CCP Develops ‘Torture Toolbox’ to Persecute Female Prisoner of Conscience, Husband Calls for Immediate Release

A photo of Jiang Yongqin held by her daughter at a press conference in front of the Chinese consulate in Melbourne, Australia on Aug. 15, 2022. (Zhiqing/The Epoch Times)

MELBOURNE, Australia—The husband of a female Falun Gong practitioner has called on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to immediately release his wife following an horrendous account of alleged sexual assault used against her by CCP “trained personnel.”

Speaking at a press conference outside the Chinese Consulate in Melbourne on Aug. 15, the women’s husband Qi Xiong detailed the torture his wife Jiang Yongqin—52-year-old university lecturer, and mother-of-three—went through as she was coerced into renouncing her faith in Falun Gong, an ancient spiritual practice that is currently banned in China.

“Between 2:00 and 3:00 p.m. on July 7 or 8, the police covered my wife’s head with a black hood, put earplugs in her ears and dragged her from the hotel to a secret location, where she was sexually assaulted by the officers. They used a grave new form of torture called the “toolbox,” which contained toothpicks, instruments, medicine bottles, wires, aphrodisiacs, and other torture devices, all of which were designed to inflict excruciating pain upon the victim,” Qi said, referring to statements provided to him by his wife’s defence lawyer in China.

Illustration of CCP Torture Interrogation: Lit cigarettes in nostrils (Minghui.org)

According to legal documents provided to The Epoch Times, Jiang’s lawyer (whose name has been withheld by The Epoch Times to protect her) detailed the gruesome events perpetrated against Jiang.

According to the lawyer’s witness statement, four men first sprayed mustard oil into Jiang’s nostrils, added lit cigarettes, and then left the cigarette butts inside her nostrils. Jiang later coughed the butts out through her mouth.

Seeing that Jiang would not give them the information they wanted, the “trained personnel” then instructed other men to torture and molest Jiang using items from the “toolbox.” When they found that she was menstruating, the expert claimed that the items would work even better.

Qi Xiong, husband of Jiang Yongqin speaking at a press conference in front of the Chinese consulate in Melbourne, Australia on Aug. 15, 2022. (Bai Chuan/The Epoch Times)

Jiang Yongqin was tortured for almost two hours until she broke down, then forced to give up the password to her computer, and coerced into signing a statement renouncing her faith. This occurred on July 8.

Jiang told the lawyer: “It is said that they (the detention centre) have quotas, and that ordinary people are protected by human rights, but for the Falun Gong group—they (the “trained personnel”) can do whatever they want.”

Meeting Obstructed by Authorities

Jiang Yongqin was initially placed under house arrest on June 13. She was incarcerated for criminal detention on July 21, and detained at the Shulan Detention Centre in Jilin City.

Jiang met her lawyer twice—on July 29 and Aug. 2.

Following Jiang’s meetings with her lawyer, the Shulan Detention Centre received instructions from the higher authorities that “they must obtain the consent of the authorities in charge of the case for the lawyer to meet with Jiang Yongqin.” Additionally, they could not arrange for the lawyer to meet with Jiang Yongqin again, nor would they assist in the signing of the transcript of the meeting between Jiang and the lawyer.

Then on Aug. 19, both the lawyer and Jiang’s family members went to the Jilin City Prosecutor’s Office to file a complaint.

But later that day, when the lawyer went to Shulan City Detention Center to request another meeting with Jiang, staff told the lawyer that consent was required for the meeting. The lawyer was told that the Longtan Branch of Jilin City Public Security Bureau requested the consent. Staff then told the lawyer to contact the Longtan branch while refusing to provide assistance for the meeting.

Following the Longtan Branch intervention, the lawyer was then asked to “provide proof” of Jiang’s faith “despite the fact that such a document was not required according to legal procedures of lawyers meeting their clients,” the lawyer’s statement reads.

“They also refused to give a certificate with an official seal that demonstrates that she did not practise Falun Gong. Knowing that all authorities would follow their will, but disregarding the fact that no authority, much less any authority, has the right to certify one’s beliefs and ideas, the Longtan Branch was maliciously making things difficult for the lawyer.”

Then on Aug. 26, the Longtan District Procuratorate arrested Jiang Yongqin, and she was transferred to the Jilin Public Security Bureau Detention Centre.

Furthermore, Jiang’s lawyer is now required to obtain a “notice of permit to meet” in order to interview Jiang again.

As of Sept. 29, the Jilin Public Security Bureau has not provided the lawyer with the notice.

“No matter what illegal and criminal acts Jiang Yongqin is suspected of, no woman should be targeted for deliberate molestation, let alone molestation and torture to extract confessions by the so-called provincial interrogation experts and national security officers of the Jilin Public Security Bureau in the guise of handling the case,” the lawyer said in a statement on Sept. 29.

“Jiang Yongqin has already been subjected to inhumane treatment and is physically and mentally damaged. Preventing her from meeting with her lawyer is not only an infringement on the lawyer’s right to practice law but also an ongoing abuse of Jiang Yongqin, who has already suffered significant harm.

“The fairness and credibility of Jiang Yonghua’s case are in vain.”

Advocates Speak Out

Also speaking at the press conference in Melbourne on Aug. 15 was Marc Bateman, a human rights advocate who said that in democratic societies such as Australia, police are meant to protect the community and ensure the wellbeing of its citizens.

“But police in China are instructed by the Communist apparatus to sexually assault prisoners of conscience in order to renounce their beliefs, their freedoms and their own human sanctity,” Bateman said.

Marc Bateman, a human rights advocate, speaking at a press conference in front of the Chinese consulate in Melbourne, Australia on Aug. 15, 2022. (Bai Chuan/The Epoch Times)

Jiang’s oldest daughter, Amily, who was also at the press conference urged for the release of her mother.

“My heart is really heavy,“ she said. ”The four police officers who persecuted my mother, especially the so-called “torture expert,” must be punished. The CCP has never changed. It is as evil as ever.”

Bateman also called on the CCP to cease all forms of torture against Falun Gong practitioners, immediately release Jiang Yongqin including other prisoners of conscience, and for the Australian and global community to hold the CCP accountable for these human rights abuses.

Response from Australia’s Foreign Minister

Angelique Burguez, Acting Director, China Legal Issues Section Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has responded on behalf of Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong to a petition calling for attention to Jiang Yongqin.

Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs Penny Wong attending a bilateral meeting with the Prime Minister of Samoa Fiame Naomi Mata'afa (out of frame) in Apia, Samoa on on June 2, 2022. (Sarah Friend/Courtesy of Department of Foreign Affairs/AFP via Getty Images)

“Thank you for bringing to our attention the case of Ms Jiang Yongqin. The situation you have described is very troubling,” reads a letter on Sept. 19 to Falun Dafa Association of Australia which was viewed by The Epoch Times.

“The Australian Government is deeply concerned that religious and other minorities in China, including Falun Gong practitioners, continue to be targeted on the basis of their beliefs.

“Australia is committed to promoting and protecting human rights, including freedom of religion or belief for all people.

“The Government continues to raise concerns about the treatment of Falun Gong practitioners directly with China. Australia will continue to speak out on these matters and work with international partners to promote and protect human rights globally.”

Background to Jiang Yongqin

Jiang was a teacher at the Experimental Teaching Center for Mechanical Basis at Zhejiang Sci-Tech University when she was first abducted by the police on Sept. 26, 2009. In Feb. 2010, she was sentenced to three years in prison and sent to the Zhejiang Women’s Prison, leaving her then 4-year old daughter and elderly and sickly in-laws with no one to care for them.

Since the persecution started in 1999, the police have frequently harassed Jiang and her family and interrupted her employment.

On June 12, local police from the Xinan Police Station abducted both her and her family, including her 8-year old daughter, from their residence in Jilin. The police also ransacked her home and confiscated her computer and cell phone.

The family members were later released, but Jiang remained in detention at an unknown location.

According to a report by Minghui.org, a U.S.-based clearinghouse that collects first-hand information on the persecution of Falun Gong from China, the Ministry of Public Security was involved in the abduction of Jiang for “unknown reasons.”

The Special Disciplinary Office (SDO) under the Jilin provincial public security department has been identified as the security department involved in Jiang’s abduction and arrest, according to both the Minghui report and the lawyer’s statement.

China Analyst Says Torture Method ‘Systematic Protocol for Persecution’

China analyst, Heng He, said this case stands out for the fact that the so-called expert was dispatched from a higher level and used a “toolbox” or “kit” with protocols that contained drugs for interrogation.

“This type of sexual persecution is far different from the past,” Heng said.

Heng explained that torture interrogation has been a systemic tool under the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP). For example, the iron chair and electric batons are known as CCP tools of torture in the international community.

The application of drugs and sexual assault in the CCP’s arsenal are all too common, said Heng.

He explained that CCP has always engaged in exploring methods of torture that are rare in other countries.

He believes the so-called expert is actually someone specialised in finding ways to torture a detainee to the extreme, without killing them, in order to get the information the authorities desire.

Since the beginning of the persecution from July 1999, similar claims of torture have been reported, Heng said.

According to the Falun Dafa information Center, a bill titled “H.R. 6319, the Falun Gong Protection Act” has been introduced into the U.S. Congress to combat this and other crimes against humanity perpetrated against Falun Gong practitioners.

Mary Hong contributed to this report.