Dang Aimin - 党爱民
(Minghui.org) Mr. Dang Aimin was a Falun Gong practitioner from Zhaogezhuang Mining Company, Kailuan Mining Bureau, Guye District, Tangshan City, Hebei Province, China. He was bedridden with a crooked back until he started practicing Falun Gong. However, after the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) banned Falun Gong in July 1999, he was subjected to torture. He died at the age of 50 on October 18, 2012.
Mr. Dang Aimin was born on April 16, 1962. When he was diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis, the doctor predicted that he would become paralyzed within two years. When he became bedridden like the doctor had predicted, he could not even go to the bathroom on his own. Yet when he started practicing Falun Gong in 1996, he became completely healthy again and was able to stand up with a straight back. He was overcome with joy. When Jiang Zemin, former head of the CCP, outlawed Falun Gong in July 1999, Mr. Dang naturally felt compelled to speak up for Falun Gong. He traveled to Beijing to exercise his constitutional right as a Chinese citizen to appeal to the State Appeals Office for Falun Gong, but the trip would prove to be the beginning of his plight for eight long years until he died.
Mr. Dang began traveling by bicycle with several other Falun Gong practitioners to Beijing on October 8, 2000. One of the practitioners was an older lady who did not know how to ride a bicycle, so they took turns carrying her on the back seat. Sometimes they had to hide in corn fields during the day to avoid checkpoints that the authorities had set up to prevent Falun Gong practitioners from exercising their constitutional right. They took advantage of the night as cover to travel to Beijing. Yet they were arrested once in Beijing. The police transferred Mr. Dang back to his hometown and sent him to Guye Detention Center.
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Torture re-enactment: Drilling between fingers with a toothbrush
The prison guards at Guye Detention Center had inmates put a big toothbrush between Dang's fingers and kept rotating the toothbrush until his flesh was worn and finger bones were exposed. The inmates repeatedly asked him, "Will you continue to practice Falun Gong?" "Yes!" They continued the torture. They also repeatedly rolled a thick kneading pin back and forth over his thighs until his legs were severely swollen. In addition, they poured cold buckets of water over him and force-fed him with icy water during the wintertime.
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Torture illustration: Pouring icy water over a Falun Gong practitioner
The prison guards had subjected him to many forms of torture. They assaulted him verbally and physically. They repeatedly poked Dang in the face, chest, and head with needles.
When Mr. Dang was later transferred to Hehuakeng Forced Labor Camp in Tangshan City, he was subjected to very intense torture for the first 30 days. He was made to sit on a wooden stool for 12 hours a day absolutely still with a straight back. After a long period of time, his skin would tear if he wriggled even a little. The pain was unbearable as his flesh and blood had stuck to his pants. He would stop bleeding overnight, but started bleeding again the next day he was back on the stool.
One day a prison guard named Li Xiaozhong found Mr. Dang practicing Falun Gong exercises. Li immediately began to torture Dang. Li had Dang's head secured between his (Li's) thighs while raising his arms up backwards and across his back. Then another prison guard bound Dang's entire arms tight with thin nylon ropes until the ropes sank deep into his flesh. Dang felt excruciating pain in his shoulders. He had already lost the feeling of his arms by the time his arms were tied up. Next the prison guards lifted Dang's body by his bound arms and swung his body back and forth. The wider the swing, the more pain he would feel. An average person would be nauseated, develop cold sweats, rapid heartbeat and shortness of breath, and look ashen after three such "swing" sessions, but Dang was subjected to this torture seven consecutive times. The ropes left dents in his shoulders that remained for three years.
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Torture illustration: Binding chair torture
The prison guards once denied Dang of sleep for seven days and nights. They poked him with bamboo sticks, bound him to a chair and subjected him to the torture method called "Death Bed." He was often subjected to beatings during the day. One day he was shocked with electric batons until he passed out. He was made to stand up still for long periods of time until his legs turned dark. He was also hung up and swung. They hit his thighs and knocked his face to the wall, which caused his nose to bleed, his face to be injured, and his thighs to bleed.
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Torture re-enactment: Death Bed
Once he did not eat for seven days, during which he was at the brink of death. He was repeatedly admitted to the hospital, but was never granted bail for medical treatment. Finally the camp decided to have Dang's employer pick him up, but his employer did not take him home. They transferred him from the camp to Zhaokuang Hospital where Dang continued to face torture. When Dang was slightly better, he was transferred back to the camp, where he faced new rounds of torture.
When Mr. Dang was finally released, he was locked in a cage for two years at the Zhaogezhuang Police Station. A policeman named Li Xiangpu even attempted to commit Dang to a psychiatric hospital. But the doctor told him, "He is more sane than any of you." The police transferred Mr. Dang to a notorious forced brainwashing center inside the Tangshan City textile school. Dang was a miserable sight to behold when he was thrown into the brainwashing center. His clothes were filthy and torn. His facial hair was three feet long. He looked like a caveman.
Mr. Dang was incarcerated on the second floor of the building used as a forced brainwashing center. The torturers denied him of sleep. When subjected to verbal and physical assaults as a means to make him renounce his faith in Falun Gong, Mr. Dang would respond by shouting, "Falun Gong is good!" Tian Linfeng, a male employee at Tangshan Mining Company, was ordered to kick and punch Mr. Dang until he collapsed. Tian continued the violence and kept grinding his shoe on Mr. Dang's face until he bled. Mr. Dang was made to stand for long periods of time and was denied of sleep. He was made to stand against the wall until his legs were very swollen. He was also made to sit outside on the ground in the shade during the winter. He was also denied food. At night, he was taken to a warehouse without heating, where he spent the night.
The 610 Office of Zhaogezhuang Mining Company had four men take turns watching Mr. Dang in groups of two. One night two of them took turns beating Mr. Dang up. When the smaller guy was exhausted from beating him up, he goaded the bigger guy to beat him. He would shout, "Hit hard! I will take full responsibility if he dies." He even dragged Mr. Dang's head and smashed it on the heater. When someone found out about the beating, Mr. Dang had already been beaten for a very long time. When people finally arrived at the scene, the two men were still beating him up. They saw Mr. Dang on the ground with pieces of his hair pulled out and strewn all over the floor, including the heater.
The leaders at the brainwashing center summoned Mr. Dang the next day, but he was unable to stand, let alone walk. He was hauled by two men to the office. He could not stand. He could not walk. He could not even sit. His entire torso was marred with blue and purple bruises. In fact, he had become paralyzed.
Zhang Aning and Wang Zhijie, the two men who ran the center, suggested that the two torturers should "perhaps" give Mr. Dang some financial compensation, but it was just lip service.
One day all the torturers beat Mr. Dang together, including Zhang Aning, Wang Zhijie, Tian Linfeng, Zhou Xiaowu and Zhang Shi. Zhang Shi, an employee of the Zhijin Mining Factory, smashed a chair on Mr. Dang's head and caused profuse bleeding. Zhang Aning also hit him on the head. They used the sole of a shoe to hit Mr. Dang's hips until there was no clean skin left. He could not lay on his back because the flesh on his sides would stick to the bed. He could only lie on his stomach. It was very hot. Mr. Dang could smell the stench of his flesh festering. When the wounds finally healed, Mr. Dang removed scabs the diameter of a salad plate.
When Mr. Dang was in Zhaogezhuang Hospital, they found dark spots in his stomach. He would vomit when he ate. Nevertheless, the torturers would continue the torture when Mr. Dang had not been able to eat for eight days. They put two large, heavy quilts on him and stomped on his body repeatedly. According to Mr. Dang, he almost died of suffocation. They also took a large quantity of blood from him. (It was surmised that they might have planned to harvest his organs while he was still alive when they took his blood sample.)
The local 610 Office repeatedly threw Mr. Dang into forced labor camps, brainwashing centers and detention centers to make him renounce his faith in Falun Gong. Mr. Dang spent nearly seven years incarcerated. He was denied of his human rights and personal freedom. When he was finally released, his heart and kidney were failing. He could hardly walk.
The leadership at Zhaogezhuang Mining Company reinstated him to prevent Mr. Dang from going to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong, which would jeopardize their performance review. However, Mr. Dang was under watch around the clock. In addition, he was paid only at the rate of a temp for merely 500 yuan a month. He had only 200-300 yuan left after he paid his rent and utilities. He could hardly make ends meet. He was frail. He didn't have much appetite because he often felt nauseated. He often thought of ending his life, but he thought of Falun Gong's teachings. Teacher Li said, "[...] committing suicide is sinful." ("Lecture in Sydney") He told himself that he must persevere, tell people the truth about the Chinese Communist Party's persecution of Falun Gong, and save them from the CCP's lies. One day he limped all the way while he was handing out flyers containing important facts about Falun Gong and the persecution.
When Mr. Dang and his wife were on their way home to Tangshan from an out-of-town trip on July 6, 2012, the traffic police from Fengnan stopped them and checked their IDs. The police accused Mr. Dang of traveling to Beijing and took him into custody. The police would not release him until he renounced Falun Gong in writing. When Mr. Dang refused to comply, they had the police from Dongbei District Police Station of Zhaogezhuang pick him up. Zhang Jianmin, a disciplinary staff member from Dongbei District Police Station, tried to extort 20,000 yuan from Mr. Dang's son or he would put Dang into a forced labor camp again. Mr. Dang did not want to go back to the camp, so he decided to move out. His son paid the 20,000 yuan to protect his parents from harm.
However, the extortion had a severe impact on Mr. Dang. He was overcome with fear, anger and worry. He could not eat or sleep. He would only have some ice cubes sometimes. He told his wife, "The Communist Party is looking for trouble again when they see I am getting better." On August, 27, 2012, he felt intense pain in his legs. He had them checked at Zhaogezhuang Hospital, but the hospital said he needed to be in a bigger hospital. But Kailuan Hospital said the same thing. Finally he was transferred to Gongren Hospital, where he was diagnosed with arterial thrombosis in his legs and had to be operated on immediately. It would cost 350,000 yuan for the surgery and two days at the hospital. He had no money or health insurance. A chairman at Gongren Hospital commented, "Who would operate on you without money?" He had no choice but to return home untreated. He passed away at 4:45pm on October 18, 2012.
Mr. Dang was paralyzed in bed with a crooked back before he started practicing Falun Gong. He became perfectly healthy because of Falun Gong, but the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) started to persecute those who practice Falun Gong despite Falun Gong's free health benefits. A man became perfectly healthy but then died because of the CCP.
