(Clearwisdom.net)

Shen Shuwen, a 49-year-old female retiree from the Xinqiu Coal Mine of Fuxin City, Liaoning Province was illegally arrested by the police when she went to Beijing to appeal to the higher authorities for Falun Gong in March of 2000. She was detained in the Majiadian Forced Labor Camp of Fuxin City after being illegally sentenced to two years of "re-education through forced labor."

Ms. Shen Shuwen has suffered inhumane and cruel torture in the forced labor camp because she insists on continuing Falun Dafa cultivation practice. She has been shocked with electric batons by the police. She has been bound and hung up with her arms outstretched behind her in an unnatural position for hours at a time. Even when she fainted, the police still would not let her down. She was also forced to stand with her back against the wall, her head dropped forward, and both hands pulled up from behind for long periods of time. She has been forced to bake under the sun in summer and forced to run in the cold of winter. As soon as she stopped running the police hit her with electric batons. Sometimes she would not be allowed to sleep for several days and nights at a time. She has also been subjected to forced brainwashing. In July of 2001 Shen Shuwen had a mental breakdown due to the pressure of being tortured by the police. She still has not recovered after being treated by a doctor at a mental hospital (it is not clear what kind of drugs she was given).

Although Ms. Shen Shuwen was a normal person prior to being persecuted at the forced labor camp, she became mentally unstable while there. Her family was asked to pay 5000 Yuan [approximately 10-month salary of an average urban worker in China] for the forced labor camp to free her. Shen Shuwen's family refused to pay the money and wanted to sue the forced labor camp that had persecuted Shen Shuwen into mental collapse, but the family had nowhere they could go to sue. In fact, Shen Shuwen's family had already paid the police 2000 Yuan when she was initially put in jail.

In 2002, Shen Shuwen's mental illness once again became very serious. She was placed in the mental hospital for another 15-day stay. After her release, she cleaned the streets and wrote "Falun Dafa is good" on the walls of buildings everyday. In January 2003, she was arrested once again because of this. Her family didn't find her until she had been locked in the Xindi Detention Center of Fuxin City for four days. Her family told the detention center that she was a mental patient. The detention center asked for the mental illness certificate that should have been issued by the police station, but the police station never issued the certificate. Shen Shuwen is still being illegally held at the detention center, and her family is not allowed visit her. Her weight was 70 kilograms before being arrested. Her weight soon after her arrest was only 45 kilograms.

Original article date: 03/19/2003