German Newspaper FAZ (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung) Reported on the Persecution of Xiong Wei in a Chinese Labour Camp

A popular German newspaper called FAZ (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung) published an article on September the 30th bearing the headline, “China Takes Action But No Changes” to introduce the persecution that Xiong Wei, a former Chinese student studying in Germany, had suffered in a Chinese labour camp. The article quoted the remarks of Mr. Martin Lessenthin, spokesman for the International Society for Human Rights: “Although Jiang Zemin has stepped down from China’s political stage, people still don’t expect China to stop the persecution of political dissenters and religious groups.” Mr. Lessenthin’s remarks were made in a press conference in Frankfurt on Thursday. He also pointed out that Jiang’s followers exist in all levels of China’s government.

In the report, Mr. Lessenthin mentioned Xiong Wei is a female Falun Gong practitioner who was arrested in Beijing in January 2002. After two years of imprisonment in a labour camp and subsequent house arrest and surveillance, Xiong arrived in Germany on Wednesday September the 29th. Xiong Wei is an engineer who used to study in the Technical University of Berlin. After graduation, she returned to China, and started working for a German company in Beijing. She was arrested because she distributed flyers in Beijing to introduce Falun Gong, a cultivation way which involves sitting in mediation. Falun Gong practitioners have been brutally suppressed and persecuted since 1999.

The report quoted Xiong Wei’s account of the persecution, forced education (brainwashing) and humiliation she has experienced in China’s detention centres and labour camps. Xiong Wei said, “The police have learned how to beat prisoners without leaving any scars on the body’s surface.” On several occasions, she was forced to stand still for hours without taking any food or water. She was imprisoned with several people in a small cell, which had only one toilet.

During the period of forced education, she had to endure repetition of China’s national policy spoken loudly right into her ears. She also had to read and recite a so-called “Book of Re-education” again and again. Whoever disobeyed this order would be forced to stand for an extended period of time as a punishment. Under repeated persecution, some practitioners lost the capability to walk. Xiong Wei’s job in the labour camp was to make simple products, which were exported to foreign countries through agents. In that way, the importers cannot trace the origin of the goods.