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Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Xu Jiling is from Cao County, Shandong Province. She is currently detained in Shandong Province First Women's Labor Camp and has suffered a mental collapse. The camp administration is hiding this fact from the outside world. Ms. Xu's family has not learned the tragic news.
Shandong Province First Women's Labor Camp is located at 20-Jiangshuiquan Street, Licheng District, Jinan City. The director, Hao Daofang (gender unknown), and guards (all female) Sun Juan, Sun Junli, Liu Jianhui, Liang Qiaoling, Geng Xiaomei, Shi Yongmei, Li Yu, Yang Xiaomei, Zhang Hongfang, etc., brutally torture Falun Gong practitioners with 14-15 hours of hard labor every day.
The main product at the labor camp is stuffed animals. Each detained practitioner must finish 20-30 per day, otherwise points are deducted, which results in extended detention. Practitioners are exhausted every day, and some cannot bend their fingers. The guards even force them to do 15-16 hours of labor at times, despite the camp openly posting the labor time at 6.5 hours per day on the bulletin board. This is a blatant lie.
Besides the hard labor, practitioners are also being inhumanly tortured. At midnight on January 22, 2007, four to five guards took turns beating one female practitioner with a thick wooden club until the club broke in half. The guards first stuffed the practitioner's mouth with a towel so that she could not scream and threatened her not to tell anyone.
Several collaborators who accepted the brainwashing under the persecution are also being used to torture practitioners. They are Sun Yunxue and Zhang Yaqin, both from Lunan County under Linyi City, and Yang Jingfeng from Jinan City. These collaborators tried to force practitioners to write statements promising to give up Falun Gong, otherwise they would beat them. They wrote statements themselves, and then forced practitioners to put their fingerprints on them. Zhang Yaqin is especially wicked, because she adds an additional two tasks to those otherwise required of practitioners (which means if 20 toys per day are required, she requires 22 toys per day).
On April 22, 2004, Clearwisdom.net reported that Mr. Hong Wei, a Beijing University graduate and graduate student of the Chinese Academy of Science, was being persecuted. (/emh/articles/2004/4/9/46881p.html). After Hong Wei was illegally arrested he was detained for more than one year, and in 2003 the authorities secretly sentenced him to ten years in prison. He is presently detained at the First Prison in Chongqing. It is reported that he has been forced to work strenuously in prison.
After he was sentenced, the police often came to harass his family, and their phone was monitored. His family members lived in fear for a long time. They said that after he had been gone for a couple of years, an old friend of his called to ask about him. As a result, as soon as he hung up the phone, his telephone and Internet service were immediately cut off and weren't restored for half a month. This friend was really terrorized and he is still too terrified to recount the incident in detail.
A brief overview of Hong Wei's persecution
Hong Wei, a graduate of Beijing University's Class of 1998 and a graduate student at the Chinese Academy of Science's Microbiology Institute, lived in Chongqing City, Pishan County. He began practicing Falun Gong in 1998, and he was widely regarded by his classmates as a good person. After he graduated from Beijing University he was permitted to directly enter the postgraduate program at the Chinese Academy of Science's Microbiology Institute without taking any qualifying exams.
After the persecution of Falun Gong began on July 20, 1999, because
Mr. Hong
persisted in practicing Falun Gong, he was repeatedly arrested,
detained and
subjected to brainwashing attempts. He was an important target, on the
Chinese
Communist Party's (CCP) blacklist. In January 2000, he was suspended by
the
Microbiology Institute and sent home. After he resumed his studies, the
authorities at the Institute manipulated Mr. Hong's relationship with
his
long-widowed father, twice making his father travel to Beijing in order
to
pressure him into renouncing Falun Gong. Hong Wei's mother passed away
when he
was a child, and his father was so worried for his son that he became
sick. In
October 2001, Hong Wei was again suspended. Later, in order to avoid
further
persecution and arrest by the police, he was forced to become homeless.
He led a
difficult life, moving from place to place. In late 2001 or early 2002,
Mr. Hong
was again arrested. After having been detained without charge for more
than one
year, he was secretly sentenced to ten years in prison. Hong Wei is
currently
incarcerated at the First Prison in Chongqing.
In early May 2006, the Women's Prison of Hebei Province created a so-called "assault campaign." Some Falun Gong practitioners were carried into the prison for further persecution and some were from confinement cells. The perpetrators had cried out loudly when they sent those Falun Gong practitioners there: "This is to make you obey!"
At first they formed teams comprised of four collaborators,
to
surround Falun Gong practitioners and spread rumors. If practitioners
resisted, they
were attacked. When practitioners refused to be reformed, their next
step was to
carry out the so-called "stewing the eagle," by taking turns torturing
Falun Gong practitioners day and night, and depriving them of sleep.
They formed three teams of eight collaborators and two prisoners. The
eight were
divided into two groups to take turns torturing practitioners. The two
prisoners
were scheduled to take over during mealtimes and lunchtime rest
periods. They
took turns talking to practitioners or squabbling with practitioners so
as to
not let them rest. If they suspected the practitioners were resting,
they made
loud banging noises and then blamed them for the ominous condition they
created.
The persecutors were afraid of the practitioners sending forth righteous thoughts so they followed practitioners everywhere they went and didn't let them have any leisure time. During the rest time after midnight, they told the prisoners to do bad things such as let in mosquitoes, open and close drawers repeatedly to make noise, or talk loudly. They did not allow practitioners to go outside. Prisoners were ordered to do all outside activities such as cooking, fetching water, and hanging clothes, and they rebuked practitioners for it. They forbid practitioners from seeing one another, afraid they would establish ties. Those so-called captains who came from different prison sections insulted and scolded practitioners abusively. They forced those who were not "reformed" or compromised to watch videos slandering Falun Gong (all the videos were fabricated by the Chinese Communist Party to slander Falun Gong), read books slandering Falun Gong, or read articles written by those who were "reformed."
Those who betrayed Falun Gong led studies to do further "strengthening." They led practitioners in singing and dancing in an attempt to confuse them. They also instigated prisoners, who were either murders or sentenced for life, to persecute them. Those practitioners who refused to be "reformed" were beaten, locked in small cells and humiliated. Practitioners were also punished by being forced to face a wall with their noses and the tips of their feet touching the wall and then ordered to stare at it. When practitioners moved slightly, they were beaten.
The guards set a time limit for practitioners to answer their questions. If the answer wasn't what they wanted to hear, the practitioners were beaten with a wooden club. They instigated prisoners to carry out beatings. The perpetrators used a "carrot and stick" in an attempt to make practitioners yield. If they still refused to be "reformed", the persecution was intensified. Footprints from being kicked all over their bodies were visible each night as they returned to their room. The perpetrators shouted, "I am not afraid of your going on a hunger strike. People say I am bad. I want you to see what I am like." They added further, "I know you will enlist me in the official "List of Perpetrators" and I am not afraid of that."
They were afraid of receiving the solemn declarations written by practitioners who yielded and were "reformed" under pressure. They destroyed the declarations. They knew that brainwashing wasn't working. Falun Gong practitioner Liu Xiaorong went on a huger strike after she was imprisoned. She is a very steadfast Falun Gong practitioner, so the perpetrators intensified her persecution.
People responsible for the persecution:
Yu Shuqi, captain, Prison Warden Han, Ge Shuguang, Duan from the Second Prison Section, Ma from Taixing Prison, Du and Huang from the Fourth Prison Section, Zhang Ping, Tang Delin, section head, and prisoners Wu Luzhen and Li Meizi.
Those who went strayed and betrayed Falun Gong: Lan Qizhi
(Shijiazhuang), Qin Shue
(Renqiu, Cangzhou), Li guijuan (Hejian, Cangzhou), Ni Chunxiang
(Beijing), Li
Yucui (Xingtang), Xie Zhanfen (Renqiu, Cangzhou), She Qiaoling
(Handan), Fan
Xiuqin (Chengde), Tang Hui, Liu Runling, He Jinhuan, and Cai Yongcun.
Ms. Liu Guifang is a Falun Gong practitioner from Jian'ge County, Sichuan Province. All five of her family members were sentenced to forced labor camp terms. Her eldest daughter was unlawfully sentenced to prison. Because of the long term persecution, Ms. Liu became very frail. She died on June 10, 2006.
Ms. Liu was over 70 years old. She lived in Xinhua Village, Chaoshou Town, Jian'ge County. She obtained Falun Gong in 1998. On December 30, 2000, all six members of her family and 50 other practitioners went to Beijing to appeal. They were arrested, taken back to Jian'ge County, and unlawfully detained in a detention center.
The CCP staffs extorted a large amount of cash fines from Ms. Liu's family. Five members were sentenced to prison or forced labor terms. Her eldest daughter, Ms. Liu Furong, was unlawfully sentenced to five years in prison. Ms. Liu Guifang herself was sentenced to one and a half years of forced labor and sent to Xinhua Forced Labor Camp in Mianyang City. After the labor camp refused to admit her, she was detained in the Jian'ge County Detention Center and further mistreated.
After she was released, all her family members were separately arrested and taken to Lianhuashanzhuang Brainwashing Center in 2004. They suffered severe physical and mental torture.
Xinhua Village is one the areas in Jian'ge County where the persecution of Falun Dafa is most severe. The practitioners there have suffered from a long period of persecution and harassment from the police officers led by Jia Guoying (male), Zhao Xiaolin (male), and Li Bixin (male) from the 610 Office. Practitioner Mr. Tusheng, a college student from the Flight Mechanics Department of the Tianjin Flight and Navigation College, returned home after he had a mental breakdown from the torture of being deprived of sleep for three months. The villains still frequently harassed him at home.
Jian'ge County is situated in a remote area, and the message is difficult to get out. Thus, the persecution cannot be exposed in a timely manner and is still running rampant. The main perpetrators in Jian'ge County include Jia Guoying (male) and Zhao Xiaolin (male). They participated in holding brainwashing sessions in 2004 and 2005. Jia Guoying pretended to be practicing Falun Gong and acted as a spy. The practitioners who were sentenced include Mr. Wang Lin and Mr. Wang Jisheng, both to four years in prison. Mr. Wang Lin was sent to the Deyang City Prison and Mr. Wang Jisheng to Ya-an City Prison,. Their eyesight was severely damaged from the torture. After being released from prison, they continued to be mistreated by the 610 Office of Jian'ge County.
On January 21, 2007, practitioners Mr. Yang Jianjun and his wife, Ms. Shen Yuehong, from Xuchang City, Hanan Province, were arrested by National Security officials in Xuchang City. Ms. Shen and her 10-month-old baby were sent to a brainwashing center. Now they are homeless. In the past few years, Mr. Yang and Ms. Shen's parents and other relatives have also been persecuted and their homes illegally searched. This has led to the deaths of three older members of their family.
On January 21, the authorities snatched Ms Shen's 10-month-old baby from her arms. Ms. Shen shouted: "Falun Dafa is the righteous way! Falun Gong saves the sentient beings!" The authorities brutally beat Ms. Shen. The four people involved held Ms. Shen on the ground and pressed her face into the ground. One officer stuck a dirty cloth into her mouth while another held Ms. Shen's hair and slapped her with a sandal. Ms. Shen's mouth bled, and her face swelled. Even today, her chin is black. Ms. Shen's daughter became very frightened and kept on crying. Mr. Yang probably suffered more. The authorities took away their notebook computer, printer, other equipment, and 5000 yuan (about 1250 USD) in cash.
On January 22, Ms. Shen and her daughter, Yang Yifan, were questioned at the hotel. For three whole days, they were closely watched by Xuchang City 610 Office director Song and police officer Sun Lina from Wedu District Police Station, as well as two people who were referred to as Xiaotao and Xiaohen. On January 24, Ms. Shen was transferred to the Huangchuan County Police Station in her hometown. She was sent directly to a brainwashing center.
Around 5 a.m. on January 26, Ms. Shen escaped the brainwashing center with righteous thoughts. When she was climbing the outside gate, she was discovered. As she was struggling to flee, the guards pulled off all her clothes. In the cold of winter, Ms. Shen ran away, naked and barefoot. Finally she got to a home with good people, who gave her a pair of pants. Her daughter, who was not even one-year-old, cried for an entire day at the brainwashing center, where she is still being held.
When Mr. Yang Jianjun legally went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong in 2000, he was illegally arrested and sent to the Third Labor Camp of Henan Province by Xuchang City Police Station personnel. He was forced to do hard labor there for three years. Because his father, practitioner Mr.Yang Xingya, was clarifying the truth in Kaifeng City in 2003, he was sent to Kaifeng Forced Labor Camp for one year. He died in 2005. When his family was taking care of his funeral arrangements, the hotel where they stayed was full of 610 Office plainclothes officers. Even at the funeral home people were secretly taking pictures. In the end, they had to leave Kaifeng City with Mr. Yang Jianjun's ill mother. Mr. Yang Jianjun's 21-year old sister was left to handle the funeral affairs.
Mr. Yang's mother, practitioner Ms. Xing Xiuzhi, was taken away when the police searched their home. She was arrested and held for a month. Afterwards, her old illness reoccurred, and she passed away in June 2006. Now there is only an uncared-for 80-year-old grandmother in Mr. Yang's home.
Ms. Shen's father died six months ago. Her mother was still in
mourning over
her husband's death when she suddenly got the news that her daughter
had been
arrested. Her coronary heart disease reoccurred. These continued
misfortunes
have struck this family--already in poverty--hard. Ms. Shen only had
100 yuan
(12 USD) with her, but the brainwashing center authorities stole it.
Now she has
no money with her and no home to return to.
Ever since July 20, 1999, the officials and the police in Cangxi County, Sichuan Province, have followed Jiang Zemin's policy of persecuting Falun Gong practitioners. They are: former Party Committee Secretary Luo Xianping, current county Party Committee Secretary, Zhou Jin, and county Party Committee Deputy Secretaries Liu Wenlong, Liu Rongxiao and Yang Zongli. Also involved are the former deputy secretary of the Politics and Law Committee, former 610 Office Head Xu Yunzong, current 610 Office Head Ke Dajie, current secretary of the Politics and Law Committee Zhang Yong, Police Department Head Peng Guanglin, Police Department Political Head Zhang Qiwei, and Deputy Police Department Head Luo Changmao. The following individuals are secret agents from the National Security Group: Hou Xiangyu, Yue Gang, Gou Dongsheng, and others.
These people are still cruelly persecuting Falun Gong practitioners. According to incomplete statistics, in the years between July 20, 1999, and January 2007, they have persecuted nearly 200 Falun Gong practitioners by illegally searching their homes, confiscating property, extorting fines from them and arresting them, and taking them to detention centers and brainwashing centers. Approximately 30 practitioners have been sentenced to prisons or labor camp terms.
In February 2000, six practitioners, including Yan Zongfang, Kou Zhixiu, Luo Changhua, Li Guangqing, Yang Shixuan, and He Xiuzhen, were arrested and sent to the county detention center after they had gone to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong. They were all sentenced to one or one and a half years of forced labor.
In 2001, practitioners Yan Zongfang, He Xiuzhen, Huang Qun, Liu Zhengqing, He Yongli, and Zeng Yuxian were illegally arrested, had money extorted from them, and were sentenced to jail or forced labor for telling people the truth about Falun Gong and distributing truth clarifying material to people.
In 2002, agents from the county government and police attempted to set up a brainwashing center but failed. Around July 2004, they arrested 28 practitioners and subjected them to brainwashing. They forced everyone to pay 5,000 to 8,000 yuan to attend. Concurrently, agents from the National Security Group wantonly searched the homes of more than 100 practitioners and confiscated their property. The agents threatened the practitioners, bullied them, and extorted money from them ranging from 3,000 to 10,000 yuan. They also forced them to write a "guarantee letter" not to practice Falun Gong, otherwise they would be taken to the brainwashing center.
In 2005, agents from the county 610 Office again subjected all county practitioners to additional persecution by forcing them to sign a "giving up Falun Gong" survey registration form. Any practitioners that refused to sign had money extorted from them or were taken to the brainwashing center.
In January 2006, policemen again searched the homes of practitioners who clarified the truth to people and confiscated their property. These practitioners were: Kou Zhihua, Luo Changhua, Huang Qun, Liu Zhengqing, Deng Shaojun, Wang Shifan, Yan Weisheng, Wang Yao, Zhang Qishun, Feng Chunhua, Zhang Zihui, Zou Jun, He Zuequan, Zeng Yuxian, and others. The police took them to the detention center and persecuted them. They had money extorted from them and were sent to a labor camp.
In August 2006, the police arrested practitioner Ms. Yan Zongfang for exposing the persecution. She was illegally sentenced to two years of forced labor.
In September 2006, agents from the county 610 Office arrested all the Falun Gong practitioners in the county batch by batch, sent them to a brainwashing center in the county guest house, and made them pay a 2,000 yuan attendance fee.
On January 8, 2007, police and Huishui Township officials took practitioners Ms. Wang Xiaohong and Mr. Yang Zhengming to the county detention center. On January 9, 2007, Cangxi County police officers went to Langzhong City to search practitioner Ms. Wang Xiaohong's home. They couldn't find anything they wanted. Before they left they took her VCD player. On January 10, the police returned to Langzhong City and searched the home of practitioner Mr. Yang Zhengming without any of his relatives being present. They didn't find anything. On January 13 they returned once more and took Yang Zhengming's 70-year-old mother, sister, and brother to Mr. Yang's home where they threatened and bullied his family members to give them his computer and printer.
In order to force practitioners to give up their beliefs as well as get information, Cangxi County police officers used the most base and venomous methods, such as deception, violence and beating, and forcing practitioners to stand and/or kneel for long periods of time. Other abusive tactics were: filling the nose with water, forbidding toilet use, heavy shackles and handcuffs, binding practitioners on the Death Bed and beating female practitioners' breasts and genitalia. They also extorted from 3,000 to 10,000 yuan from practitioners' family members.
In August 2001, practitioner Ms. Yan Zongfang was arrested and taken to the Longshan Police Station for distributing truth materials. They then sent her to the detention center for persecution. She was handcuffed to a metal bed for 57 days, with her arms and legs severely stretched in four directions. She had to relieve herself on the bed. The police forbade her to take a shower. During the hot summer she became smelly and itchy. She also had constipation for several days. Her hands and feet were swollen and her fingers were numb. She was in much pain. She demanded to be set free of the bed. Police Station chief He Yongfu responded viciously, "A killer can escape from here, but not you! We have to keep you handcuffed on this metal bed until you are sentenced to a labor camp. Then you can be out of this bed." The other officer Zheng snarled, "Not only will we not let you go, we will also bundle you up tightly! We want to torture you to death!" Ms. Yan was illegally sentenced to four years in prison.
After practitioner Mr. Yang Shixuan was arrested, the policemen knocked him down on the ground and kicked and punched him with their hands and boots. He was forbidden to sleep or use the toilet. The policemen poured water into his nose and made him kneel on a wooden stool.
After practitioner Ms. Li Guangqing was taken to a brainwashing center, they pulled off all her clothes and bound her onto the Death Bed to try to make her renounce her belief. She couldn't move. About ten people pummeled her with their fists and kicked her with their boots. They also put a helmet on her head and covered her face with a cloth.
Practitioner Ms. Wang Shifang is a high school teacher at Wenchang High School. After the police found out she had established a truth materials site, they arrested her, took her to the county detention center, and kicked and punched her with their hands and boots. They deprived her of sleep for six days. She was sentenced to ten years in prison. Her non-practitioner husband was implicated and sentenced to four years. The police furthermore arrested Ms. Wang's sister and brother-in-law. They received sentences of four years in prison and three years of forced labor, respectively. They left a six-year-old and a three-year-old child at home. Their grandparents, who are in their 70s, are the children's caretakers.
The police arrested practitioner Mr. Zeng Yuxian for distributing truth materials and badly beat him. They burned him with an electric iron. Mr. Zeng was sentenced to five years in prison.
The CCP officials in Cangxi County misuse their power and
unscrupulously
persecute good people who practice according to "Truthfulness,
Compassion,
Forbearance." There are two reasons they do this. First, for money.
According to incomplete statistics, as of July 20, 1999, the policemen
have
extorted tens of thousand of yuan from practitioners without giving
them any
receipts. Second, these people have already lost their sense of
humanity. They
are completely without conscience and are committing bad deeds without
considering the spiritual consequences.
The following stories come from five Falun Gong
practitioners from Xiangtan City, Hunan Province, who have been drugged
while
held in detention centers, forced labor camps, or prisons. In order to
"reform"
the practitioners as soon as possible, officials secretly
injected the practitioners with all kinds of unknown drugs and mixed
drugs into
their food and water. As a result the practitioners have felt drowsy
and tired;
have become incapable of walking; have been speaking and moving slowly;
have
suffered a decreased ability to respond and memorize; have suffered
damage to
their organs; etc. Some sleep all the time and their thinking is
disordered,
having been mentally and physically traumatized.
1) Mr. Lu Songming
Because he practiced Falun Gong, he was sentenced to five years of
imprisonment
in 2000. While being held at Chishan Prison in Hunan, he was force-fed
over a
dozen times. During the force-feeding, an perpetrator called "Fatty
Xiong"
kicked his belly and even sat on it. "Fatty Xiong" threatened to
"get him" many times. Mr. Lu Songming slept heavily over ten hours
each time after force-feeding. He felt tired and old, and his chest
felt like a
big piece of iron plate. When touched, it would hurt and he could not
work. He
was very weak when he was released, but he himself didn't know why. One
night he
heard a voice say: "It's because you have been filled with toxins." He
recalled how he felt muddle- headed before--when he was in prison--and
had slept
for dozens of hours and knew his condition was caused by what was done
to him in
Chishan Prison.
2) Mr. Peng
Personnel from the 610 Office
arrested Mr. Peng on January 18, 2001.
The officers forcefully fed him some unknown toxin, and the resulting
pain made
him roll back and forth. When they sent him to the detention center, he
was
totally disfigured, black and blue and swollen all over. He couldn't
even be
recognized.
Mr. Peng was subjected to all kinds of tortures after he was arrested by the Xiangtan 610 Office on January 18, 2001. On winter nights, they poured cold water on him and then made him lie on the ground for a few hours. They squashed his toes with the leg of a chair and forced him to kneel on the ground. In August 2001, Mr. Peng walked away when they were taking him to court. He remained homeless until they caught him again in March 2003. The officers from the 610 Office broke one of his legs in an unlawful interrogation and he still walks with a limp. They sentenced him, and now he is in Jin City Prison. He was monitored by five inmates day and night.
3) Ms. Xu Ailian (also called Ms. Xu Shao'an)
Ms. Xu used to be very healthy and well built. Baimalong Forced Labor Camp authorities persecuted Ms. Xu until she became mentally disordered. The camp had someone mix toxins with her food and then force fed her. Ms. Xu had bloody stools for about eight days after she ate the doctored food. The drugs damaged her brain and caused her problems in thinking, remembering, and communicating normally. The labor camp authorities feared being held responsible for her and had her family members take her home. She was sent to the Shebu Town Senior House of Xiangtan County. Ms. Xu refused to eat any food there. She thought the food was poisoned. She wouldn't even let her visitors drink any water in the Senior House. She wouldn't go to sleep at night and always asked to leave. Zhou Youqi, the head of Senior House, beat her for four nights in a row and made people hate Falun Gong.
4) Liu Heqing from Yisuhe Town, Xiangtan County
Before the "Two National Conferences," the authorities constantly harassed practitioners without reason. On February 25, 2006, the National Security Team and Yisuhe Town Police Station suddenly sent over a dozen people to the home of practitioner Mr. Liu Heqing, who works at the Xiangtan County Crank Factory. They ransacked his home and arrested him. On the morning of February 26, they sent Mr. Liu to the mental hospital in Xiangtan City. There they shackled him and forcefully injected him with unknown drugs that damaged his central nervous system. A good, healthy person was persecuted as if he were a mental patient by the CCP's hoodlum goons; they injected him with toxins just to make him sleep. The doctor found out later that Liu Heqing was mentally healthy but still did not let him leave, saying that he could leave only after the "Two Conferences" ended.
5) Ms. Xu Yanjun, employee of Xiangtan Power Plant, 25 years old
Because she practiced Falun Gong, the Security Division of the power
plant
arrested her and detained her for 15 days in December 1999. When the
authorities
were not able to "reform" her, they transferred her to a mental
hospital and persecuted her as a mental patient for two and a half
months. They
forcefully injected her with medicines everyday, damaging her health
both
physically and mentally.
After three months of detention, she was sent back to the power plant
under
special surveillance and fined up to 10,000 yuan. She
went to
Beijing to appeal at the end of June 2000, but was arrested by the
Security
Division of the power plant and sent to a detention center. She was
detained for
15 days. When she would not write the guarantee
statement, they
detained her for 15 days more. They then transferred her to Xiangtan
City
Detention Center for 30 days of detention, and the Security Division
extorted
3000 yuan from her. Once they released her back to the power plant, the
plant
authorities held her for several days again and forced her to write the
"guarantee statement." Just a few days after she went back to work,
the police department took her away again for no reason and sent her to
Baimalong Forced Labor Camp.
Falun Gong practitioners have been illegally detained and tortured at the Eighth Ward of Liaoning Women's Prison for a long time. Torture methods have included shocking with electric batons. Zuo Xiaoyan, the leader of the Eighth Ward, and the associated prison guards have committed monstrous crimes against practitioners.
Partial List of Crimes Perpetrated by Guards of the Eighth Ward against Practitioners
In March 2004, prison guards tried to get practitioner Ms. Zhao Lijun, 47, from Lingyuan to renounce Falun Gong, but she firmly rejected this demand. She shouted out "Falun Dafa is good" each day on the road to and from work. The prison guards then got the criminal inmates to beat her brutally, which left dark bruises on her face and body. They often taped her mouth shut, tied her up, and threw her on the floor of the bathroom. When they took her back to the ward, they kept her tied and gagged and stuffed her under the bed for the night. On the way to and from work, the guards often goaded other prisoners to drag her along the ground, causing many cuts and bruises. Beatings and other forms of torment were commonplace. The guards also stopped her food rations as "punishment," which caused Ms. Zhao to become very emaciated and her feet to swell and bruise. Although this form of torture lasted a whole year, Ms. Zhao never gave up her belief in Falun Gong, and she finally was able to leave the prison with her dignity intact.
In March 2004, prison guards also incited the criminal inmates to increase pressure on practitioner Ms. Liu Junlu, who is in her 30s and comes from Dalian City, in order to get her to renounce Falun Gong. For example, after work, back on the ward, the guards stripped off her clothes, blindfolded her, and got together more than 20 prisoners at a time to beat her, kick her, tie her up, douse her with cold water, pinch the insides of her thighs, etc. When her wounds started to fester, the prison guards handcuffed her behind her back for several days, even when she had to use the bathroom. They ordered her to stand still in one place during the daytime and did not allow her to sleep at night. The guards would not remove her handcuffs even as the wounds on her wrists started to fester. By the time the handcuffs were finally removed, one of Ms. Liu's arms had lost feeling. In spite of this, they forced her to work with one hand. Ms. Liu has been imprisoned for more than four years now and her family has not been allowed to see her yet. (see Clearwisdom report from February 12, 2007)
Practitioner Ms. Li Hongshu, 30, has been slapped in the face, doused with cold water, starved, and forced to do slave labor. When Ms. Li became too weak from starvation to work, the guards did not allow her to buy any food in the prison. Ms. Li Hongshu, Ms. Zhang Huaping, Ms. Liu Junlu, and Ms. Wang Hong were not allowed to have rice and wheat for seven months, and were restricted to a diet consisting of corn meal and pickles only.
At one point, Ms. Li Hongshu wrote an account of how prison guards were mistreating Falun Gong practitioners and successfully distributed flyers with this information. Knowing this, the leader of the prison guards, Zuo Xiaoyan, called Ms. Li to the office and struck her with two electric batons. This cruel torture continued for two days, and when one of the clubs malfunctioned, the guards continued to hit her with another, crippling her leg. One day, as she was finishing work, Ms. Li was not able to find her scissors. The guards did not allow anyone to leave the workshop and ordered everyone on the sewing group, a total of about 90 people, to look for the scissors; they found nothing. The next day, the guards called Ms. Li to the office and struck her with an electric baton for a long time. They also used the event as an excuse to order other practitioners to the office, where they frisked them individually and went through their personal effects. The guards then ransacked the wards and tore through the quilts and clothing of practitioners. In the end, they found the missing scissors in the possession of an inmate with a mental condition.
Prison guards have tortured practitioner Ms. Wang Shuer, 47, from Dandong City many times in order to force her to renounce Falun Gong. They shocked her with electric batons, often for half a day at a time, or harassed her for not being able to produce her quota of forced labor. When something malfunctioned with the prison's hot water heater, the cooking was stopped for half a month. Everyone was put on extremely small rations. Since Ms. Wang had no money available to buy extra food, she became so starved that she became dizzy and no longer had the strength to complete her quota of work. Guard Gu Yaxing slapped her face and forced her into an uncomfortable position. When she refused to comply, Gu Yaxing struck her with an electric baton. However, none of the violence could change Ms. Wang's commitment to Falun Gong.
Practitioner Ms. Wang Shiyuan, 35, from Fuxin City wrote a sentence validating Falun Gong in December 2005. Guard Jiao Lingling shocked her with an electric baton and confiscated all the food that her family had brought her. She only received two small cornmeal buns and two pieces of pickle per meal. Whenever rice or wheat was on the menu, she was not given anything, and nobody else was allowed to share their rations with her either. Ms. Wang was assigned to the ironing group, a heavy workload that requires a lot of physical stamina, and she had to work without a break for 14 to 17 hours a day. The prison guards hit her whenever she did not manage to complete her work quota on time. At one point, Ms. Wang's Falun Gong materials were discovered, whereupon the leader of the guards, Zuo Xiaoyan, hit her with an electric baton for more than two hours and called her names. She developed many big blisters on her neck that hurt so badly that she had trouble turning her neck. In addition, her rice and wheat rations were withheld once again. Her family was banned from visiting her for three months and although her mother, who is in her 60s, came to see her several times, she was refused.
On another occasion, the guards incited prisoners Deng Xiujie and Qin Liying to persecute practitioner Ms. Li Chunxiao. They told Ms. Wang Shiyuan to fetch some adhesive tape because they wanted to tape Ms. Li's mouth shut to stop her from shouting "Falun Dafa is good," but Ms. Wang refused to cooperate. Prisoner Deng Xiujie got other prisoners to tie her up and beat and kick her. Ms. Wang was continuously tormented for more than half a year. She became thinner every day because she was often forced to stand when the others were having their meals. The guards did not allow her to eat but forced her to work as much as the others did.
Ms. Wang Hong, Ms. Wang Jinping, and Ms. Song Caihong had their hands tied behind their backs with ropes that were also looped round their necks, and each was put under a table in the workshop because they refused to give up their Falun Gong practice. They were closely watched and were not allowed to close their eyes. After the workday ended and they were taken back to the ward, the guards continued their torture: They poured cold water on the practitioners' faces, forced them into painful postures, beat and kicked them, and did not permit them to sleep. Once, Ms. Wang Hong refused to bow her head low enough and was tied and forced to sit next to a guard's desk for a week, causing her bottom to develop sores. Ms. Wang Jinping was also tied several times and put in a secret place to avoid others noticing her. She was often detained after work or confined to a separate room where she was tortured. All three practitioners were taken to special wards where they were brutally tortured. They became severely emaciated because they were given no food; however, nothing changed their belief in Falun Gong.
When Falun Gong-related writings were discovered in the possession of practitioner Ms. Gao Yanxia, the guards immediately tied her up to torture her.
Practitioner Ms. Zhang Lina, 30, was bound in a painful position because she refused to renounce her belief in Falun Gong. As a result, she was not able to straighten her neck for more than a year. She also lost bladder control because she suffered constant beatings by the criminal prisoners. Once, when Ms. Zhang went to fetch her meal, prisoner Zheng Qiu kicked her until she fell to the ground and called her dirty names. Zheng Qiu did not allow Ms. Zhang to have her meal for no particular reason and beat her again. Later, the prisoner in charge gave Ms. Zhang some radish but not her regular rations. Although she had some personal money to buy food, the guards did not allow her to spend it.
The guards used their entire bag of dirty tricks on practitioner Ms. Li Chunxiao: they ordered the most vicious criminal prisoners to watch her, did not allow her to sleep, poured cold water on her, cuffed her hands behind her back, and placed her inside a small box in which she could not even move her neck and had difficulty breathing. Ms. Li had to spend so much time in the box that she could no longer move her head or hands, and her eyes started to protrude and were bruised. She was tortured in this way until she was scarcely recognizable as a human being, and everybody who saw her was appalled. Perhaps due to a feeling of guilt, prisoner Qin Liying cursed everyone who even looked at Ms. Li.
Practitioner Ms. Zhang Pinghua, 41, was found to have passed along Falun Gong writings to other practitioners and was reported by the prisoners. The guards then handcuffed her and forced her into a position where she had to touch her hands to her feet with straight legs for a whole week as punishment. She was required to stay in this position for 15 hours a day, and other people had to feed her with some corn meal during mealtimes.
Early in 2005, prison guards Gu Yaxing and Jiao Lingling called all of the 46 people in Team 2 to the office and started to kick and hit them with electric batons, cursing all the while as if all those people were animals, ostensibly because their slave labor output was too small. The guards were primarily targeting Falun Gong practitioners, because they hit them for longer and more viciously. They suspected that the practitioners might have obtained certain Falun Gong articles, but could not obtain any evidence and just vented their anger on everyone in the section.
Practitioners detained in the Eighth Ward of Liaoning Women's Prison were treated with great cruelty. The law stipulates that electric batons may not be employed casually, but the officers of the law are deliberately breaking the law themselves. When inspectors came on tour, they hid the electric batons and took them back out when the inspection ended. In order to make more money, the head of the Eighth Ward, Zuo Xiaoyan, equipped every guard with an electric baton, and allowed them to use it casually. Very often, people were called to the office either individually or as a group and were struck with the baton. This happened to practitioners as well as other prisoners, and no particular reason was given. Cries and loud shouts could be heard every day and the smell of burned human flesh lingered outside the office.
Penal Servitude and Exploitation
In addition to the electric batons, practitioners were subject to forced labor and production quotas. There was no way to protest the production quotas and everyone was pushed to her limit to complete the quotas. If one day's quota was not completed, then the next day's quota would be even higher. Because prisoners were so afraid of being struck with the electric batons, they tried to drink as little water as possible so as not to have to take bathroom breaks. They even sacrificed their mealtimes in order to be able to complete the work quotas. They had to eat as quickly as possible and took only a few minutes to eat because they were also expected to wash their bowls. They only ate half of the food while sitting down and ate the other part while walking back to work. Even so, Zuo Xiaoyan was not satisfied with the speed of the mealtimes and often shouted abuse.
Prison guards gain profit from the sweat of prisoners by extending work hours and using them as slaves. Generally speaking, prisoners are supposed to start work at 6:00 a.m. and wrap up at 9:00 p.m., but police officer Zuo Xiaoyan keeps them working until midnight, and sometimes even until 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning. Occasionally prisoners are even forced to work through the night. One day in January 2004, they were finally finished at 4:00 a.m. However, guard Gu Yaxing had a problem with prisoner Gao Jie, who was in charge of the tools, and forced the whole group to stand at attention for an hour. After almost a day and night's worth of work, everyone was exhausted, and struggled to keep their eyes open, but Gu Yaxing was vicious enough to insist that everyone should stand straight. He only allowed everyone to get some rest after Gao Lijie apologized to him. After just one hour's sleep, they were all driven back to work as usual. The Wards also have to take the unfinished work back with them after they finish their work at 9:00 p.m. each day. They are pressed to do extra work even when they are supposed to sleep and rest and are punished severely if they do not comply.
In the Eighth Ward controlled by Zou Xiaoyan, detainees are not allow to read, and not even a single pen or piece of paper is allowed in the cells. They have to spend all their time and effort on endless work. Zhou does not care about the methods used but cares only about making money. In the fall of 2005, the Eighth Ward was forced to package video disks for a factory. The cover of the videos was clearly printed with "X-rated," but the prisoners were forced to help bring in filthy profits without any thought about the impact this may have on society.
In December 2003, prisoners of the Eighth Ward were forced to peel garlic. After all the garlic had been peeled, the guards didn't return it right away but told everyone to soak it in water in order to add more weight to make a better profit, not paying attention to the quality of the product. Indeed, there is no difference between criminals and the so-called officers of the law. In February 2004, a sewing sweatshop was set up in the Eighth Ward. It was supposed to supply labor to the "New Heaven and Earth" factory, which supplied the cloth and instructions. However, the planned co-operation didn't go as smoothly as expected, and a year later the contract was canceled. Before the factory moved away, Zuo Xiaoyan covered up the activities of criminal inmate Deng Xiujie, who was stealing bolts of cloth. Eventually, all the cloth was made into bedsheets, quilt-covers, and nightgowns, which were sold to the prisoners or given away to others. For example, ten of the female guards received free pajamas. Of course, some of the imprisoned people refused to accept the stolen goods.
The Eighth Ward checked prisoners for metals, tried to physically destroy them, and also tried to exploit them economically. It was only possible to buy something in prison with permission of the guards. From time to time, people were fined to "stimulate" them to increase their output. Everyone who managed to save some money was fined. Female guard Jiao Lingling created a kind of "rule" stating that people who saved more than 500 yuan were allowed to buy food; those who had less than 500 yuan were only allowed to buy daily necessities. The savings usually come from the inmate's family members, who often are very poor. They painfully save a few hundred yuan and send it to the prison. Even if they do not have much money from home, the prisoners are fined until they have almost nothing left.
When practitioner Ms. Liu Junlu was beaten by criminal inmates and guard Gao Nan, Ms. Liu inadvertently touched Gao Nan during the struggle, giving the guard an excuse to tie her up, torture her, and fine her 1,000 yuan.
Prisoner Gu Jibo 's home was very far from the prison, and it was not easy for her family to visit. The family managed to scrape together 3,000 yuan for her, but she was allowed to only spend 200 yuan on herself and had to pay the rest to Zuo Xiaoyan because of "low productivity."
Everything described above is just a small part of the torture I have seen and heard in person and that occurred in the Eighth Ward at the Women's Prison in Liaoning Province. These severe forms of torture and abuse have never ceased there. Every day, Falun Gong practitioners are searched when the work stops for the day; guards often surprise prisoners by conducting sudden searches and confiscate practitioners' personal belongings. They often leave their bedclothes rumpled and even rip the cotton stuffing out of quilts and throw it on the floor. When the inmates return from work during the middle of the night, they have to spend quite a while to clean up the mess and lose precious time needed for sleep. Whenever a practitioner's family member comes to visit, the practitioner is searched thoroughly and even her underwear is taken off by a shameless guard.
The following is a list of names of practitioners still imprisoned in the Eighth Ward:
Team One: Gao Yanxia, Liu Junlu, Wang Jinping, Xu Baozhen, Song Caihong
Team Two: Li Chunxiao, Li Hongshu, Gao Manli, Cheng Ling, Wang Shiyuan, Qi Xiangru
Team Four: Du Xiuyun
Team Five: Zhang Li'na, Zhang Guozhen, Jin Shunnv, Li Xia, Ma
Shuyan, and
others.
Guards who are quick to use their electric batons are:
Zuo Xiaoyan, Head
of the Eighth Ward;
Gu Yaxing, the former group head;
Zhang Lei, the group head;
Li Xiaohong, the section chief;
Gao Nan, leader of Team One;
Jiao Lingling, the former leader of Team Two;
Liu Yili, the leader of Team
Two;
Meng; and others.
Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Xie Mingyi in Mujia Town, Liaoyang County, Liaoning Province, was sentenced to eight years in prison. On February 13, 2007, Xie Mingyi's wife received a notice that Xie Mingyi was secretly sentenced for "violating the execution of law." He would not accept the sentence and has already appealed to the higher court.
Around five o'clock on September 10, 2006, Mr. Xie was arrested while moving to his new home. Those responsible included Zhang Fuhao, the chief of Mujia Town Police Station; policeman Sun Tiexu; Ma Tingli, who actively persecutes practitioners; and policeman Luo Qingshen of the National Security Team in Liaoyang County. Mr. Xie was detained in Liaoyang City Detention Center.
During this period, practitioners in China and abroad sent letters and made telephone calls to people in Mujia Town government to tell them the truth. The wife of Xie Mingyi also tried her best to clarify the truth to policemen there. Due to these efforts, some officials and policemen admitted their mistakes. As for releasing the practitioners, the officials tried to find excuses to shirk their responsibility. Chief of Mujia Town Police Station Zhang Fuhao and National Security Team Leader Liu Xingyi threatened Xie Mingyi's wife with arrest.
In a secret trial, Shen Hongzhu, the CCP Secretary of South Mujia Village; Fan Haichang, the CCP Secretary of East Mujia Village; and Yang Chunwen, the CCP Secretary of Jieguan Village, testified against Xie Mingyi.
The CCP's illegal arrest and sentencing of Falun Gong practitioner Xie Mingyi greatly pained his family and friends. Villagers who knew the truth got very angry and all spoke out for justice, "He did nothing wrong; the CCP won't let people live. Why place him in a deadly situation?" Now Xie Mingyi's wife takes care of their two young children while struggling to maintain a normal life.