Photo Report From Yinmahe Forced Labour Camp at Jiutai, Changchun City, Jilin Province

We finally arrived at Yinmahe Forced labour Camp after asking the local people on the way for directions. A person told us to take a left turn ahead. The labour camp's brick wall, yard, flowers and trees give people a first impression of arriving to a garden. This characteristic camouflage is common to many jails and forced labour camps we visited in Jilin Province.

The perpetrators of the persecution against Falun Gong syphoned off money from overseas and local investors who are not clear about the truth of China's corrupt economy and fiscal mismanagement. The money is used to strengthen the dictator Jiang's regime, cover the crimes of persecuting Falun Gong practitioners, and also for the personal benefit of officials involved.

But the heavy iron gate, high walls, electrified fences and steel bars on the windows reveal some of the truth of what must lie behind them. It is a world of brutality and torture, another world, a hell on earth.

Photos: Yinmahe Forced Labour Camp at Jiutai. Practitioners are tortured to death here. One practitioner was beaten to death the day after he stepped through the gate.

With righteous thoughts, we drove right up to and through the Labour camp's gate. We tried to get closer to the place where practitioners were detained, while at same time looking for appropriate photo opportunities.

Once inside the outer wall of the Labour camp compound, we could see that the place where the practitioners were held was within an inner wall and guarded by a tightly closed, heavy iron gate. We walked along the perimeter of the inside wall and came to a factory producing plastic bottles and boxes alongside the camp. At the factory, we met a worker who had worked there for many years. We began to chat with him, saying we wanted to know how to visit our friends detained inside.

When talking about Falun Gong, he became interested. He said, "No matter how tyrannical criminals behave outside the camp, they are afraid and have to be well behaved inside. But Falun Gong practitioners are different. They are steadfast and unyielding. I think, Falun Gong will never be erased." I said, "People practising Falun Gong are from all walks of life." He continued, "Yes, many professors practise also."

I asked him, "How many Falun Gong practitioners are held here?" He answered, "Must be several hundred [practitioners]. All practitioners are from Jilin Province. Many practitioners are detained in other places." I asked, "Are they forced to do hard Labour?" He said, "Yes! Don't do anything [the government] doesn't like. Once you step in that door, you will not be treated as a human being. They will treat you as slaves."

I said, "But what did those practitioners do? In my opinion, they are all good people. It is definitely wrong to treat these people as such." He said, "The self immolation showed on TV was used to set up Falun Gong. Falun Gong [practitioners] are steadfast. (He repeated and emphasised this many times. It seems the spirit of Falun Gong practitioners left deep impression on him) Last year, a practitioner ran away while doing forced Labour and another one last summer. He was from Baishan City. He was beaten to death the day after he was taken back. How could that practitioner's family accept it? The Labour camp had to compensate the family more than 20,000 Yuan and arrested the two responsible discipline guards and two inmates."

I said, "He was beaten to death in one day?" He said, "His ribs were broken under the beating and punctured his lung. But very soon, the two guards responsible were back on duty, and the two inmates were sentenced to life in jail. Then the inmates appealed, saying that if the guards had not required them to beat the practitioner, there was no way they could have done it. So eventually, the two guards were arrested. Everyone around here knows the truth about Falun Gong. Truth-clarifying materials are posted and hung up everywhere. Falun Gong, will never be erased! (This is a sentence he liked to repeat)."

Later, we noticed that some people were walking toward us. We said goodbye to the factory worker and left. We quickly took photos of bars on the windows, the gate etc. and drove out the Labour camp's gate.