(Minghui.org) Police routinely use handcuffs to torture Falun Gong practitioners in China.


Using handcuffs as torture tools, the perpetrators exert varying degrees of pain on the victim by cuffing them in different ways. For example, the hands can be cuffed behind the back in various positions to exert extreme, excruciating pain, as with the "forced back-bend" position. (Note: This is a very painful form of torture in which one arm is pulled down from behind the head and the other hand is pulled up from the lower back. The two hands are cuffed together to cause unbearable pain.)

This article exposes how police handcuff Falun Gong practitioners so that the cuffs will cut deep into their flesh. The metal rubs against the flesh and bones, causing excruciating pain, as fingers turn black from obstructed blood flow. This form of torture often leaves the practitioners with long-term injuries.

The following are a few main methods used by police when torturing practitioners, alongside other forms of torture, such as electric shock and violent beatings.

Shaking Handcuffs

The police put a handkerchief or a towel through the handcuffs and then shake them violently, or grab hold of the practitioner's wrists and twist and shake them with force, making the cuffs tighter and tighter until they cut deeply into the torn flesh.

Ms. Zhang Zhongli from Zhangjiakou City was stopped by police on October 25, 2000, while she was on her way to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong. Deng Jianmin, head of the Wuyilu Police Station, stood on her back, wrapped the handcuffs with a towel, and shook the cuffs violently. He also stepped on one of her wrists and pulled the cuff on her other hand with force until it cut completely into her flesh.

Mr. Yan Hai from Huailai County of Hebei Province was arrested on October 30, 2002. The police tied him to a tiger bench torture device and cuffed his hands behind his back. They then tied a rope to the handcuffs and pulled the rope backward with all their might. At the same time two officers kept shaking him and the bench. The handcuffs became tighter and tighter until they cut deep into his flesh, causing profuse bleeding.

Practitioners often pass out due to the pain, and in serious cases their wrist joints are torn apart, causing permanent disability.

Bending Fingers

Torture reenactment: Bending fingers

The police clamped a set of handcuffs on Ms. Zhang Jiuhui's wrists and forced them into the flesh. When the cuffs pressed against the bone, it was excruciatingly painful. The police then bent her fingers forward and backward. The cuffs became tighter and tighter, and cut into her flesh, causing her unbearable pain. Years later, the scars are still visible on Ms. Zhang's fingers.

Stomping on Cuffs

Torture reenactment: Stomping on cuffs

Practitioner Mr. Zhao Jianying, 29, was tortured in October 2002 by Miao Zhongkai from the 610 Office of Xuchang City in Henan Province. Miao clamped the handcuffs on Mr. Zhao's ankles until they cut deeply into the flesh. He then stomped violently on the cuffs, causing unbearable pain to the ankles.

Practitioner Mr. Jiang Yunhong was an engineer at the Chengdu Air Compressor Factory. He was arrested on July 22, 2005, and taken to the Xinjin Brainwashing Center for torture and interrogation. The persecutors tried hard to find the most painful way to handcuff his hands from behind the chair, then pulled his head back while striding on his cuffed hands, causing severe pain to his hands and wrists. His wrists quickly swelled and bled.

Ms. Peng Dongjun was arrested in February 2000 when she went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong. She was taken back to the Tongliang Detention Center, and detained there for 37 days. Former police chief Chen Wen (who has since suffered karmic retribution for persecuting Falun Gong) along with over twenty officers from the Tongliang County Police Department, handcuffed Ms. Peng's hands behind her back and cruelly tortured her. Wearing military boots, the officers stomped on Ms. Peng's cuffed hands, causing extreme pain. Both of her shoulders were dislocated, and even a year after the torture, her hands were very weak and she could not work.

Stretching Cuff

Torture reenactment: Stepping on the legs and pulling the arms back

Practitioner Mr. Zhou Rongbiao from Shanghai was taken to the Xuhui District Detention Center on July 14, 2000, and detained there for 30 days. Officer Ding Jun pressed him to the floor and cuffed his hands behind his back. He then stepped on Mr. Zhou's back and pulled the cuffs hard. Mr. Zhou's hands turned purple-black. Afterwards, his thumbs were numb for an entire year.

Torture reenactment: Stretching cuff

Mr. Wu Dongsheng was arrested on October 10, 2011, and taken to the Qinglongshan Brainwashing Center. Two perpetrators stretched his arms out and cuffed his hands to two bed frames, one on the top frame, one on the bottom frame, so that he could neither sit nor stand. This torture is extremely painful because after a while the cuffs cut into the victim's flesh and cause bleeding. The victim's legs swell up and become numb and he feels nauseous. Some victims have passed out numerous times due to pain while being tortured this way.

Tight Cuffing

Ms. Chen Zhuoyi from Zhanjiang City in Guangdong Province was arrested in the winter of 2000, and taken to the Fangshan Detention Center in Beijing, for holding up a banner with the words “Falun Dafa is Good.” In an attempt to force her to reveal her name and address, the police cuffed and tortured her. They put her hands behind her back, and twisted and pulled them up, locking them together in one cuff while locking the other cuff to a metal chair. The cuffs were so tight it took several people quite some time to open them later.

When the cuffs were clamped on, Ms. Chen's hands and arms immediately felt intense pain. In addition, the police kicked the cuffs with their boots and hammered away at them with their hands. The police tortured her this way for eight hours, causing her great pain. In the end, the capillary vessels of both hands broke and the blood couldn't circulate. Her hands turned black, with a very deep mark where the cuffs were locked on. Her right hand had no feeling. It took a very long time for her hands to recover.

Hanging Up in the Air

If the practitioner is cuffed and then hung up, the pain is many times more intense, especially when the victim is suspended by their cuffed wrists and pushed around.

Torture reenactment: Hands cuffed behind the back and hung up

In the Kaiping Forced Labor Camp, Ms. Zhang Ruiying was cuffed between a set of basketball posts. Her feet could not touch the ground, and the spiked handcuffs cut deeply into her flesh, causing unbearable pain. She was cuffed this way for hours. When she was brought down, her wrists were a bloody mess, and her hands had lost all feeling. The torture and abuse reduced her to a bag of bones, and her once black hair turned gray. It took a few years for her wrists to recover.

Torture reenactment: Hanging up in the air

The “hanging up in the air” torture involves suspending the victim, spread-eagle, with his feet off the ground. This is an extremely cruel means of torture, as the cuffs cut deeply into the victim's flesh like a knife, and can cripple the victims' arms within 20 minutes.

Guards at the Wanjia Forced Labor Camp in Harbin City, cuff the hands of practitioners behind their back, put a rope through the cuffs, and hang the victim from a heating pipe three meters from the floor. Their arms are stretched backwards, with the joints twisted, causing the weight of their entire body to fall on the wrists, causing unbearable pain.

When the cuffs cut through the flesh, the sharp pain runs from the tip of each finger to the entire arm, which soon turns purple and black. It's hard to imagine the excruciating pain caused by this torture. Afterwards, all feeling is usually lost in both arms for seven or eight months, and the victim cannot freely move their shoulders for two years or longer.

Practitioner Mr. Pan Yujun was cruelly tortured in 2008, at the Dianzi Brainwashing Center. Police stripped him, tied his legs together, stretched his arms out to each side, and cuffed them to the wall, causing his body weight to be totally suspended on his cuffed wrists. The perpetrators swung his body repeatedly to cause him extreme pain while violently beating him. Mr. Pan's wrists were raw and bleeding.