Vile Torture Methods Used Against Falun Dafa Practitioners in the Shanghai Women's Labour Camp

In the Shanghai Women's Labour Camp, police guards twisted and bound Falun Dafa practitioners' hands behind their backs while suspending both feet in the air. This form of torture is applied without even a single toilet break and constitutes one of the ways used to interrogate, threaten, or force practitioners to sign a pledge and write a statement renouncing Falun Gong. Some practitioners subjected to this form of torture were not able to bear the pain and signed the pledge renouncing Falun Dafa, which was psychologically extremely damaging. The following Falun Gong practitioners were tortured in this manner:

Ms. Guo Chunru was bound with ropes in this position for 4 days and had to defecate in her pants; Ms. Tang Xiufang was shocked on the mouth and hands by an electric baton in addition to being bound continuously for 24 hours; Ms. Qian Hua was bound up with ropes twice for practising Falun Dafa exercises and reading Teacher's articles; Ms. Chen Wenying was handcuffed for reading Teacher's articles and cried out for help and then experienced a mental collapse due to the persecution; Ms. Cui Yumin was suspended by handcuffs for practising the Falun Dafa exercises; Ms. Bo Gendi was also suspended by handcuffs for practising Falun Dafa exercises.

The guards at the labour camp also forced them to work intensively and reduced their sleep time; they even forbade them to sleep before completing their assigned amount of work. They constantly terrorised the Falun Gong practitioners in the labour camp by long-term strict control and by forcing them to stand facing a wall. Many practitioners were mistreated in this way for a long time, and even after they were weakened by torture, the pressure on them was not relieved. Ms. Qian Hua was tortured in this manner for 3 months, Ms. Fu Xiaohong for 2 months. Additionally, Ms. Wang Mingzi, and 67-year old Ms. Yu Peiying were tortured. Prolonged torture like forced sitting, restricting time and frequency of toilet use, or even forbidding the use of the toilet entirely, caused some practitioners long-term constipation and great pain. During the summer the guards intentionally expose them to mosquito bites.

Ms. Li Jinyu was firm in her belief in Dafa and therefore suffered brutal treatment in solitary confinement, being bound to a bed for many days.

About half of the over 250 Falun Gong practitioners detained in this Women's Labour Camp are over 50 years old. Before they started to practise Falun Gong, many had multiple diseases, and some even suffered from cancer or other serious illnesses. The law stipulates that labour camps should not accept people older than 50 years. However, in order to persecute Falun Gong practitioners and force them to renounce their beliefs, officials detained many elderly Falun Gong practitioners for prolonged periods of time and intensively tortured them both physically and mentally. Ms. Ma Guilin got sick with cancer during her detention. After she was released from the labour camp for medical treatment, she died.

Commonly used ways to deceive and intimidate Falun Gong practitioners include: Frequent intensive brainwashing using TV programmes that slander Falun Dafa; the use of common prisoners to terrorise practitioners by cursing Teacher, cursing Dafa, beatings, as well as other forms of physical torture; the constant reading of materials slandering Dafa and Teacher; exposure to the evil thinking that the persecution is actually reasonable.

The guards made every attempt to take advantage of practitioners' attachments. Some people betrayed their cultivation and helped their persecutors. The labour camp has classified practitioners into five different classes that are differentially treated. Their specific torture methods differ accordingly.

Shanghai Women's Labour Camp Address: Shanghai Qingpu #701408 (zip: 201701). Phone: 86-21-69209148.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2003/7/1/53232.html