Ms. Wang Xiaoyuan, 50, is a practitioner from Zhuhai City. She had been in very good health, but when she was released after 19 months in the forced labour camp, she needed to be carried out by three people. It was reported that the guards tortured her brutally, including beating her and forcing her to stand in a fixed position for long periods of time, which led to her being unable to walk or take care of herself. However, the camp authorities still did not release her on medical parole. Instead, two criminals were designated to monitor her.

Practitioner Ms. Wang Jinfeng was arrested and incarcerated at the Masanjia Forced Labour Camp in Liaoning Province on March 5th, 2008. This time she was sentenced to two years of forced labour. On her fifth day she refused to be "reformed". Team leaders handcuffed her and hung her up. They handcuffed Ms. Wang to a metal torture device and stretched her arms. They gagged her and tied her legs to benches and then pulled the benches apart. Wang Jinfeng was in a great pain. Her cries echoed through the building. She could not move her arms, and the handcuffs injured her wrists, cutting into the flesh and exposing the bones.

On March 10th, 2008, I was arrested by police. Police woman Gou Yongqiong was violent to wards me, and began slapping me on both sides of my face. She also kicked both of my legs with the boots that she was wearing. She insulted me at the same time, "You , I just want to beat you up." I demanded her name, in the name of justice. Her eyes were filled with anger and she yelled at me, "You listen to this carefully. My name is Gou Yongqiong. You ." Then she left the room, possibly due to being tired from beating and swearing at me. After a while, I heard Li Xia crying loudly, "They are assaulting me. The police are assaulting me. They are beating me to death. You are police for the people. How can you take the people's money and in return beat us up?"

Chen Yan persisted in practising Falun Gong exercises at Masanjia Labour Camp and refused to do slave labour. In retaliation she was tortured and chained to her bed for an extended period of time. Since the end of June 2008, on numerous occasions, the vicious guards instigated common criminals to brutally beat Chen Yan. On one occasion, Chen Yan's head was seriously injured and required over 40 stitches. On July 17th and 18th, Chen Yan suffered numerous beatings and her head was injured again and was bleeding.

On May 27th, 2008, Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Yang Xiaofeng was transferred from Huanan County Detention Centre to Suihua Forced Labour Camp. Camp guards tried to force him to write statements to renounce Falun Gong. After he refused, the guards tied him up on a bed, hit him in the chest, taped his mouth shut, and plugged his nose with 4 lit cigarettes, causing him to inhale the smoke. They burned through a whole pack of cigarettes using this torture method. They also used the cigarettes to burn Mr. Yang's fingernails. Later that evening, Mr. Yang coughed up a piece of cigarette. Later Mr. Yang was badly beaten.

Mr. Xu Shanglong, 35, was incarcerated in the No. 8 Division of the No. 2 Men's Institute in Masanjia Forced Labour Camp. On June 20th, 2008, when the inmates in the No. 8 Division went out for labour, Mr. Xu was unable to join them because he was bedridden with a high fever. This angered guard Tang and he verbally abused Mr. Xu. Mr. Xu tried to explain, "I would appreciate if you would stop the verbal abuse and refrain from humiliating others." Tang hit Xu Shanglong with both hands. This did not appease his anger, so he tried to strangle Mr. Xu, and at the same time kicked him in the groin. Mr. Xu was severely injured and lost consciousness.

Zhang Youquan is the head and Zhu Qinghua is the associate head of Team 1 of the Yangshan Group, Nanhu Forced Labour Camp in Xuancheng City, Anhui Province. They work hard to persecute Falun Gong practitioners by enforcing a 40-day "Strict Discipline"regime on all practitioners in the camp. Practitioners are forced to get up in the middle of the night or stay up late. Some are forced to stand still until 2 a.m. They are isolated from other inmates, brainwashed and tortured. The purpose of the torture is to destroy practitioners' states of mind and force them to give up their beliefs.

To gain higher profits, the authorities of Masanjia Forced Labour Camp abuse Falun Gong practitioners by overloading them with work. Practitioners are forced to make handmade products for profit. These products often require high-intensity labour, and the raw materials are harmful. As a result, few people would willingly work under such conditions. Practitioners were recently forced to process glue containing toxic substances. Long-term contact with the glue harms the respiratory tract, so the processing site was moved outside. Since nobody would willingly do this kind of work, the labour camp sold the finished products at high profits. The guards forced practitioners to do this work, harming both their physical and mental health.

Most practitioners who are imprisoned in the Heizhuizi Women's Forced Labour Camp, Changchun City, Jilin Province are over 50. Besides using torture to coerce the practitioners to "transform", guards in the Fifth Section force the practitioners to work long hours, carrying 55 lb. boxes up and down the stairs. The guards often threaten to extend the prison sentence of the practitioners. Scorning, electric baton shocks, and beatings happen frequently in the Fifth Section. Guard Zhang Lihong, (female) actively follows director Wang Limei (female) to torture the practitioners and has no remorse.

Practitioners are the only ones required to clean the toilets in Jiangxi Province Women's Forced Labour Camp. In summer, the practitioners cannot use fans while other inmates can. A practitioner is locked in a 75 square foot cell with her two monitors 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. In the cell, she eats, sleeps, uses the toilet, does forced labour, and never has a break. She only has 15 minutes a day to get water, clean the chamberpot, and wash her clothes. The practitioner's prison term is extended at least five days for every month that she does not "transform." Practitioners on hunger strike are tied to a bed. Their limbs are strapped down day and night, and no exception is made when they need to use the toilet.

Suihua Forced Labour Camp in Heilongjiang Province has been classified as a "Model Forced Labour Camp" by the Communist regime. It is a dark, evil place where Falun Gong practitioners are persecuted. There are about two hundred people incarcerated there, of which more than seventy are practitioners. They are spread out amongst 5 groups of prisoners.

Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Song Yulian, 48, was sentenced to one-and-a-half years of forced labour because she went to a police station to request that her confiscated Falun Gong books be returned to her. On the day when Ms. Song refused to write the "three statements", she was tortured by eight perpetrators. That afternoon they tortured Ms. Song with the "big hang up", four or five times, and beat her until she lost consciousness. Since April, the door to the toilet has been locked day and night. Prisoners working in the workshop have to hold their bladders to the point that they almost wet their trousers.

I spent two years at the Zhuhai Detention Centre. During my detention, I produced all kinds of plastic flowers. Some had an electronic device for playing music. In addition, I made colourful lamp strings, and pearl strings, for desk lamps and other uses. All products were exported. As a matter of fact, the prison benefits more from producing items for export, therefore the quotas were continually increased. After I came to the United States, I saw many of these plastic flowers and colourful lamp strings with the label "Made in China" in supermarkets.

There are chopsticks with red, green, blue, yellow and other coloured heads produced in the Third Detention Centre of the Changchun Public Security Bureau. Currently, there are dozens of Falun Gong practitioners imprisoned by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) police. The inmates are forced to get up at six o'clock every morning, and have only five minutes to wash and gargle. They then have to work on the bed where they sleep and eat. A toxic-smelling glue is used to attach a small flower and leaf made of polyester to the ends of the chopsticks. There are 125 units per bundle, eight bundles per box, a standard box is 1000 chopsticks.

Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Li Xiulan underwent intense physical and psychological torture during her 16 months in Beijing Women's Forced Labour Camp in 2002. The guards at the camp deprived Ms. Li of sleep in an attempt to make her renounce her belief. Ms. Li exposed the brutal practices that were used to try to "reform" Falun Gong practitioners. Two chiefs made inmate Ma Jun beat Ms. Li mercilessly. Ma knocked Ms. Li to the ground, pressed his knee on Ms. Li's right kidney, and punched her in the stomach. Later, Ms. Li was forced to do farm labour, which included digging soil and carrying manure. Ms. Li's physical condition remains extremely serious. Her right kidney and stomach have become rock-hard as a result of her injuries. She is in constant pain each day.

For distributing leaflets exposing the persecution of Falun Gong to people, practitioner Ms. Zhong Shujuan has been sentenced to forced labour three times and detained once. She is now being inhumanly tortured and persecuted in Masanjia Forced Labour Camp. She is in great anguish every day not being able to see her daughter, and her mother is close to 80 years old and isn't able to take care of herself. She has been shocked with electric batons, beaten with rubber clubs, subjected to corporal punishments, and stripped of her clothes so that others could write words defaming Falun Gong on her body.

From May 9th, the Masanjia Labour Camp engaged in the so-called "Double-hundred Strike Hard Order," which will last until October. The guards planned to intensify the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners during this period of time. Practitioners have to finish their hard-labour assignments on schedule, otherwise, they will be beaten, or their prison terms will be extended. Li Mingyu instigated someone surnamed Chen to beat up practitioners who didn't finish their assignments. She also threatened, "Those who don't finish their task on time will taste my electric baton." The head of the team often helped the guards do the beating. In order to coerce detainees to make money for them, the guards in Masanjia would do anything to persecute them.

On November 5th, 2005, police broke into and ransacked Ms. Zhang Shujie's home. She was sent to a detention centre along with other practitioners. It was in the cold of winter. To torture the practitioners, the police ordered criminal inmates to strip the practitioners and pour cold water on them. Ms. Zhang went on a hunger strike to protest the abusive treatment. The police took her into a hospital and force-fed her for five days. On December 5th, 2005, Ms. Zhang was taken to Tumuji Forced Labour Camp. Ms. Zhang was forced to work over eleven and a half hours every day and had to finish her work quota. Given the intense hard labour and mental pressure, Ms. Zhang showed symptoms of a lung infection and had difficulty breathing. On January 25th, 2008, Ms. Zhang was released.

In March 2008, many Falun Gong practitioners detained at Jiamusi City Forced Labour Camp were handcuffed and beaten. Although the persecution was exposed to the outside world, the labour camp authorities continued torturing the practitioners. Among them, Ms. Zhu Guoying had a mental collapse due to the torture. Since the persecution began on July 20th, 1999, Ms. Zhu has been arrested, detained and her home ransacked many times by police. She has been fined several times, totalling over 25,000 yuan. In the labour camp Ms. Zhu would at times talk senselessly to herself or shout at others. Guards taped her mouth shut and tied her down to the bed, causing her health to deteriorate even further.

In the detention centre, if your family paid out money, then you might be given a used toothbrush. If not, then you had to share a toothbrush with 10-20 prisoners, or you wouldn't even have one. Next, everyone must recite the prison regulations. Those with an education and able to read had to memorize them within a week. Those with no education had to recite them in two weeks. If not, the prison guards would deprive you of sleep and force you to recite them all night long. If you refused to recite, the cell head would beat you brutally and sent you to the guards. The guards would put you into a torture position called "riding a motorcycle" (putting you in shackles and then handcuffing you under the shackles). This bends your back at a right angle, and your are unable to straighten up to walk or to sleep. This would last for three to four days, or sometimes even a week or two.

Mr. Gao Ke was handcuffed and tortured severely in an “iron chair”. The chief guard ordered a prisoner to seal Mr. Gao's mouth. The prisoner then put a dirty rag in his mouth and sealed it with a wide piece of tape. Yang ordered another prisoner to tie Mr. Gao to the iron chair and watch him closely. Mr. Gao was not allowed to use the toilet and he had to urinate and defecate in his trousers. Mr. Gao was also not allowed to eat for two days. On the fourth day, Mr. Gao's feet became extremely swollen. The iron hoop on the chair cut into his muscle.

Qianjin Forced Labour Camp detains over forty Falun Gong practitioners, who were transferred from Wanjia Forced Labour Camp. They are forced to work for over fourteen hours every day. In the summer, they make ice cream sticks and toothpicks, load and unload trucks, plant trees, work on farms, etc. Many practitioners are suffering from their former illnesses, which have recurred under the persecution. Despite this, Zhang Bo and Zhang Aihui force them to continue working or their terms are extended.

First I wish to tell you about the heavy forced labour practitioners have to perform. Every day, practitioners have to work for 17 hours. The labour is generally making handicrafts, with most of the products being artificial flowers. Between August and September, we were forced to cut garlic or peel ginger for more than 10 hours a day. Many practitioners' skin broke open and festered. We made the flowers in our cells, which included spray painting. Most of the sprays are toxic, which affected our breathing. Those doing such work also had headaches, vomited and were fatigued.

Ms. Liu Qiaozhen held a hunger strike to protest the persecution after she first arrived at the forced labour camp. She is currently unconscious due to her extended hunger strike. Nevertheless, the labour camp refuses to release her and still continues to torture her by brutally force-feeding her through a feeding tube. People over 60 years old previously were not made to serve forced labour terms. Yet there are at least five practitioners in the labour camp who are over 60 years old. Having to do forced hard labour on a long term basis has taken a toll on many older practitioners. What's even worse is that because three older practitioners were not eligible to serve the forced labour term because of their severe illnesses, in order to meet the quota for labour camp inmates, Chinese Communist Party personnel arrested the older practitioners' daughters and put the daughters in the labour camp in place of their mothers.

Since July 1999, nearly all labour camps have participated in the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners. They not only beat the practitioners mercilessly, but also forced them to work in poisonous, harmful environments. Practitioners in Changlinzi Labour Camp work 16 ½ hours daily, from 6: 30 a.m. until 11 p.m. The work hours for the first and fourth ward also exceed 12 hours, seven days a week. The cafeteria meals served to the prisoners are substandard; the good food is eaten by the guards and chiefs. Ten yuan monthly is designated for the imprisoned Falun Gong practitioners for their expenses.. Although they never receive the money, they are forced to sign a statement claiming that it was given to them.

I arrived at Xinhua Forced Labour Camp in Mianyang County that afternoon at 4 p.m. Only then did I realize that I was taken there for a year and half of forced labour. I was tortured in all kinds of ways. Under police orders, the personal "cangues" [monitors who supervise the behaviour of practitioners] made me stand from 6 a.m. till midnight, and they frequently punched me in the chest, often to the point where I couldn't speak or get up from the bed. I would have acute pain once I spoke and sharp chest pains if I moved. The police tied me up eight times during one ten-day period, increased the use of electronic batons from one to four, and beat me with spiked clubs. When I resisted the attempts to smear my face on the toilet floor, the "Personal cangues" and guards pushed my head into the urinals.

Practitioner Ms. Xu Xiaomin is now detained at the Women's Forced Labour Camp of Hohhot City in Inner Mongolia. Ms. Xu refused to write the three statements to renounce Falun Gong and has already been detained in the warehouse for a month. Recently the guards began to persecute her by forcing her to stand for a long time, limiting her sleep, forbidding her to use the toilet, as well as using other methods. During the night of March 1st, two prisoners beat her. The next morning the deputy head of the squad also beat her. Methods used to torture Ms. Du Yuqing included piercing her with needles, forcing her to stand for a long time, forbidding her to use the toilet, pouring cold water down her shirt in winter, and beating her.

On July 14th, 2006, Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Chen Kaiqu was arrested for distributing Falun Gong leaflets exposing the persecution and sent to a detention centre and then sentenced to a two-year forced labour term. He was sent to Masanjia Forced Labour Camp on May 21st, 2007. On March 25th, 2008, Mr. Chen refused to do hard labour at Masanjia Forced Labour Camp. For refusing to cooperate, guard Li Meng shocked Mr. Chen's face and neck with electric batons for an extended period of time. His face was covered with blisters and burns. He was disfigured to the extent that even those who knew him could not recognize him.

Mr. Wang Guiling, 49, was incarcerated in the Jinzhou Forced Labour Camp for practising Falun Gong. He recounts his experience: "Guards handcuffed me from behind. They forced my legs into a double lotus position, and pulled my feet to the extreme position. Then they tied my legs tightly and threw me to the ground. After half an hour they realized that I was not ready to compromise. Frustrated, they stripped off my shirt and socks, and shocked me with several batons. These batons were brand new and could generate over 10,000 volts of electricity. They chose the most sensitive areas to shock, such as my chest, my back and the bottoms of my feet. The excruciating pain was hard to endure. I struggled with all my strength, even broke a rope twice. The torture was just too painful to describe."

Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Tu Xiaomin, 45 years old, was arrested and sent to the Beijing Labour Camp Dispatch Centre on November 8th, 2007. Policemen wanted to extract urine from Tu Xiaomin for testing. This procedure was not necessary at all, they just wanted to humiliate her. Tu refused. Despite her cries and struggles, policemen cuffed her and pulled off Tu's underwear. They also raised Ms. Tu's legs up, exposing her private parts to let the policewomen do the exam. The policewoman inserted metal equipment into Tu's private parts up to her uterus. Tu also bore the pain of an exam of her private parts. Her private parts bled until the next day.

Practitioner Ms. Baosiqin Gaowa was imprisoned there two times and was put in the brainwashing centre three times. The first time she was brainwashed for more than 40 days. A man named Guan beat her so severely that she became injured. A one-inch long scar below her mouth is still visible today. The second time she was put in the brainwashing centre again for more than 40 days. The third time she was in for over three days. She was forbidden to sleep for two whole days and was forced to stand. Her feet swelled. Criminal prisoners at Tumuji Forced Labour Camp make up only one per cent of the inmates. The majority of those incarcerated are people that believe in a religion or people who went to appeal to the higher authorities.

Tang Guofang, head of the education department in Jiangsu Province, has been the main perpetrator in charge of persecuting Falun Gong practitioners for the past eight years. Tang in Judong Women's Forced Labour Camp, has been viciously torturing practitioners both mentally and physically. As a result of being severely beaten by the guards, Ms. Zhu Ruifeng's neck was forced into her chest cavity. She had to be taken to a hospital in Zhenjiang City where her neck had to be straightened. Ms. Wu Shunzhen's lower body was burned with mosquito incense and her head was pushed into a urine bucket by a guard. Ms. Deng Jinmei and Ms. Zhu Jinmei were brutally beaten in prison. After they were released, they still suffered extreme pain from internal injuries.

Practitioner Baosiqin Gaowa was imprisoned twice at the labour camp and was put in the brainwashing centre three times. The first time, she was put into the brainwashing centre for more than 40 days. A man named Guan beat her so severely that she suffered many serious injuries. A one-inch long scar below her mouth is still visible now. The second time she was again put into the brainwashing centre for more than 40 days. The third time, she was put in the centre for more than three days. She was forbidden to sleep for two days straight and was forced to stand the whole time. As a result, her feet became severely swollen.

Mr. Lu Zhiyong, a practitioner around 40 years old, was a forestry policeman. He was sentenced to forced labour twice. His wife is imprisoned in Nanmusi Women's Forced Labour Camp in Sichuan Province. Mr. Lu refused to comply with the guards' unreasonable orders, so they tortured him. Head of the Sixth Division Su Xin directed several guards to shock him with electric batons until he fell unconscious. After he regained consciousness, the guards handcuffed him to a metal bed frame and kept shocking him. Mr. Lu was then put into a separate cell for "strict management," and his term at the forced labour camp was extended.

From my own experience, I knew that imprisonment in a forced labour camp was just like entering a demon's den. Besides insolent guards, there were one or two inmates assigned to monitor and torture practitioners. The inmates cooperated with the guards to carry-out brainwashing, involving instilled falsehoods and absurdities, in attempts to force practitioners to "reform." If these measures were counter productive, the guards would strike out by themselves. For example, division head Sun Juan would kick the older practitioners' naked calves with her shoes on. If you asked, "Isn't beating people not allowed here?" She would answer flagrantly, "Is this beating you? What I did was to educate you." She often declared openly and shamelessly, "We often denigrate you practitioners or even beat you. Why don't we do the same thing to passers-by on the street or others but only to you? It is because we love you."

Ms. Jin Peixia is 64 years old this year. The Zhenjiang City Public Security Bureau of Jiangsu Province and the 610 Office have persecuted her just because she is determined to continue to practise Falun Gong. The prison guards instigated and controlled the drug addict and prostitute inmates to torture and harass the practitioners determined in their belief. Besides keeping the practitioners confined in the small cells and kept under tight surveillance, the guards also used other means to torture them, for example the so-called "husband and wife bed" (using an electric baton to shock the female practitioners' genitals). They refused to let the practitioners use the toilet, deprived them of sleep, and used unknown drugs to destroy their central nervous systems. Practitioners were not even allowed to talk to each other, nor were they allowed to make eye contact.

The labour camps are used by the police to detain suspects and torture them without following any legal procedures, as there is no evidence against approximately two thirds of those who are detained in labour camps that they committed a crime or even disobeyed the law. When the police torture them but cannot find any criminal evidence, they send these people to forced labour camps to avoid trials and to cover up for their misconduct in enforcing the law. They also do this to make a profit by "selling the labour" of these detainees. In addition, they can make deals with the suspects for personal gains. For example, a criminal suspect given a forced labour sentence of three years could have it reduced to one year after some deals are made.

Just before the 2006 Chinese New Year practitioner Xu Ruliang wrote a disclaimer to declare that his statement obtained by forced-brainwashing was null and void. Guards hung Mr. Xu up by handcuffs for 13 days during the Chinese New Year. In October 2006, Mr. Xu once again voided his statement that had been obtained by force. Zheng Wanxin, Sun Fengjun, and other guards tortured him for a whole day with electric shock batons. His feet and back were covered with red and black scars. It was so painful that he couldn't take a shower for a month.

When practitioners refused to wear the camp uniforms, they were beaten, cursed at, kicked, and hung up by handcuffs during the day. Their hands were handcuffed to the headboards at night, which meant that they couldn't turn over or move freely. After only a month in Masanjia they became very weak from being tortured. From April through May, practitioner Ms. Yuan Shuzhe was hung up for the entire two months, which caused compression of her lower spine. This can lead to paralysis.

Mr. Huang firmly believes in Falun Gong and refused to be "transformed". [brainwashed] Unfortunately he became a prime target for persecution at the Shuangkou Forced Labour Camp. The guards tried to force him to learn the prison regulations by heart and take a test, but he refused. Guards brutally beat him. When they were exhausted, they used an electric baton to shock him on his head and chest. His body twitched from the high voltage shocks and he slammed onto the concrete floor. Numerous burn marks appeared on his head and chest. The guards forced him to watch videos that slandered Falun Gong, and instigated other inmates to beat him.

In 2002 Mr. Chen was sent to the Changlinzi Forced Labour Camp and taken to division five, which is the most notoriously cruel division in the labour camp. The division leader Zhao Shuang is outrageous and vengeful. Under his leadership, guards tortured practitioners in just about every way imaginable. In order to "transform" [brainwash] practitioners, they forced them to squat from 5 am to midnight. Besides that, they also tortured practitioners with the "big hang up", electric shocks, pricking them with darts, allowing mice to bite them, pinching and rubbing their private parts, and push-break. The "push-break" is a where they push someone to the ground. A guard rides on top of the practitioner's body, with feet or knees against the practitioner's lower back, while at the same time pulling the practitioner's arms up and back. Some practitioners' arms were broken from this torture.

Practitioners do forced labour every day. They get up at 6:00 a.m., brush their teeth, do morning exercise, have breakfast and then do forced labour with no breaks the whole day. They will finish the whole day's work at 9:30 p.m. at the earliest. If there is an urgent job, they usually have to work until 2:00 - 3:00 a.m. or even the whole night. When they sew mobile phone covers, they do not go back to their bedrooms for a whole week. If the practitioners refuse to work, they are punished by being forced to stand until 2:00 - 3:00 a.m. If they do not comply with the standing punishment, they are beaten with their hands and feet bound and their mouths taped, then dragged somewhere where no one can hear the noise.

Ms. Mao Jiangxin is in her 60s. The police sent her to Wangcun Women's Forced Labour Camp in early 2007. Because she refused to "reform," [give up Falun Gong]they locked her in a toilet, a specially built "small cell", with the windows and doors sealed. There is no air-flow in the toilet/cell and the foul odour is suffocating. Ms. Mao was often beaten and verbally abused by guards. In the winter the cell is as cold as a freezer. To reach the ordered "reform quota" and gain some petty profit, the three female guards attempted to force Ms. Mao to sign statements to renounce Falun Gong. Ms. Mao did not comply. Guards then ordered criminals to beat Ms. Mao's face and kick her body, making her fall onto the ice-cold floor.

Ms. Shi Yingchun, 58, is from Huludao City, Liaoning Province. In the years of persecution of Falun Gong, Shi Yingchun has been arrested three times for practising the Falun Gong exercises in a a park and has been imprisoned and tortured for five years in total. In Masanjia Forced Labour Camp she was often beaten by guards. Compared to the physical torture, the mental torment was more cruel. Under the pressure and lies of warden Qiu Ping, Shi Yingchun was "transformed" and wrote a guarantee of "not practising any more". After that, she felt sad and depressed and often cried for no reason. Then she was sent to a mental hospital forcefully and prescribed some medication for mental disorders. She was forced to take the medication and so-called "punctuation" treatment in the forced labour camp. She felt awful after taking the medication and the treatment once, so they had to stop.

On February 21st, 2008, the director of the No. 1 men's division of the Masanjia Forced Labour Camp obtained "dead man's beds" and forced all "personal cangues" [Note: "cangues" are detainees assigned to implement close surveillance on practitioners] to use them on Falun Gong practitioners who went on hunger strikes. According to eyewitnesses, four practitioners were viciously beaten by prison inmates. Practitioner Zhen Haitao and Chen Yan were tied to the "dead man's bed." Their limbs were stretched out in four different directions. An object was inserted in their mouths so that they could not close their mouths or speak. They were force fed, their lives are in danger.

From September 2001 to March 2003, I was detained in the forced labour camp in Qiqihar, Helongjiang Province. I encountered brutal brainwashing and was forced to do hard labour in a poisonous environment. In order to earn money in a low, base manner, the guards in the labour camp forced us into a one-story building nearby to pour pesticide into containers. The toxicity of some of the pesticides is very bad. After a whole day's work, some criminals had bloody noses, swollen eyes and faces, and chapped skin. People should have gas masks to pour pesticides, but we only had regular respirators. After a day's work, the toxic pesticide chemicals were all over our clothes, inside and out. We don't have hot water, let alone bathing facilities. Before meals, over 100 people had to wash their hands using water from the same basin and it was impossible to wash off all of the pesticide.

Ms. Zhu Shuyun, a Falun Gong practitioner from Changchun City was arrested on May 9th, 2007. She is currently being held in Heizuizi Women's Labour Camp. She did not sweep the snow before Christmas as the officials ordered her. Guard Liu Lianying shocked Ms. Zhu on her chest with electric baton(s) more than 20 times. That female guard also ordered inmate Yi Chun to savagely beat Zhu Shuyun until she went into convulsions and could not open her hands. Liu Lianying then shocked Ms. Zhu's hands with electric baton(s). Guard Liu Lianying would not let Ms. Zhu's family visit her on December 25th, 2007.

Ms. Zhou Rong was sent to the No. 4 Team, where the inmates were forced to do very heavy labour. They had to process pig hair all day long. The pig hair was soaked in a caustic solution. After a while the labourers' hands rotted from prolonged contact with this solution. Because Zhou Rong refused to write the so-called "ideological re-understanding" or to read books slandering Falun Gong, guards made her stand till late at night. They also threatened to add more hours to her workload.

I want to tell of some of the abuses I have experienced and witnessed at Yinmahe Forced Labour Camp. I am doing so to refute the Communist Party's false claim of "now being the best period of human rights in Chinese history." The Camp's goal of "reforming" or brainwashing us amounts to transforming human beings into subservient robots. In order to achieve this goal, the officials resorted to savage beatings, electric shocks, tying us onto the Death Bed, long-term handcuffing, sleep deprivation, and toilet bans, among other methods. The inmates were authorised to do anything they pleased with me. They beat me, pinched my nose until tears ran down my face on numerous occasions. They slapped my face with shoe soles and burned my heels with cigarette lighters, saying it would cause agonising pain when I walked without leaving a scar, thus no evidence of torture.

I am a Falun Gong practitioner and I have been detained at the Changlinzi Forced Labour Camp. On February 2nd, 2004, I heard the sound of someone being slapped. I saw a group of guards and inmates rush to where the slapping was taking place and more sounds of someone's face being slapped followed. Ten minutes later, inmates were seen dragging three men covered in blood. I saw inmate, Qi Lianfeng brutally punching the severely injured man he was dragging. Qi was punching the man's weak spots such as the chest and the ribs. The scene was pitiful. Inmates dragged the three severely injured men into the "small cell", and tied them to "iron chairs". This was followed by brutal beatings, being shocked with electric batons and unbearable verbal abuse.

The authorities of Xinhua Forced Labour Camp of Sichuan Province are still persecuting Falun Gong practitioners, using torture to attempt to "reform" them. When inmates are "restricted," they must wear a helmet and be handcuffed and shackled. On July 24th, 2007, because practitioner Mr. Qu Zhenxing refused to wear the "labourer ID" that is required for every inmate, guards brutally beat him for an entire afternoon. His screams were heard in all the cells. Mr. Qu was then "restricted" for 26 days. These guards electrically shocked practitioners with 200 kilowatt and even 500 kilowatt batons.

Heizuizi Women's Forced Labour Camp guards send steadfast practitioners to "restricted rooms" in attempts to force them to write the so-called guarantee statement [promising to abandon the practice]. The guards handcuff a practitioner's hands to the corners of a bed, then use leather belts from underneath the bed to tie the practitioner's knees so as to restrict all movement. Someone constantly monitors the practitioner and forces the her to eat, drink, and relieve herself on the bed for days at a time. They send collaborators, former practitioners who assist in brainwashing and torturing practitioners, to try to persuade her not to make trouble for the guards.

In March 2005, practitioner Ms. Niu Lanyun was force-fed in the Women's Forced Labour Camp. Guard Liu Zhongmei ordered drug addicts to give Niu Lanyun a hard time. The four dragged Ms. Niu to the labour camp clinic twice a day for force-feeding, and then repeated the routine in the jail cell. They pinned Niu Yulan to the floor, pried open her mouth with a spoon and grabbed her jaws so they could inject food into her throat. This horrible practice made her mouth bleed and her hair was pulled out and spread everywhere on the floor. The guards did not want to hear Niu Lanyun's protest, so they told the criminals to gag her with a towel and handcuff her arms behind her back. More than 70 days of extended torture made Ms. Niu very skinny and weak. The guards did not want to see her die at the camp, so they ordered her family to pick her up

In order to force Falun Gong practitioners to give up their beliefs, one of the common means used by the camp is to confine them in black cells. The guards separately detain those practitioners who firmly believe Falun Dafa into small cells, the area of which is less than 6 square metres. Each practitioner is isolated from the outside and has to complete his daily life in the cell. The cells have very bad smells and practitioners suffer from biting mosquitoes. The guards want to utilise such means to destroy practitioners' will. In order to get more bonus money, the camp implements so-called "fortification fight" (i.e. forced brainwashing). The guards do not let practitioners go to sleep. Without normal rest, some practitioners suffer mental disorders, even mental collapse.

Practitioners who are currently incarcerated are forced to do heavy labour. Regardless of age, they are given high output quotas and are punished if the quotas are not met. The punishment ranges from standing for extended periods of time, writing self-criticism papers, or sleep deprivation. They are subjected to mental torment and physical torture every moment of their incarceration. Ms. Han Aiwen did not cooperate during roll call, so the guards ordered eight criminal inmates to beat her. She was beaten so badly that she let out bloodcurdling screams.

Lu Zhiguo, a Falun Gong practitioner in his 50s, is from Chifeng City. Around July 2006, he was detained on the fourth floor of the Tumuji Forced Labour Camp. In the summer, Lu Zhiguo was forced to wear heavy clothes. The door and windows were tightly closed with the electric heater turned on. The volume of the speakers was set to the maximum. Lu Zhiguo was tortured this way for more than a week. Zhang Ting, is a fifty-five-year old Falun Gong practitioner from Chifeng. He was once cuffed and chained to a bed for nine days. Zhang Ting was released only when his blood pressure became seriously high.

According to sources, Ms. Mu Chunmei was tortured during a hunger strike protesting the persecution. The guards and the labour camp doctors injured her teeth by prying her mouth open. For the more than 50 days she was on the hunger strike, the guards continued this brutal torture, trying to force her to give up her belief in Falun Gong. When her family came to visit her, they were usually not allowed to see her. When they sometimes actually got to see her, they were only allowed to visit for a few minutes.

In September, 2001, I was taken into custody by police officers and sent to the Masanjia Forced Labour Camp for two years. During that period, I was never allowed to sleep on a bed. While in the labour camp, I requested to practise the exercises. As a result, Wang Naimin, the director of the No. 1 Division, strapped me to a chair for about 10 days. Later, I was tied to some hooks that kept my arms outstretched for two months. At the end of 2002, the so-called "helping and education team" came to the labour camp and schemed to "transform" steadfast practitioners. In reality, they were there to cruelly torture practitioners. This time, my hands were hung up with my feet dangling below me. I was hung up for five days, then locked onto the heating pump in the hallway for about a month.

Practitioners are forced to perform hard labour in Wuyuan Forced Labour Camp. For example, in the heat of the summer, they have to cut reed grass for four to five hours a day in the heavily polluted water canal. Educational section workers attempt to force practitioners to give up their beliefs, and write the so-called Guarantee Statement to renounce Falun Gong, "Regret Statement," etc. Practitioners who refuse are transferred to other teams to be humiliated and beaten. Even 70-year-old practitioners are brutally beaten.