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The labour camps are located in Henan Province, where hair products are the province’s number-one export. Henan Rebecca describes itself as “the largest hair product company in China and one of the biggest in the world,” including the U.S. Its products are sold worldwide under many brand names, including Shake-N-Go Hair and Royal Imex, Inc.
“Many of these wig product factories don't hire a lot of employees outright,” says a source in China who is familiar with forced labour contracts. “Instead, they rely heavily on the slave labour of detainees in forced labour camps, jails and detention centres, including many illegally detained Falun Gong practitioners.”
One of these camps, the No. 2 Shibalihe Female Labour Camp located in Henan’s Zhenzhou City, was assigned a new director in May 2003. After arriving at the position Qu Shuangcai – previously the head of the No. 3 Xuchang City Labour Camp – quickly imported the torture methods from his former labour camp in an effort to force Falun Gong practitioners to renounce their belief system. Within several months at least three practitioners died of this torture, including Ms. Zhang Yali, an accountant in her thirties.
Sources say Qu also signed a production contract with Henan Rebecca and began manufacturing hair products for export. Qu’s former labour camp also manufactures hair products for the same purpose.
“A while back, when the labour camp was short of funding and was about to be shut down, many Falun Gong practitioners became available,” said Shen Jianwei, a guard at the Xuchang camp. “The government allocated 20,000 Yuan to 'reform' each practitioner. The labour camp used eight million Yuan of this government funding to construct residential buildings to encourage the guards to persecute these practitioners.”
Currently, the labour camp is buying Falun Gong practitioners from other places as slaves to increase production volume. Sources familiar with the Xuchang camp state that prisoners are forced to work overtime, day and night, under high-pressure supervision. If prisoners make a slight mistake, they are beaten by the guards.
Falun Gong practitioners at the camp have received a heightened workload and those who are not able to complete the work on time are deprived of sleep, forced to stand against the wall and have had their sentences extended. Two young Falun Gong practitioners, Mr. Li Jian and Mr. Yao Sanzhong were tortured to death at the Xuchang camp.
The Xuchang labour camp was awarded the “National Civilized Work Unit” citation from the Central Politics and Law Committee’s “6-10 Office” and the Labour Camp Bureau. The award applauded the treatment of Falun Gong practitioners at the camp.
Included among the methods used to torture practitioners in these Henan camps is a technique in which guards tie practitioners’ arms behind their backs in a straight jacket. According to an eyewitness account, the arms are then raised over the shoulders to the chest and the victims suffer broken arms, torn tendons, as well as dislocated shoulders, wrists, and elbows. The practitioners’ legs are tied and they are hung upside down from the windows; the guards gag practitioners’ mouths with cloth and place earphones to drill anti-Falun Gong propaganda into their minds. The spines of those who endure this torture for a long time are sometimes broken, killing the individual.
On May 22, 2003, a female Falun Gong practitioner in her 40's was tortured this way for 24 hours at Shibalihe. When she was extricated from the strait jacket the next day, her body was already cold. To cover up the murder, guards ordered inmates to take her body to the hospital for an injection. They later claimed she died of a sudden illness.
NEWS – Feb. 05, 2004
European Falun Gong Information Centre, www.clearharmony.net
Background
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa (about), is a practise of meditation and exercises with teachings based on the universal principle of “Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance.” It is a practise that was taught in private for thousands of years before being made public in 1992 by Mr. Li Hongzhi. Falun Gong has roots in traditional Chinese culture, but it is distinct and separate from other practises such as the religions of Buddhism and Taoism. Since its introduction in 1992, it quickly spread by word of mouth throughout China, and is now practised in over 50 countries.
With government estimates of as many as 100 million practising Falun Gong, China’s President Jiang Zemin outlawed the peaceful practice in July 1999 (report), fearful of anything touching the hearts and minds of more citizens than the Communist Party. Unable to crush the spirit of millions who had experienced improved health and positive life changes from Falun Gong, Jiang’s regime has intensified its propaganda campaign to turn public opinion against the practise while quietly imprisoning, torturing and even murdering those who practise it.
The European Falun Gong Information Centre has verified details of 869 deaths (reports / sources) since the persecution of Falun Gong in China began in 1999. Government officials inside China, however, report that the actual death toll is well over 1,600, while expert sources estimate that figure to be much higher. Hundreds of thousands have been detained, with more than 100,000 being sentenced to forced labour camps, typically without trial.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT THE EUROPEAN FALUN GONG INFORMATION CENTRE
Peter Jauhal 44 (0) 7739 172 452. Nicolas Schols 32 (0) 479875734
More contacts. http://www.falungonginfo.net/europe.htm
Email: [email protected]
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