A woman from Fujian was arrested and put through mental and physical trauma when authorities tortured her for information about her church.
On July 19, Li Lin (pseudonym) was arrested from her home in Fujian province. She is a Christian and a believer of The Church of Almighty God, a Chinese Christian new religious movement.
She was first taken to a police station for interrogation. The police wanted to know about the church and other believers. They slapped her, grabbed her hair, wrung her ears, and even threatened her, saying, “If you keep refusing to talk, we will confiscate all your family’s money. And we will put you in handcuffs and parade you through the streets.” Ms. Li still refused to talk, at which the police officers handcuffed her and made her stand erect for an entire day. She was not given food or water during this time.
Next day, she was transferred to a detention center. Here, she was shown propaganda videos against her church, which left her deeply upset. The police officers further pressed her on this, saying that believing in God was a major crime. “If you give us information about the Church, you will be allowed to go home, and your son won’t be implicated,” they told her.
In another instance, they tried bribing her for information about other believers. “If you tell us, we will give you tens of thousands of yuans,” they said, asking her to identify Christians from six other townships.
Later, the police tried going through her laptop for information. But when they asked Ms. Li for the password, she refused. At this, the officers hit her viciously with water bottles.
Ms. Li was tortured for seven nights and eight days at length. She was hit repeatedly, which even led to bleeding at times. She was handcuffed and made to either stand or sit on an uncomfortable bench. She was attacked psychologically and emotionally. At one point, the police even tried to recruit her to work undercover for them and give information about believers in the future. She refused the offer and never provided any information either.
On July 26, Ms. Li was forced to sign a document that alluded to her being a part of a xie jiao. It refers to heterodox teachings and any association with it is punishable under Article 300 of the Chinese Criminal Code. The Church of Almighty God has been designated as “xie jiao organization” as of 1995.
Ms. Li was detained for 15 days after this, before she was released on August 10.
Reported by Lin Yijiang
Uses a pseudonym for security reasons.
