(Clearwisdom.net)

Ms. Xie Xiulan, a Falun Dafa practitioner from Liaoning Province, has been sent to forced labor camps twice during the last five years because of her belief in Falun Gong. She was detained for four years and four months in total, first at Masanjia Forced Labor Camp and then at Dalian Forced Labor Camp. She was tortured physically and mentally, for example by being hung up by handcuffs, confined in a small cell and forced to sit on an iron chair or stand continuously for eight days. Her legs were tied in a double crossed position with rope, and she was forced to write the three statements. Due to the torture, her weight dropped from 51 kg (about 112 lbs) to 40 kg (about 88 lbs), and she developed symptoms of an ovarian tumor. Ms. Xie escaped from the forced labor camp on July 19, 2005.

The following is Ms. Xie Xiulan's personal testimony of the persecution she suffered in the forced labor camp.

At around 7:30 p.m. on December 6, 2000, I was 200 yards away from my home when a policeman arrested me and took me to the Xinghai Police Station. The police officer asked me whether I practiced Falun Gong. When I answered "yes," two public security officers immediately pushed me and two other practitioners, (Ms. Duan Guilan and Ms. Zhang Xiuhua), into a car. On the following day, I was sent to the Yaojia Detention Center in Nanguanling, Dalian City, and 42 days later, I was sent to the No. 2 Women's Camp of Masanjia Forced Labor Camp where I was persecuted for more than two years.

At about 9 p.m. on December 17, 2001, we were shown the Chinese Central TV's "Focus Talk Show" that slandered Dafa. Ms. Shi Shengying, Ms. Sun Jinjun and I left the room, refusing to watch. The labor camp director, Su Jing, then locked me up in a "triangle room."

One day in early March 2002, because I practiced the Falun Gong exercises, a guard put me in a storage room on the first floor, cuffed my hands to an iron bed, and did not allow me to stand or sit. The camp guard ordered the inmates to grab my hair and smash my head on the brick floor. My wrists and forehead bled from the beating. I was then cuffed to a heating pipe and forced to stand there for eight days without sleep.

On April 8, Ms. Song Guixiang, Ms. Hu Ying, Ms. Sun Jinjun and I did not cooperate with the evil. We refused to participate in all activities, and shouted "Falun Dafa is great." The guards kept us inside an iron gate on the first floor, hung up one hand with a rope, and cuffed the other hand to the heating pipe. The guards played recordings that slandered Dafa and pasted slanderous posters all over the wall. They were afraid of us shouting, "Falun Dafa is great," so they sealed our mouths with strips of cloth. After a while, the corners of our mouth and our teeth started to bleed. At midnight, we shouted, "Falun Dafa is great." Director Su Jing led more than 20 guards to seal our mouths with tape, and dragged us into the small cells where practitioners Ms. Sun Caihong and Ms. Li Liming were already detained. The five small cells were full of practitioners. Every cell had two practitioners. We were cuffed to the tiger bench for 12 days.

On May 13, the forced labor camp played recordings that slandered Dafa, and I shouted, "Falun Dafa is great." The chief warden ordered inmates to cover my mouth and punch me in the face. As a result, the bridge of my nose was fractured and it bled profusely.

On July 1, Ms. Shi Shengying and I refused to wear the labor camp uniforms and shouted, "Falun Dafa is great." We were locked up in a small cell for a month, and were forced to sit on the iron chair with both hands cuffed. As a result my feet and legs became swollen and deformed, and yellow fluid oozed out of my toes. I was not released from that position until August 2.

On August 22, the forced labor camp held an illegal trial, and we refused to attend. The brigade captain ordered inmates to seal our mouths shut with tape and pulled us to the meeting place. As soon as we shouted, "Falun Dafa is great," two guards came up to pull our hair and twist our arms. They pushed us to the floor in a room on the first floor. Every room had eight or nine Falun Dafa practitioners. Several rooms downstairs, all with iron doors, were full. On that day, practitioners Ms. Li Liming, Ms. Sun Caihong, and Ms. Li Dongqing were sent to the Dabei Prison in Shenyang City.

On January 22, 2003, Brigade Captain Wang Xiaofeng and a deputy captain talked me into going behind an iron door on the first floor. Once we got there, they tied my legs into a double-crossed position. When I could no longer endure the pain after three hours, I did what a practitioner should not do. Later I awakened and immediately announced that all words and acts against Dafa were null and void. The brigade captain again dragged me by the hair and pulled me to the room that housed the water pump. They pushed me to the ground, and I lay there for the whole morning. Later I was dragged to the toilet, where the guards ordered the inmates to take turns to watch me. I took the opportunity to clarify the truth to them. After 3:00 p.m., they pulled me to a storage room on the first floor and did not allow me to use the restroom. At night, the guards ordered the inmates to tie me up with rope and hung me up to the heating pipe on the ceiling with my feet off the ground for more than three hours. I could not breathe and had to wet my pants. I silently recited Teacher's words,

"If he is able to let go of life and death, he is a God; if he is unable to let go of life and death, he is human." ("Lecture at the Australia Fa Conference")

I asked Teacher with righteous thoughts to strengthen me and finally made it through with Teacher's protection.

Before April 2003, when we refused to do Taichi as ordered, the guards tortured us by hanging us up and exposing us to cold temperature barefoot. Practitioners Wang Yulan, Huang Guifen, Sun Jinjun, Song Guixiang, Sun Juan, Guo Guixiang, Tao Yuzhen, Hu Ying, Su Ming, Li Gang, Li Guijie and I were persecuted this way.

I was detained in Masanjia Forced Labor Camp for more than two years and eleven months (twenty days short of three years), and was released on November 17, 2003.

On March 30, 2004, I clarified the truth and distributed materials in the country areas of Xinjin County, Dasa, Hongshi and Cuigou. I was reported, and three police officers and a driver carried me into a car at 10:00 a.m. on March 31 and detained me at the local Dasa Police Station. I was sent to the Xinjin County Detention Center at 6:00 p.m., and subsequently held there for 43 days. During the detention I had a stomachache and was sent to the Xinjin County Tumor Hospital for a check-up on April 29. The ultrasound showed that I had a tumor on my left ovary. The police walked me right out of the hospital and claimed that it was only an inflammation. I was then sent to the Dalian Forced Labor Camp.

At the Dalian Forced Labor Camp, the guards brutally tortured Dafa practitioners. Torture methods included the "death bed torture," standing on ice, the "big hang up" (1), locking up in a small cell, sleep deprivation and so on. I refused to stand up, so the guards ordered inmates Da Wangcong and others to beat me in the storage room. They kicked my chest and head, kicked me to the ground, deprived me of sleep at night, and forced me to remain standing for four days straight. By this point my mind was muddled and filled with fear, and I wrote a statement against my will.

While in the Dalian Forced Labor Camp, I had the symptoms of heart disease many times. The women's section of the Dalian Forced Labor Camp disassembled on October 28, 2004, and I was sent to the No. 2 camp of Masanjia Forced Labor Camp again. On November 8, I declared that all words and acts against Dafa were null and void, and kept practicing Dafa.

In the No. 2 camp of Masanjia, practitioners refused to perform labor or wear uniforms. They did not cooperate with the evil at all, and opposed the persecution and requested immediate release. The guards detained us on the second floor of the 1st brigade. As soon as we shouted, "Falun Dafa is great" or practiced the exercises, they dragged us into a small cell, beat us, cursed at us, and forbade us from going downstairs or to take showers. We opposed the persecution, clarified the truth, and went on hunger strikes.

During the detention, I was locked up in a small cell twice for shouting "Falun Dafa is great." Later the hospital found that I had a tumor of 2 inches in diameter in my left ovary. I said that it was caused by the persecution. I had no illness before I was arrested. I was 112 lbs when I arrived there and dropped to 88lbs after several years of persecution. A police captain said that they did not arrest me. I said, "You can release me then. You know I am a good person. Why am I being detained and persecuted?" He remained silent.

With Teacher's protection, I escaped from the den of evil on July 19, 2005. I must now redouble my efforts, make up for the damage that I did to Dafa, do the three things well, and firmly follow Teacher until the completion of my cultivation.

Note:

(1) The "Big Hang Up" - There are two forms to this torture: The first is when both hands are cuffed behind the back and only the toes are touching the ground, one is hung by a rope that is tied to the metal window frames. The second is when one hand is cuffed to one bunk bed and the other hand to another bed, and the two beds are pulled in the opposite directions. It feels extremely painful as the body is pulled apart.  See illustration on http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2004/11/17/54624.html.