Practitioners Illegally Imprisoned in Rujiang and Taiyu Forced Labour Camps

I am a Falun Dafa practitioner in China. The following is an account of the horrible persecution against Dafa practitioners that I witnessed or heard while I was incarcerated in a labour camp in Fuzhou City, Fujian Province for the last two years.

Both the Rujiang Labour Camp and Taiyu Female Labour Camp have detained many Dafa practitioners. Some newly arrested practitioners were tortured very seriously. In order to compel us to give up our belief in Falun Dafa, the prison guards told the criminals to beat us mercilessly. They also forced us to work long hours; didn't allow us to sleep; restricted our use of the toilet; didn't let us take baths, wash our faces or brush our teeth, in order to try to force us to write a so-called "guarantee statement"[1] and a so-called "repentance statement"[2]. They persecuted us by trying to break our spirit and torturing our bodies. Some practitioners were worn down from the torture. Later on, after practitioners went on hunger strike to protest, the situation changed for better. However, they still would not allow us to receive any letters from our families.

In the Rujiang Labour Camp, after practitioners were first imprisoned they were sent to the so-called "special management group for brainwashing. The guards offered other inmates reductions in the lengths their sentences in order to coerce them to persecute Dafa practitioners. They threatened to increase their sentences if they didn't cooperate. The other inmates were forced to carry out 24-hour strict monitoring of practitioners. The inmates did not allow practitioners to practise the Falun Dafa exercises or talk. They also tried to convince practitioners to write "repentance statements" and "guarantee statements." If practitioners did not obey, it was possible they would be beaten or tortured.

After practitioners were assigned to a team, they were still confined in prison cells, were not allowed to talk, send or receive mail, or receive visits from their relatives. If practitioners insisted on practising, the police frequently added time to their sentences. They also sent batches of steadfast Dafa practitioners to the "706" (Taiyu Female Labour Camp). There, police administered week-long sleep deprivation combined with intense brainwashing. The torture Dafa practitioners endured there cannot be imagined. Those practitioners who went on hunger strike to protest their illegal detainment had their hands and feet tied to an iron bed. Police inserted a rubber tube into their nostrils and forced it down to their stomachs, and then aggressively poured in salt water mixed with food.

[1] "guarantee statement" - A statement to declare that he or she is remorseful for practising Falun Gong and guarantees not to practise Falun Gong again, not to go to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong, and never again associate with any Falun Dafa practitioners.

[2] "repentance statement" - In this statement the practitioner is forced to admit remorse for practising Falun Gong, promise to give up Falun Gong, and never again associate with other practitioners or go to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2003/5/16/50497.html