"Masanjia Forced-Labor Camp is a Dark Den of Evil Forces"

"Masanjia Forced-Labor Camp is a Dark Den of Evil Forces"

(Note: the title of this article is cited from Teacher Li's article "Suffocate the Evil.")

By practitioners in Mainland China

In their slander and persecution of Falun Gong, Jiang Zemin and his associates are acting outside the best interests of the country. During the past two years of the persecution, they have presented no significant evidence, simply false claims. They manipulate the media to deceive the Chinese people with their fabricated stories. They don't dare to let people read Zhuan Falun [the main book of Falun Gong} where they could judge the truth for themselves. A high-ranking official of the Judiciary Department of Liaoning Province said, during a "completion ceremony" at the Masanjia Forced-Labor Camp, "The amounts of money spent handling the Falun Gong issue exceeds war time expenditures."

High-ranking officials of the Political and Judiciary Committee in Liaoning Province declared in October 2000 that about 50,000 Falun Gong practitioners had been sentenced to prisons and labour camps. Statistics released in France show that from January to October of 2000, about 41,500 practitioners published declarations on the Minghui website (Chinese version of Clearwisdom). They declared that the statements [declaring they would give up the practice of Falun Gong] they made to Chinese government officials while under duress, torture and brainwashing are null and void. They also declared that they would continue to steadfastly practice Falun Gong. Isn't the persecution campaign a waste of time and money? "Coercion cannot change people's hearts." (The title of an article written by Teacher Li on 3/6/01) Nobody can stop people from cultivation practice. A high-ranking official in the Police Department of Liaoning Province said, "During the past two years, all police forces have been directed to suppress Falun Gong. This has left a great number of criminal cases unsolved. As a result, 300,000 people have been placed on a "wanted" list, which is posted on the Internet. "
The police in Shenyang City, Liaoning Province are an example of those who actively follow Jiang Zemin and his associates in the persecution of Falun Gong. A large number of practitioners are being held in the Masanjia Forced-Labor Camp, Zhangshi Forced-Labor Camp, Longshan Forced-Labour Camp, Dabei Prison, the hospital attached to the Dabei Prison, and various mental hospitals. About 5,000 practitioners are detained in these places. In the Zhangshi and Longshan Forced-Labour Camps, those who have been forced to give up their cultivation of "Truthfulness, Benevolence, Forbearance" [ the most fundamental principles in Falun Dafa] are allowed to have family visits. Detainees and visitors alike are forced to walk through a one metre wide and five metre long corridor filled with copies of the book Zhuan Falun and portraits of Teacher Li strewn all over the floor. Only after stepping on Teacher's books and portraits would family members be allowed to reunite and detainees allowed to receive the necessities brought for them. Many of the people who have benefited from practicing Falun Gong refused to step on the books and Teacher Li’s portrait. Therefore, mothers couldn't see their children, and husbands couldn't see their wives.

The Masanjia Forced Labor Camp in Liaoning Province is a dark den of evil in the persecution of Falun Dafa. Since late October 1999 over 3,000 practitioners have been illegally detained there in the No. 1 Women's Section, No. 2 Women's Section, and No. 6 Men's Group. In order to further persecute Falun Dafa and its practitioners and to deceive the public both inside and outside of China, Jiang Zemin and his associates have spent 16 million Yuan (Chinese currency. The average monthly income of an urban worker is 500 Yuan). They used this money to build a new concentration camp. They are going to move practitioners into it very soon. They also spent a huge amount of money to build an expensive hotel for high-ranking officials and foreign visitors. They intend to use the people's money to persecute practitioners long term. The persecution of Falun Dafa and its practitioners in the Masanjia Forced-Labor Camp completely violates the law and the most basic human rights of the practitioners detained there. The following report reveals some of the atrocities carried out there.

1. Methods of Brainwashing
The following seven methods have been used to brainwash practitioners. Some were unable to handle the persecution, succumbing to the brainwashing and even helping with the persecution of other practitioners.

1) Labour camp authorities show practitioners videos telling distorted and fabricated stories all day long, forcing each and every one to watch and then talk about their thoughts after seeing the programs. Propaganda attacking Falun Dafa from state-controlled newspapers, magazines, the police, brainwashed practitioners and their families is broadcast over loudspeakers. The resulting atmosphere of terror reminds one of the mass denouncement campaigns during the "Cultural Revolution".

2) While the effects of the brainwashing and attempts to "convert" (made by those who had themselves been "converted") were fresh in their minds and while these practitioners truly were not in a mentally balanced state of mind, they would be required to write letters of renouncement. They were made to declare to their police departments, their local Politics and Security office, the 610 Office (an agency specifically created to persecute Falun Gong, with absolute power over each level of administration in the Party and all other political and judiciary systems), their local Party committees and to their workplace that they "have recognized their wrongdoings." The labour camp would then stage a media event contrived to spread falsehoods about the success of their brainwashing campaign. If practitioners being "interviewed" by the media revealed the slightest thing about any of the benefits they experienced in their practice of Falun Gong, the police would arrange for a group of people who had been brainwashed to completely give up their practice of Falun Gong to "work with" the "unconverted." They would keep them under close surveillance and administer more brainwashing. This treatment would continue until, in many cases, the practitioner completely renounced their practice. The labour camp uses a broad range of measures to attempt to break the will of practitioners.

3) The Masanjia Forced-Labour Camp uses all sorts of methods, trying to make the practitioners denounce Falun Gong. They destroy Falun Gong books. They coerce practitioners to turn in their books and to report on others. They use abusive language to curse Falun Dafa and Teacher. They deface portraits of Teacher and insult practitioners.

4) The Masanjia Forced-Labour Camp utilizes many of the same base and degrading methods used around the world over the course of history. For example, they organize groups of people to criticize the oppressed, they incorporate officially sanctioned ideas [propaganda] into popular entertainment (music, film, etc.) and publicize "model" cases of those "reformed." They attempt to change public sentiment through mass-propaganda and allow peer pressure to play its role. They encourage workplaces and families to pressure practitioners. There are parties organized to develop relations with the persecutors. They even usurped the form of experience sharing used in Falun Dafa cultivation practice to persecute Falun Dafa. They label the freedom of belief guaranteed by the Chinese Constitution as "anti-government." They call practitioners' peaceful appeals and truth-clarifying "disturbing the social order." The police staged the Tiananmen self-immolation event in an attempt to frame Falun Gong. They glorify giving up "Truthfulness, Benevolence, and Forbearance," writing repentance statements, turning in Falun Gong books, denouncing Falun Gong and "returning to society." They use the resumption of smoking and drinking as a standard by which to determine whether a practitioner has really stopped following Falun Gong teachings.

5) The Masanjia Forced-Labour Camp authorities require those who have sworn to give up their practice to attempt to cause harm to Falun Dafa by changing the wording of Falun Gong books, distorting the meaning and then providing their own ill-intentioned interpretations. The language they use is mean and their purpose evil. On the one hand, they denounce Falun Gong and tearfully express the effects of their "repentance." On the other hand, they boast of their own past experiences safeguarding Falun Dafa [through appealing] while at the same time they blame Falun Dafa and Teacher Li for the persecution of Falun Dafa. In order to persecute Falun Dafa and tempt the practitioners to stop practicing, they say to "look into oneself," twisting the phrase's meaning to try and stop practitioners from defending themselves, to stop them from speaking and expressing their own righteous beliefs

6) The Masanjia Forced-Labor camp has cultivated a batch of poisonous tumours. The literature and books damaging Dafa composed by the people who have "renounced" Falun Gong are spread to other labour camps across the country. Those disloyal to Falun Dafa have also formed lecture groups to tour other labour camps and to thereby deceive practitioners. Labour camp authorities have also invited related government offices, police in the labour camp system and officials affiliated with the central government to come to the Masanjia Forced-Labour Camp to learn the experiences and methods of persecuting Falun Gong. This is how they train others to do the same thing.

7) People from high levels of the 610 Office, officials affiliated with the central government, state and local media have come to the Masanjia Forced Labour Camp many times in order to learn how to persecute Falun Dafa and its practitioners. This is the primary reason why the police there are so bold and rampant in their persecution of Falun Dafa and its practitioners.

Even though the evil persecution is irrational, deceitful, vicious, and brutal in its persecution, it cannot possibly damage Falun Dafa or the practitioners who have walked steadily along the path of cultivation. Under the guidance of the principles of Falun Dafa, these steadfast practitioners never doubt their righteous belief in Truthfulness, Kindness, Forbearance. They have a clear mind and steadily improve themselves according to this standard. For them, brainwashing is like trying to break a rock with an egg.

2. All Kinds of Torture, Physical Punishment and Forced-Labour Used to Brutally Persecute Practitioners
In the Masanjia Forced Labour Camp, the persecutors not only torture practitioners mentally with the brainwashing, but physically as well. They utilize a series of particularly depraved torture devices, forced physical punishment and over-intensive physical labour on the practitioners.

1) Newly arrived practitioners are forced to undergo intensified "brainwashing." Practitioners are not allowed to see anyone but the police guards and "reformed" practitioners. These people bombard the practitioners with their evil notions and understandings, trying to lead the practitioners to renounce Falun Dafa. For the firm practitioners that they cannot "brainwash", they call in the practitioners' families, managers from their workplace and people who have a twisted understanding of the principles of Falun Dafa to intensively torture and attack them for a period of time. Sometimes, over 100 of these people work on a single practitioner. They force the practitioners to undergo long periods of time without sleep. Some were not allowed regular rest intervals for as long as a year. At the same time, various methods of torture and physical punishments would be prescribed. During the torture some practitioners would become delirious or mentally collapse. Some were not allowed to use the restroom, forced to defecate and urinate in their pants.

2) Practitioners were treated like slaves. Depraved camp authorities used long-term forced labour to wear down practitioners' righteous minds. In the No. 1 Female Camp, practitioners firm in their resolve to cultivate Falun Dafa were forced to work 18 to 20 hours a day. Some were forced to work for 36 hours non-stop making fake "Adidas" sportswear. In the No. 2 Female Camp the average workday is 14 hours. There they produce various types of arts & crafts. Some of the items for Easter were made using toxic raw materials. Other items include cloth flowers, Christmas trees made with feathers and plastic flower rings. These handcrafted goods are exported via the harbour at Dalian City, mostly to Europe. The age range of the practitioners is 17 to 76 and each has to meet their quota. Some became ill or even collapsed from exhaustion. Heavier jobs in the camp include farm work, for example harvesting corn and rice. Many practitioners collapsed while working in the field. Practitioners were forced to do this work because corrupt guards were able to pocket proceeds from the sale of the products harvested.

3) Some practitioners were severely injured or handicapped as a result of the torture. The so-called "Reformation and Education" actually forces practitioners to betray their convictions. If the police could not get the results they wanted, they would curse and beat them, torturing the most resolute practitioners with all kinds of devices. They would first use electric batons revamped to deliver a very high voltage charge (as all electric batons used in Masanjia to torture Falun Gong practitioners are). The electric current is so strong that some practitioners lost their memories, suffering from catatonia or amnesia. The guards indecently shock female practitioners during their menstrual periods, causing them to hemorrhage massively. Some guards said, "Beat them until they are just about to die." They pour cold water on practitioners who fall unconscious and then begin beating them again. For practitioners who went on hunger strikes, the guards shock them with electric currents, stab them with needles, pinch their inner thighs (some practitioners' thighs remain black and blue long after the pinching) and force-feed them. One practitioner went on hunger strike for 85 days. Guard Wang Naimin, acting as the leader, organized the systematic torture of this practitioner, causing her to become mentally unstable from the severe trauma. Other practitioners were put into solitary confinement cells and beaten while they were hung up by their handcuffed hands. The persecutors used many other deplorable methods beyond many people's imagination. They even stripped 18 female practitioners and threw them into cells with male inmates. Some were left out in the freezing cold for a long time, many of whom became injured or handicapped.

The perpetrators use even more inhuman treatment toward male practitioners. In addition to the tortures mentioned above, they use methods rarely seen in history: disfigurement, putting salt onto bleeding wounds and exposing it to the baking sun. Guards forced practitioners to kneel on small cobblestones while holding a block of stone. If the practitioners refused, the guards beat them more. Many were beaten so badly that they repeatedly fainted. Others had pus and insects in their wounds. Peng Geng, a practitioner who used to work for the Public Security Department of Liaoning Province, was tortured with the above methods many times, becoming badly disfigured. The persecutors broke an arm tendon of a practitioner from Xinmin, Liaoning Province while beating him, thus disabling him. Despite such cruel treatment, these practitioners continue to be firm in their cultivation of Falun Dafa. In order to cover up their crimes and escape people's condemnation, the persecutors in Masanjia have dismissed the Male Team No. 6 and transferred most of the practitioners to the team at Zhangshi Labour Camp.

4) The perpetrators adopted inhuman methods in controlling the practitioners. Once a practitioner entered the camp, the guards would assign 2 to 4 inmates to monitor the practitioner. From rising in the morning, to eating, to brushing one's teeth and to sleeping was strictly monitored. They labelled the firm practitioners, those who refused to give up their belief in "Truthfulness, Benevolence, Forbearance" as objects for "strict control," not allowing them any freedoms. They were not allowed to write letters, receive visitors or even talk. Some were not even allowed to go home for their parents' funerals. The "strict control" group was further divided into "middle team," "small team" and "confinement". The perpetrators did this trying to destroy the practitioners' willpower. For a period of time, the camp was like hell with tragic cries heard every night. Yet there were more who cried out, "Falun Dafa is Good." "Suffocate the evil"...
Although tortured, the true cultivators never give in. Although treated with forceful "brainwashing", torture, physical punishment and labor, the practitioners reacted toward the guards and all beings with compassionate hearts. "Validate the Fa with reason, clarify the truth with wisdom, spread the Fa and offer people salvation with benevolence" ("Rationality") We can give up everything in order for the kind hearted people to return to their true nature of "Truthfulness, Benevolence, Forbearance".
Masanjia Forced Labour Camp covers up the truth of the torture and deceives visitors. Whenever important visitors come, the guards transfer firm practitioners, the wounded, the handicapped and practitioners who know the truth about the situation to other camps. Among the rest, they choose detainees loyal to the guards to deceive the people of the outside world.

The evil people used the power of some of the authorities to persecute Dafa and Dafa practitioners. Both their purpose and their means are relentless. They are very afraid of being exposed. They wanted to force the practitioners to give up cultivation. Yet despite their efforts, true practitioners who cultivate firmly in Dafa can can calmly face the physical and mental torture and firmly uphold their belief in the principles of Truthfulness, Kindness, Forbearance.

The environment of Masanjia is improving. By now, over 20 firm practitioners have broken through the brutal physical and mental torture and walked out of Masanjia with dignity. Although those "brainwashed" had been forced to renounce Falun Dafa before their release, 90% of them repented, making solemn declarations to cultivate Falun Dafa anew, including many who had been held up as "ideal role models." Realizing their mistakes, they declared that all the materials they had written against Dafa are void.. Some of them were again arrested and detained illegally. Others are forced into a life of homelessness, using every means to try their best to expose the evil of the persecution and clarify the truth about Falun Gong, making kind people realize from the bottom of their hearts that Falun Dafa is good.

Currently there are still over 160 solid practitioners illegally detained in Masanjia facing continued relentless persecution. In the No. 1 and No. 2 Female Camp, there are solitary confinement cells equipped with many instruments of torture. Recently, some firm practitioners suddenly disappeared. We learned later that some of them were put in the confinement cells where they were tortured so badly that they became deranged. Methods of persecution also include frequent, cruel daily force-feeding of practitioners who go on prolonged hunger strikes and extended terms of detention for solid practitioners. Some practitioners' terms were extended for as long as one year past their original release date. We hope that practitioners and kind people worldwide pay close attention and offer their help to immediately stop the persecution going on at Masanjia and other similar places and release all the practitioners illegally detained.

http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2001/12/5/20930.html
http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2001/12/13/16770.html