A Letter Delivered from the Masanjia Forced Labour Camp After Passing Through Many Hands

Officer Sun Zhian and others from the Linhe Police Station in Jinzhou City tortured me after I was arrested and taken to the police station. I was then taken to the Masanjia Forced Labour Camp where I am currently detained, without any legal procedures. Group leader Wang said my record shows that I was arrested for carrying a Falun Gong related VCD while visiting a friend's home.

At the forced labour camp, I've suffered unspeakable humiliation, abuse, and torture because I've maintained my firm belief in Falun Dafa. The mental pressure and tortures to which practitioners are subjected is beyond what anyone can imagine. The nightmares I've experienced during my detention are imprinted in my mind and continually haunt me.

The guards strictly monitor me, fearing that I may influence other practitioners. Everything I say and do are tightly monitored and constrained. The brigade head said, "Talking is not allowed if a practitioner is not 'reformed' (1)." Once a fellow practitioner greeted me in the toilet, and was immediately scolded by the criminal detainees. We are monitored 24 hours a day.

In the camp, I wrote a letter to appeal my case, describing how I had been illegally insulted and tortured. The camp officers, however, would not send my letter out. Instead, they threatened that the letter would be used as evidence to sentence me to Dabei Prison.

During brainwashing sessions, the Masanjia Forced Labour Camp deprived us of sleep. We were forced to work extra-long hours, deprived of sleep for several consecutive days, or only allowed a few hours of sleep per day. I was forced to go through brainwashing sessions from 4:30 a.m. until 10:00 p.m. for an entire month. I was given the nickname "die-hard person" because I refused to cooperate or be transformed through brainwashing.

Since I did not give up the practice of Falun Gong, the guards confined me in a small cell for many months. I was handcuffed to a chair for nine consecutive days. This made it difficult to sleep and I was only freed to use the toilet. I was also forced to stand in the guards' toilet for eight consecutive days. It had no windows to allow fresh air in. The guards read books that defamed Dafa, and cursed and slandered our Teacher to mentally torture me. I was also forced to eat in the toilet. When my feet swelled up and I could not stand anymore, they still forced me to stand on my feet until I almost fainted. Even in my condition, after I was sent back to the cell, I was still forced to work and was not allowed to sleep.

Two days after I was released from solitary confinement, I wrote a letter exposing how the guards illegally tortured me. For that, they confined me in a cell in the north side with no heat, and handcuffed me to a chair for another nine straight days and nights. It was late December. My feet and hands were shackled to the chair, and I could not sleep. My hands were frozen and went numb, and I could not straighten my fingers. I was freezing all the way to my heart, I was always trembling, and I suffered horrendous pain on my lips. The handcuffs hurt me physically, but more so mentally. My feet swelled up until they didn't fit into my shoes. I was only allowed to use the toilet twice a day, at 7:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m. When my period came, due to the extreme cold it stopped after one day, and did not resume until eighteen months later.

During the second solitary confinement, I was always handcuffed and had to be pulled by someone to get in and out of the cell. I felt very humiliated. I was given only dry cakes and salted vegetables to eat. I could only drink water when using the toilet and this had to be done quickly and under pressure from the group leader. From 5:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., the camp loudly broadcast programmes that slandered Falun Gong that resonated in the small cell. During the first five days, I did not have anything to drink or eat. On December 30, 2003, they released me back to a regular cell.

Back at the regular cell, I suffered more than I did during the nine days of torture in the confined cell. On the first night, the frostbite on my hands and feet caused severe pain. My health deteriorated rapidly, and I developed a fever due to the extreme cold. My feet swelled up and were covered with blisters. I couldn't endure the excruciating pain any longer and cried out loudly. I had to rely on two people for support when using the toilet.

The guards at the labour camp sent me to a hospital because they didn't want to take responsibility for what happened to me. The doctors prescribed some medications for me. Group leader Yang Xiaofeng shackled me to the bed and injected me with penicillin. As I was allergic to medication, my finger tips became extremely painful after the injection. They injected in me a total of six bottles of penicillin, and deducted 400 yuan (2) from my account as medical fee. The medical fee and prescription, however, did not match, and they gave no explanation. They threatened that I should ask no more questions.

Although eighteen months has elapsed, my toes and the soles of my feet are still numb. For several months, I could not sleep due to the pain from the frostbite on my feet. Instead of showing concern, the guards used a variety of methods to cover up their persecution. I have used various ways, including writing letters to expose the inhumane treatments I suffered. Back then, the doctor said I had pancreatitis. I could not take in food, and I felt nauseated. The doctors said it was dangerous to eat. Fearing that I would go on a hunger strike, the guards forced me to eat. My brain and body have suffered permanent injuries.

Since I refused to do forced labour, my term was extended and I was locked up in a warehouse with dirty air and no windows. I was forced to work in the warehouse for four months starting at 4:30 a.m. until 10:00 p.m. One night I suddenly lost my memory. I am gradually recovering, but I have lost my previous sharp mind, and cannot think consistently. Currently it is difficult for me to read a book or take control of my impulsive mind. I know that all this is directly due to the damage caused by the long term sleep deprivation.

On September 1, 2003, I was transferred to Group 5, but I was still isolated from the others. They had people accompany me, to prevent me from talking with others. The cell I am staying in right now is damp and cold, with no sunlight. Last November, when I was strictly monitored for 24 hours a day, the guards forced me to sit in a one-square-foot area, and I was not allowed to move. My daily meals consisted of a half-cooked steamed bun made from spoiled flour. It would become mouldy in one day. I told the guards that this kind of food was not edible, but they replied, "This is what you have to eat, like it or not!" I then said, "Mouldy food is poisonous." But group leader Wang said, "If you do not eat, we'll force-feed you."

I have been confined in a small cell for more than eight months. There are no windows in the cell. Due to the forced-feeding I am very malnourished, and this has led to heart problems and a weak body. Many people have witnessed me being force-fed. Many people sit on top of me while the guards pry open my mouth and force-feed me with corn porridge, water, or garlic. The one liter of water or porridge they force-feed me three times a day caused me to have excruciating stomach pains. I have to use the toilet every thirty minutes.

Torturing me mentally and physically is not enough for the labour camp. They have also deducted over 1,000 yuan from my account.

Before May 1, 2004, they again gave everyone mouldy food. During the five days of the May first holiday, we had to peel garlic every day. After the holiday, we ate food made of mouldy corn flour, and many inmates suffered from diarrhoea and vomiting. Since my stomach didn't feel well, I did not eat anything.

Seven days a week, from 5:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., I was forced to sit on a small stool and work in the cell. The smell of garlic, paint, and other various materials inside the cell made it difficult to breathe. I felt I was suffocating.

The above is only a fraction of what I suffered in the Masanjia Forced Labour Camp.

In their persecution of practitioners, the camp combines mental, physical, and economic torture and pressure in order to destroy practitioners' wills. Many practitioners have been killed or seriously injured in the process. Such persecution is still ongoing!

Published January 25, 2005 (Translator's note: according to the contents of the letter, it was written around May 2004)

Notes:

(1) "Reformed" refers to a practitioner having publicly renounced Falun Dafa.

(2) "Yuan" is the Chinese currency; 500 yuan is equal to the average monthly income of an urban worker in China.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2005/1/26/94252.html