Inhumane Treatments against Falun Gong Practitioners Detained in Kai-ping Labor Camp of Tangshan City, Hebei Province

21 Falun Gong practitioners are serving forced-labor "education" in the Kai-ping labor camp of Tangshan city, Hebei Province. All of them have experienced mistreatments of various degrees. 12 of them were sent to this labor camp at the beginning of last November. One day, they practiced Falun Gong exercises in the cells. The guards then handcuffed them to the trees, and knocked their heads against the trees violently by pulling their hairs. The guards also stuffed the dirty clothes they found in the garbage can and other dirty things into practitioners' mouths. The guards also tortured practitioners many times afterwards. Practitioners went on a hunger strike of 21 days [practitioners were force-fed during their hunger strike, see below --- translator] to protest the mistreatments.

Below, we shall report some typical experiences of 4 practitioners. They are Ms. Qiu Li-ying, Ms. Zhou Xi-meng, Ms. Duan Jin-jin, and Ms. Bai Yu-zhi.

Ms. Qiu Li-ying was a practitioner from Shi-jia-zhuang City. She was sent to this labor camp on December 9 of 1999. On that day, the guards found her practicing Falun Gong. They then beat her madly. One hit her head and the other hit her lower abdomen violently. She almost lost her consciousness. The brutal beating scared her inmates. During her 32 days of hunger strike from December 4 to January 5, she was still forced to work and was not allowed to take one day off, although she was very weak. On January 22 of 2000, she started hunger strike again. It was cold winter. At 5am of one day, she practiced Falun Gong in her cell. The guard then dragged her out and handcuffed her to a tree while she was wearing only a thin sweater and slippers. At that time, it was about 16 to 17 Celsius below zero. She said that she would continue to practice Falun Gong as long as she was still alive. [For her previous story, please visit http://www.minghui.ca/eng/china/liying0929.html]

Ms. Zhou Xi-meng was the contact person of Shi-jia-zhuang Falun Dafa assistance center. On January 1 of 2000, the guard beat her up and then handcuffed her and hung her up to a tree for 5 hours because she practiced Falun Gong exercises. Her hands were severely frostbitten afterwards. On January 19, she started hunger strike. At 4am of January 24, she was handcuffed in her cell because she had attempted to practice Falun Gong exercises. Later, the head of the women labor team came over and was angered by the gentle smile on her face. The head then started to slap her face madly and did not stop until she felt tired. On the twelfth day of her hunger strike, dozens of people were ordered to clean the yard. The head then ordered Ms. Zhou to pull the heavy cart full of garbage. At that time, she was very skinny and weak, less than 80 pounds. The head said, "I particularly order you to pull the cart. I will see whether you will eat or not." She could not get up by herself after over 20 days of hunger strike. The head still demanded her to work. At that time, her knee joints could not move and she could hardly walk.

Ms. Duan Jin-jin was a 24 years old young lady. She had been on hunger strike for 56 days. Before she was sent to a hospital for emergency treatment on the 49th day of her hunger strike, she had been being forced to do heavy labor. During the hunger strike, her hands were handcuffed to her head at night. In those cold nights, the guards only allowed her to wear some underwear in order to prevent her from practicing Falun Gong. It was so cold at night that people would feel chilly even when they put two quilts on themselves. However, during these nights, Ms. Duan had her whole upper body uncovered while being handcuffed. She was not able to turn over her body. As a result, she had two cup-sized bedsores from not being able to move on bed. After being un-handcuffed in the morning, her hands could not regain consciousness until afternoon.

The most miserable experience was how Duan Jin-jin and other practitioners were force-fed. Each time, five people worked on them. One dragged the hair. One squeezed the nose. One covered the mouth. One squeezed the throat. The last one weighing over 160 pounds sat on the belly. They would feed practitioners on hunger strike with fluid food as soon as the practitioners had to open their mouths for air. One might choke to death from being forced-fed like this. The doctor would feed one through nose for fear that one might choke to death from being fed through the esophagus, which would become sticky from not taking any food for a long time. Duan Jin-jin had been forced-fed like this for 10 times. It was cold winter. Every time, she almost choked to death. Her clothes would become soaked by the fluid food. Those who force-fed her would just poured the rest of the fluid food on her neck.

Ms. Bai Yu-zhi was the former contact person of Falun Dafa assistance center in Jing-Jing County. She was also a member of the Political Consultative Congress of Jing-Jing County and a model worker for years. She was on hunger strike for 62 days. She was almost tortured to death, and later, she survived after emergency treatment. During her hunger strike, she was kept in an isolated small cell for half a month. After she returned to her cell, she was handcuffed from midnight to the morning. At night, she was only allowed to put on some underwear with the windows and the door of the cell open in the cold winter. One of her hands was handcuffed to a highest point, while the other hand was handcuffed to a lowest point. She had to stay in a very uncomfortable manner by half squatting down. The toilet was placed in front of her and she had to smell it for the whole night. She had been beaten up for many times. In the cold winter of Tangshan city, she was often handcuffed in the cold wind. When she was on hunger strike for about 50 days, it was snowing outside. She was first handcuffed to a tree in the yard, and then she was transferred to a playground. She could not stand up anymore and kneeled down on the snow for more than half a day until someone found that she had lost her consciousness. She was then sent to a hospital for emergency treatment. Before that, she had been being forced to work in a vegetable farm. Her weight dropped from 130 pounds to 90 pounds. Her left eye lost eyesight. She started to spit bile and then blood. The officials became feared and decided to give her emergency treatment. In the end, they even agreed to let her practice Falun Gong.

[Translated on March 28, 2000]