Brutal Torture of Female Falun Dafa Practitioner in Several Labour Camps

Ms. Mao Junhua is a Falun Dafa practitioner from Weiyuan County, Sichuan Province. To clarify the truth about Falun Dafa, Mao Junhua went to Beijing to appeal two times between December 1999 and February 2000. In Tiananmen Square, police forcibly pushed her into a police car and confiscated all the money she had with her (about 100 Yuan). The police grabbed her hair and pushed her violently into the police car. She was slapped hard on the cheeks until her face became swollen and deformed. Later, she was taken away by the Neijiang Liaison Office in Beijing. They took her home on the train and made her pay for the ticket. Without any legal procedure or inquiry the county government detained her for 15 days and sentenced her to labour camp for one year. In addition, the county government made her pay a fine of 3000 Yuan [the average monthly income for an urban worker in China is 500 Yuan].

On February 8, 2000, Mao Junhua was sent to the Namusi Women's Labour Camp, Zizhong County, Sichuan Province. First, the prison police instigated the drug abusers to beat her violently, and her arms were dislocated as a result. She was sent to the hospital to have her arms reset. Her arms were reset after two hours of painful suffering. Later on, she was forced to do hard labour for more than 10 hours a day without breaks. Prison policeman Zhang Xiaofang always created conflict and instigated criminals against Falun Dafa practitioners. During the hot summer days, the prisoners were forced to work until midnight and were prohibited from using any water. Zhang Xiaofang said publicly that the reason everybody was prohibited from using water was due to the Falun Gong practitioners. He used such tactics to instigate prisoners to beat Falun Dafa practitioners. One night after finishing work, no one was allowed to use water. A gang of drug abusers forced Mao Junhua to stand by the foul-smelling toilet. Later, she was pushed against the bed and beaten badly. After the beating, they stuffed her mouth with smelly towels that were used to dry feet, tied her arms and legs with bras, and smothered her with a heavy blanket to suffocate her. They tortured her until daybreak. To protest such violent torture, she refused to get up in the morning to join the morning assembly. She was dragged out of her bed and scratched, pinched, and beaten everywhere. Her clothes were torn apart. Eventually, she was forcibly dragged into the workshop to do hard labour.

One time, when Mao Junhua was meditating in a sitting position, the prison police instigated drug abusers to drag her into the workshop. While dragging her upstairs, the drug abusers intentionally banged Mao Junhua's head against the concrete walls. The sound of her head banging against the wall could be heard from far away. Her head was covered with bumps that were filled with blood.

Because too many practitioners were detained in the labour camp, special "squadrons" were organised. If Falun Dafa practitioners tried to do the Falun Dafa exercises, the prison police would instigate the drug abusers to beat them. Often, many practitioners' faces were beaten until their faces were swollen and their noses bled. At one assembly, while practitioners did the sitting exercise, prison police shocked the practitioners one by one with high-voltage electric batons. Many practitioners' bodies were covered with bruises and their skin was covered with blotches of purple and blue. Marks from extravasated blood were all over their bodies.

On July 20, 2000, because the practitioners did not cooperate with brainwashing, they were all forced to hold military positions in the sun and were prohibited from taking breaks or sleeping. They were soaked with sweat, but not allowed to take baths, change their clothes, or go to the toilet. This torture went on for more than one week. The prison police also singled out some practitioners for further torture, such as squatting with their arms around their necks. The practitioners detained in this labour camp were generally senior in age. Many practitioners were unable to walk due to the torture. The prison police would also search practitioners' bodies and beds; they even searched practitioners' bodies when they went to the bathroom. Everyday, they forcibly brainwashed practitioners with all kinds of propaganda tools including literature, videotapes, and audiotapes that slandered Falun Dafa with fabricated evidence.

Mao Junhua's jail term was unjustly extended for half a year because she did not give up her belief in Falun Dafa. She was finally taken home by the county national security bureau. Four months later, on January 28, 2000, the county national security bureau ransacked her home, and confiscated two exercise audiotapes and one small cassette player, claiming that "she was reported to be distributing Falun Gong materials." She was again detained unjustly. Around the Chinese Spring Festival, when authorities from Neijiang City came to inspect the labour camp, Mao Junhua reported the fact that the county police bureau had tortured her. For this, she was sent to Neijiang City Detention Centre for further persecution on February 10.

Neijiang City Detention Centre treats detainees inhumanely. The management there uses torture tools and cash fines. Everyday, each detainee only had a ration of less than a half a pound of food. Each daily necessity was used by the detention centre to make a huge profit. If one detainee violated the rules, all the people in the room would be made to pay a cash fine. Because Mao Junhua was detained for no reason and far beyond the legal detention time, she wrote a letter to the People's Congress of Weiyuan County and the Committee of Administration and Law to expose the actions of the Police Bureau of Weiyuan County. The prison guards of Neijiang Detention Centre not only withheld her letter but also verbally abused her.

In the last few years, because Mao Junhua was detained most of the time, her husband could not bear the constant police harassment and was forced to divorce her. This time, she was detained for nearly 11 months. On December 25, 2002, the Police Bureau of Weiyuan County withdrew her case and released her. However, she was not allowed to go home. Instead, she was forcibly sent to the brainwashing centre of Neijiang City. This brainwashing centre was no different than prison. The dormitory rooms were monitored; police were on duty 24 hours a day. In addition, two other people lived in the room to monitor her. She was not allowed to practise the exercises or study Falun Dafa books. Every day, she was forced to watch or listen to the video materials slandering Falun Dafa. She would be beaten savagely if she refused to cooperate. The director of the "610 Office" [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 or judicial systems] of Neijiang City acted as the head of the brainwashing centre. If Falun Gong practitioners showed a slight tendency to disobey, they would be deprived of sleep, and their blankets and other daily necessities would be taken away.

At the end of March 2003, after three months of brainwashing sessions, Mao Junhua was released to go home. After over a year of torture, Mao Junhua's appearance had changed dramatically for the worse. When she went home, many of her friends and relatives did not recognise her.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.org/mh/articles/2003/7/14/53973.html