(Minghui.org) It has been 18 years since the Chinese communist regime began the persecution of Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline first taught to the public in 1992. It continues unabated to this day.

In recent years, the torture has been carried out more secretively to avoid scrutiny from the general public. The following examples of abuse in Longquan Woman's Prison in Sichuan Province were reported to Minghui.org.

1. Ms. Hu Xia was incarcerated in May 2016. Because she refused to renounce her faith, the guards arranged for other prisoners to torture her. The prisoners repeatedly pushed her head into a bucket of water. They then took her to the washroom and took turns beating her until she couldn't get up. They broke one of her teeth by jamming dirty underwear in her mouth. They repeatedly soaked Ms. Hu and left her in the cold.

On February 10 of this year, Ms. Hu protested the abuse by refusing to attend the brainwashing sessions or write reports to criticize her belief. The guards claimed that they would extend her sentence. That night, she was taken to the strict management floor, away from most of the other prisoners, where she was brutally tortured. Witnesses saw one of the prisoners who was torturing her come back to get more clean bedsheets and clothes for Ms. Hu, possibly because hers were wet or bloodied.

When Ms. Hu was transferred to another ward, she was lying down. Someone who saw her up close said that the collar and front of her sweater were covered in blood. There were many self-inflicted bloody scratches on her hands and forearms. It was possible that Ms. Hu had been injected with unknown drugs that caused her to itch. The guards often threaten to use such drugs on practitioners who refuse to give up their belief. Ms. Hu was last seen in a hospital bed wearing an eye patch.

2. Ms. Pan Xiaoping was taken to the strict management floor in February 2017 for refusing to give up Falun Gong. Someone saw her sitting on the floor with her hands tied behind her back. She went on a hunger strike for two days before she was untied. They also left her out in the cold in February with her clothes soaking wet.

3. Ms. Lin Yue was not allowed to own any daily necessities, including toilet paper, when she was first put in the prison. She signed a statement to renounce her belief after being tortured and under constant mental pressure. When she changed her mind and asked to have the statement back, a guard slapped her and took her to the strict management floor.

4. Ms. Deng Deyu wrote a statement renouncing her faith when she could no longer endure the physical and mental abuse. A few days before she was scheduled to be released, she wrote another statement to void the previous statement that she had written against her will. The warden gave orders that she was to be punished. She was forced to stand from morning to midnight and only allowed a little vegetable soup each day.

5. Ms. Jiang Xianfeng from Panzhihua City was also forced to stand from morning to midnight for refusing to renounce Falun Gong. Her legs became severely swollen. She was given a meager portion of food each day. An inmate in the next cell heard her fall on the floor when she was standing. She was taken to a hospital. Her current whereabouts are unknown.