(Clearwisdom.net) Over 500 practitioners have been detained at the Shanxi Provincial Women’s Forced Labor Camp since 1999. It is called a "women’s college" and is renovated to look nice, but the torture of practitioners has been getting more severe. The following are my experiences of having been detained for three years in the camp.
Twenty-four hours of nonstop brainwashing usually happens on the first day of a practitioner's arrival at the camp. If practitioners refuse to be "transformed" and abandon their beliefs, they will be forbidden to go to the bathroom. The wardens also instruct inmates, who are sent to the camp for their drug addictions, to kick practitioners, slap them on the face, bump their’ heads against the wall by pulling their hair, strike them with a whip, force them to stand for a long time in the scorching sun, or stand outside naked on cold winter days. Prohibiting practitioners from sleeping for a long period time is another torture method used.
Practitioner Ms. Li Runfang was not allowed to sleep for 11 months in a row. Ms. Xin Enhao from Datong City, Shanxi Province was beaten by drug addict inmates with a whip until her whole body was swollen; then she was forced to squat down for long periods of time for two or three months, which caused significant problems when she tried to walk. Warden Meng Hao instructed inmates to beat the lower part of her body. They pushed her to the floor and stripped her, placed three bottles full of cold water on her abdomen and stepped hard on the bottles. Ms. Xin’s face turned yellow and she almost died because of the tremendous pain. Blood dripped down along her legs and wet her pants. On one snowy day in the winter of 2003, warden Liu Zhongmei instructed others to strip Ms. Xin down to only her underwear, pour cold water on her head, and then force her to stand outdoors. She was also forced to sleep on the freezing cement floor in the hallway for more than 20 days in minus 20 degree weather. Once an inmate was instructed to beat Xin Enhao until her face bled, and she had to go to the clinic to get three stitches on her eyelid. Liu Zhongmei set a rule for Ms. Xin that she was not allowed to have hot meals, only cold steamed buns and pickles. Every once in a while the wardens would torture her for two or three months. Ms. Xin Enhao was tortured until she was extremely skinny and weak.
Practitioner Ms. Rong Meiqin from Taiyuan City in Shanxi Province was another focus of persecution for wardens Liu Zhongmei, Lei Hongzhen, and others. With their permission and instructions, inmates and collaborators tortured Ms. Rong as a job and for fun. Their tactics included slapping her on the face, bending her fingers backwards, pinching her arms, kicking and beating her, pricking her flesh with a needle, bumping her head against the wall by pulling her hair, etc. Once, during a Spring Festival, Liu Zhongmei asked Ms. Rong Meiqin, "Do you still want to continue practicing?" Ms. Rong replied, "Yes!" Liu Zhongmei suddenly stamped on Ms. Rong’s foot with a pointed heeled shoe and dug a bloody hole in her foot. Blood gushed out and pooled in Ms. Rong’s shoe immediately. Even though they were women themselves, Liu Zhongmei and Lei Hongzhen tortured Ms. Rong without any sympathy or hesitation. They stripped her and tied her to a bed in a cross position for nearly eight months. The inmates, under Liu and Lei’s instructions, often stripped her and pushed her to the cement floor and stepped on her while humiliating her with dirty words. The inmates tortured Ms. Rong with "Swallow Flying:" She was tied against a bed on the floor, naked, while an inmate sitting in front of her placed her feet on Ms. Rong’s thighs and forced them opened to 180 degrees. Another inmate standing behind the bed pulled her hair backwards. The inmates stuffed her mouth with a dirty cloth or socks, tied her neck with a towel or a thick rope, and then twisted her arms backwards to the bed behind her. Sometimes one person stood on her arms, and other times they raised her arms forcefully. When this tortured method was used, several parts of her body were pressed or twisted painfully, and she would usually sweat a lot and almost pass out because of the pain. Rong Meiqin does not remember how many times she was tortured, but she has never given up her steadfast belief in Dafa and Teacher. Wardens Meng Hao, Liu Zhongmei and others cheated Ms. Rong’s husband out of several thousand yuan, saying that they would send her to a hospital to get treatment. They sent her instead to a mental hospital for injections with unknown drugs that caused mental problems. Due to nearly three years of torture at the camp, Ms. Rong looks like she is 10 years older than her actual age. She is very skinny and is suffering from head edema. Her body is constantly covered with bleeding cuts and bruises. Her weight dropped from 73 kilograms to 40 kilograms. The wardens were afraid that she would die at the camp, so they finally agreed to release her to a hospital.
Practitioner Ms. Ma Yueying was detained at the camp between 2002 and 2004. Wardens Meng Hao and Lei Hongzhen often instructed inmates to beat her by rewarding them with added points or a reduction in their term of detention as encouragement. Every run of torture against Ma lasted for two or three months. The torture methods included not being allowed to sleep or go to bathroom, being forced to stand on a small stool, forced to crouch for a long time, and being hung upside down and beaten. Once, in 2003, Meng Hao ordered others to strip Ms. Ma and tie her hands and legs. Then they humiliated and made fun of her. Meng Hao and Lei Hongzhen instructed others to bind the four legs of a stool to Ms. Ma’s naked body, then push her onto the floor, drag her up, and push her up and down. Ms. Ma screamed as her body was badly injured. When she was released in February 2004, her left ear had been beaten to deafness, her eyes were red, and she had injuries all over her body. At the end of 2004, Ms. Ma and another practitioner, Ms. Li Runfang, were again illegally arrested and taken to the forced labor camp. They went on a hunger strike to appeal their arrests, but were force fed, which caused their mouths to bleed. Ms. Ma is unable to walk because of the torture, and she has been transferred to an unknown place.
The wardens at the camp are afraid of the righteousness of "Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance." When practitioners shout, "Falun Dafa is good," the wardens jump on them and beat them brutally. Practitioner Ms. Jing Jing is Ms. Rong Meiqin’s daughter and a daycare teacher. Because she often shouted, "Falun Dafa is good," Ms. Jing Jing was handcuffed and had a dirty cloth stuffed in her mouth. In the winter of 2004, warden Meng Hao ordered inmates to watch Ms. Jing Jing and prohibited her from sleeping or only allowed her to sleep for a little while every night. She was forbidden to use any cover in the winter but had to sleep on a bare wooden board. Once Meng Hao forced her to stand outside on a cold day for a long time. Guard Xue Wenjun used a cloth to wipe his shoes clean in front of Ms. Jing Jing, then stuffed the cloth into her mouth.
Practitioner Ms. Hou Qiuguo from Changzhi City was persecuted until she suffered from a mental disorder in three months at the labor camp. Practitioner Ms. Chen Fang from Bejing was tortured until she was blind in less than 20 days at the camp.
In order to force practitioners to work beyond exhaustion, the wardens never treated the practitioners as fellow human beings, young or old. When assembling lighters, practitioners were forced to work over 10 hours a day, and more than a dozen people passed out due to the heavy labor. Warden Liu Zhongmei said shamelessly, "Our duty is to push you till death."
August 15, 2006