Hebei Province's Tangshan Labor Camp Brutally Tortures Falun Gong Practitioners

(Clearwisdom.net)

The Tangshan Labor Camp has seven groups. Group Six has the firmest discipline. A very common torture used in this group is called "tying the rope." The police tie up the practitioner with a nylon rope that is thinner than the little finger. They circle the rope around his neck, and tie his hands behind his back. Then the police use all the force they can muster to tighten the rope until the practitioner's arms are pulled upwards to reach the level of his neck. This is called "one rope." Sometimes, the police nail some thorns into the rope so that the rope will completely cut into the flesh. The stronger they tighten the rope, the more difficult it is for the practitioner to breathe. The pain is so intense that the practitioner sometimes loses control of his bladder. The practitioners' muscles can be torn and bones broken when the rope is tightened severely enough.

Few people can stand this torture. Even for a regular criminal that tries to escape, the most serious punishment is to tie him up with "two ropes." However, the labor camp ties up the practitioners with as many as "nine ropes." Besides this torture, they give the practitioners electric shocks. In order to persecute practitioners, in May of 2001, the labor camp bought some high-voltage electric batons that can release 300,000 volts of electricity. (The original batons could release up to 200,000 volts of electricity.) Group Six has a special regulation. All of the prisoners who come to the labor camp will receive the elementary "education" in the "Entrance Class" for one or two months. Originally, after finishing this "education," the practitioners will be assigned to different groups. However, beginning this year, the practitioners are not allowed to leave this class unless they acknowledge the charges that are imposed on them. Everyday from 5:30 A.M. to 7:30 P.M., the practitioners are required to sit on a little bench that is about two inches wide and ten inches long. Sitting on a bench like that for one month, the practitioners will have a lot of open sores on their buttocks. Some practitioners are forced to stay with the class for several months. So there are a lot of bloodstains on their trousers. When the practitioners stand up, the bench can stick to their buttocks (since it has cut into the flesh.)

This May, two practitioners started to practice Falun Gong exercises. The police beat them badly. They tied up one of the practitioners with "three ropes" and then they placed him in confinement. The other practitioner was tied up with "nine ropes" and was confined for forty-one days.

Two other practitioners were tied up with "one rope" because they tried to stop the police from beating practitioners. One fifty-three-year-old practitioner was tied up with "five ropes" and was given electric shocks for several minutes because he read Falun Gong Teacher Li Hongzhi's new articles. Another practitioner was tied up with "five ropes" because he practiced Falun Gong exercises. His arms became disabled. Even today, his arms are too weak to do anything.

Around May 20, Group Six confined twenty practitioners in a small cell and required them to sit on the little torture benches. They forced practitioners to watch video programs that slander Falun Gong and its teacher, Mr. Li Hongzhi, for over ten hours every day. On May 30, three practitioners started a hunger strike. On May 31, another seventeen practitioners joined the hunger strike. On June 4, the labor camp force-fed the practitioners with powdered milk mixed with water and with a large amount of salt added in. This resulted in practitioners' throwing up a lot. On June 5, the labor camp force-fed the practitioners twice with this mixture of powdered milk and salt solution. Some practitioners started to pass blood in their stool. Some practitioners felt dizzy. On June 6, the labor camp again force-fed the practitioners. Then they tied up the practitioners that were already very weak and gave them electric shocks. With all of these tortures, they tried to make the practitioners admit their "mistakes."

Starting on June 8, the labor camp increased its effort to force all of the imprisoned practitioners to give up practicing Falun Gong. They required the practitioners to write "guarantees" [to give up practicing Falun Gong] and the so-called "repentance statement." For practitioners who refused to do so, the police tortured them, beat them, tied them up, and gave them electric shocks. Day and night, we could hear blood-curdling screams. They tied up one of the practitioners with "eight ropes" during one day, and they used four or five electric batons at a time when giving electric shocks to another. Many practitioners' necks or bottoms have been burned black by the electric shocks. They tortured one practitioner for three days and two nights in a single, uninterrupted interrogation.

Even so, those firm practitioners still wouldn't give up practicing Falun Gong. They are still receiving various kinds of inhuman tortures. We call for help from all people with conscience to uphold justice. Please support Falun Gong practitioners and help stop these cruel and inhuman crimes.