Falun Dafa Minghui.org www.minghui.org PRINT

My Experiences of Being Tortured in the Masanjia Forced Labor Camp

August 26, 2007 |   By practitioner Ms. Wang Li in Liaoning Province

(Clearwisdom.net) My name is Wang Li and I am from Xidianzi Township, Suizhong County, Liaoning Province. Since the persecution began on July 20, 1999, I have been constantly monitored, harassed, fined, and tortured by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) simply for persisting in my belief in Falun Dafa. I have been detained twice at the notorious Masanjia Forced Labor Camp. I would like to expose the persecution of practitioners in the forced labor camp as an effort to let people around the world know the crimes and evilness of the CCP.

In October 1999, I went to Beijing to appeal on behalf of Falun Gong because I wanted to let the Chinese communist leaders know the truth about the practice. However, I was arrested immediately after arriving at Tiananmen Square and sent to the Changping County Detention Center on the outskirts of Beijing.

Upon arrival at the detention center, the male guards used the excuse of "conducting a health check" to order all the female practitioners to strip naked and stand still. During my detention I refused to tell my name. As a result, four people showed up and carried me out of the cell and threw me onto the concrete floor. At that time, I told them, "It's not that I cannot bear torture, but you will go to hell for what you are doing now." Upon hearing that, they stopped what they were going to do and took me back to the cell.

When some practitioners and I began hunger striking to protest the persecution, four robust men charged into the cell and held me down on the ground so they could force feed me. They fed me a mixture of highly concentrated salt and milk powder. I became extremely thirsty afterwards and had to drink a lot of water. I eventually threw up everything.

Once, several practitioners and I were doing the Falun Dafa exercises in Suizhong Detention Center after we were transferred there. The head of the detention center, Wang Ping, began to kick us. As a result, both of my legs turned black and blue. When I tried to take back and protect Teacher's recent articles, another detention center head, Ji, slapped my face until it swelled.

Later, I was transferred back to Masanjia Forced Labor Camp. There, I saw practitioner Ms. Su Juzhen looking very pale and walking very slowly. It was apparent that she had been tortured. She later told me that she was severely beaten several times in the No. 1 Division of the Masanjia Detention Center.

The prison guards forced me to squat down. One prisoner from Dalian then beat me. I shouted in the the corridor, "Falun Dafa is good! Our Teacher has been wronged! And Falun Dafa has been wronged!" Afterwards, another prisoner, Yang Jianhong from Shenyang City, dragged me into the office of the division head. Guard Wang Shuzheng then shocked me with two electric batons. He even shocked the soles of my feet. He said he would pour water all over me and then shock me again. I was also forced to stay in the "Horse Riding Steps" position or do the "Body-folding"(1). The evildoers used all sorts of methods to torture me.

They also tortured Ms. Su Juzhen with the "Body-folding" torture and did not allow her hands to touch her knees. Tong Yanlin from Jinzhou City, who renounced Falun Gong after being brainwashed, monitored Ms. Su. Whenever Ms. Su's hands touched her knees, Tong would hit her hands with a stick. Ms. Su was not allowed to straighten her back even when she went to use the restroom. Her jacket was soaked with sweat, her hands were swollen, and she became crippled. However, Qiu Ping said Ms. Su suffered from vasculitis. Ms. Su was tortured in this way for seven days and nights. Several days later, the prison guards started another round of torture. At the beginning, they forced Ms. Su to squat down and stay in that position for one whole month. When Qiu Ping realized that this torture did not work, she began to shock her with electric batons instead. When Ms. Su was sent back to the cell, her body was covered with bruises and burn marks. Even the backs of her hands were burned as a result of the electric shocks. Still, it failed to make Ms. Su renounce her belief in Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance. The prison guards then forced her to maintain the "Horse Riding Steps" position. A few days later, they tortured her by locking her fingers to her toes. Collaborator Chen Xiaoli, who had gone astray due to forced brainwashing and torture, was assigned to monitor Ms. Su. At 1.65 meters tall and weighing about 65 kilos, she would sit on Ms. Su's back to increase the torture. At the time Ms. Su was already very weak. At night, whenever I heard Ms. Su's scream, I felt my heart bleed. However, the prolonged tortures failed to make Ms. Su give up her belief. She did not say a word. As a result of the tortures, Ms. Su lay in bed in a vegetative state. Qiu Ping said Ms. Su was sick so they took her to the hospital. The doctor said she suffered from a mental disorder and forced her to take some unknown drugs. Currently, Ms. Su is only beginning to recover.

Others who were tortured included Ms. Zou Guirong and Ms. Zhang Guiping from Benxi. Qiu Ping forced them to stay in a handstand position for a long time. Yang Jianhong also forced Ms. Zou into the "Motorcycle Riding" position. Ms. Zou Guirong's face was swollen and her elbows were black and blue as a result of severe beatings. The wooden stick the prison guards used to beat her with broke. Still, they forced her into the "Body-folding" position and the "Horse Riding Steps" position while several people beat her. As a result, Ms. Zou got an eye contusion. I gave her an ice cube for her eye. Qiu Ping then swore at me.

At the convening of the No. 4 Fulfillment Conference, reporters from the Chinese Central Television Network (CCTV) and our provincial TV station, Provincial Party Committee member Wen Shizhen, the Party Secretary of the Provincial Political and Judiciary Committee Ding Shifa, Ling Bingzhi from the Justice Department, and others were present. After Wang Chunrong, who had renounced Falun Gong, stood up and said that Masanjia Forced Labor Camp did not use electric batons or corporal punishment on inmates, Ms. Zou Guirong stood up and said, "What you have said is not true!" Wang Chunying instantly covered Ms. Zou's mouth with her hand and dragged her out of the conference. Ding Shifa openly lied to everyone by saying, "I invited her to come to test you." Not long after the meeting, Provincial Party Committee member Wen Shizhen sent a sign with the words "Ideological Education School" inscribed on it to the No. 2 Division of Masanjia Forced Labor Camp. Qiu Ping said on a TV program, "Oriental Space-time" that it was slander when people accused her of beating, swearing at the inmates, or exercising corporal punishment.

Whenever higher officials came to Masanjia Forced Labor Camp for a tour, those in charge, along with all those they tortured, were locked inside the restroom to hide their crimes. Once when reporters from a Hong Kong media came to do a story on Masanjia, the forced labor camp sent all the steadfast practitioners to the No. 1 Division. In April 2001, the forced labor camp transferred Ms. Su Juzhen, Ms. Zou Guirong, Ms. Zou Min, Ms. Zou Yanbo, Ms. Ren Dongmei, Ms. Yin Liping, and me to Zhangshi Forced Labor Camp in Shenyang for 20 days for further persecution.

At Zhangshi Forced Labor Camp, all those who were involved in "transforming" practitioners were male guards. Ms. Zou went on a hunger strike to protest. The guards pretended to be kind to practitioners and gave them treats to eat in order to try to trick them into renouncing Falun Dafa. When the guards' "transformation" methods were ineffective, we were transferred again, this time to Shenxin Forced Labor Camp.

There, I went on a hunger strike to protest. During the 11 days of hunger striking, I was forced-fed nine times. Although I was extremely weak, they still locked me in a small cell. Li Yong and Song Xiaoshi were the most vicious. Song Xiaoshi incited my husband, who was deceived by the CCP's lies and slander about Falun Gong, to beat me and try to force me to renounce Falun Gong. Later, Wang Shuzheng extended my detention for three more months before I was released.

I was at home when I was arrested again for the second time. Meng Xianjun, head of Xidianzi Police Station, broke into my home and ransacked it without a search warrant. I said, "You don't have a search warrant so it's against the law for you to be doing this." He replied, "I am able to do anything against you without any legal documentation. Even if you go to Jiang Zemin's office to sue me, it won't work." Then he handcuffed me behind my back while punching and kicking me. He dragged me by my hair into the police car. They charged me with "disturbing the social order for the second time." How could I disturb the social order when I was sitting at home? As a matter of fact, it was they who disturbed the social order.

I was sent to Masanjia Forced Labor Camp again. Since I refused to wear the prison name badge, Qiu Ping took me to an office and tied me up with a rope. Then she shocked me with an electric baton and fined me. Head of the Division Wang Yingchao did not have the heart to torture practitioners. Su Jing pointed at her and said, "You help me to tie them up!" Wang Yingchao said they were all elderly women and she did not have the heart to do it. As a result, Wang Yingchao was sacked.

I was then sent to a different division headed by Pan. Pan forced me to have my meals in the restroom and to stand still for nine consecutive days and nights. Later, I exposed their crimes to the visitors. As a result, I was detained in a small cell. For another nine straight days and nights, I was forced to sit on an iron chair and not allowed to wear my cotton-padded jacket although it was very cold. After nine days, Pan came and asked me if I wanted to get out of there. However, I had to first acknowledge my mistakes. After I replied that I wouldn't, she said that I had to remain in the cell. I was not moved. Afterwards, I felt relieved of a heavy load. When I was finally released from the small cell, my hands and legs were numb. As a result, I could not fall a sleep for nine days and nights.

When I was locked up in the small cell, I had the opportunity to clarify the truth to the visitors. One day, Division Head Pan forced me to stand still as punishment for my refusal to do the morning drill. I said I would not stand still since the Justice Ministry opposed corporal punishment. Pan threw herself at me and covered my mouth with her hand. She then grabbed my hair and pull a huge chunk out. She also beat me until my face swelled. However, to justify her beating, Pan accused me of harassing her. I recorded all their crimes in writing. They accused me of spreading flyers, and therefore I was sentenced to a prison term.

While in Shenyang Women's Prison, I continued to clarify the truth to visitors. I was severely beaten by Song Yuyan, Qi Li, Zhang Ping, Hu Guiyun ,and Qi Yue. My face was swollen and my arms were bruised. When prison guard Xiao Liying witnessed the beating, she did not stop it, but said it was my own fault.

Li Wenling, head of the 715 Team, incited Zhang Xueqing and Wang Chunjiao to beat a practitioner whose name I didn't know. The practitioner's teeth were knocked out. She documented all her sufferings on a slip of paper and intended to pass it on to her family members. However, they found the piece of paper and cruelly beat her again.

Qi Yue repeatedly beat Ms. Zou Cuixia. As a result, Ms. Zou's legs and arms were full of cuts and bruises. Her hair was pulled out, but no one intervened. Such an evil place as this was recognized as a "Civilized Prison" at the ministerial level.

On Sundays and holidays, all the prison wards would force the detainees to work using various excuses. Some even told the detainees to take their work back to the cells.

Note:
(1) "Body folding" - The victim is forced stand with the legs straight and together and then bend down at the waist as far as he or she can go. The arms are placed hands down with fingers pointing towards the ground. The victim is forced to stay in this position without bending the knees or lifting the head or arms for 17 to 18 hours a day except when eating, sleeping, or using the restroom.