Wang Xiaodong, a 34-year-old middle school teacher, was tortured to death

Ms. Wang Xiaodong and her husband Liu Xifeng were both teachers at Nantou High School in Shenzhen City. They had a son named Liu Xiang, who is now 11 years old. They were both fired from their jobs because they firmly insisted on practicing Falun

Dafa. In 2000, Ms. Wang exercised her legal rights and went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong. She was abducted and sent to Nanshan Detention Center on April 29, 2000.

In order to protest her illegal imprisonment, Ms. Wang went on a hunger strike and refused to wear the prison uniform on many occasions. For that, she was punished and abused cruelly. She wrote an appeal letter to the procuratorate office, detailing the inhumane treatments and abuses, which she and other Falun Gong practitioners suffered in prison. In order to instigate hatred towards Falun Gong practitioners among other inmates, the guards punished everyone in Ms. Wang's prison ward. He withheld food for one entire day. Other inmates immediately became hostile and angry towards Ms. Wang. They started to beat and humiliate her. The guards also put a set of foot shackles that weighed 35kg (over 77 lb) on Ms. Wang. The shackles weighed almost as much as she did.

Due to the hunger strike and abuses, Ms. Wang became skin and bones. She was so weak that she could barely stand on her own or move. Everyday, two inmates held Ms. Wang up by her arms and dragged her around. The shackles on her ankles cut deep into her flesh and caused the wounds to fester. Her feet dripped blood and when the shackles came in direct contact with her bones the pain she suffered was excruciating. Because she had no strength to walk, she had to be held up by two inmates and dragged to the restroom to use the toilet. Sometimes, they would leave her there, in which case she had no choice but to sleep in the restroom. When other inmates needed to use the toilet, they would drag Ms. Wang from the stall by her hair, and later shove her back in. Ms. Wang was abused like this daily.

One afternoon, an inmate, instigated by prison guard Li Yangzhi, used a sewing needle to stab Ms. Wang's feet and calves over and over. Ms. Wang's feet and legs were soon covered with dense and numerous small holes from which blood oozed out. If she cried out even a little, an inmate would slap her face with a sandal. The torture lasted almost one hour.

At around one o'clock in the morning, the two inmates who were assigned to watch Ms. Wang decided to go to sleep. So, they made a rope with some thin threads used for crafts. They then tied Ms. Wang's hands behind her back with the rope and laid her on her back. With the 35 kg shackles, her feet and hands became numb and swollen under her body. Ms. Wang could neither turn her body nor sit up. Any slight sound she made resulted in beating and kicking. Ms. Wang was tied up in this position for six and a half hours until the morning.

The barbaric torture pushed Wang Xiaodong to the edge of a mental breakdown. The prison officials did not provide any psychological examination or treatment. The wounds she had on her feet were not treated, and her family's requests to visit her were denied. On July 13, 2000, Wang Xiaodong was sentenced to two years in forced labor camp. When she was about to be sent to Sansui Women Labor Camp in Guangdong Province, she was skin and bones, her body was covered with cuts and bruises, her muscles were degenerating, her ankles were festering, and her legs were swollen. She had a dull look in her eyes and no expression on her face. She could hardly utter a word and showed no response when spoken to.

By the middle of August 2000, the medical experts from Feshan City, Guangdong Province diagnosed Wang Xiaodong with the psychological condition of "Prison Syndrome." It was less than one hundred days from the time Ms. Wang was abducted to the time she was diagnosed with a mental illness.

type=Case, death;