(Minghui.org)

Summary of Key Persecution Facts:
Name: Liu Tao (柳涛)
Gender: Female
Age: in her 40's
Address: Mianyang City, Sichuan Province
Occupation: Business owner
Date of Most Recent Arrest: June 22, 2009
Most Recent Place of Detention: Sichuan Women's Prison (四川女子监狱)
City: Jianyang
Province: Sichuan
Persecution Suffered: Sleep deprivation, forced labor, brainwashing, illegal sentencing, beatings, hung up, imprisonment, solitary confinement, torture, home ransacked, detention

Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Liu Tao from Mianyang City, Sichuan Province, was brutally beaten while being hung from a steel pipe with her mouth taped shut at the Sichuan Women's Prison. Those who carried out the beating were criminal inmates, instigated by the guards. Ms. Liu has also been subjected to various torture methods including being handcuffed and shackled, solitary confinement, sleep deprivation, and severe beatings with clubs and shoes. Once, while watching Ms. Liu being beaten by inmate Xiao Daying, a prison guard commented that Ms. Liu was “assaulting an officer.”

Torture illustration: Brutal beating

Ms. Liu is in her 40's and has a bachelors degree. She used to work in Shenzhen City and owned a business in the information technology field in India. While she was on a business trip from India to China in August 1999, the police confiscated all her paperwork. She was later illegally detained three times for going to Beijing to appeal for justice for Falun Gong and for publicly doing the exercises. Ms. Liu was sentenced to three years of forced labor in November 1999. At the Sanshui Prison and Forced Labor Camp, she was subjected to brutal torture. Each inmate once whipped her thirty times just because she attempted to do the exercises. She went on hunger strikes several times to protest the persecution.

Officers from the Fucheng District Police Station, under orders of the director, broke into Ms. Liu's home around 10:30 p.m. on June 22, 2009 and arrested her and her husband Mr. Zhong Shikai, also a practitioner. The police did not care that Mr. Zhong's father was in his 70's and his mother was sick and needed to be cared for. The police ransacked their home twice, on the day of the arrest and the following day, and confiscated personal belongings that filled six bags. Around the time of their arrest, officers from the Miangyang City 610 Office worked in collusion with officers from the Miangyang City Police Department and illegally broke into another practitioner Mr. Deng Chengkai's home. They chased him to the seventh floor, waited for nearly two hours, and eventually arrested him.

While being sentenced at the Miangyang City Court, Ms. Liu and Mr. Deng shouted “Falun Dafa is good!” As a result, their terms were each extended by a year. Mr. Deng's term was changed from seven to eight years, and Ms. Liu's was changed from five to six years.

Ms. Liu was then taken to the Sichuan Women's Prison where she was forced to undergo brainwashing. She saw through the deceits and lies of the guards, remained steadfast, and adhered to her belief in Dafa. She refused to cooperate with the guards or to follow orders, and often shouted “Falun Dafa is good,” which caused her to be severely tortured.

Torture re-enactment: Taping a victim's mouth shut

The guards at the Sichuan Women's Prison employ cruel methods such as sleep deprivation and forcing practitioners to stand for long periods of time, in an attempt to “transform” them. Ms. Mao Kun from Chengdu City resisted the persecution, and often shouted “Falun Dafa is good” and “Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good,” and consequently was severely beaten. She was often beaten with her mouth taped shut, and was once hung from a steel pipe for three days. Ms. Mao resolutely resisted the persecution, refused to do forced labor or to count off, and went on hunger strikes when the persecution against her escalated. The longest she was on a hunger strike was more than two months. Many inmates who knew the truth about Falun Dafa were very sympathetic toward her and detested the actions of the guards.