(Minghui.org) Since the persecution of Falun Gong was initiated by former Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Jiang Zemin in July of 1999, Falun Gong practitioners in China have been subjected to some of the most brutal torture methods in history. Such torture is often inflicted on them while being held in police stations, detention centers, and prisons.

There have been numerous accounts of practitioners who were blinded as a result of physical torture, as well as those who were injected with unknown chemicals and drugs. There are also accounts of practitioners having eyes removed for organ harvesting transplants.

The following cases demonstrate the brutal nature of the persecution.

Guangzhou Fashion Designer Blinded in Right Eye

Ms. Wang Haiyan, a fashion designer from Guangzhou, was taken by local police and 610 Office agents on June 13, 2002. After being viciously beaten, she lost consciousness and was taken to a hospital to be revived. In addition to being diagnosed with temporary amnesia, she had sustained injuries to the wall tissue of her eyeball and optic nerve; multiple bruises to her head; damage to her left eardrum and hearing loss; and multiple soft tissue injuries and bruises on her body.

Although the examining doctor recommended immediate treatment and hospitalization, she was instead taken to a detention center and held for four months.

Lacking proper, timely treatment, Wang Haiyan's condition deteriorated, eventually leading to blindness in her right eye and decreased vision in her left.

Ms. Wang Haiyan before 2002

Ms. Wang Haiyan now

Family Arrested, Father Loses Eyesight from Beating

On Jan. 1, 2001, Jiang Baoming of Jilin Province was arrested with his wife and daughter when the family went to Beijing to appeal for the rights of Falun Gong practitioners. Police beat him in the face with a baton. As a result, his right eye bled for four days straight, then had clear discharge for a month.

As a result of the beatings, the damage was permanent, and he lost eyesight in his right eye.

Woman Struck By Prison Guard, Blinded in One Eye

Ms. Zhang Chunyu is from Heilongjiang Province, in the northeast of China, bordering Russia. She has been arrested numerous times for practicing her faith in Falun Gong, twice sent to forced labor camps. While being held against her will at the Wanjia Forced Labor Camp, she suffered severe torture, often inflicted by prison guards.

On one occasion, a guard was slapping Chunyu's face when she hit her left eye. Ms. Zhang immediately felt excruciating pain, as if her eyeball was about to fall out.

The eye was bruised and swollen for a long time, and the injury resulted in the loss of eyesight.

Ms. Zhang Chunyu after she lost her eyesight

Taiyuan Man Slapped During Torture, Eyes Damaged Permanently

Mr. Wang Zhigang is from Taiyuan, the largest city in China's Shanxi Province. In 2008, he was sentenced to three years in Jinzhong Prison for practicing Falun Gong. While imprisoned, he often was slapped hard in the face during torture sessions, resulting in several injuries to his eyes.

In January of 2010, he was diagnosed with bleeding and damage to the vitreous body in both eyes. As a result he has completely lost vision in his left eye, and has very blurry vision in his right eye.

He still experiences severe pain in his eyes, even after being released.

Young Mother Punched, Blinded, then Suffocated to Death

Ms. Li Shuhua was grabbed by local police on Sept. 24, 2003, for her belief in Falun Gong, and possessing materials exposing the CCP's persecution of the practice.

In order to extract information about the source of the Falun Gong materials, police covered her head with a plastic bag, then pierced her fingers, arms, back, and chest with needles. Ms. Li screamed in pain, but refused to reveal her source.

One police officer started punching her eyes. As a result, one of her eyeballs popped out, and she passed out from the pain.

Police and prison guards often use inmates to brutalize Falun Gong practitioners. To cover up their crimes in torturing Shuhua, police had inmates suffocate her to death.

She was 32 years old.

Ms. Li Shuhua

Ms. Li left behind two young children. Her husband Yang Zhanjiu was also detained at the time, and later sentenced to seven years in prison.

Ms. Li's mother, Cui Zhanyun, was sent to a brainwashing center and later died from ill treatment.

Torture Demonstration: head covered with a plastic bag

Dafa Practitioner Ms. Li Shuhua Is Blinded, Then Murdered by the Public Security Police

Man Shot, Kicked in the Head, and Brutalized by Police

Mr. Jiang Honglu

On the first day of the 2002 Chinese New Year - February 12 - Jiang Honglu set out to clarify the truth about the persecution of Falun Gong to the Chinese people. He came upon police officer Meng Qingqi, who shot him in the left leg, fracturing a bone in his lower leg.

When Mr. Jiang fell to the ground, officer Meng and officer Du Yongshan ran up to him and started kicking him in the head. Mr. Jiang fainted.

After such brutality, Jiang's eyes protruded from his head. The officers then grabbed him and drove to the Shuangsheng Township Police Station in Mishan City, and threw him to the floor. Honglu's blood was everywhere.

Afraid Mr. Jiang would die on the floor of the police station, the officers drove him to a local hospital, handcuffed him to a bed, and ordered the attending doctor to push his eyeballs back in place.

He was denied any other treatment, and his family wasn't allowed to see him. Police picked him up and carried him out on the hospital mattress, then drove him back to the detention center. They covered his head with a quilt to hide the damage.

During subsequently interrogations, police would beat Jiang Honglu with rubber sticks, and poured mustard oil into his nose.

Later Jiang was given a prison sentence of 14 years.

Jiang Honglu Sentenced to 14 Years After Being Shot by Police (Photos)

Shen Jing'e Died After Being Blinded from Torture

Ms. Shen Jing'e was repeatedly arrested and detained for practicing her faith in Falun Gong. While incarcerated at the Harbin Women's Prison, she was subjected to various forms of torture, including solitary confinement, force-feeding, being cuffed and hung in the air, sleep deprivation, etc.

When she was released in May 2005, she was already completely blind from torture; her body was broken, and she was extremely weak.

She died on Nov. 5, 2006, at the age of 45.

Falun Dafa Practitioner Ms. Shen Jing’e Passes Away After Numerous Tribulations

Woman Blinded from Repeated Shock Treatments

While Ms. Dai Ying was being held at Shaoguan Prison (Guangdong Women's Prison), she was shocked with electric batons while tortured. "I felt as if my head was about to explode,” Ms. Dai recalled. “It was extremely painful. I couldn't even stand up."

During one brutal torture session, a guard shocked her for 30-40 minutes straight. The next morning, Ms. Dai noticed that she couldn't see clearly, and after a doctor's examination she was told there were many red spots on the optical nerves in both eyes. She was told there was no cure for it, and the damage was permanent.

Dai Ying lost eyesight in her left eye completely, and the right eye has very weak vision.

Retinas Damaged by Shining Spotlights in His Eyes During Interrogation

Mr. Guo Xiaojun

Guo Xiaojun was in his 40s, a former teacher at the Department of Computer Science at Jiaotong University in Shanghai. For practicing Falun Gong, he was arrested on Jan. 7, 2010.

Police tried to obtain information from him about other practitioners. During interrogations they continually shined a spotlight into his eyes, resulting in blurred vision and intermittent blindness.

His diagnosis was retinal artery spasms. Frequent retinal artery spasms can cause vascular clogging in the eyes, and can result in permanent blindness if not treated.

Although his family repeatedly requested authorities to provide Guo treatment, they refused, saying that he still had not given up his belief in Falun Gong.

Mr. Guo Xiaojun was sentenced to fours years in prison.

Mr. Guo Xiaojun, Former Lecturer at Shanghai Transportation University, in Life-threatening Situation

Man Loses Eyesight from Optic Atrophy Caused by Force-feeding

Falun Gong practitioner Wang Zhige was violently force-fed as part of the torture inflicted on him at the Zhen County Detention Center on March 27, 2005. Mr. Wang recalls that he felt pressure and pain in his eyes when he was suffocated from force-feeding.

On the night of April 13, he suddenly felt a terrible sharp pain in his left eye.

"When I opened my eyes, the sight in my left eye deteriorated very quickly, and I was completely blind in that eye in a matter of seconds," Mr. Wang recalls. At the same time, he also noticed that his “right fingers, especially right middle finger, ring finger, and little finger, were swollen, painful and numb. I lost all sensation in them."After being force-fed three more times, Mr. Wang completely lost eyesight in his left eye.

Wang's family believes that the guards' savage act during the force-feeding broke blood capillaries in his head, causing blood to slowly seep into his cranial cavity. The resultant pressure gradually built up behind his left eye and optic nerve, causing blindness.

Wang Zhige was sentenced to three years in prison, and upon his release sought medical treatment for his eye. Doctors informed him that his eyesight could have been saved had he received prompt treatment. But as three years had passed, there was no hope for recovery.

Mr. Wang Zhige Blinded in One Eye Due to Torture

Guards Allow Inmate to Burn His Eyes with Caustic Fruit Juice

Mr. Shao Chengluo

Shao Chengluo, a doctor of Chinese medicine, was imprisoned for ten years for refusing to renounce his faith in Falun Gong.

In 2017, he and his wife, Ms. Gao Wenshu, were again arrested, and then sentenced to nine years and four years, respectively.

Mr. Shao was brutally tortured while in prison. An inmate sat on top of him and blew air into his eyes, causing them to swell so badly that he couldn't see. Another time, a guard lashed his eyes with wet towels, then wrapped the wet towels around them. Another guard would flick his fingers into Shao's eyes.

On another occasion, an inmate squeezed some kind of fruit juice into his eyes, causing severe burns.

Mr. Shao Chengluo Suffers Various Tortures in Shandong Province Prison (Photo)

Unknown Drug Injections Blind Woman Held in Mental Hospital

Lu Yanfei was former director of the Chuanshan District Women's Association in Suining City, and a member of the Township Peoples Council. She has been incarcerated numerous times for refusing to renounce her belief in Falun Gong.

Agents from the Suining City 610 Office arrested Ms. Lu on March 2, 2006, and she was then transferred to the Beigu Mental Hospital.

Ms. Lu went on a hunger strike to protest her illegal persecution and detainment. At the mental hospital, a Dr. Li Xudong forcibly injected drugs into Yanfei, causing a lack of sensation and mobility of her tongue for three days.

She was later transferred to Minkang Hospital, where during repeated torture sessions she was tied up and force-fed, and later injected with large doses of unknown drugs. As a result, she became blind, lost all her hair, was mentally disoriented, and unable to fall asleep.

Her legs swelled up, and she suffered memory loss.

As Lu Yanfei neared the brink of death, she was released, but was forced to leave home to avoid further persecution.

Falun Gong Practitioners Locked Up in Mental Hospitals

Middle School Teacher Blinded and Crippled from Unknown Drugs

Ms. Zhang Yulan

Zhang Yulan was a middle school teacher who practiced Falun Gong. For her faith, she was arrested and sentenced to eight years in prison.

While incarcerated at the Tianjin Women's Prison, guards forced her to take unknown substances, and as a result her body was stricken with nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea.

Her limbs became weak, and her eyesight deteriorated. When Ms. Zhang refused to take the drugs, the guards put the drugs in her food and drink instead. When Yulan caught an inmate putting unknown substances in her drink, the inmate told her that she was acting on orders from prison officials.

Ms. Zhang's health deteriorated daily, and she became increasingly ill. She had difficulty walking and controlling her legs, and gradually began losing her eyesight. She could not sleep, and lost her appetite.

Eventually, she became completely blind, and could no longer walk.

Tianjin Prisons’ Systematic Use of Drugs in Persecution of Falun Gong

Practitioner Blinded and Crippled After 13 Years of Torture in Prison

Mr. Zhang Hongwei

Zhang Hongwei is a Falun Gong practitioner in Tonghua City, Jilin Province. He was given 13 years in prison for telling people about the persecution of Falun Gong.

While imprisoned at Jilin Prison, Mr. Zhang was subjected to various forms of torture: being scalded with boiling water; suffocated with smoke; having needles stuck into his body, etc. He was also being injected with unknown chemicals and drugs. As a result, he gradually lost his eyesight and became completely blind.

With extensive physical damage to his body, he can no longer stand up straight, and can only walk with small, shuffling steps while holding onto a wall.

Mr. Zhang Hongwei Tortured in Prison for 13 Years

Zhang Yanchao - a Victim of Forced Organ Harvesting

Mr. Zhang Yanchao

Mr. Zhang Yanchao, a farmer from Heilongjiang Province, was only thirty years old when he was taken by police on March 28, 2002.

The torture was brutal, as he was shocked with electric batons, and his left leg was broken from violent beatings. On March 31, he was taken to a special torture room equipped with over 40 instruments of torture, located in the Harbin Public Security Detention Center.

By the next day, he was dead.

According to Zhang's brother, it was almost a month later – on April 27 – before the family was notified of his death. They were told he had died from a from a hunger strike, and were asked to examine his body before cremation.

Family members were shocked when they saw Zhang Yanchao's body. He was covered with bruises and cuts. One of his eyes was missing. His teeth were smashed to pieces, and his chin, shattered. One of his legs was broken.

There was an incision running from his chin to his lower abdomen. The incision was stitched up using gunny rope, made from jute. His chest was caved in, as if all internal organs had been removed.

Sixty armed officers surrounded Mr. Zhang's family, as they were told to sign off on the cremation, or be arrested.

One man working on-site later said that the body had been brought there 21 days before, adding he had heard that Zhang's brain, heart, and liver were cut out for some experiment.

In May 2009, Mr. Zhang's brother told reporters at a press conference in Japan that a police officer informed him his brother's organs had been removed while he was still alive, after suffering brutal beatings.

Press Conference in Japan to Expose Beijing's Persecution of Falun Gong