(Clearwisdom.net) The No. 2 Team in the Beijing Women's Forced Labor Camp is torturing Falun Gong practitioners with various brutal methods. The guards put pressure on inmates and encourage them with incentives to beat practitioners. They choose the most vicious inmates to watch practitioners' every movement. A practitioner's slightest movement, during sleep, when washing, having a meal, using the toilet, or scratching an itch, may be an excuse to be tortured. For example, an inmate asking a practitioner to sit in an awkward position that's difficult to carry out could result in torture. It is all done covertly to hide such activities from the outside world.

We are imploring everyone to come to the rescue of Liu Guifu, Ren Guoxian, and other practitioners, who are still suffering inhuman torture in Beijing's Women's Forced Labor Camp.

1. Punishment Sitting: The slightest body movement becomes an excuse for further torture.

If you are unfortunate enough to be taken to the No.2 Team, you will be assigned immediately two inmates who will force you to do their bidding. You are forced to sit upright, putting your hands on your thighs, palms facing up and fingers stretching straight. The two inmates sitting beside you will then use ballpoint pens, rulers, and fists to hit your hands as they shout, "Keep the fingers straight. This is the rule here." Your hands will be bruised, injured and bloody immediately from being stabbed with the ballpoint pen. They will beat you until you keep your hands straight. They also demand that you sit with your back and waist straight, keeping your head straight and eyes forward. Your head is not allowed to move sideways. Otherwise, they will poke your head with the ballpoint pen and curse loudly. If you do not follow their demands, they will hit and kick you immediately.

They will force your to sit in a specific position and forbid any movement. If you want to move, you have to ask for permission. You can only move with their approval. If you do not obey their demands, they will punish you for violating the "rules of the labor camp," by either cursing or beating you. If you want some water, you have to ask the inmates for permission. You can only drink when they give you the cup. If not, you can't have water. The cup is placed far away from you and you are not allowed to get up and get it. You are not allowed to move around freely. You have to put your legs together and keep them straight with the bottoms of the feet touching each other. If you separate them a little bit, you are violating the "rules." They can beat or curse you as they please. If your head is itching, you have to ask the inmate for permission to scratch it. They may allow you to scratch it once, which is the limit. No second scratch, or you will be beaten. The inmates will shout, "You Falun Gong people talk about Tolerance. Why couldn't you tolerate the itching? If you cannot bear it, sign the paper to denounce Falun Gong. Then you can do whatever you want and no one will bother you any more. If you don't sign, you have to endure it." There is one practitioner who has scabies and itches all over her body. Several inmates hold her down to prevent her from scratching.

If you don't follow their demands, several of them will beat you and press you into the position they want you to maintain. After you eat and drink, you have to sit again in the same position, keeping the waist and back straight. Otherwise, they will poke your waist, back and other places with a ballpoint pen until you sit straight again. Or they will kick your back with their knees. Such torture lasts from 4:00 a.m. until 1:00 or 2:00 a.m. the following night. Sitting for over 20 hours everyday, the practitioner's bottom becomes sore and infected, extremely itchy, and oozes pus. When a practitioner is menstruating, the guards will not allow her to replace the napkin for an entire day. Even when the napkin is completely soaked, they will not let you get up. As a result, some practitioners have female problems and unusual drainage. The inmates do not let you wash your pants even if they are soaked, nor do they allow you to change your clothes, even when they stink. The inmates said, "It's not rare to forbid a practitioner from taking a shower or washing her hair for six months. Some are not allowed to take a shower or wash their clothes for a year. You asked for it. If you denounce Falun Gong, you can take a shower and no one will stop you."

After several days you will feel numb. Movements and reactions slow down and you act mechanically. Under such torment, practitioners lose a lot of weight. Their faces become shapeless and their bodies emaciated. After more than ten days, they no longer look like normal human beings. Furthermore, they are starved and put on short rations at mealtime. Their weight drops significantly. The hair turns white and their faces are wrinkled. Because they have to sit motionless for a long time, their lower legs swell up. Their calves are thicker than their thighs. Their feet swell and are too big for shoes. The sores that develop will leak pus. Both legs are dark and swollen. They can't walk and their legs are numb.

2. "We will torture you so that days feel like years and you'd rather die than live."

From the first day with the No. 2 Team, practitioners are pressured to denounce Falun Gong. To accomplish this goal, practitioners are starved. They are given one bun and a little vegetable for each meal. Refusal to denounce Falun Gong results in increased starvation. Instead of the bun, one will be given only a little porridge. The intention is not to appease the hunger, yet not to starve the practitioner to death. At the same time, one suffers long hours of sitting and standing. The inmates say, "We are not beating or cursing you. We will torture you so that days feel like years and you'd rather die than live."

An elderly woman was tied up on a bed for more than two months, yet they still kept her awake. Whenever she closed her eyes, they pinched or beat her. Finally she succumbed to their demands and signed the renunciation. Another practitioner ran from the cell and called out slogans in the hallway. She was wrapped up with boards for several months.

Once the guards decide to beat practitioners, they do not want to dirty their hands, but order four or five inmates to do the beating. One of the inmates gags the practitioner's mouth with a dirty cloth. The others beat her. They follow instructions from the guards, who are watching from outside the room to assure the required brutality of the beatings. When the guards gesture to stop, they will stop. The inmates follow the guards' commands. Despite trying to hide the beatings, the noise from the beatings and the screams of the victims can still be heard at times. They tortured practitioner graduate student Ren Guoxian from Fangshan, the suburban county of Beijing, like this.

A practitioner will get little or no sleep. When you are trying to fall asleep, the two inmates that are at your side at all times will be very noisy to prevent you from sleeping. Should you fall asleep, they will beat and yell at you, saying you shouldn't sleep with bent legs. You have to straighten out you legs. They are afraid that you might cross your legs and meditate. After a while, they will beat you again, telling you not to cover your head with the blanket. Then they beat you again and say that you have to show your hands to prevent you from conjoining the hands for the Falun Gong exercise. The inmates keep a log on the practitioner's sleep, whether she talks in her dreams, when she falls asleep, if she uses the toilet, if she sleeps well, and what time she awakes.

If you do not denounce Falun Gong, you are not allowed to do your laundry. They only allow you to wash clothes once one or two months, or perhaps every few months. During visitations, they might allow you to wash your hair and change your upper clothes. But they will not let you wash your dirty clothes until they are satisfied with "your behavior." When you do the laundry in the laundry room, no one else is allowed to be present except for two inmates, each standing on either side to watch you. Barely a minute has passed since you have put the detergent in the basin, when they urge you to hurry up. Before the clothes are rinsed clean, they press you to hang them up. In fact, the clothes are still dirty, but you have to hang them up to dry.

Some inmates are drug addicts and have been detained in the labor camp two or three times. They are nicknamed "Little Watch." They will carry out beatings whenever they are told to. They also help with force-feeding. Therefore, they know everything that's going on in each cell. The ordinary inmates are not allowed to go to other cells. The guards detain one practitioner per cell, with four inmates watching her. There are eight cells to detain practitioners at peak times.

If you need to go to the toilet, you have to ask permission from the inmates. You have to tell them whether you want to urinate or have a bowel movement. If you have a bowel movement without letting them know, the inmates will scold, curse, punch or kick you. The moment you squat down on the toilet, two or three inmates will surround you and yell, "Quick! Don't be so slow." Before you finish, they urge you to get up. Practitioner Ma Xiulan, from the Chaoyang District of Beijing, now has trouble going to the restroom at all after all the interruptions. Yet the inmates continue to rush her loudly and insist she hurry up. Before she could use the restroom, one of the "Little Watches" pulled her by her hair and threw her to the ground.

Ma Xiulan is 42 years old. She was first detained with the No.7 Team for three days, after which she was taken to the so-called concentration team. They accused her of spreading "anti-revolutionary ideas." One year later, on August 10, 2004, she was taken to the No. 2 Team. Because of the continued torture, she is suffering from mental disorders. She was released on April 25, 2005.

It is a fact that torture, physical punishment, beating and cursing are all too common in every team at Beijing Women's Forced Labor Camp. The No. 2 team is known for the most brutal torture. The Labor Camp Administration Bureau and the associated forced labor camps deceive the practitioners' family members. They say, "We are an educational institution. How can we beat people? How can we have physical punishment? We educate them patiently. You can come and visit our labor camp to see for yourself." Intermittently, the labor camp issues a questionnaire to every inmate, asking the same question, "Is there beating or cursing in our institution?" No one dares to answer, "Yes," which would result in more severe torture in revenge. The replies invariably end up being, "No, there is no physical punishment or beating. The guards are extremely nice to us. They are like our parents, doctors, and teachers." In private the inmates would say, "Now I see. Everything in this labor camp is false. There is only one word, 'deception.'"

3. Crimes committed by guard Song Lili

The guards of the No.2 Team use the excuse of "violating the labor camp rules" to rid themselves of inmates who do not obey their instructions, such as participating in the persecution of practitioners or exposing the persecution. They claim that those inmates are against the government and are not worthy of being assigned to the No. 2 Team. For example, one inmate does not agree with the persecution of the practitioners. She often tells practitioners about the guards' persecution of other practitioners. Guard Song Lili, age 28, hates her very much. Song says that she has wanted to "take care of her" for a long time. Song took 20 points off her record when she took a shower during no-shower time. This means that her term will not be reduced. In addition, she was sent to the concentration team for a month and was driven out of the No. 2 team. On the other hand, the guards will give preferential treatment to those who obey their instructions and beat practitioners. They praise those inmates, write them a good evaluation and shorten their terms. Sometimes, the guards give those inmates candy, fruit and leftovers of their food. This encourages the inmates to carry out their orders more diligently.

Under the direction of the head of the No. 2 Team Du Jingbin, Song Lili (the team leader from Inner Mongolia) and deputy chiefs Yang and Sun, the inmates of the No. 2 Team are more unrestrained and cruel than inmates of other teams. One inmate said, "I just like to handle practitioners assigned to Sergeant Song. She is so daring." What she means is that she can beat practitioners when Song is on duty. With the support of Song, she is not afraid of any repercussions. Song Lili's criminal conduct in the No. 2 Team is well known. She knows, too, that she has committed unforgivable crimes against practitioners. She does not answer phone calls from outside the camp. Those who call are always told that she is not in. In fact, she is at work and persecutes the practitioners daily. She is one of the cruelest thugs among the No. 2 team in persecuting practitioners. Sometimes she does not even go home on Saturdays and Sundays.

Because the guards of the No.2 Team are giving specific instructions to the inmates on how to torture practitioners, they are afraid of being exposed. Therefore they are afraid that the inmates might talk to each other about their activities. To silence the inmates, they forbid the inmates from speaking loudly and make them monitor each other. The guards often listen on the monitor to inmates before or after meals and before bedtime. They want to know if the inmates say anything bad about the chief. The inmates said, "The guards have done so many bad deeds that they are in a panic." Once inmate Ma said something she shouldn't have said and was forced to stand for long hours. In addition, she was forced to copy " Rule 23" 50 times.

A practitioner was forced to denounce Falun Gong under torture. Later, she and her family informed the administration about the guards and inmates who beat practitioners in the No. 2 Team. The labor camp administration said that the three people were dealt with. Actually, they were only transferred to the No. 7 Team, where they continue to persecute practitioners.

Guards at the Beijing Women's Labor Camp dare not to let people on the outside know that they are infamous for torture. The fact is, only the No. 2 Team and the concentration team are directly affiliated with the Administration Bureau of the Forced Labor Camp. On a number of occasions the inmates didn't cooperate well with the guards when ordered to participate in the beating. The police reproached them angrily.

A few of the facts about the beating of practitioners:

1. The moment the chief officer left the room, the beating started. From the screaming one could tell that the Chief Officer had given orders for the beating. The rule is that the beating begins after the chief officer steps out of the room for a while.

2. Because the beating was so cruel, the noise from the beating and the victim's screams could be heard outside, because they had not closed the window. The chief officer ran out of the building and closed the window from the outside. Still, the inmates from other teams who passed by heard it. Next morning, after all the inmates went outdoors for the exercises and no one was left in the corridor, the guards turned on the music in the hallway and started the beating. They did not want anyone to hear the noise and the victim's screams.

3. Two inmates disagreed about how to torture the practitioner. One of them said, "The chief officer told me to do it this way." The other one immediately said, "How can you say that in front of her (the practitioner)? The chief didn't allow you to say that."

When the practitioner who was beaten identified to Song Lili the inmates who had beaten her, Song said, "Wait and see how I am going to deal with them! Who dares to beat people in here? It is the rule of the labor camp not to beat people. There is absolutely no such thing as beating. We are civilized. We will not beat people, nor do we dare to beat people. How can I beat people?"

Song Lili often attempts to cover up her cruelty by throwing out phrases such as "being civilized." Even the inmates curse her privately, saying that she is the cruelest among them. She tells the inmates not to leave any trace of the torture. It was her idea to use a ballpoint pen or needle to poke the victim's head, to pinch their breasts, and to press the acupuncture points. Because she dares to use cruel methods to torture people, she wins favors from the head of the team, Du Jingbin. They assign her to the most steadfast practitioners. Song Lili was transferred from the administration office to the No. 2 team when it was established. She uses a variety of cruel methods to try to get practitioners to give up Falun Gong.

The guards who are firmly entrenched in the No. 2 Team use many different, inhuman methods to torture practitioners. Otherwise, they are transferred elsewhere.

To contact the relevant units:

The No. 2 team of Beijing Women's Labor Camp: 86-10-60278899 Ex. 5201
Li Jirong, Head of the Labor Camp
Zhu Xiaoli, Deputy Head of the labor camp
Du Jingbin, Chief Officer of the No. 2 Team: 86-10-60278899 Ex.5201 (the No. 2 Team)
Zip Code of Beijing Women's Labor Camp: 102609