Behind the Façade of the Staged Singing and Dancing in Henan's Shibalihe Forced Labour Camp Lies Savage Torture

Ever since Shibalihe Female Forced Labour Camp in Henan Province started to detain Falun Gong practitioners, the "sandwiching" routine has been used -- two to four drug offenders or other criminals keep a close watch on each practitioner, following the practitioner everywhere around the clock, sandwiching her during mealtime and sleep, and even when she goes to the toilet. The practitioners are forbidden to talk to each other, communicate by hand gestures, or even make eye contact. They are not allowed to practise Falun Gong exercises or read Dafa materials. Offenders receive a round of vicious beating and cursing.

The labour camp's management style can only be described as scandalous. For example, the camp installs monitors in female practitioner's bedrooms, showers, toilets, and work areas. Male police participate in the round the clock monitoring. Only 10 minutes are allowed for each meal, which includes the time lining up for food. The drug offenders usually squeeze to the front of the line and push practitioners to the back. Often the whistle is blown to move on before practitioners finish their meals. Practitioners need permission to go to the toilet. At night, forty people share one room equipped with only two chamber pots for all urination and defecation. During the day, when everyone is at the workshop, the toilets are locked and not opened for a long time. When open, the time is also restricted. Often people cannot hold out any longer and end up urinating outside the door.

The police at the labour camp seriously violate the law by opening and withholding practitioners' mail and packages that their families send. Practitioners do not have the freedom to correspond. They are not even allowed to wear watches. Practitioner Chen Yujing's family sent her a watch and other gifts, which were all withheld. The police can cancel practitioner's visiting hours at will, and visiting family members are turned away.

The Labour Camp is in fact a base for the training of violent thugs. For example, on the National Day (October 1st) in 2001, practitioners were viciously beaten by the drug offenders and the evil police. They locked the door from inside, five to six drug offenders then circled one practitioner, beating and kicking her. They dragged Zhang Yali, Wang Yan and Zhao Xilian from the bunk bed, threw them on the floor and began kicking and stomping on their chests, backs, abdomens, and private parts. They slapped their faces and heads with the soles of their shoes, dragged them by their hair and slammed their heads against the wall. They cursed as they unleashed their fury. When they got tired they took their rest before resuming the beating. The beating lasted through the entire morning. Afterwards, Zhang Yali had both her eyes blackened and chest pains with difficulty breathing for a long time, and had to sleep sitting up leaning against the bed every night. Not even one policeman asked about how she was. Wang Meiqin's nose bled profusely. Zhao Xilian suffered a concussion with pus discharging from her ears. They still did not let her rest. Every day several people tugged at her; her pants and shoes were all worn out. Meng Yuer was beaten until no part of her body was spared. Some practitioners were beaten till their heads bled. Wang Yan was locked up in a room and had her hands pricked with needles, and she was beaten. She sustained injuries all over her body. Zhang Hanwen was grabbed by her arm and hair and dragged on the ground for seven to eight metres.

On the day when the practitioners were locked up, viciously beaten and hemorrhaging from the savagery, in the courtyard, the labour camp criminals were made to sing and dance for the video taping of a sham happy scene for TV propaganda: showing the "tender loving nurturing" by the labour camp during the transformation of the practitioners, and the "wonderful life" the practitioners have while in the camp. Later on we learned that practitioners in every squadron in the camp had all been beaten on the National Day. The police even handed out prizes rewarding the criminals who beat practitioners, such as a reduction of their prison terms.

Between December 26, 2001 and January 15, 2002, the labour camp used "tying the ropes" and other means to torture the 120 practitioners who were steadfast. The police threatened: "This time the director of the forced labour camp and the justice bureau have decided that we shall clean up the house." In the bitterly cold winter they pulled off the practitioners' coats and put them through the extremely cruel "tying the ropes" torture. They tied up practitioner Zhang Hanwen (who was in her fifties), pulled her arms behind her back as high as they could, and then brought the rope around her neck to the front of her chest, and tied to her feet, forcing her body to flex 180 degrees with the legs together. She was kept in this curled position for several hours until she passed out. They took her to the clinic for oxygen therapy. The guard Wang Nan even told the doctor: "Zhang had a fight with a drug offender and became overly agitated, that was why she could not breathe." After the oxygen treatment and infusion of fluid, they took her back to the labour camp and continued with the torture.

A policewoman wearing a pair of new shoes gave Zhou Sumei the "tying the ropes" and proceeded to kick her at least a hundred times. She broke her new shoes in the process. Zhao Xilian was tortured with the "tying the ropes" and also put on the tiger bench. [Practitioners are forced to sit on a small iron bench that is approximately 20 cm (6 inches) tall with their knees tied together. With their hands tied behind their backs or sometimes placed on their knees, they are forced to sit straight up and look straight ahead.] Several policemen stood and stomped on her repeatedly until she passed out. The head of the camp, Wu Hongru, personally administered the "tying the ropes" to Gao Shuting. Afterwards she could no longer raise her arms. On top of that, the vice captain of the Fourth Squadron, Pei Surong, used an electric baton to shock her, severely injuring her arms and armpits. Zhao Yuxia was tortured this way until she passed out. Wu Xiaohua was tied up and beaten, and then put in solitary confinement. Many other practitioners were tied up and tortured until they passed out.

Every day in the camp the loudspeakers blare out Dafa-slandering materials nonstop. The practitioners protested but the police said that they were only taking orders, and that it was the duty of every labour camp and prison to do that. Eighteen practitioners began a hunger strike in protest. The police responded with another round of brutal suppression. They locked Zhao Yuxia, Chen Yujing and Zhang Hanwen in separate rooms to torture them. They beat Zhang Hanwen and injured her leg. She was unable to walk for months. They also pulled a big patch of hair off her head, exposing the scalp. They again applied the rope-tying torture on Zhao until she passed out. They applied the rope-tying torture on Chen Yujing from 6 pm till past 10 pm. Policewoman Zhang Yin used a rag to gag Chen Yujing, and sent her to Xingxiang Psychiatric Hospital afterwards. Deputy director of the camp Zhou Xiaohong, captain Wang Shulan, Zhang Yin, Pei Surong, Liu Baolan, worked together under the personal direction of the camp director Wang Yufang, to force-feed Zhang Hanwen after beating her up. Seven or eight people held her down, pinching Zhang Hanwen's nose and pressing on her head. Zhang Hanwen lost control of her bladder from the lack of oxygen. The police still would not let her off. They ordered the drug offenders to scratch the soles of her feet, armpits, the rest of the body, and to force-feed her. They pried open her mouth, breaking one of her teeth and loosening up another three in the process. They also extended her term for three more months.

Policewomen Wang Shulan and Wang Yufen ordered the drug offenders to lock Zhang Yali in a room and beat her up savagely. They thrust at her genitals and lower abdomen with a mop handle and their knees. The method used was obscene and detestable, and they threatened Zhang not to tell. The police in the camp have now tortured six practitioners, including Zhang Yali, Guan Ge, and Zhang Baoju to death.

Jiang Zemin and the "610 Office" ordered the whole judicial system of the nation to follow the so-called "policy" toward Falun Gong: "Defame their reputations, bankrupt them financially, and destroy them physically." "No need to observe any laws when handling Falun Gong practitioners. There will be no investigation if a practitioner is killed. Deaths from beating to be registered as suicide." "Cremate the body directly. Do not perform background checks." Because of this policy, the labor camps and prisons dare to torture practitioners with impunity. As Dafa practitioners, we have the duty to take Jiang to a court of law and bring him to justice.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2003/10/30/59733.html