Masanjia Forced Labour Camp Initiates Terrifying Five-Stage Torture Programme for Steadfast Dafa Practitioners

Since the state "610 Office"* ordered the labour camps and jails nationwide to use whatever means available to realise the national goal of brainwashing all steadfast Dafa practitioners who remain imprisoned in these places, Masanjia Labour Camp in Liaoning Province has answered this call by initiating large-scale torture of the 200 determined practitioners detained there. On December 8, 2002, many police were dispatched there from all the regions of Liaoning Province, and everyone's task was to persecute one Dafa practitioner together with 4 collaborators [former practitioners who have turned against Dafa under pressure and torture]. Frequently they tortured Dafa practitioners with electric batons in solitary confinement.

The wardens in Masanjia are vicious to the extreme. They deprive practitioners of sleep and designed the following five-stage torture programme. Each stage lasts 5-9 days:

1. They force every practitioner to squat down within a 30cm by 30 cm floor tile (about one foot square). Two collaborators then beat the person from the front while two others beat from the back;

2. 7-8 collaborators bind the practitioner's legs with wire in the double-lotus position, with the hands cuffed behind the back. They then stomp on the legs with full force;

3. Forbid the practitioner to go to the toilet for a long period, so that the person has to excrete on site;

4. Stop providing food and water;

5. Handcuff them with shackles weighing 6-7- kilogrammes (13-15 pounds) to a handrail. They are chained in a very painful position, unable to stand up straight or squat down. Practitioners are often handcuffed and hung by the hands from the ceiling for long periods of time. With all the body's weight focused on the wrists, they quickly become swollen and extremely painful. The thugs then bind them in such a way that they cannot move at all for a long time. After long periods of this kind of persecution, the upper body becomes numb and even deteriorates into a state of paralysis and muscle atrophy. Recovery from such injuries can take years.

To deceive international human rights and other organisations, the authorities have renamed the Masanjia Labour Camp the "Ideology Training School of Liaoning Province." In the so-called school, more than 40 small cells are used for torture. Every small cell on the third floor is equipped with specially cast iron moulds, which are used to restrain the victim's body and limbs during torture.

In the following list names only small number of the Dafa practitioners who are being tortured in Masanjia:

Song Citing, 31, from Tieling. She was deprived of sleep for 47 days and handcuffed from the ceiling for 20 days. She was tortured by police and collaborators for a long period, and was beaten unconscious at least 8 times. This was the second time she has been imprisoned at Masanjia.

Wei Liming, 42, from Dandong. She was deprived of sleep for 31 days and imprisoned in a small cell for one month. The warden didn't give her enough clothing and opened the windows of the cell with the temperature at minus 10 degrees. Her fingers and nails were frostbitten and numb. She was often beaten by the police and collaborators.

Wang Wenjuan, 32, from Jinzhou. She was deprived of normal sleep for a half year and was beaten every day. A large quantity of her hair was ripped out, and her toes lost all feeling. She cannot walk steadily even now.

Wang Baoqin, 40, from Linghai. She was deprived of sleep for 15 days. After 3 years of persecution, she is extremely weak. The wardens did not relent in their persecution, however, until she passed out. She has been bedridden ever since.

Jing Cuizeng, 51, from Jinzhou. Deprived of sleep for 7 days and tortured by more than 10 collaborators every day. She was unconscious for several days after being tortured.

Sun Yan, 55, from Huludao. Deprived of sleep for 11 days, her thumbs were broken, her chest and internal organs were severely damaged. Her hearing has dropped to minimum, and her legs are too weak to walk normally.

Xia Ning, 55, from Huludao. She was sentenced to forced labour in June 2001 and is still being persecuted now. Xia has a steadfast belief in Dafa; every day she recites the Fa [teachings of Falun Dafa]. To prevent her from reciting the Fa, the wardens sealed her mouth with adhesive tape. From December 2001 to now, she has been imprisoned in a small cell. The villains persecuted her by whatever means they could think of. The collaborators stripped off her clothes to beat her and even put dirty sanitary napkin into her mouth. In winter, they purposely opened windows and, as a result, Xia passed out several times from the extreme cold. Due to the long-term persecution on the "tiger bench" [a type of torture], her buttocks have festered to the degree that the bones can be seen. Her weight dropped from 80 kilogrammes to less than 35 kilogrammes during the period of being tortured.

Wang Shuxia was imprisoned in a small cell and locked in an iron chair for a long period. Her ankles began to fester, as the wire used to bind her cut into her flesh.

Some of the wardens engaging in torture are:

Dai Yuhong, the former leader of the 4th squad of the third team. She is extremely vicious; she will personally torture every practitioner sent to her squad.

Li Jing, the leader of the 3rd team.

Zhang Hua, Zhang Huan and Fang Yuhua.

Collaborators that aided in torture:

Zhao Yonghua, from Jinzhou. After she turned against Dafa, Zhao became a salaried staff member at Masanjia. From 7:00 AM to 4:00 PM every day, she does her job of brainwashing practitioners there.

[1] The "610 Office" is an agency specifically created to persecute Falun Gong, with absolute power over each level of administration in the Party and all other political and judiciary systems

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2003/5/13/50194.html