February 1, 2004
(Clearwisdom.net) I am a supervisor in the Heilongjiang Provincial Drug Rehabilitation Center. I used to be an atheist, one who does not believe in either God or Buddha. After encountering Falun Gong practitioners, I have completely changed my view.
Initially, all Falun Gong practitioners were sent in because they went to Beijing to peacefully appeal for Falun Gong. They were placed under forced labor for telling others "Falun Dafa Is Great." We followed the Party's traditional guidelines of education and persuasion in order to so-called "transform" them.
Then more practitioners were sent here. Some had distributed leaflets, and some were implicated for inserting signals into cable TV broadcasts. (For example, over 100 people were sent to our facility in April 2002 when Falun Gong contents were shown on TV in Hegang City, Heilongjiang Province.) In addition, there were also some practitioners who were arrested simply for not giving up their belief. The more the inmates, the harder it got to transform them. Our superiors were worried. From November 12 through November 15, 2002, we organized an all-out campaign to transform Falun Gong practitioners.
Chen, chief of the center, mobilized everyone in the facility before the campaign, including heads of class, supervisors, and ordinary inmates. Bonus compensations were allocated. As for inmates, reduction of sentence terms was promised. We first unevenly cut the hair of steadfast Falun Gong practitioners and then dragged them to underground cells. Both of their hands were tied up to rings on the ground so that they had to crouch down all the time. The practitioners were deprived of sleep day and night. Their eyes were blindfolded, and gags were stuck into their mouths. (A long piece of cloth was tied into a knot in the middle, which was inserted into the practitioner's mouth, while both ends of the piece of cloth were then tied together at the back of the practitioner's head.) A basin of water was placed behind the practitioner, such that if she tried to sit down, she had to sit in water.
My colleagues held one practitioner down in the water for nine hours. Some practitioners were held in the water while steel buckets were placed over their heads. Electricity was applied to the bucket, and it didn't take long before practitioners thus tortured passed out. The inmates also stripped practitioners down to their underwear and then poured cold water over them so the practitioners shuddered in cold. Some practitioners were tied up to the bed, their mouths gagged with a towel. Then an electrically charged torturing device was inserted into the practitioner's vagina. A practitioner being thus tortured could not yell out, but one could see how badly she struggled....
I have often relived those scenes in my nightmares. And I have been wondering: Is this what we, the people's policemen and policewomen, should be doing? The law we have been citing to educate the Falun Gong practitioners dictates, "The law punishes people who have committed acts of crime, and it does not intervene on people's thoughts." But what's the goal of our transformation? Isn't it a kind of mental persecution against them that exactly targets their thoughts? We all know that they are simply cultivating Truthfulness-Benevolence-Forbearance in order to become better people.
Some of the practitioners continued to practice Falun Gong, and they are being punished by being forced to stay crouched down till midnight when they are allowed to sleep. As for those who have agreed to be transformed, they have been given propaganda materials and shown anti-Falun Gong videos. They also have to write diaries and periodical reports to remain brainwashed. For those who have recently arrived, harsh measures of handcuffing and isolated incarceration are called for. These newly-arrived practitioners are even deprived of washing and sleep till they agree to being "transformed."
Now let's take a look at those who have agreed to be transformed. Some have got sick again, some became handicapped. From the expression in their eyes, one can tell how painful it is for them. They have said that this is the retribution they have incurred by giving up practicing Falun Gong.
Also, there are some practitioners who have published solemn statements that they will resume practicing Falun Gong. These practitioners are sent to small cells and placed on iron chairs. If a single practitioner has made such a statement, inmates in the entire class will be punished by extension of education terms and suffer from tortures such as being suspended with hands handcuffed high above their heads. In my observation, those steadfast practitioners are mostly highly-educated and seldom speak. They are of high moral standards and never argue with others.
As a matter of fact, everybody has a benevolent side. It grieves us when we see those good people under torture. Many of us would like to bring some joy and peace to these practitioners. However, Chen, who is in charge of the facility, brigade head Zhang Ping, regiment heads Zhao Wei and Li Quanming, and directors Ni Lixin and Niu Xiaoyun have focused on the transformation of Falun Gong practitioners by following orders from their superiors. We have been instructed to follow the thoughts of each individual practitioner. Inmates on criminal charges and those who have been transformed have been assigned to keep an eye on steadfast practitioners. There are still practitioners who remain steadfast in their belief no matter how much labor is forced onto them or no matter how often they are made to watch the brainwashing video programs about two monks or to read misleading books. I have known about practitioners who simply have been doing Falun Gong exercises for half a month, and their years of illnesses disappeared.
Those of us who have been involved in the transformation all feel exhausted. Some of the guards have gotten sick, and some even died. When are these fruitless efforts going to end? How could we face those innocent people? Jiang Zemin has been put on trial in several countries overseas, and if there is retribution based on cause and effect, what is in store for those of us who participated in the persecution? It is really no easy job in this line of work. Stop the persecution, now! Not just from the perspective of Falun Gong, but also for our own good!
