The Facts of the Persecution of Falun Gong  -- July 11, 2006

Issued by Clearwisdom Net

Content


  • Slave Labor Inside Banqiao Women's Forced Labor Camp in Tianjin

  • The Persecution of Falun Gong Practitioners in Yanbian Forced Labor Camp

  • Handan Labor Camp Authorities Cover-up Their Crimes and Forbid Families to Visit

  • The Police from the Qinghe Forestry Bureau in Heilongjiang Province Jails Practitioner Zhang Chunbo

  • Four Practitioners from Heilongjiang and Xinjiang Provinces who Passed Away After Suffering Persecution




  • Slave Labor Inside Banqiao Women's Forced Labor Camp in Tianjin

    There are 120 to 130 practitioners illegally held in Banqiao Women's Forced Labor Camp in the Dagang District of Tianjin City. They are divided into three teams.

    Liu Xiaohong, the former team leader of No. 1 Team, was notorious for persecuting practitioners. She has moved to the Labor Department and is busy soliciting jobs outside of the labor camp and slave labor for the practitioners inside. In the No. 2 Team of the sewing factory, practitioners were forced to work long hours and to work overtime in making dark green and orange-yellow mixed pattern raincoats to export to Korea. From May 21 to 27, practitioners were forced to work from 5 a.m. until 1 a.m.. They had to work seven to eight hours straight and were not allowed even a sip of water; there was even a restriction imposed on bathroom breaks. Besides those who operate sewing machines, a majority of the practitioners are over 45 years old. Some of them have hypertension, which is worsened by the slave labor, and some of them were so tired they could not sleep at night. Before one assignment was complete, the guards accepted another assignment for more complicated raincoats also exported to Korea. (Labor Camp Director Hao Demin, Superintendent Yang, and Superintendent Li all claimed that working overtime is forbidden.)

    Practitioner Ms. Wang Chunhua, 40, was sentenced to three years of forced labor. The camp authorities did not release her when her time was up, instead they extended her sentence by 50 days because she did not write her Repentance Statement. The guard threatened to keep extending her time if she refused to write the statement. One practitioner's time was extended by 60 days.

    Mrs. Liu Suzhi, age 50, is from Ninghe. She was sent to the labor camp in January 2006. She was held in solitary confinement for three months, but the guards used up all their torture methods in vain, including brainwashing, threats, and trying to entice her with benefits. In the end she was forced into slave labor, and her hypertension and heart problems got worse. The team leader of the team claimed that she was pretending to be ill.

    Mrs. Li Ruiqin, age 45, is from Ji County. She was released in April 2005 after four years in the labor camp. She was detained in the labor camp again in April 2006. She went on a hunger strike and is still in solitary confinement and monitored 24 hours a day. Others in solitary confinement include Ms. Song Yunling, age 40, and Ms. Lu Wendong, 30, a teacher.

    The guards use the "seal them off" method when persecuting firm practitioners:These practitioners are not allowed to shop. The only items they are allowed to purchase are articles of everyday use and some sugar and salt.

    They are forbidden to speak. One inmate monitors one practitioner, who is forced to sit till 11 p.m., without lunch breaks.

    Phone calls are forbidden. Family visiting time is less than 20 minutes.

    They are forbidden to eat with other practitioners; they can only eat a cold meal alone.

    Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2006/6/27/131527.html


    The Persecution of Falun Gong Practitioners in Yanbian Forced Labor Camp

    Since late 1999, the Yanbian Forced Labor Camp in Jilin Province has been a key location for the Chinese Communist Party to recklessly persecute Falun Gong practitioners.

    Camp authorities have subjected practitioners to various types of torture. Guards constructed special steel cages for solitary confinement. These cages are intentionally placed near the very cold west entrance on the first floor. Practitioner Wang Tiesong died in one of these cages.

    The camp director at one time was Wang Qiang, who is now an officer in the Yanji Prison. The deputy director in charge of persecuting Falun Gong is Shan Heping. The head of the Discipline Section is Hong Lin. Lin is a main culprit in the murder of Wang Tieshong. The head of the Education Section is Wenbin Li. Li is also in charge of persecuting Falun Gong.

    The camp authorities organized a task force to brainwash and persecute practitioners. Wenbin Li directed this task force and participated in its criminal activities. Li is known as one of "the four wicked devils" of Yanbian Forced Labor Camp. In addition, Guangri Yin of the Education Section worked with Li to torture practitioners. The most barbaric participant in the persecution of practitioners at the Yanbian camp was Wenjiang Xu. It is worth noting that Xu died in an automobile accident after leaving the camp.

    Practitioners are forced to wake up at 4:30 every morning and then subjected to a sitting punishment that normally lasts 14 hours. Many practitioners’ behinds become swollen and blistered. Pus and blood make their pants stick to their behinds, which become extremely itchy and sore. While sitting on the stool, practitioners must keep their backs straight, have both hands on their knees, and stare at a blackboard at the front of the room. They are not allowed to move or speak. Anyone who moves or speaks is severely beaten. Furthermore, all practitioners, young and old, healthy and ill, are forced to participate in military-style physical training for several hours each day.

    Guards apply many forms of corporal punishment. Practitioners are forced to stand facing a wall within 10 centimeters. Another more painful punishment requires practitioners to bend down, put the backs of their heads against the wall, and remain in this position for several hours. Other punishments include performing 500 to 1000 stand-ups from a squatting position, being shackled, being beaten with electric batons, and sitting on a steel chair in solitary confinement. Practitioner Zhang Qingjun collapsed after doing more than 1000 stand-ups.

    Practitioners in solitary confinement are stripped down to their underwear. The solitary cell is dark, windowless, and cold. They only get two meals per day consisting of only one or two pieces of cornbread. The toilet is inside the cell. The temperature inside the cells is so low that practitioners cannot fall asleep even in the summer. Practitioners confined in these cells included Zhang Beiqi, Cai Fuchen, Song Kuijun, Liu Jie, Yu Jianhua, Sun Zhigang, Xiao Guobing, Zhao Litang, Zhang hui, Gu Yuandong, Zhang Xingcai, Jin Zhuhao, Jin Minghao, Zhang Guolin, Jin Guangri, and Zhao Zhijiang.

    The Tiger Bench and heavy labor are also used. In April, Li Wenbin and other guards once forced practitioners to clean a sewer. Practitioners were forced to perform this task in regular clothes. They plodded through the sludge to pick up trash and feces. Dirty water and feces soaked through their clothes. After work, the guards locked the practitioners in a restroom and refused to let them change into clean clothes. Practitioners Zhang Hui, Jin Minhao, and Wu Chunyan protested this inhumane treatment. Camp guard Li Wenbin knocked these practitioners to the ground and viciously beat them. They were then put into solitary confinement.

    "Tying with a rope" is another torture in which the arms are pulled behind the back and firmly tied with a rope. Guards then hang the victims up by this rope so that their feet do not touch the ground. The excruciating pain causes the victims to sweat heavily. To further intensify the pain, the guards insert bottles under the practitioners' armpits to widen the gap even further. The torture does not stop here, for the guards will then flog the practitioners using stiff plastic tubes that are four centimeters in diameter. The guards make sure to target practitioners’ sensitive body parts, like the genitalia and lower back, with the plastic tubes.

    Many practitioners sustain bruises all over their bodies. The heavily beaten areas turn black and need a couple of months to recover. Numbness in the arms that results from rope tying lasts much longer. During a scheduled inspection of the camp, the guards took torture victim Xiao Guobing away, because they feared exposure of their crimes.

    In the cover-up after practitioner Wang Tiesong was tortured to death in December 2001, camp guards transferred all the remaining practitioners to Yinmahe Forced Labor Camp in Jiutai City.

    Between July 1999 and December 2002, nearly 100 male Falun Gong practitioners were illegally detained in Yanbian Forced Labor Camp. Camp authorities extended many of the practitioners’ terms in hopes of forcing them to renounce Falun Gong. Detention periods were extended in 15, 20, or 30 day increments. Some practitioners protested the illegal detention, but camp guard Li Webin extended their terms for three more months. Camp authorities confiscated food items practitioners’ families sent in and only gave practitioners insufficient rations of cornbread.

    Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2006/6/8/129892.html


    Handan Labor Camp Authorities Cover-up Their Crimes and Forbid Families to Visit

    Reports from different channels have confirmed that recently the Handan City Labor Camp authorities in Hebei Province are still illegally detaining close to sixty male Falun Gong practitioners. Forty of them are held by a special-administration team, and twenty are being held by other teams. Their detention was part of the escalated persecution. Since about a half a year ago, most of the practitioners in detention were deprived the right of having a family visit. Only about a dozen who have written the "Four Statements" are allowed to see their families, and the frequency of visits was reduced from twice a month to once a month. Before a family visit takes place, the police conduct a thorough body search of practitioners and their family members. Why would they do such a thing? What kind of crimes are they trying to keep concealed?

    Falun Gong practitioner Chang Xiwen from Ci County was beaten up by the head guards of the labor camp. Their names are Gao Jinli, Yao Jianming, Xing Yansheng, and Wang Zhiming, among others including some of the labor camp prisoners. They shocked him with electric batons and beat him with rubber batons; as a result, he could not get out of bed for over four months after the beatings. In order to cover-up the crime, the labor camp notified his family and told them that he fell due to carelessness and broke his leg. His family members then requested to see him, but were not permitted to do so. On June 12, after being refused to see Chang Xiwen many times, his family questioned the police guards with anger. "If you don’t let us see him, you must have something to hide! You beat him up and are afraid to let the outside know!" Under the pressure his family’s strong repeated requests, they were allowed to meet one time.

    Falun Gong practitioner Huang Yunzhang from Quzhou County was detained for over a year and refused to be "transformed". At the beginning of this year, the head guard of the second team of the labor camp, Xu Peijun, commanded eight prisoners to beat him brutally. They forced him to lift his arms from behind his back and one person even put pressure on his neck. Huang Yunzhang passed out many times from this horrific torture. In order to wear down his will power, he was forced to weave straw rope with Yan Fusheng and was forced to run about 25-30 kilometers every day, and he had to clean the bathrooms. He is always exhausted. Since the last year, Mr. Huang’s wife tried to visit him many times, but was always refused. She has had to support two children by herself. Several days ago, Huang Yunzhang’s elderly parents pleaded fervently and were still not allowed to see him.

    Falun Gong practitioner Dou Pingjun from Shahe City was tortured with electric shock batons and was not allowed to sleep. This torture caused him to develop high blood pressure and symptoms of heart disease. He could barely walk. Though it was only about 10 days before his term was to end, the Handan Labor Camp urged his family to request a temporary release due to his medical problems. They did this in order to shirk the responsibility for their crimes. When his wife tried to complete the procedure to secure his release, she was unreasonably refused. The labor camp said practitioner Dou Pingjun would be taken back after he recovered! Many other practitioners’ family members were very angry upon seeing this situation, and began to worry about their relatives that were being detained.

    In early April, the new head guard of the special administration team, Li Poyong, extended the terms of five practitioners who have refused to renounce Falun Gong. They colluded with some other head guards, and continued to forcibly brainwash and attempt to "transform" them with various torture methods. We have received a message that practitioner, Gu Daping, was called into a small room by a thug named Gao Fei, and was immediately beaten on the face and head.

    Falun Gong practitioner Su Dongze from Lincheng County developed a severe heart disease due to torture. To recover from this condition, he started practicing the Falun Gong exercises. Subsequently, political instructor Wang Zhiming shocked his whole body with an electric baton for a long period of time. Wang said, "Falun Gong cured your disease and now the Communist Party will take your life!"

    Several of the practitioners’ families who were allowed to meet with their family members were also very angry. The officials have repeatedly agreed to reduce prison terms, however, again and again practitioners were forced to write this and that, and after that nothing changed. Aren’t they just plainly deceiving people? (The CCP is deceiving people, and Falun Gong practitioners as well as their families should not take their bait. The practitioners should not do the shameful things the evil tries to impose upon them.)

    Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2006/6/26/131375.html


    The Police from the Qinghe Forestry Bureau in Heilongjiang Province Jails Practitioner Zhang Chunbo

    On March 17, 2006, five policemen from the 610 Office and the poice station under Qinghe Forestry Bureau in Heilongjiang Province drove to Chaoyi Wood Products Factory in Qinghe City and took away Falun Gong Practitioner Zhang Chunbo.

    The factory director stepped forward on the spot and said to the police, "Zhang Chunbo is an electrician at our factory. He is doing maintenance on the machinery, so he can go to the police station after work."

    He repeatedly reminded the police that the sanding machine in the factory needed urgent repair. Two of the plainclothes policemen ignored him and broke into the room, and arrested Mr. Zhang without showing any official documents. This caused a wave of anxiety and worry in the factory, as Mr. Zhang is well respected by his peers and supervisors.

    Since he started practicing Falun Gong, Zhang Chunbo has conducted himself strictly according to the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance. He worked extra hours for the factory and did not seek any reward. In his own spare time, he repaired and maintained the machines for the factory. He offered to repair the electric appliances and bicycles for workers free of charge.

    When he was jailed in the detention center of the Forestry Bureau, the Director of the Bureau Tian Xijun gave the order that Mr. Zhang was to be given only one meal consisting of one steamed bun a day, no visitors would be allowed and he would be denied food and clothing from his family. However, the detention center allowed the family to send him money because they kept 30% the money for themselves.

    The perpetrators also broke into two other Falun Gong practitioners’ homes and wanted to arrest them on March 17. One of the practitioners was not at home. They raided another practitioner’s home and took him to the security bureau. His family spent 3000 Yuan to get him released. The next day, the police wanted to arrest him again. He was forced to leave home and go from place to place to avoid further persecution.

    Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2006/6/13/130291.html


    Four Practitioners from Heilongjiang and Xinjiang Provinces Passed Away After Suffering Persecution

    Ms. Guo Yongzhen was a 73-year-old Falun Gong practitioner from Erjingzi Village, Eryingzi Township, Zhaozhou County, Heilongjiang Province. Before she started practicing Falun Gong in 1995, she had many diseases. The most severe was congenital heart disease, and she always had medicine with her. After she practiced Falun Gong for a while, all of her diseases disappeared. After July 1999, the local CCP officials targeted her for persecution. On May 1, 2005, Guo Yongzhen and her younger daughter (also a Falun Gong practitioner) were illegally arrested at the train station because they had a Nine Commentaries CD in their bag. Her daughter was sentenced to two years in prison without any legal proceedings and is currently detained at the Harbin Drug Rehabilitation Center. During the past year Guo Yongzhen has been under a lot of pressure. She misses her daughter, and seeing her 8-year-old grandson only made it worse. She always felt responsible for her daughter’s detention. Due to the mental pressure she was under, her health deteriorated and she passed away on May 29, 2006.

    Mr. Meng Fanzhi, 66, was a Falun Gong practitioner from Daqing City, Heilongjiang Province. He started practicing Falun Gong in 1996. After the persecution began on July 20, 1999, his home was ransacked many times. In July 2000, police once again illegally ransacked his home and arrested him and his wife (also a Falun Gong practitioner) and took them to the police station for interrogation. As he left the police station, he fell in the gutter in front of the station and suffered severe injuries. In September 2000 his wife was arrested for clarifying the truth and suffered persecution for several months at the Daqing Detention Center. In 2001 Meng Fazhi clarified the truth at Tiananmen Square in Beijing. Because he was constantly harassed and kept under long-term surveillance, he suffered severe physical and emotional damage. He passed away on August 30, 2005.

    Mr. Cheng Yushan was a 67-year-old retiree of the Cement Plant of Shule County, Xinjiang Province. He had stomach cancer and bursitis in his shoulder, and other ailments. He started to practice Falun Gong in January 1997 and these diseases went away without medical treatment. After the persecution began, his work unit and police station often harassed and threatened him, and forced him to give up Falun Gong. This caused his health to deteriorate. He passed away on February 29, 2004.

    Ms. Qiu Yuanxiu was more than 60 years old, and she was a retiree of the silk plant of Kashi City, Xinjiang Province. After she started to practice Falun Gong in March 1999, her high blood pressure and other diseases were under control and getting better. After the persecution began, officials from her work unit and the police station often threatened her and forced her to give up the practice. She passed away in May 2001.

    Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2006/6/10/129788.html