The Notorious Brainwashing Tactics of Masanjia Forced Labour Camp

I am a Falun Dafa practitioner and I thankfully got out of the Masanjia Forced Labour Camp in Shenyang Province. The people in the labour camp could be grouped into three categories: those who deceive others (in charge of brainwashing), those who are deceived, and those who are determined in resisting the persecution against Falun Dafa. It is difficult for people outside of this labour camp to imagine the kind of torture that true Dafa practitioners experienced. I have witnessed the methods and tactics used to brainwash practitioners. These tactics include coercion, deceit, verbal abuse, punishment, beatings, and others.

The tactic of coercion: The prison guards give a warm welcome and accommodate those practitioners who have just arrived. The purpose is to distract them so that the guards can thoroughly search their personal belongings for any Falun Dafa materials. At night, the guards secretly search the pockets of practitioners while they slept. The guards even pretend to care about the well being of practitioners, but during the process, they defame Falun Dafa. Collaborators [former Falun Gong practitioners who have stopped practising due to prolonged torture and brainwashing and now assist in the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners] pretended to be practitioners and they distorted the principles of Falun Dafa to defend Jiang's regime, and blamed Falun Dafa for bringing suffering upon itself.

The tactic of deceit: The labour camp staff play all kinds of roles to brainwash practitioners. Every sentence they say is a lie and every step they take is a pitfall - they used "the carrot and stick" approach. Collaborators showed-off what they had 'done' for Dafa to deceive practitioners. If the collaborators were unable to deceive practitioners, then they would defend Jiang's regime by using bizarre excuses to justify the persecution. They told practitioners that the persecution of Dafa practitioners is for their own good. The labour camp staff once told us that the brigadiers would even buy eggs for practitioners on their birthdays, but we never witnessed that happening. Furthermore, they used the media to fabricate lies against Falun Dafa.

The tactic of verbal abuse: If the labour camp staff were unsuccessful with coercing and deceiving practitioners, then they would verbally abuse them. They used foul and vicious language to attack practitioners, and in some cases, they lashed out their hatred on Dafa practitioners.

The tactic of punishment: The labour camp staff used various methods to punish practitioners, especially those who strongly resisted the persecution. For instance, practitioners were forced to hold painful postures in a fixed position for long periods of time such as squatting, standing, kneeling down, facing walls, and some with names of "driving motor-cycles" [practitioners have to bend the knees with arms straight out in front], "flying airplanes" [practitioners have to bend the head down toward the toes with both arms straight up behind], etc.

The tactic of beatings: Dafa practitioners were beaten severely and the prison guards ensured that there were no signs of injuries. Practitioners were slapped on the face, thrown onto the ground from mid-air, and forced to stay in a fixed position for long periods of time. Others were dragged, stretched, pinched, twisted or held down. These forms of punishments were a lot more painful than punching and kicking. Many practitioners could not bear this kind of inhumane treatment and chose to write the so-called "transformation letters" against their own will. Many practitioners who recovered from being unconscious also wrote the "repentance letter" against their own will because they feared more of the torture. As long as the collaborators got the "transformation letters," they believed that they completed their task.

The practitioners who were least affected by brainwashing and other torture tactics received even more extreme forms of inhumane treatment through disciplinary action or extended detention term. Collaborators would interpret Dafa books and articles in a deviated way to brainwash new comers. They would beat them up and curse them at will. These Dafa practitioners were ordered to clean the washrooms. From 5:00 a.m. to 9:15 p.m. every day, they were forced to sit on a bench in a fixed position and were forbidden to walk around. They were forbidden to associate with practitioners who first arrived at the labour camp. Many prison guards and collaborators closely monitored them.

There were other forms of torture experienced by practitioners. Some practitioners experienced harassment and humiliation by a group of prison guards and labour camp staff. If practitioners were to write letters, these letters would be thoroughly inspected before being mailed out. Some practitioners were shut in a gloomy, terrifying solitary confinement cell for months based on fabricated excuses and charges. They are still not released.

At washroom break, if one or two staunch practitioners were left behind, then a few collaborators would stay to keep an eye on them.

Currently there are about 1500 practitioners (19-69 years old) that are in detention in the Masanjia Forced Labour Camp. Practitioners are divided into three brigades with six sub-brigades in each. Each jail cell is about sixty square metres and can hold more than twenty people. Practitioners have to wake up at 5:00 a.m. and go to bed at 9:00 p.m. The main daily activities would be forced brainwashing and hard labour. A large amount of labour had to be completed by the end of the day. The schedule was tight and practitioners laboured for more than seven hours a day. Practitioners had to work throughout the weekend. The remainder of the time would be reserved for forced brainwashing.

When a practitioner is deceived and abandons his belief, those other collaborators arrange for him to be "trained" or to "study" [to be brainwashed further]. Their intention is to lead practitioners on a deviated path. Brigadier Fang is one of the guards who deceived practitioners. Usually, the sessions would last for two to three weeks. They would find some so-called professors in psychology, some qigong masters or some others to come to defame Falun Dafa. They would use twisted reasoning, films and other things to fill their heads with nonsense and lies of those deceived persons.

Those collaborators have secret materials to guide them in brainwashing Dafa practitioners. These books and materials are forbidden to leave the labour camp and from being exposed to the general public because the collaborators may lose their credibility.

We urgently appeal to international organisations and human rights groups to conduct an immediate investigation into Masanjia Forced Labour Camp's human rights abuse in order to release all Falun Gong practitioners being persecuted there.

Relevant Contacts:

Liaoning Provincial Court Reporting Hotline for Government agents breaking laws and regulations: 86-24-8622-0685
Liaoning Provincial Procuratorate Reporting Hotline for Government agents breaking laws and regulations: 86-24-8623-0051
Liaoning Provincial Police Department Reporting Hotline for police agents breaking laws and regulations: 86-24-8699-2250
Masanjia Labour Camp of Liaoning Province: 86-24-8921-0135
Head of Masanjia Labour Camp of Liaoning Province: 86-24-8921-2279
Su Jing, Head of Masanjia Labour Camp Women's Centre: 86-24-8921-0822

http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2003/2/10/31938.html