“This morning I was tied and force fed. Five or six police officers and male prisoners held down my hands and feet and forced the nasogastric tube into my nose. It was so unbearably painful that I nearly fainted many times. I vomited repeatedly, and I could not stop my stream of tears. I heard my own piercing screams. Before, I had only heard of such force-feeding torture on the Internet, but now I have experienced it myself.”
Those are words from a secretly recorded toilet paper diary by 28-year-old He Wenting, a young women who is presently held at the Fu Yong Detention Center in Shawan City, Panyu District of Guangzhou Province for refusing to give up her faith in Falun Gong.
He Wenting is from Dao County of Hunan Province where she grew up in a poor rural family. At age 14, she joined the Yongzhou Writers Association and has since won many city-level and higher awards for her essays, novels, and comics. Her work has been featured in national papers.
He Wenting is married to Huang Guangyu, a 30-year-old fine artist who graduated from Guangzhou Art Academy. Huang’s work was shown at the Guangzhou Museum of Art in 2012. His oil paintings have been incorporated into Li Zhengtian’s art instruction text titled “Light and Color Theory.”
He Wenting says she found Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, when she was painfully lost, and it helped her to understand the meaning of life. “Falun Dafa helped me become who I am today. Otherwise, I would be just another lost individual in society,” she said.
On Dec. 18, 2013, He Wenting and her husband Huang Guangyu were arrested by the security of Guangzhou University’s School of Foreign Language for distributing free copies of an Internet circumvention software. Both are currently detained at the Fu Yong Detention Center.
He Wenting’s case is being featured on Minghui.org, a Falun Gong website that exposes the ongoing persecution of the spiritual practice in China. He Wenting is on a hunger strike to protest against the illegal detention. The brutal force-feeding by police is a type of torture used on many Falun Gong practitioners who refuse to sign a statement that they will stop practicing Falun Gong.
Despite the horrific torture, He Wenting managed to secretly write about the experience.
“Today, I was again force-fed twice. My hands are covered with bruises from the handcuffs. When I vomited, there was blood. But I still shouted loudly: ‘Falun Dafa is good! Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance are good! Having my belief is not a crime!’
“In the afternoon, a prison guard with the surname Yang came to speak with me. She tried to distort [Falun] Dafa and to brainwash me. I firmly denied all her claims and explained the facts to her. She became infuriated and told me, ‘Even if you died here, nobody would care!’”
He Wenting’s diary has passed through many hands before finally being made public.
In a diary entry on Jan. 15, 2014 she wrote: “Today is the sixth day of my second hunger strike in which I have refused to consume food or water. I was force-fed four times today. Yesterday, the nasogastric tube damaged my stomach. Subsequently, my stomach automatically rejected any food when being force-fed. At that time, I almost fainted, and I could not breathe. This morning, several male prisoners once again came to carry me to the infirmary. Multiple prison doctors came, handcuffed my hands and feet, and tightly bound me. They spread my legs apart, and restrained me on the bed. When I opened my eyes, I counted a total of 10 people holding down my arms, thighs, and head. The one who inserted the nasogastric tube was the chief medical officer. He inserted it through my left nostril to the stomach to force-feed me. My stomach could not help but convulse and resist. I vomited repeatedly, and each time it was accompanied by excruciating pain and involuntary floods of tears.
“From nine o’clock in the morning till four-thirty in the afternoon, they kept the nasogastric tube in me. I was restrained on a freezing cold bed and was force-fed four times. It was extremely difficult for me. I could barely breathe through my mouth. Every time I moved my neck the slightest bit, I would feel a searing pain as if my throat was being stabbed by a knife. When I was carried back to the female prison, my entire body was feeble and weak; I could not stand. At this point, my voice had become severely hoarse, and my left nostril had swelled up.”
Reflecting on the police officers who were torturing her, He Wenting wrote in her diary: “They also have wives, children, and parents! I simply want to safeguard my legal rights and claim my innocence. I do not hate or blame you. I sincerely hope you will follow your conscience and make the right decision.”
A well-known Chinese painter, who read He Wenting’s diary, said he was profoundly moved by it. “Within the lines of her diary, one can see her deep benevolence and honesty, her unyielding spirit as well as her compassionate mind. When my friends and I read reports about her and her diary in the news, we all felt profoundly moved. We all hope that she can quickly and safely return home.”
According to Minghui, the local court will hold an illegal trial against He Wenting on May 4.
China officially closed its reeducation-through-labor camps last year where millions of Falun Gong practitioners were detained and tortured since former Communist Party leader Jiang Zemin gave orders in 1999 to eradicate Falun Gong. According to Minghui, Amnesty International, and other sources www.faluninfo.net , the persecution has not been ended. Falun Gong practitioners are now being detained in brainwashing centers and given lengthy prison sentences if they don’t denounce their faith.
Translation by Virginia Wu and Irene Luo.
Read the original Chinese article.
