Investigative Report on Psychiatric Abuse of Falun Gong Practitioners
According to incomplete statistics, by the end of 2003, during nearly five years of systematic persecution of Falun Gong practitioners, psychiatric facilities throughout China were used to torture Falun Gong practitioners. At least 1,000 Falun Gong practitioners who were completely mentally healthy people were forcibly sent to psychiatric hospitals and drug rehabilitation centers. Many have been injected or force-fed with various kinds of drugs that damage the central nervous system. They have also been tortured with electric shocks, tied up for long periods of time, force-fed, and subjected to other gross abuses. Many of them have been detained under such conditions for long periods of time, even as long as two years. Some lost their sight, some lost their hearing, some were either completely or partially disabled, some suffered partial or total memory loss, some developed long-term festering skin, and many were mentally traumatized. In several cases, victims’ internal organs were severely damaged. At least 100 psychiatric hospitals in provinces, cities, counties, and districts across the nation were involved in this persecution. The WOIPFG has verified that, so far, at least 15 practitioners have been killed in these institutions.
This investigative report is based on testimony from Falun Gong practitioners in China, on reports from WOIPFG investigators outside China, and related testimony from medical personnel. Nine areas outlined below are presented to bring these facts to the attention of international professionals for their future investigations on this matter.
What our investigation has discovered is only the tip of the iceberg. This is due to the fact that “mental illness treatment” used by Chinese authorities to persecute mentally healthy Falun Gong practitioners has involved enormous numbers of practitioners. It also covers such a wide area, involving the participation of so many psychiatric facilities. Additionally, the strict information blockade on the part of Chinese authorities makes the disclosure of persecution using mental treatment methods extremely difficult.
Part I: Psychiatric Abuse of Falun Gong Practitioners Is Widespread
Since Jiang Zemin’s regime announced the crackdown of Falun Gong on July 20,1999, all possible open channels from inside China have continuously sent overseas the reports of psychiatric abuse of Falun Gong practitioners. These reports cover 23 provinces and regions in China. They are Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Chongqing, Heilongjiang, Liaoning, Jilin, Hebei, Henan, Shandong, Shanxi, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian, Anhui, Sichuan, Xingjiang, Qinghai and Ningxia. At least 1,000 mentally healthy Falun Gong practitioners were forcibly sent to psychiatric hospitals and drug rehabilitation centers in these regions. According to the reported cases and the scope of distribution by area, this aspect of the persecution – the abusive use of psychiatric medication to torture Falun Gong practitioners – is conducted in a systematic manner, a policy being carried out from the highest authorities to even street administration offices.
At the end of April 2004, this investigation has discovered that of the 961 confirmed deaths of Falun Gong practitioners during the persecution, 15 deaths were directly caused by forcible drug injections or ingestion of various drugs that damage the central nervous system. The victims are:
Su Gang (male, 32, Shandong Province, Zibo City)
Ma Yanfang (female, 33, Shandong Province, Zhucheng City)
Yang Weidong (male, 54, Shandong Province, Weifang City)
Lu Hongfeng (female, 37, Ningxia, Lingwu City)
Shi Bei (female, 49, Zhejiang Province, Lanxi County)
Zhao Fulan (female, 59, Heilongjiang Province, Jiamusi City)
Wang Dongmei (female, 30+, Hebei Province, Hengshui City)
Xiao Guiying (female, age unknown, Hunan Province, Yueyang City)
Fan Lihong (female, 27, Qinghai Province, Xining City)
Tang Xiaocheng (male, 40, Sichuan Province, Pengzhou City)
Yu Guizhen (female, 55, Shandong Province, Pingdu City)
Ma Xinxing (male, 40, Shanghai)
Meng Xiao (female, 37, Sichuan Province, Chengdu City)
Zhang Fangliang (male, 48, Sichuan Province, Youngchang County)
Yu Lixin (male, 36, Jilin Province, Jilin City)
(Please see Appendix 1: Cases of Death from Torture in Psychiatric Hospitals)
Part II: Under Government Pressure, 83% of Psychiatric Hospitals Investigated Participated in the Persecution of Falun Gong Practitioners
In April 2004, WOIPFG investigated over 100 psychiatric hospitals in 15 provinces in China. The results of the investigation are shocking. Among the hospitals that were investigated, 83% of the psychiatric hospitals that were questioned clearly admitted that they have “accepted and treated” Falun Gong practitioners, and more than half of these hospitals also clearly admitted that those practitioners had no mental problems and were admitted merely for the purpose of locking them up to force them to renounce their beliefs. The medical workers knew that “accepting and treating” Falun Gong practitioners was a political task. Some psychiatric doctors even regarded a peaceful action of Falun Gong practitioners – using hunger strikes to protest the persecution and resist torture and brainwashing – as one of the standards to diagnose the practitioners as “mentally ill” and “accept and treat” them. These doctors evaluated effects of the treatments based on whether Falun Gong practitioners denounced their practice, and they used it as a standard for deciding whether the practitioners could be released from the hospital. From analysis of the collected material, and from the conversations and psychological conditions of those being questioned, this investigation demonstrated that most psychiatric hospitals or wards in China have been using systematic psychiatric methods, such as the injection or force-feeding of drugs that damage the central nervous system, and violence to persecute Falun Gong practitioners.
Taking Beijing, Shandong, Henan, and Hebei Provinces as an example, investigators from WOIPFG contacted 45 hospitals, of which 42 are psychiatric hospitals or general hospitals with psychiatric wards. Of these 42 hospitals, 38 admitted to having “accepted and treated” Falun Gong practitioners in the past five years. That indicated 90% of the psychiatric hospitals in those areas were involved in the persecution. Furthermore, 25 hospitals openly declared that the Falun Gong practitioners had no mental illness symptoms, but that they were detained only for the purpose of making them denounce their Falun Gong practice. Some hospitals are still “accepting and treating” Falun Gong practitioners.
Beijing psychiatric hospitals that have “accepted and treated” Falun Gong practitioners:
1. Beijing Huilongguan Hospital
2. Beijing Anding Hospital
3. Beijing Fengtai Nanyuan Hospital
4. Beijing Cangpin County Beijiao Hospital
5. Beijing Chaoyang District No. 3 Hospital (Chaoyang District Psychiatric Health Center)
6. Beijing Pinggu County Psychiatric Hospital
Shandong Province psychiatric hospitals that have “accepted and treated” Falun Gong practitioners:
7. Shandong Jiaozhou Psychiatric Hospital (Jiaozhou City Psychiatric Rehabilitation Hospital)
8. Shandong Shouguang City Beiluo Psychiatric Hospital
9. Shandong Weifang City, Weifang District Rehabilitation Hospital
10. Shandong Changle Psychiatric Hospital
11. Shandong Yishui County People’s Hospital, Psychiatric Ward
12. Shandong Jining Psychiatric Hospital
13. Shandong Jining Daizhuang Psychiatric Hospital
14. Shandong Qingdao Psychiatric Hospital
15. Shandong Psychiatric Health Center
16. Shandong Zibo No. 5 People’s Hospital
17. Shandong Ningyang County Psychiatric Center
18. Shandong Yantai City, Laizhou Rongjun Hospital
19. Shandong Zibo City Zichuan District No. 5 People’s Hospital (former psychiatric hospital)
20. Shandong Qingdao City Maidao Psychiatric Hospital
Henan Province psychiatric hospitals that have “accepted and treated” Falun Gong practitioners:
21. Henan Xuchang City Jianan Hospital
22. Henan Anyang City Psychiatric Hospital
23. Henan Xingxiang City Psychiatric Hospital
24. Henan Kaifeng City No. 5 People’s Hospital
25. Henan Luoyang City, No. 2 Psychiatric Hospital is still “accepting and treating”
26. Henan Puyang City Psychiatric Hospital has “accepted and treated” one
27. Henan Shanmengxia Rehabilitation Hospital has “accepted and treated” many
28. Henan Weishi County Yaotai Psychiatric Center
29. Henan Province Psychological Consultation Center, West Clinic is still “accepting and treating”
30. Henan Xinyang City Psychiatric Hospital is still “accepting and treating”
31. Henan Xuchang City Psychiatric Hospital
32. Henan Zhengzhou City Psychiatric Hospital
33. Henan Zhumadian City Psychiatric Hospital
Hebei Province psychiatric hospitals that have “accepted and treated” Falun Gong practitioners:
34. Hebei Medical University No. 5 Hospital has “accepted and treated”
35. Hebei Tangshan City Yuehe Rehabilitation Center is still “accepting and treating”
36. Hebei Daming County Psychiatric Hospital has “accepted and treated”
37. Hebei Zhangjiakou City Shalinzhi Psychiatric Hospital is “accepting and treating”
38. Shijiazhuang Psychiatric Hospital has “accepted and treated” many
(Please see Appendix 2: Investigation and Survey of Chinese Psychiatric Hospitals)
Investigation record 1:
Q: Have you accepted and treated Falun Gong practitioners?
A: Yes. They were all from the police station. They sent them here, and said they were ill.
Q: Where were they from?
A: The Public Security Bureau.
Q: Is there a special section in the Public Security Bureau handling this matter?
A: Maybe. We don’t know the details, but we have to accept them if they send them to us.
Q: Why do you have to accept if they send them to you?
A: The government set the policy.
(Please see Appendix 3: Investigation Record - Anshan City)
Investigation record 2:
Q: How many Falun Gong people have you accepted?
A: We accepted many in the last few years, not now.
Q: How did they behave?
A: No problem at all, just like normal people. At that time, it was a political task. Our facility is closed off from the outside just like the Public Security Bureau. So we lock them up.
Q: When were they released?
A: If there were national meetings, festivals and holidays, police would send them here. They would be released after the event.
(Please see Appendix 3: Investigation Record - Shangdong Province)
Investigation record 3:
Anshan Steel and Iron Corp. (Angang) Psychiatric Rehabilitation Center
Q: Have you accepted and treated Falun Gong practitioners?
A: A lot! Not many now. There were a lot two years ago.
Q: Two years ago. Did they stay in the hospital or just visit and leave?
A: Mostly stayed in the hospital.
Q: That was not about crime; that was about issue of belief. They are two different things.
A: Is Falun Gong not a crime?
Q: Isn’t that about personal belief?
A: How can it be belief?! If you stand on the street saying you are Falun Gong practitioner now, the government will arrest you.
(Please see Appendix 3: Investigation Record - Liaoning Province)
Case:
Chinese People’s Liberation Army No. 215 Psychiatric Hospital in Liaoning Province Dalian City has being cooperating with the local “610 Office.” In the summer of 2002, on the third floor of its accommodation center, they set up a brainwashing class. There were more than 10 Falun Gong practitioners watched by policewomen. A special police vehicle was used with the plate number “Liaoning 0B-0813.” Doctors and nurses accompanied them. The hospital admitted that accepting these people into the hospital is violating the law, but they can do nothing about it because it was “a decision by the government.”
(Please see Appendix 4: Testimony and Cases -1)
During the investigation, many medical workers admitted that “accepting and treating” Falun Gong practitioners is an act forced on them by the government; it is compulsory.
Seven hospitals claimed that they have not been involved in the persecution in the Hebei and Henan regions:
39. Henan Shanmengxia Yellow River Hospital: No psychiatric ward
40. Henan Shangqiu Area Psychiatric Hospital
41. Henan Zhenzhou City No. 5 Hospital: not accepting
42. Hebei No. 2 Hospital Psychiatric Ward: out-patients only
43. Shijiazhuang City No. 2 Hospital: No psychiatric ward
44. Shijiazhuang City No. 5 Hospital: for infectious disease only
45. Handan City Psychiatric Hospital: not accepting
(Please see Appendix 2: Investigation survey on psychiatric hospitals in China)
However, according to the investigation cases, at least one Falun Gong practitioner, Yang Baochun, was locked up in Handan City Psychiatric Hospital (No. 45) for over 2 years.
Case:
Yang Baochun, in his 30s, was a Hebei, Handan Textile Factory worker. After August 1999, he went to Beijing to appeal, and was arrested and locked up in Handan Detention Center, No. 1 Detention Center, and Handan Labor Camp. At the end of 2000, the camp guards poured ice water over Yang’s head and forcibly put his legs into hot water to stop him from practicing Falun Gong. The wounds on Yang’s legs began to fester and his legs turned blue and numb and he was in critical condition. In order to dodge responsibility, the labor camp sent Yang to the Handan Textile Hospital to have his legs amputated. Less than 10 days after this operation, Handan City “610 Office,” the labor camp, and the factory personnel declared that he had a mental illness. On February 26, 2001, they sent him to Handan City Psychiatric Hospital. (Address: 6 km near Feixiang County on No. 309 National Road; the hospital director is Wang Yianbao) Mr. Yang persisted in practicing Falun Gong in the hospital. The doctors secretly put medicine into his food. After his meal, Mr. Yang often began drooling, his whole body shivered and he had no energy, his mind became confused, and he moved slowly like an old person. After discovering that he was being drugged, Mr. Yang strongly protested this action many times; finally the doctors stopped putting drugs in his food. On December 28, 2001, Yang was “bailed out” by his family members. After returning home, he started crawling, using his arms to support him, towards Beijing to appeal against the persecution of Falun Gong. He had managed to travel by crawling on the road about ten miles with bleeding arms and body, but was arrested by his factory’s personnel. He tried a second time and moved about two miles before being arrested again. The factory head Bai Dun, and Party secretary Zhang Qingci decided to send him to the psychiatric hospital again. (Please see Appendix 4: Testimony and Cases - 23)
Part III: Both the Goal and Effect of “Psychiatric Treatment” Is Based on Whether Falun Gong Practitioners Renounce Their Belief
The testimony of the victims and witnesses has proven that the purpose of such psychiatric abuse is to coerce them to denounce their belief in Falun Gong; it is the overt persecution toward one’s belief. Some victims said that if you insist on saying that you practice Falun Gong, the medical workers increase the amount of drugs in your treatment prescription or raise the electric shock current, to force you to renounce your belief. Some testimony also showed that victims lost their memory (including about Falun Gong) after undergoing a period of force-feeding and special drug injections.
Testimony of Ye Hongfang, a Falun Gong practitioner from Heyuan City, Guangdong Province, on November 26, 2000:
“Once I was sent to Huizou Psychiatric Hospital, they tied me up completely and gave me an injection; they force-fed me medicine. Doctor Luo from this hospital came to check on me every day and asked, ‘Do you still want to practice Falun Gong?’ Doctor Luo also told me that I would get injections every day until I changed my mind about practicing Falun Gong. On December 21, 1999, my husband demanded to take me home. Doctor Luo said that I was a political prisoner; he did not have the power to release me. I could only ask for a few days off.
One day in January 2000, I went to a nearby village to visit a friend, Huang Xiaobo. Zhang Riqiang and other policemen from the Heyuan City Police Department arrested me and wanted to take me to the psychiatric hospital again. My husband begged the policemen not to take me to the psychiatric hospital. Huang Xiaobo told me in my home that if I promised not go to anywhere to appeal, not to contact other practitioners, I would not be sent to psychiatric hospital. I did not agree… On January 24, I was sent to the Huizou Psychiatric Hospital again. To keep me from going to appeal, my company leader told me that Doctor Luo would not allow me to have a few days off until the National Congress meeting was over.” (Please see Appendix 4: Testimony and Cases - 2)
Testimony of Dong Yuhua, a Falun Gong practitioner from Guangzhou City, on October 10, 2002:
“From July 20 to October 9, 1999, I was in the psychiatric hospital. I persisted in practicing Falun Gong, and I was beaten by male hospital workers and doctors. I was often beaten to the ground and chained to the bed 1 to 3 times a day; even if I had to defecate in the bed, the doctor would not unlock my chains. Many times I was forcibly treated with lots of medicines and they used a lot of instruments. My mind became numb, feelings faded, and I had headaches and dizziness, and was tired and sleepy. Sometimes I forgot everything. I could not recognize my family and myself, and I curled in the corner of the room; my brain was empty. Sometime I could not even remember ‘Lunyu’ (preface of the Falun Gong book Zhuan Falun) that I used to remember by heart easily, and the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance.” (Please see Appendix 4: Testimony and Cases - 3)
Testimony of a Falun Gong practitioner from Dalian City Ship Freight Company on March 3, 2004:
“I was injected with a dose of unknown drugs every day, and force-fed tablets twice a day. I felt dizzy and hallucinated all the time. After one week, I was moved to the next room. I was not getting injections but still had tablets twice a day. I could then slowly get off the bed and walk. Every morning I had to stand beside the bed and wait for the doctor to question me. One day, the doctor asked me, ‘How do you feel these days? Do you still want to make trouble? Do you still want to go to Beijing to appeal?’ I did not feel he had a good heart, and did not like to talk to him. I answered briefly, ‘I did not make trouble.’ He asked, ‘What are you thinking, then?’ I did not know how to answer, and just said, ‘I don’t think.’ He said, ‘Then, you better think very well.’ The next day, he increased the dosage of my medicine. He asked me on his next rounds whether I had thought properly. I answered that I had not thought about it. The dosages increased again and again over the following days. From 3 tablets each time at the beginning, it increased to more than a dozen tablets every time.” (Please see Appendix 4: Testimony and Cases - 4)
Case:
A university teacher, Wu Xiaohua, from the Anhui Architecture College, was detained by the College authorities and sent to the psychiatric hospital in October 2001 for over a year. Ms. Wu was forcibly injected and fed medicine, and subjected to electric shock treatment. The pain suffered from electric current is indescribable. After that, she often felt sleepy, confused, and anxious. She experienced vomiting, menstrual disorders, fading memory, failing eyesight and hearing, and physical weakness. Sometimes she fainted three or four times a day.
Part IV: Professional Medical Staff Violates Rules and Ethics of Medical Practice
According to the “The Declaration of Hawaii” (1977) and “Madrid Declaration on Ethical Standards for Psychiatric Practice” (1996), both of which are approved by the World Psychiatric Association (WPA), all psychiatrists should follow the ethical standards for psychiatric practice. The following is an excerpt from “The Declaration of Hawaii”:
“4. The psychiatrist should inform the patient of the nature of the condition, therapeutic procedures, including possible alternatives and of the possible outcome. This information must be offered in a considerate way and the patient must be given the opportunity to choose between appropriate and available methods.
5. No procedure shall be performed nor will treatment be given against or independent of a patient’s own will, unless, because of mental illness, the patient cannot form a judgment as to what is in his or her best interest and without which treatment serious impairment is likely to occur to the patient or others.”
The People’s Republic of China is one of the member countries of the WPA. Therefore, it has the obligation and responsibility to abide by the principles prescribed in the declaration from the perspective of both morality and professional practice.
It is a great pity and extremely disturbing that the involved mental hospitals (or departments of psychiatry) and their medical staff knowingly choose to participate in persecuting Falun Gong. They acquiesce under intense pressure from the authorities and for personal interest, although they clearly know that the Falun Gong practitioners sent to the mental hospital are normal individuals. Many of the medical staff take the initiative to collaborate with the persecutors. They have blatantly violated medical laws and international norms, thereby betraying the ethical and moral standards of medical practice. The following is a detailed report of their violation of laws and ethical standards in different aspects.
The chief doctor, Zhang Tongling, from the Psychiatric Health Institute of Beijing University is an example. She defined having a belief as a state of being mentally ill, and she blatantly categorized Falun Gong practitioners as a group, instead of individual cases, that should be persecuted in psychiatric hospitals. It is political persecution from the perspective of either human rights or medical practice. When replying to an East Net reporter’s questions on February 3, 2001 (http://www.people.com.cn/GB/shizheng/19/20010204/388260.html), she claimed, “Whims, sub-cultural belief is a common belief of those who have no normal judgment – a group of people who are very difficult to convince with facts.” She directly claimed that Falun Gong practitioners are determined “fanatical” believers and told the reporter, “those people are mentally abnormal and some of them might have mental problems; therefore, looking for special doctors’ consultation is their only correct choice.” The report also said that Zhang Danlin has evaluated 24 Falun Gong practitioners, and diagnosed 21 of them as having a tendency for whims and sub-cultural belief.
Some other acts of medical workers who gave in to political pressure and beccme involved in persecuting Falun Gong practitioners
1. In the majority of the cases, prescriptions were given to the person as soon as (s)he was sent to the hospital without going through any evaluation, diagnosis, authentication, or formal acceptance into the mental hospital.
Case:
Li Li, female, 30 years old, was a salesperson in a store. She was forcibly sent to No. 6 People’s Hospital (a mental hospital) in Pingdu City, Shandong Province, by police and leaders from her work unit for going to Beijing to appeal on June 6, 2000. During her stay at the hospital, there was no signed consent, and no diagnostic process or evaluation result. She was forced to take medicine, take injections, and suffer electric shock. The doctor in charge of her case, Jin, prohibited her from doing the Falun Gong exercises and tried to force her to renounce her belief. (Please refer to Appendix 4: Testimony and Cases - 7)
Testimony of Huang Jingchun, a Falun Gong practitioner from
Guangxi Province, on February 7, 2000:
“My name is Huang Jingchun and I was a member of Beihai City Middle Court Judiciary in Guangxi Province. On November 15, 1999, two policemen sent me to Longxiangshan Psychiatric Hospital. I asked them why they sent me to this hospital. They answered that their chief ordered them to do so. After I was in the hospital, I was forced to take injections and medicine. I asked doctors and nurses in this hospital, ‘You have not checked and diagnosed me, why do you force injections and medicine on me?’ They answered, ‘Why are you here if you’re not ill?’ I said that police sent me here. ‘That means you are ill, and they sent you here,’ they answered.” (Please see Appendix 4: Testimony and Cases -20)
2. In some cases, Falun Gong practitioners in their right minds were wrongfully diagnosed as having “schizophrenia” (or dysphrenia sickness).
Investigation record 4:
Liaoyang City Psychiatric Hospital No. 2 Ward
Q: What is the complete name of your department?
A: Liaoyang City No. 4 People’s Hospital. We are the only specialized hospital regarding psychiatry in Liaoyang City.
Q: Have you accepted Falun Gong practitioners?
A: Yes.
Q: If he says he still wants to practice Falun Gong and he does not have a psychiatric problem?
A: That is a psychiatric problem.
Q: If he says that is his belief, and he wants to practice?
A: That is typical biased stubbornness.
Q: You say that this is not about the mind, but still psychiatric?
A: This is not about the mind; it is a mental problem. To practice … [is] very scary. Their minds become so firm, stubborn, and they will not be moved.
Q: How do you treat this kind of person?
A: First we give them medicine treatment, mental treatment, and other ways… we have more than ten kinds.
Q: What kind of medicine?
A: Psychiatric type.
(Please see Appendix 3: Investigation report - Liaoning Province)
Investigation record 5:
“Generally, (the symptom) is that the person firmly believes an effect Falun Gong can bring to him or her, and what effect Falun Gong can have on society. We hospitalize around 10 such patients each year.
(Please refer to Appendix 3: Investigation Record - Shandong Province)
Investigation record 6:
Q: How do they behave?
A: Nothing abnormal. They behave like normal individuals. They were sent here because it was a political mission. We are a closed entity and thus serve as a jail in the police department. They are detained here. We generally don’t give them medicine.
Q: When are they going to be released?
A: Usually local police send them here during national conferences or major festivals. They will be released after the national conferences are over.
(Please refer to Appendix 3: Investigation Record - Shandong Province)
3. In many cases, the person was admitted to a psychiatric hospital without being accompanied by direct relatives or a guardian, or without the permission of direct relatives or a guardian. Those who send practitioners to psychiatric hospitals are police or work unit personnel.
Investigation record 7:
Q: Have you ever accepted and treated Falun Gong practitioners in the hospital?
A: Yes. All of them were sent here by police, no exceptions. They were diagnosed as having mental problems at the time they were sent here.
Q: What was it; you just mentioned who sent practitioners to the hospital?
A: Police department.
Q: Is there a specialized section in the police department that is dedicated to take charge of such practitioners?
A: Probably. We don’t know the details either. Anyway, as long as they are sent here, we must accept them.
Q: Why do you have to accept them?
A: It’s a state policy.
(Please refer to Appendix 3: Investigation Record - Anshan City)
Investigation record 8:
Q: When are they going to be released?
A: Usually local police send them here during national conferences or major festivals. They will be released after the national conferences are over.
(Please refer to Appendix 3: Investigation Record - Shandong Province)
4. The criterion for giving medication and whether a Falun Gong practitioner should be accepted or released is “whether or not he or she renounces his/her belief.”
Investigation record 9:
Q: How do you treat those who practice Falun Gong?
A: Medicine plus psychiatric treatment. We have accepted and treated seven or eight such patients.
Q: What if they refuse to renounce their belief?
A: It takes time. We will treat them regularly. We have discussions with the patient from the perspective of theories. But we cannot win the reasoning arguments because what he/she said was very reasonable. If we have no other way, then we treat them with medication.
Q: Is there a need to tie up the person?
A: At the beginning, we do need to restrict him/her.
Q: When is such a patient allowed to be released?
A: He/she’ll have to change his/her mind and write some personal understanding and a statement of repentance.
Q: What if he/she does not cooperate with the doctor?
A: Use medicine. If he/she needs to be tied up, we will do that.
Q: Do you follow up after they are released?
A: Yes. One of them reversed his decision. He started to practice again.
Q: What if the medicine has side effects?
A: We can use it; we give a prescription to reduce the side effects. Otherwise he/she doesn’t listen to you. We have to make them suffer. Many of those who were sent here are college students, graduate students, senior engineers who have advanced degrees. We need to apply medicine whenever it’s needed. Otherwise it won’t work!
Q: How do you educate them to change their mind if they have an advanced degree?
A: We went to institutions at the city level or provincial level to receive training. The training is basically about how to answer their questions.
Q: Who are the ones that train you?
A: They are all senior psychiatrists.
(Please refer to Appendix 3: Investigation Record - Shandong Province)
Investigation record 10:
“We have treated some Falun Gong practitioners. Some of them are really tough. They belong to people with beliefs. We have to take it slowly. We have used medicine for some practitioners; we have also used combination of psychiatric treatments for some practitioners. There are successful cases as well as failures. We have treated male as well as female practitioners.” (Please refer to Appendix 3: Investigation Record - Shanxi Province)
“We are experienced in terms of treating Falun Gong practitioners. Not just Falun Gong practitioners. We are also experienced in treating other Qigong practitioners. We use medicine and transfusion for those who don’t talk. We use anesthesia on those who don’t talk. We don’t use police electric batons. We use electric treatment for such cases. There are more than a dozen practitioners in our hospital. Their symptoms vary by degrees. At the beginning, we can hardly persuade them. It’s very difficult to treat them. Some of them promote Falun Gong constantly. For such cases we use medicine and psychotherapy. Most of them are people with beliefs.” (Please refer to Appendix 3: Investigation Record - Shanxi Province)
Investigation record 11:
“Because he [a Falun Gong practitioner] has a strong will, he is determined and can’t be swayed in his beliefs. He doesn’t care about the consequences. For such cases we usually use medicine treatment, psychotherapy, and other treatments…. We have about one dozen treatment methods. We use psychiatric medicines. (Please refer to Appendix 3: Investigation Record - Liaoning Province)
Testimony of a Falun Gong practitioner from Suining County, Xuzhou City, on June 8, 2001:
“We were held in Xuzhou City Mental Hospital for more than three months. We were forcibly tied onto the bed and the so-called medical staff gave us injections, and poured medicine down our throats. They gave us overdoses of unknown injections. We passed out and were completely unconscious. When the medicine was taking effect, we suffered from extreme pain. It was so severe that we writhed with the pain, cried out miserably, and bumped ourselves against walls. After we regained consciousness, we questioned those so-called medical staff, ‘Why did you give injections and medicine to us healthy people?’ They replied with shame, ‘We have no [other] way. It’s instructions from above. We have to obey our leaders if we want to keep our job. We don’t want to treat you this way, but we don’t want to lose our job.’ They also said, ‘You will not die from taking the medicine. It’s just severe suffering. As long as you promise not to practice Falun Gong, we won’t give you medicine. Be sure not to run away from the hospital by yourselves. If we don’t stop the medicine gradually, you will die or become insane. Even if you succeed in running away from the hospital, others will send you back to the mental hospital as a ‘maniac.’ When the medicine is taking effect, the pain you will suffer is unimaginable. It’s dreadful to imagine the consequences.’” (Please refer to Appendix 4: Testimony and Cases - 5)
Case:
Falun Gong practitioner Tan Guihua from Shandong Province, 45 years old, went to Beijing to appeal on September 11, 1999, and was sent back to Shangdong and forcibly dragged into Jiaozhou City Mental Hospital by local “610 Office” staff. Eight male nurses forcibly injected her with a large syringe. After that, the doctors would ask Tan Guihua whether she still wanted to practice Falun Gong everyday when they visited the ward. If Tan Guihua answered “yes” they would treat her with electric needles, give her more injections, and double the dose of medicine. The dose varied from two tablets to ten tablets. A nurse would be there three times a day to make sure she took the medicine. The nurse would check whether the patients had the tablets beneath their tongues. If the patients refused to obey the nurse, they would be tied up and medicine would be forcibly poured down their throats. (Please refer to Appendix 4: Testimony and Cases - 9)
Testimony of Wang Yongsheng, a Falun Gong practitioner from the U.S., on December 10, 2002:
“My mother, Han Jizhen, was jailed in the Nanjing City Mental Hospital (now called Nanjing Cerebrum Hospital). At the time, the hospital refused to take her because doctors believed that she did not have a mental illness and could not stay at the hospital. Due to intense pressure from police, the doctors had to accept her. However, the doctor said to my family, ‘She is not hospitalized due to mental illness; it is because she wants to practice Falun Gong!’” (Please refer to Appendix 4: Testimony and Cases - 6)
5. Falun Gong practitioners must obtain permission from certain police departments or work units to be released from hospitals.
Case:
Li Li, a 30-year-old store worker, was placed against her will in Shandong Province Pingdu City No. 6 People’s Hospital (mental hospital) by the police and her former work unit because she appealed in Beijing on June 6, 2000. She was forced to take medicine, and subjected to injections and electrocution needles. The head doctor, Jin, forbade victims to practice the Falun Gong exercises and asked them to give up the practice. Police force victims to write “criticism” material. If they write it, they can be released from the hospital, if they don’t, they won’t be released. She was forced to take a small pile of medicines, three times a day. Her mind became confused and slow. She stared blankly, her face looked pale and yellow, and her movements became sluggish. (Please refer to Appendix 4: Testimony and Cases - 7)
Case:
In October 2000, Falun Gong practitioner Jiang Jing was abducted by police per order of Xin Nuoming, Secretary of Chenyang Township Politics and Law Committee in Qingdao City, Shandong Province. She was taken from her grandmother’s house without any legal procedure. Jiang Jing refused to write promissory statements to give up Falun Gong. One month later, Xin Nuoming forcibly took Jiang Jing to the Laoshan Zhonghan Mental Hospital without her family’s permission and said, “If she is not transformed, don’t even dream about [her] coming out.” The head of the Zhonghan Mental Hospital and nurses forced Jiang Jing to the ground, injected medicine into her, and said, “You are brought here by the government, how can you be comfortable?” A few minutes after the injection, Jiang Jing suddenly felt a sense of panic and fright. Her heartbeat increased and her vision blurred. She could not sit or stand and her mouth became dry. Everything was black in front of her eyes. In the next few days, Jiang Jing could neither eat nor drink nor could she walk. She was very weak. In this painful condition, Jiang Jing was injected a second time. One of the doctors said during the injection, “Are you still practicing Falun Gong? If you still practice, I will drag you to be electrocuted.” Zhang Zhongkai from the head office in Chenyang County went to the mental hospital to force Jiang Jing to write a renunciation statement and said that he would release her as soon as it was written. (Please refer to Appendix 4: Testimony and Cases - 8)
Testimony of Duan Xiangdi, a Falun Gong practitioner from Nanjing City, on February 18, 2004:
“When I was at the Nanjing Cerebrum Hospital, those medical staff knew that I was a mentally healthy person but due to orders from the police department, they had to go against their conscience and ethics. After half a month, when my child wanted to have me released from the hospital, the doctor refused and said that there must be permission from the police department. However, those police said that they must get the permission from the city or province because they didn’t have the right to release me, either. (Please refer to Appendix 4: Testimony and Cases - 10)
Part V: Torture Methods and Their Serious Effects on the Victims
Investigation of psychiatric hospitals revealed that personnel maltreated Falun Gong practitioners through force-feeding, injection of drugs, shocks with electric batons, and other abuses. They frequently used Perphenazine, Chlorpromazine, Fluphenazine, Fluro-hydroxypiperidine, and other unknown drugs. These medications have very severe side effects on a normal person. Most victims were not told what drugs were used on them, but the side effects they experienced after the injection are as follows. Many practitioners showed severe symptoms of toxic overdose, such as loss of memory, severe headaches, absent-mindedness, feebleness, uncontrollable shaking, nausea, vomiting, and loss of consciousness. In some particularly severe cases, the practitioners showed symptoms similar to neuroleptic syndrome. There was evidence that the drugs were used at doses several times higher than the normal usage levels; therefore, the overdoses often caused destructive and irreversible effects.
Testimony of Ye Hongfang, a Falun Gong practitioner from Heyuan City, Guangdong Province, on November 26, 2000:
“Every day, I was forced to take the drug twice, and each time I was compelled to take 12 to 13 pills. The daily injections and medications made me extremely tired, weak, and breathless. During this detention, which lasted nearly one month, I was intravenously injected with 26 vials of Perphenazine. Even though my husband begged Dr. Luo not to give me injections anymore, he still injected me with Perphenazine. He also forced me to take pills twice a day. When I refused, they would shock me with electric batons. This time the side effects were even worse. My whole body cramped, my four limbs were numb, and my vision was blurred. I was weak and felt breathless. My periods became irregular. By March 10, I felt that I had become a disabled person and almost had a mental breakdown.” (Refer to Appendix 4: Testimonies and Cases - 2)
Case:
Ms. Tan Guihua, 45, went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong and was arrested. On September 11, 1999, she was taken back to Jiaozhou City where persons from the “610 Office” sent her straight to Jiaozhou City Psychiatric Hospital. Eight male nurses held her and injected her with drugs, using a large syringe. Even now Ms. Tan does not know what kind of drugs they gave her. She did not understand why that drug could make her once healthy body feel so terrible. She felt like her internal organs were going to burst out of her body. Her heart raced, and her tongue and lips quivered uncontrollably. Her headache was so severe it felt as if her head was being broken into pieces. She felt like relieving herself, but she could not pass anything. She felt like throwing up, but there was nothing to throw up. She couldn't help rolling on the ground. Two months later, Ms. Tan’s body shook uncontrollably and she could not even hold a bowl or a pair of chopsticks. Her face was black and blue. She had heart pains and headaches. Her body became black and blue. Her joints hurt. Her vision had become blurred. She was unable to blink her eyes. Her menses also stopped. Her back was crooked. Her memory had deteriorated, and her mind was not clear. It appeared as if she suffered from dementia. (Refer to Appendix 4: Testimonies and Cases - 9)
Testimony of a Falun Gong practitioner from Xuzhou City, Suining County, on June 8, 2001:
“We were detained at the Xuzhou City Psychiatric Hospital for over three months. One day a fellow practitioner was sitting cross-legged on a stool and the head of the hospital walked over and said viciously, “You are still practicing? We will increase the medication so that you can’t live nor can you die. Then we will see if you still continue to practice.”
Since the dosage given to us was so large and it was not reduced gradually before the police took us to the Judong Female Labor Camp, the reaction to the drug was very strong. One practitioner all of the sudden acted as if she was insane. She was rolling on the floor in extreme pain and running around uncontrollably. Two people couldn't even hold her down. Her body was shaking violently and her head was down; her eyes were lifeless, she was always very agitated and could not sleep. The pain she felt was unbearable and she tried to kill herself by striking her head and body against the wall. She suffered unbearably. Another practitioner's whole body was cramped and she huddled herself up. She couldn't stand up or walk. People had to carry her around. During the night, she felt as if her heart was burning and she spit out bloody saliva. Several Falun Gong practitioners had to struggle to endure different degrees of reactions to drugs for nearly 50 days before the effects of the drug started to weaken.” (Refer to Appendix 4: Testimonies and Cases - 5)
Testimony from a Dalian Harbor Bureau retiree in Dalian City,
Liaoning Province, on March 3, 2004:
“Four months later, the ward chief contacted my work unit. My work unit took me away. When I left the hospital, the chief walked me to the front entrance with guilt written all over his face; I did not know why he felt guilty. Not long after leaving the hospital, my eyes began to fester, and even opening them became difficult. The insides and outsides of my ears also started to fester and ooze yellow fluid, as did my scalp and neck. It caused itchiness and heart-wrenching pain. Only then did I understand what the ward chief’s expression meant. It turned out that he knew what kind of drug I had been given and what kind of pain the drug would cause me. The festering began in the summer of 2002 when I left the hospital. To date, the insides and outsides of my ears and scalp still ooze yellow fluid. The worst infection I endured occurred over a period of two years, between 2000 and 2002. Old acquaintances who saw me couldn't bear to see me looking like that. After learning what had happened, they all cried.” (Please see Appendix 4: Testimonies and Cases - 4)
Dr. Galli, a psychiatrist and the chairman of China Mental Health Watch, has pointed out that many mentally healthy Falun Gong practitioners, after they were treated with psychiatric means or injected with large doses of medication, or after they were deprived of sleep for long periods of time, or after they were brainwashed or subjected to other maltreatments, showed signs of depression, clouded memory, loss of memory, and even symptoms of believing that their lives were in danger.
During its inauguration ceremony in New York on November 21, 2003, China Mental Health Watch (http://www.cmhw.org), a non-governmental organization, reported the preliminary results of its psychiatric interviews of Falun Gong practitioners who suffered torture in Chinese labor camps and were later rescued and moved to foreign countries. Although they have lived in free and democratic countries for a period of time, even after two or three years, they still exhibit post-traumatic stress symptoms, including nightmares and disturbed sleep. Their memory of past sufferings and reaction to and avoidance of things that remind them of their traumatic experiences severely affect their health and ability to live a normal life.
Part VI: Law Enforcement Agencies Are Directly Involved in Abusing Falun Gong Practitioners with Psychiatric Drugs
Besides forcing Falun Gong practitioners into psychiatric hospitals, people in some police departments, prisons, and detention centers also personally abuse the practitioners through force-feeding and injection of psychiatric drugs.
Investigation record 12:
The office staff member from a psychiatric hospital’s psychiatry department said that Falun Gong practitioners could be sent there before, but not now. Now, Falun Gong practitioners can only be admitted into the hospital via the police department. Those sent by family members are no longer accepted, so all Falun Gong practitioners are sent to the police department. This is a political move. Previous admittance was sanctioned because the police department had chosen this hospital and rented space from the hospital. The police department managed these spaces by itself. The hospital staff did not know the details. (See Appendix 3: Investigation Record – Liaoning Province)
Case:
Chen Chujun, female, about 30 years of age, is a Falun Gong practitioner from Huaihua in Hunan Province. She was detained in Hunan Province’s Baimalong Forced Labor Camp. Ms. Chen staged a hunger strike in the labor camp in November 2001 to protest the persecution. Six days later, she was dragged to the labor camp clinic for injections. The clinic staff injected a nerve-damaging drug called Thorazine [also known as Aminazin, Chlorpromazine, Largactil, or Wintermin, a strong tranquilizer] into the vials that contained the injections for Chen. To prevent people from knowing about this crime, the staff injected Chen with small quantities of this drug each day, causing her to slowly become sick, as if she were suffering from a chronic disease. She had been detained in the clinic for about half a month. Ms. Chen had sent a note to other detained practitioners, telling them that she felt “dazed and even could no longer remember the short mantras that she recited every day before doing the Falun Gong exercises.” (See Appendix 4, Testimonies and Cases - 11)
Case:
Xia Ting, female, 29 years old, originally from Zhejiang Province, was detained in Hunan Province’s Baimalong Forced Labor Camp. She was locked up in the labor camp clinic around November of 2001 for staging a hunger strike. She was held there for more than one month, and was injected with some unknown drugs that made her sleep around the clock. She used to be slim, white-skinned, and of regular features. The injections following her hunger strike transformed her into a seemingly different person. Her vision was poor, she was sluggish, her back was crooked, her shoulders were uneven, and she could not balance herself well when walking. She had to repeatedly ask for the day's date. Shortly after she was told, she would ask again. After a little while, she would again ask the same, simple question. (See Appendix 4, Testimonies and Cases - 11)
Case:
Xu Guiqin, female, 38 years old, was an employee of the Dahe Cotton Mill, Taian City, Shandong Province. In January 2002, Xu was abducted and sent to the Shandong Province First Female Forced Labor Camp for clarifying the facts about Falun Gong to people. She was severely tortured there. Before she was released, the labor camp guards forcibly injected her with four vials of drugs that damage the central nervous system. These injections caused dizziness, swelling of facial tissues, hardening of the tongue, numbing of body parts, anorexia, and severe memory deterioration. When her family came to take her home, the guards said, “Watch out for her and don't let her go out by herself, or her life will be at risk.” Upon returning home, Xu Guiqin gradually experienced complete failure of her nervous system and she passed away nine days later on December 9, 2002. (See Appendix 1, Cases of Death from Torture in Psychiatric Hospitals)
Part VII: Personnel Involved in the Persecution
During its persecution of Falun Gong, the Chinese government has adopted a policy of implication, which is linked to the persecutors’ personal benefits. In those cases where Falun Gong practitioners were sent to psychiatric hospitals, the individuals involved in carrying out the acts of persecution include the doctors and nurses from the hospitals’ psychiatry departments, the police, work unit leaders, colleagues, and family members. Under this high pressure, a small number of the victims’ family members chose to persecute their own family members for fear that their own economic and political interests might be otherwise affected. What deserves special attention is that some of the victims’ family members chose to send the practitioners to the psychiatric hospitals because they “took the lesser of two evils,” as the police deceived and threatened them by saying, “If not sent to a mental hospital, the practitioner will be sent to a labor camp.”
Case:
Huang Yueying, female, is a psychiatrist from Huaihua City Psychiatric Hospital, Hunan Province. “610 Office” enforcers arrested her on December 25, 2001, for clarifying the truth about Falun Gong to people in Guizhou Province. Subsequently, she was transferred to the mental ward of the hospital where she worked. She has been detained there for almost two years. In 2002, with instructions from the “610 Office,” the hospital director by the last name of Huang and other doctors began to maltreat Ms. Huang. They would daily inject her with 100 ml of Chlorpromazine Hydrochloride [a strong tranquilizer], and additionally made her ingest unknown drugs for as long as half a year. As a result, Ms. Huang suffered from edema and had difficulty walking. (See Appendix 4: Testimony and Cases –12)
Case:
In August 2002, police from Pengzhou City Detention Center, Sichuan Province, transferred more than ten Falun Gong practitioners who were on a hunger strike to Pengzhou City Red Cross Psychiatric Hospital. Each day, the hospital chief Yang Xianrong, his wife Liao Mingfang, his adopted son Huang Jin, and other medical staff members injected the practitioners with three bottles of saline solution and tranquilizers. (See Appendix 4: Testimonies and Cases - 16)
Testimony of Ye Hongfang, a Falun Gong practitioner from Heyuan City, Guangdong Province, on November 26, 2000:
“On November 23, 1999, Heyuan City police collaborated with my work unit and planned to send me to the Huizhou City Psychiatric Hospital. The police tried to lure my family into agreeing with them, saying that they would not send me to a labor camp if I was sent to the mental hospital.” (See Appendix 4: Testimony and Cases - 2)
Testimony of Dong Yuhua, a Falun Gong practitioner from
Guangzhou City, on October 10, 2002:
“From July 20, 1999, to October 9, I went to appeal for Falun Gong by following my rights given under the Chinese Constitution. I was arrested. The police used threats and lies to force my family to send me to the Fangcun Mental Hospital in Guangzhou City. My family members had thought that it would be over after some perfunctory dealings. Since I had always shown filial obedience to them, I followed my parents’ advice. The hospital doctor deceived my family members by saying that they needed to examine me in a different room. In fact, they intended to detain me in the hospital. They gave me no choice and incarcerated me in a ward resembling a metal cage. I rushed to the door, determined to demand to go home. However, I had no way to get out of the tightly locked metal door. My family had no choice but to pay the very expensive hospitalization fee for me.” (See Appendix 4: Testimonies and Cases - 3)
Testimony of Kuang Bencui, a Falun Gong practitioner from
Qingdao City, on June 10, 2000:
“When I was on my way to Tiananmen Square, a policeman asked if I was a Falun Gong practitioner. I said, ‘Yes.’ They came to arrest me. They took me to the Jiaozhou City Liaison Office in Beijing, where I was detained for one night. My work unit took me away by car and then directly sent me to a mental hospital. I was very healthy and did not need to take any medication or injections. But they said, ‘You have no illnesses in your mind and heart, but it is a disease for you to stick to the practice.’ They also said that their higher authorities requested them to act this way. I asked them, ‘Which higher authority has ordered you to act this way?’ They replied, ‘The Political and Judiciary Committee.’ I asked them again, ‘Do you have any documentary proof?’ They replied, ‘It was a verbal order.’ Later I heard that the higher authorities gave my work unit two choices: one, to let people monitor me, or two, to send me to a mental hospital. My work unit chose the latter. I was detained there for two months.” (Refer to Appendix 4: Testimonies and Cases - 21)
Testimony of Huang Jinchun, an assistant judge from Beihai City
Intermediate People’s Court in Guangxi Province, on February 7, 2000:
“Due to the side effects of the drug, I was very weak and always drowsy and at the same time restless. I was in this state all day long. The doctors and nurses made fun of me by saying, ‘Are you still a Falun Gong practitioner? Let’s see if your Falun Gong or our drug is the more powerful.’ I was detained this way for over two months. Except for my family members, no others were permitted to call or visit me. Later I found out that my hospital stay was also the intention of my father and my elder brother. They wanted to use this method to defeat my will so as to force me to give up my cultivation.” (Refer to Appendix 4: Testimonies and Cases - 20)
Part VIII: Other Evidence on the Persecution of Belief
The Chinese government uses psychiatric treatment methods to abuse Falun Gong practitioners, which is clearly persecution of the practitioners’ faith. This is part of the government’s campaign of genocide to eliminate Falun Gong, and absolutely does not constitute medical treatment, as highlighted below. There are three kinds of evidence:
1. The victims’ “prisoner” and “patient” statuses/ identities exist either
simultaneously or interchangeably, and many victims are repeatedly
detained and transferred between prisons, brainwashing centers,
and mental hospitals.
Testimony of Wu Xiaohua, a teacher from Anhui Architectural College, on March 16, 2002:
“A guard named Wei in the female forced-labor camp told me, ‘Because you practice Falun Gong, we arrested and detained you here. Because you practice Falun Gong, we will put you in a confinement cell, and because you practice Falun Gong, we will send you to a mental hospital.’ ” (See Appendix 4: Testimonies and Cases - 22)
Case:
Ms. Fan Xiuqin, over 30 years old, is a teacher at the Erlianban Elementary School in Dongchangfu District, Liaocheng City, Shandong Province. Because she refused to renounce Falun Gong, she was put into a detention center in 2001. In the summer of 2001, she was sent to a mental hospital for further abuse and mistreatment. Fan was injected with a drug used for mental patients. However, she was given three times the drug dosage that an actual mental patient would receive. This over-medicating caused her to become lethargic, have slow responses, and act abnormally toward others. In the winter of 2001, she was transferred to a brainwashing center where she continued to be subject to illegal detention and torment. (See Appendix 4: Testimonies and Cases -13)
Case:
Ms. Qiu Liying, 45, is a former employee of Shijiazhuang City Oil Refinery. On December 9, 1999, Ms. Qiu was illegally sent to the Kaiping Forced Labor Camp in Tangshan City for a three-year sentence. In early January 2000, she went on a hunger strike to protest and was then transferred to Tangshan City Ankang Hospital, a psychiatric hospital, where she was detained in a room with male drug addicts and mental patients. On June 30, 2000, Zhang Jianzhong and An Huane, deputy heads of the Kaiping Forced Labor Camp Administrative Section, as well as Wang Hongli, who is the head of the labor camp hospital, personally sent Qiu to the Tangshan City Fifth Mental Hospital. Before Qiu was put into a room in the hospital, Wang chided her, “You will not be sent to the mental hospital as long as you stop the hunger strike.” She refused. The nurses in the hospital forced her to take drugs that damage the central nervous system. They also shocked her with high-voltage electric needles that were inserted into her baihui point (an acupuncture point located at the crown of one’s head) and the yintang point (located midway between the medial ends of the eyebrows). Ms. Qiu was later transferred to Baoding City Labor Camp and also a brainwashing center in the capital of Hebei Province for further abuse. (See Appendix 4: Testimonies and Cases - 14)
2. Groups of Falun Gong practitioners were sent to psychiatric hospitals.
Case:
On the morning of December 6, 1999, people from the Fangshan Chengguan Administration Office in Hebei Province ordered the local police to lure 52 Faun Gong practitioners from their homes, work places, and the detention centers to the Fangshan Chengguan Police Station, using ruses such as “filling in some forms” or “attending a class.” Once at the police station, the practitioners were loaded into a large bus and sent to the Zhoukoudian Psychiatric Hospital and were detained there for 43 days. The head of the hospital admitted to the abducted Falun Gong practitioners that they were locked up in the hospital because the police wanted to prevent them from traveling to Beijing to appeal during the ceremony when Macao was returned to China. (See Appendix 4: Testimonies and Cases - 15)
Case:
In August 2002, the guards from the Pengzhou City Detention Center in Sichuan Province sent more than ten Falun Gong practitioners who were on a hunger strike to Pengzhou City Red Cross Mental Hospital. (See Appendix 4: Testimonies and Cases -19)
3. Sending Falun Gong Practitioners to psychiatric hospitals most often happened before “sensitive dates” or after practitioners had gone to appeal.
Testimony of Peng Qingqing, a Falun Gong practitioner from
Hubei Province, on November 25, 2002:
“The police abducted me from my home at 9:00 a.m. on October 30, 2002. They exploited the senility of my elderly and frail mother, and threatened her into agreeing to send me to a mental hospital again. (In June 2001, the police had abducted me to a mental hospital the first time, where I was subjected to psychological torture.) The reason they gave was the start of the 16th Chinese Central Government’s People’s Congress and National Conference, and that they wanted to prevent Falun Gong practitioners from traveling to Beijing to appeal.” (See Appendix 4: Testimonies and Cases - 16)
Testimony of a U.S. Falun Gong practitioner, Wang Yongsheng,
on December 10, 2002:
“My mother, Ms. Han Jizhen, went to Tiananmen Square the second day after her arrival in Beijing. The police knew where my mother was from after checking her ID card. So, Nanjing City police personnel escorted my mother back to Nanjing and detained her in Nanjing City Mental Hospital, currently renamed Nanjing Cerebrum Hospital.” (See Appendix 4: Testimonies and Cases - 6)
Part IX: The Chinese Government Tightly Blocks the Dissemination of Information About the Escalation of the Persecution
The Chinese government regards abusing Falun Gong practitioners with psychiatric drugs a “state secret.” Those who reveal this “state secret” will be detained, sentenced, and jailed, sometimes even when these persons merely describe their personal experiences as victims of psychiatric abuse.
Case:
Li Hong, a Dalian City Second Middle School teacher, was sent to Dalian City Mental Hospital. She was arrested again for telling her supervisors and colleagues about the abuse she had experienced in the mental hospital. The enforcers sent her to the Masanjia Forced Labor Camp, where she was given drugs that are meant for mental patients. This caused her body to fester. (See Appendix 4: Testimonies and Cases - 4)
Case:
On August 2, 2000, when the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Navy Primary Hospital learned that Li Qiuxia wanted to send information of the gross abuse she had experienced in a mental hospital through the Internet, they arrested her the same day. Under Navy hospital orders, on June 2, 2000, Li was sent to the No. 3 Ward of the Psychiatry Department in the People’s Liberation Army No. 261 Mental Hospital. The nurses used a spoon to pry open her mouth and inserted a tube from her nose into her stomach, and then they injected a drug into her body. Once when the nurses found Li reciting the articles written by the founder of Falun Gong, they tied her to a post, inserted electric needles into her taiyang acupuncture points [on the sides of the head], and then electrically shocked her as punishment. While Li was detained in No. 261 Mental Hospital, she was tortured with this method three times. The hospital also forced her to take 13 tablets daily of Perphenazine, a drug that is supposed to be used to treat schizophrenia and symptoms such as hallucinations, delusions, and hostility.
(See Appendix 4: Testimonies and Cases - 17)
Conclusion
From recent investigations we have found that from 1999 to 2002, these types of cases were more frequent and also relatively open. After the international community paid heightened attention to the situation in China, hospitals in some major cities seemed to restrain themselves somewhat. However, presently, quite a few hospitals in China still detain Falun Gong practitioners. (Appendix 2: Investigation Statistics of China’s Mental Hospitals) New cases are still coming to light, for example, the cases of Meng Xiao and Wang Dongmei. Both cases happened this year. (Appendix 1: Cases of Death from Torture in Psychiatric Hospitals) Many cases are still being uncovered. A hospital medical staff member told an WOIPFG investigator, “The police departments have recently sent Falun Gong practitioners to some special and designated places.”
The above-mentioned cases and investigations have revealed that the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners that Chinese authorities and some psychiatric hospitals have engaged in through psychiatric means is systematic and compulsory. That is, the persecution targets practitioners of Falun Gong as a group. The police, the officials from the “610 Office,” and some medical staff override medical diagnostic standards and wantonly send Falun Gong practitioners who are mentally healthy to psychiatric hospitals. They force these practitioners to take large doses of psychiatric drugs, or inject such drugs into the practitioners’ bodies. They shock the practitioners with electric needles, tie them up for lengthy periods of time, force-feed them, or resort to other means of torture.
The way the Chinese authorities and some mental hospitals treat Falun Gong practitioners has seriously violated the principles of psychiatric ethics and constitutes abuse of psychiatric treatment for the purpose of persecution of spiritual belief.
The purpose of our preliminary investigation is to ask concerned organizations in the international community to pay attention to the severity of these cases and take appropriate measures to stop the abuse of psychiatric treatment methods used to persecute mentally healthy Falun Gong practitioners. Our organization will, as always, continue our investigation into all reported cases. We will continue to announce, as necessary, to related international organizations and media, the list of all the hospitals, doctors and related personnel, and the names of individuals who assist these hospitals in the persecution including police and victims’ employers and relatives, and staunchly investigate their legal liabilities.
The Declaration of Hawaii—World Psychiatric Association:
http://www.bjmu.edu.cn/xueyuan/shelunli/6.htm (Chinese)
http://www.codex.uu.se/texts/hawaii.html (English)
Note: Regarding the current human rights status in China, legal requirements, and for the safety of the concerned individuals in these investigations, some details are not shown here. For those who need specific reference materials and have other special requests, please contact WOIPFG directly.
World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong
Tel：1-347-448-5790；Fax：1-347-402-1444；
Mail Address：P.O. Box 84， New york, NY 10116
Website： http://www.upholdjustice.org/, http://www.zhuichaguoji.org/
