strike, Mr. Zhou was taken to the Shuangcheng Hospital. He was near death, his pupils were dilated, and he passed away that day.

An examination indicated that Mr. Zhou suffered extreme pain. His eyes were wide open, and so was his mouth. There were many wounds on his body. His head, his fingers, and his toes were black. There were needle holes on his arms and bruises around the holes. The skin on his head was red and it had separated from his skull. There were wounds on his feet caused by the long term shackling.

Song Yanzhao, male, 31, resident of Huangyang Town, Wuwei City, Gansu Province

Mr. Song Yanzhao was sentenced to one and a half years of forced labor at the No. 1 Labor Camp of Gansu Province because he refused to renounce Falun Gong.

In the labor camp, Mr. Song's hands were handcuffed behind his back and he was tortured in various ways. To protest the detention and maltreatment, Mr. Song went on a hunger strike.

"Death Bed"

On May 2, 2001, the labor camp forced Falun Gong practitioners to watch videotapes that slandered Falun Gong. Mr. Song tried to explain to the guards the benefit of Falun Gong practice, but was immediately knocked down to the floor by the guards. Police officer Ma Wu and Wang W e n c h a n g then instigated inmates to violent assault him. They then handcuffed Mr. Song to a death bed (see illustration). Both of his wrists were cut and bleeding because of the sharp edges on the handcuffs. The torturers handcuffed Mr. Song to the death bed for the entire night, and beat him continuously. At least five bones of Mr. Song's ribs were broken, and bruises and wounds covered his body. He finally died from the beating.

Ding Yan, female, 32, a hairdresser from Shijiazhuang City, Hebei Province

On October 28, 1999, at least 20 Falun Gong practitioners held a clandestine press conference in a Beijing hotel. The press conference attracted much attention from worldwide media. The Chinese authorities vowed to punish the organizers of the press conference.

Ms. Ding Yan was one of the principal organizers. On November 25, 1999, she was arrested in Guangzhou City. Ms. Ding was detained at many different places, including the Jiaqiaole Street Detention Center in Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province; the Shijiazhuang Detention Center in Shijiazhuang City, Hebei Province; the Shijiazhuang City Second Prison, the Baoding City Taihang Prison, and the Chengde City Prison, fifth Section, Hebei Province.

"Water Cage"

In June 2000, Ms. Ding was sentenced to four years in prison. While incarcerated in different places, the police used various methods to torture Ms. Ding, including forced hard labor, painful shackling, and being hung while her hands were shackled behind her back. In the Shijiazhuang Detention Center, Ms. Ding was placed in an iron cage with nails sticking up more than an inch through the wooden floor.

Ms. Ding's final place of detention was the Chengde City Prison. The prison guards there subjected Ms. Ding to the "water cage" torture, where she was stripped naked and locked in an iron cage with spikes on all sides. The cage was submerged in dirty water up to her neck. In addition, there was no light near the cage. Ms. Ding died in September 2001, after enduring months of the water torture.

Li Xuechun, male, 63, a retired worker at the Macheng City Light Industry Bureau, resident of Macheng City, Hubei Province

Because Mr. Li Xuechun went to Beijing to appeal to the government to stop persecuting the practitioners of Falun Gong, he was arrested and severely beaten to the point that he could not walk for a long time.

"Tiger Bench"

In the Gulou Police Substation, Macheng City, Hubei Province, Mr. Li was tied to a "tiger bench." Six groups of police personnel took turns to interrogate and beat him. During this process, Mr. Li was not given any food and was not allowed to sleep. He was detained and tortured for three months.

In late December 2000, Mr. Li died from the repeated torture sessions. He left a letter with his son, describing his torture. However, the government confiscated the letter. The government officials threatened Mr. Li's son with arrest if he ever talked about his father's death.

In October 1999, Mr. Qiu Zhiyan was arrested and sentenced to three years in the Benxi City Weining Detention Center because he went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong. At the detention center, he was severely beaten. The guards also subjected Mr. Qiu to a gruesome torture method called "stretching," in which one's four limbs are forcefully pulled from one's body. It causes excruciating pain, and can result in death. Normally, nobody can endure this excruciating abuse even for one day. However, the guards "stretched" Mr. Qiu for four days and nights. Only when Mr. Qiu was on the verge of death did the guards send him to a hospital. When he was sent to the hospital, his body was grotesquely deformed due to the torture.

In November 2000, Mr. Qiu was arrested again in Xingcheng City, Liaoning Province while on his way to Beijing to appeal. He was severely beaten by the Xingcheng City Police. After he was sent back home, he had difficulties urinating because of the injuries from the torture. Soon afterward, he had blood in his stool and began to vomit blood. He died a few days later.

A practitioner is forced to stand for a long period of time in the "Small Cell."

On December 26, 1999, Mr. Tao Hongsheng went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong. He was arrested and sentenced to a labor camp for three years. He was detained in the No. 2 Team at No. 201 detention center of Shijiazhuang City.

On July 20, 2000, Mr. Tao was subjected to a torture called the "small cell," in which the sanitary conditions are intentionally made intolerable. There was no toilet and no water supply for washing; urination and defecation were all in one small room of less than 2 square meters. The food he was given was moldy, and mixed with worms up to 1-inch long. The victim usually was forced to stand up for a long time, or handcuffed in an awkward position for an extended time. In the "small cell," Mr. Tao's health quickly deteriorated, first with daily diarrhea and then with blood in his stool and urine. He was unable to eat for nearly 20 days, he had great difficulty breathing, and he suffered from diarrhea and severe edema. When the edema worsened, his eyes could hardly open. On September 17, after nearly two months of torture in the "small cell," Mr. Tao was sent back home. He passed away on September 20, 2000.