The Etouwan Brainwashing Center in Qiaokou District, Wuhan City, is known for its vicious persecution of Falun Gong practitioners. Since June 2003, to intensify the persecution, the Qiaokou District “610 Office” selected some notorious perpetrators from the district, and sent them to the brainwashing center. Xie Xiaofeng, the Communist Party Secretary of the brainwashing center, is the deputy head of the “610 Office,” and Li Wei, who was the vice head of City Management of Baofeng Street is the head of the center.

At the end of August 2002, Mr. Yan Kejian was abducted from his workplace, the Agriculture Development Bank at Hankou Branch, and taken to the brainwashing center. Mr. Yan went on a hunger strike to protest the maltreatment. After Mr. Yan was on hunger strike for more than twenty days, Li Wei and others beat and tortured him by brutally force-feeding him with drugs, depriving him of sleep for many days consecutively, and forcing him to stand facing the wall for long periods of time. Whenever Mr. Yan grew too fatigued to stand, they fiercely beat and kicked him until his body was covered with wounds and cuts. He had a seizure, and became incontinent, unable to control his urination and defecation, from these beatings. On the second day, he was forced to kneel down, with both his hands tied behind his back. They tied him to window bars. Later, they forcibly stretched his arms and legs apart and tied him to the window for several days and nights. Mr. Yan was tortured until his brain was damaged and he became a mere vegetable. The center’s authorities, however, said that Mr. Yan was pretending to be dead and refused to let Mr. Yan’s family take him home.

Mr. Liu Li worked at the Industry and Commerce Bank in the Qiaokou District. In November 2002, he was sent to the brainwashing center. They abused him and tried to force him to read slogans on the wall that slandered Falun Gong and its founder. When he refused, they took him to an isolated, empty room. They handcuffed him, and hung him from the window bars until his toes barely touched the floor. Then they opened the window and the door in the middle of winter to freeze and starve him.

In early 2003, Ms. Sun Zerong from Yijiatun Street was forcibly taken to the brainwashing center. Li Wei ordered over 20 staff members to brutally beat her until she lost consciousness. They had to send her to the hospital for emergency treatment. After she regained consciousness, they drove her back to the brainwashing center and continued the torture. When she was tortured to the edge of death, they sent her to the hospital again. The doctor found that Ms. Sun had water in her kidney due to the severity of the beatings. The doctor told them that Ms. Sun needed surgery immediately, or she could die anytime. To avoid responsibility, they let Ms. Sun stay in the hospital.

At the end of May 2003, the “610 Office” forcibly took Mr. Yu Zuhong from Ronghua Street to the brainwashing center. They cuffed Mr. Yu’s hands behind his back and hung him up until his toes barely touched the floor. Both his arms were seriously bitten by mosquitoes and bugs, and covered with many large red spots. To avoid further persecution, Mr. Yu tried to leave the center by jumping from the top of the center’s wall, and broke his leg.

The perpetrators:

Yi Weizhen, the secretary of the Qiaokou District Committee

Peng Youwei, the vice secretary of the Qiaokou District Committee

Tang Liangyou, the head of Qiaokou District

Xie Guanchang, the head of the Qiaokou District “610 Office”