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Forced Labor Camps Sell Products Made by Suffering Detainees

April 02, 2013 |   By a Minghui correspondent from Beijing, China

(Minghui.org) Falun Gong practitioners are tortured in many ways in the Beijing Women's Forced Labor Camp. They are forced to sit on small stools for a long time, not allowed to sleep, and not allowed to drink water when they are thirsty. Drugs may be added to their food. They are subjected to brutal beatings and being shocked with electric batons. In addition, practitioners are forced to work for the labor camp's profit.

Guards at the Beijing Women's Forced Labor Camp are very happy when there is a work order, because they can draw a percentage of the profit. They force detainees to work and then fight over who draws the biggest percentage of the profits. The Labor Office is in charge of contacting outside businesses for orders and allotting labor tasks to detainees in order to make the most profit.

Ms. Liu Kejie Forced to Work at Beijing Women's Forced Labor Camp; Poor Sanitary Conditions

Ms. Liu Kejie from Beijing, 51 years old, has been detained in forced labor camps twice. She was detained in the Fifth Division of the Beijing Women's Forced Labor Camp between April 4, 2005 and October 4, 2006. Chen Xiuhua was the division chief. Ms. Liu was forced to twist finger gloves into rolls for shipping. She, like other detainees, had to fulfill her quota every day. Detainees had to put a glove on one of their fingers during assembly. There was talcum powder inside the glove. After the powder mixed with sweat, it irritated the skin on the finger and caused festering.

Ms. Liu was detained the second time in the First Division of Beijing Women's Forced Labor Camp between September 12, 2007 and August 31, 2009, when Guo Kaiyang had become the division chief. Ms. Liu was again forced to work as a slave. Examples of the work required and products produced are as follow:

1. A year-round job in the first division was to make cotton swabs. When there were more profitable jobs to do, the practitioners were forced to do those jobs. When there were no other jobs, the practitioners were forced to make cotton swabs.

2. Packaging tea leaves, mung beans, sugar, and moon cakes were seasonal jobs. There were no sanitary measures. The detainees did not wear gloves when working. Many drug addicts had illnesses and did not wash their hands after using the bathroom. The packaged food was shipped directly to market without any sanitary inspection. The businesses and the forced labor camps neglected the public's health in order to earn extra profits.

When packaging tea leaves, tea leaf pieces and dust drifted all over the workshop and stuck to the workers' skin. Many detainees developed skin ulcers. When packaging mung beans, sugar and moon cakes, the detainees had to stand up all day long. All of the packaged items required the detainees to carry packages. Practitioners in their 50s and 60s were still forced to carry heavy items. Because the guards forced the detainees to stand when working, many older detainees' legs became swollen and stiff. Their joints ached and they could not walk.

3. Making complex accessories. Some accessories required the use of large tools.

4. Making gift sets of cell phones.

5. Making pop-up children books. The practitioners worked around a big table in an assembly line. Each person glued on a few pages. Finally, the books were packaged in cases.

6. Other slave work included planting trees and digging ditches to store cabbage over winter. Practitioners had to move a lot of cabbages, which made them extremely tired. In summer, the practitioners pulled weeds twice a week around where they were detained and also around the guards' offices and other areas in the camp.

Ms. Huang Ling Detained Multiple Times in Different Labor Camps; Forced to Work with Toxic Substances

Forty-year-old Ms. Huang Ling from Beijing was detained in the Beijing Women's Forced Labor Camp twice. She was detained in the Third Division between September 2002 and March 2004 when Jiao Xuexian was the division chief. She had to knit sweaters, make and package calendars, and pack weight-loss tea. Later, Ms. Huang was detained in Division Six between September 2007 and July 2008. The division chief then was Bai. She was forced to make detainee uniforms, which were used in forced labor camps.

Between July 2008 and June 2010, Ms. Huang was detained in Shanxi Women's Forced Labor Camp. She was forced to do the following labor:

1. Gluing Fenjiu packaging boxes for Shanxi Fenjiu Factory. The glues used to assemble cardboard boxes are very toxic. Detainees' hands often festered from contact with the glue.

2. Packaging moon cakes for restaurants.

3. Threading decorative bulbs.

4. Making circuit boards.

Ms. Ban Qirong Detained Twice; Made Products the Buyer Would Never Realize Were Produced by Forced Labor

Ms. Ban Qirong, 54, from Beijing was detained twice in the Beijing Women's Forced Labor Camp. She was detained in the Fourth Division between March 2005 and September 2006. She was forced to (1) package tea leaves; (2) twist cotton swabs; (3) make pop-up books; (4) insert stamps into stamp albums; (5) produce advertising materials; and (6) put fish food on fish hooks.

Ms. Ban was detained in the Second Division between July 2009 and January 2012. Li Ziping was the division chief. Ms. Ban was forced to (1) make detainee uniform and knit sweaters; (2) make cell phone SIM cards as souvenirs; (3) make gift sets and festival pictures for Chinese New Year; (4) glue small ornaments on clothes.

All slave workers received no pay or very little pay, such as a few yuan per month. The work was intensive. The workers were abused if they could not finish a task in the required time. The food was very bad and the practitioners' health was compromised.

Tuanhe Forced Labor Camp in Beijing Detains Males; Heavy and Toxic Work for Little or No Pay

Slave labor jobs at Tuanhe Forced Labor Camp include folding couplets, binding books that violate copyrights, folding paper for a printing factory, folding promotional flyers for supermarkets, wrapping candy, bundling hair, making tourniquets, making advertising materials, and making wood floor panels, Other jobs included packaging DVDs and disposable chopsticks. Detainees also planted and watered grass, carried cement bags, repaired roads, etc. The forced labor camp stipulated that any detainee who refused to do forced labor would be punished and his term would be extended.

Mr. Bai Shan, 50, from Beijing was detained in the Third Division of Tuanhe Forced Labor Camp twice, between July 15, 2005 and November 1, 2006; then between September 12, 2007 and October 15, 2009. Yin Hongsong was the division chief. Mr. Bai was forced to do the following work:

(1) Packaging game CDs, putting them into boxes and loading the boxes into vehicles. The boxes were very heavy. There was a daily quota.

(2) Gluing all kinds of cardboard boxes. The glue was toxic and had an acrid smell.

(3) Inserting stamps into stamp albums.

(4) Gluing paper bags.

(5) Using a heat sealer.

(6) Pulling up weeds, digging holes for trees, removing trees.

Mr. Bai was only paid a few yuan every month.