(Clearwisdom.net) My name is Yang Mei and I am a 33-year-old Falun Gong practitioner from Xishui County, Hubei Province. My husband and I live in the apartment complex of his workplace, the Bailian Town Aluminum Plant. I was illegally arrested on August 4, 2008, and at the end of that August I was sentenced to one year of forced labor. Since my early release on April 13, 2009, I have remained homeless to avoid further persecution.
Arrested and Sent to a Forced Labor Camp
I was working at Bailianhe Power Generating Equipment Company on the afternoon of August 4, 2008, when four Bailian Town policemen, including Wang Bingbing and Zhan Wei, came to arrest me at a bit past 4 o'clock. Claiming that I needed to attend "study sessions" before the opening of the Olympics, they took me straight to the Xishui County Second Detention Center, where I saw practitioners from other towns, including Tan Guishi, Feng Baonv, Ye Guiying, Xiao Tianying, Nan Guixiang, Wang Youchu, Cai Yingqiu, Mr. Yang (a teacher in his 70s), and Jiang (a teacher in his 50s).
County 610 Office heads Feng Aiguo and Guo Jianli said that a classified document from Zhou Yongkang, the Central Judicial Committee Head, ordered that they hold us captive during the Olympics. In addition to policemen Xia Zhiping and Yang Gang, a group of "helpers" from various places in the county were sent in to keep close watch on us. Some of these helpers were, in fact, former practitioners who had turned against Falun Gong, including Nan Minxian, Nan Minjun, and Guo Yun. While in detention, we kept doing the Falun Gong exercises, sending forth righteous thoughts and reciting the Fa together. We clarified the facts to the non-practitioner detainees. We told them that heaven will eliminate the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and that they better quit the CCP to secure a safe future. Many of the detainees had been arrested for fighting, theft, or prostitution. They came to understand the facts and denounced the CCP. Almost every one of them quit the CCP and its associated organizations.
After I went on a hunger strike to protest the persecution, the guards punished me by force-feeding me. Several people tied me to a wooden bed, securing my arms and legs with thin wooden boards. They injected me with unidentified drugs and inserted a tube into my nose to force-feed me. Despite the mistreatment inflicted on me, I firmly refused to write statements to give up my belief. During my detention, the police ransacked my home and took away my computer, MP3 player, and cell phone. Balian Town policemen She Jinyuan and Chen Libing transferred me to Xishui County First Detention Center on August 20, 2008. Not long after, they sent me to Hubei Women's Forced Labor Camp. Even though I was brought to the camp on September 4, 2008, the beginning date shown on the forced labor notice was August 24, 2008.
Because I refused to recite the labor camp rules, guards Zhang Xiaoyan and Huang Hanhua instigated four drug addicts (including Gao Lin, Wu Najun, Wang Fang, and Li Rong) to begin a month-long round of torture on me, starting on September 7, 2008. Every day they kept me standing day and night, not allowing me to sleep. Occasionally they would let me take a nap at 4:00 a.m., only to wake me up at 5:30 a.m. My hands and feet became very swollen. One day I passed out while standing in line to get my food. They carried me to the hospital, but they lied to the doctors by saying that I just had low blood sugar
Their Despicable Means of Torture
The guards and detainees used various kinds of physical abuse on practitioners. The commonly used methods included kicking us, stuffing dirty cloths into our mouths, grabbing our hair and then kneeing us in the chest, hitting our backs with their elbows, slapping us in the face, hitting our necks with their palms, pulling down on our ears really hard, tapping on our eyelids, slamming our heads with the little benches, and stomping on our toes and feet. I was beaten so often that I had numerous bumps on my head, which hurt so much that I didn't dare to wash or comb my hair. When I touched my head, sometimes my hair fell out. They often punched practitioners in the breasts and twisted their nipples, resulting in excruciating pain.
One night in mid-September 2008, they ordered me to write statements to give up my belief and I refused. They pummeled me with punches and kicks before pushing me down to the floor. Wang Fang twisted my left hand behind my back and pulled it up over my right shoulder. Gao Lin then grabbed my hair with Wu Najun sitting on my thighs and Li Rong on my legs. They put a pen in between my index finger and middle finger on my right hand and then twisted the pen repeatedly. As a result of such torture, the two fingers couldn't touch each other. For nearly half a month, I could only use my left hand to eat and wash clothes. Holding my hand tightly, they used the pen to write the statements they wanted from me and pressed my fingerprints on them. My legs and knees were painful beyond description afterwards. I needed help to walk or go upstairs.
On the night of September 13, Li Rong and Gao Lin knocked me down before pressing my hands hard on the floor. Wu Najun then kicked me in my stomach and chest. Several times they stripped me and wrote slanderous words on my forehead, inner thighs, underwear, and the soles of my feet. Not long after that, they beat me again on September 20 because I refused to recite the labor camp rules. I had a big bump on my forehead, and my nose bled. They kicked me and threw me up in the air, and let me fall hard on the floor. As a result, I suffered severe injury to my back, and my whole body was purple and black. It hurt even when I rolled over in bed at night.
Because I firmly refused to perform the camp-required exercises, Gao Lin, Wu Najun, and Ying Yurong tied my hands and hung me up from the window bars on November 9 and 10. During the two days and one night, they stripped me and stabbed me with needles everywhere on my body. They filled a rubber bag with boiling water and slapped me on the face and head with the bag. They stomped on my feet, whipped my eyes, and pulled my hair. My eyes were badly injured and even today my vision remains blurred.
Even more despicable was that they used a toothbrush to brush and poke my vagina. They kicked my private parts with their shoes. As a result, there were bruises and swellings all around my groin area, and I had terrible difficulty urinating. They once even put two newborn kittens on my body and breasts, and let them crawl all over me. They pressed their heads against my breasts to try to nurse, a terrible experience that even today I find hair-raising.
Under guard Cheng Yu's directions, three detainees twisted my hands behind my back and cuffed them to the back of a chair. During the force-feeding process, I refused to open my mouth and they punched me in the face. As a result, my teeth loosened.
Earlier, when I was still held in Xishui County First Detention Center, I met two other practitioners who were also illegally sentenced. Yang Shufen was sentenced to eight years and Cai Yingqiu was sentenced to three years.
As far as I know, approximately 50 practitioners from Beijing are currently held in Hubei Women's Labor Camp, 25 of whom are in Division Two. Hun Rui and Yao Baoli have been released on medical parole. There are also nine practitioners from Hubei Province detained in the camp. Wu Qinyu is on medical parole.
The following detained practitioners are from Beijing:
Chen Manxin (Yanqing County), Yu Huandi (Xuanwu District), Zhang Fang (Chaoyang District), Liu Lichun (Shijingshan District), Zhang Xiaoli (Haidian District), Xiang Guilan (Tongzhou District), Yang Xiaofeng (Pinggu District), Zhang Shufang (Miyun County), Gong Ruiping (Pinggu District), Zhao Yumin (Chaoyang District), Hou Cuiying, Xiao Guofang, Zhang Jinliang, Chen Xiaochun, Jin Yulan, Zhao Xiuling, Li Chunling, Zhang Shuying, Du Jinxiu, He Xiuxiang, Duan Xia and Feng Ping
The following detained practitioners are from Hubei Province:
Liu Xiuying (Ezhou City), Yang Shurong (Xishui County), He Ping (a teacher), Yin Youlian (Ezhou City), Chen Beiping (Ezhou City), Ai Geping (Xishui County), Xu Han and Zhang Jingyu
The following is a partial list of perpetrators at the labor camp:
Labor Camp Directors: Yu Pingan, Gong Shanxiu and Gao Xiaomei
Heads of Division Two: Cheng Yu, Zhang Xiaoyan, Huang Hanhua and Yu Junli
Political Heads: Liu Song and Ou Yang
Drug Addicts: Li Rong, Wu Najun, Ying Yurong, Wang Zemei, Qu Huiling, Wang Jing, Song Li,
Gao Lin, Liu Min, Xu Lingping, Yu Lili, Yao Suqin, Xu Hong, Xia Wenzhen, Chen Xiaofeng, Xiong Ying, Yu Lizhen, Wang Ximei and Zhou Hong
