Ms. Li Huaiying from Shanghai Transferred from Forced Labour Camp to Brainwashing Centre

Ms. Li Huaiying, 59, a Falun Gong practitioner from Yangpu District, Shanghai, was arrested at her home on August 16th, 2012. She was sentenced to one year of forced labour. On April 18th, 2013, officials from 610 Office (an organisation of special agents just for persecuting Falun Gong) of the Yangpu District Police Department transferred her from the labour camp to a brainwashing centre located at the Pingliang Park in Yangpu District.

At approximately 10:00 a.m. on August 16th, 2012, Zhao Kuanyuan, an official from the Wuhuan Residential Community Office, went to Ms. Li Huaiying's home. He looked around, didn't say anything, then left. After a while, plainclothes police broke into Ms. Li Huaiying's home and ransacked it. She was arrested and taken to the Feihong Road Police Station.

Interrogation and Torture

Ms. Li was interrogated, and they demanded to know who gave her materials exposing the persecution of Falun Gong and where she distributed them. They demanded that she guarantee in writing that she wouldn't tear down documents defaming Falun Gong posted in the residential area.

Ms. Li told them the facts about Falun Gong, hoped that they could understand the truth and treat Falun Gong practitioners kindly. However, those 610 Office officials refused to listen. They took turns interrogating her and didn't give her lunch and dinner.

Police officers took Ms. Li to the Yangpu District Detention Centre. Four policewomen searched her body, tore off her clothes and demanded that she wear a prison uniform. She refused, so they covered her with a towel and threw her into a cell. On the following day, Ms. Li Huaiying went on a hunger strike.

She was transferred to the prison hospital and force-fed four days later. On the way to the hospital, they pulled her along by the handcuffs and it was very painful.

At the prison hospital, the nurses, who called themselves “angels in white,” force-fed her with methadone, a kind of synthetic narcotics used on drug users. An overdose could lead to drug addiction. They also injected unknown drugs.

The 610 Office sent officials to threaten her and said they would sentence her to forced labour if she didn't write a guarantee statement to renounce practising Falun Gong.

Several days later, doctors in the prison hospital worried that her life was in danger. Therefore, they called the head of local 610 Office. He claimed that he would release Ms. Li, but instead sentenced her to one year of forced labour.

Dismantlement of Forced Labour Camps a Farce

The Chinese authorities found it difficult to continue its forced labour camp system, and stated that is would dismantle the system in 2013. However, they then transferred practitioners to other penal systems to continue the persecution.

Officials from the local 610 Office of the Yangpu District Police Department transferred Ms. Li to a brainwashing centre located at the Pingliang Park in Yangpu District. She was monitored around the clock and forced to watch and listen to propaganda materials that defame Falun Gong. They pressured her to renounce Falun Gong. Ms. Li refused and was released.

However, local 610 Office officials, police officers and officials from the Wuhuan Residential Community Office continue to break into Ms. Li Huaiying's home and harass her and her family. They assigned someone to monitor and follow her around the clock, turning a harmonious family life upside down.