Appalling Acts of Persecution at the Majialong Forced Labour Camp in Jiujiang City

Majialong Forced Labour Camp is located in Jiujiang City of Jiangxi Province. It is used for detention of Falun Gong practitioners. The labour camp perpetrators have abused, mistreated, tormented and tortured Falun Gong practitioners with shocking methods.

1. Hanging and cuffing for long hours

Guards in the Majialong Forced Labour Camp hung up and handcuffed practitioners for such long hours that it exceeded the limits of human endurance. Falun Gong practitioners would be handcuffed and hung up with both hands straight up or both hands stretching out forming a cross with the body, and with both feet barely touching the ground. They would not be put down even when they needed to use the toilet. Sometimes such a torture could last for several days.

The guards used this torture to try to break the practitioners' will and force them to write a so-called "reformation statement" and "criticising and exposing statement." They stated, "No release from hanging without statements." Police guards would torture practitioners at will.

Practitioner Wang Chunmei refused to be brainwashed. Police officer Chen Shili immediately subjected her to the hanging torture, making her lower body bleed constantly and putting her in life danger.

Because Xia Cuilan refused to insult Master, she was hung and handcuffed for four days and three nights with only her toes touching the ground. This led to incontinence, and both feet swelled up severely.

There was a three-person team in Majialong that specialised in abusing and tormenting practitioners. Police guard Zhou Jing was the team leader. In 2002, when police guards tortured practitioner Ms. Dan Xiaoling, Dan called out against their abuses, "Stop framing and mistreating practitioners! Release me from the hanging!" Police guard Zhou Jing ordered drug offenders to put a piece of soap into Dan's mouth and then covered her mouth with a dirty rag. The drug offenders bumped Dan's head against a metal railing and used their fingers to viciously scrape her armpits. Dan's screams could be heard throughout the night.

For asking permission to practise the Dafa exercises, practitioner Mr. Zhou Zoufu was subjected to the hanging torture repeatedly over the period of several months. Police guards in the No.2 Division gave prisoners reductions in their sentences to get them to torture Zhou Zoufu. He was deprived of sleep and suffered the hanging torture. Zhou suffered so much and looked very pale and thin. Once, in an open field of the No.1 Division, Zhou asked permission to practise the Dafa exercises. The prisoners charged with monitoring him held his hands on each side and raised him up into the air. The on-duty police guard Pan incited the head of the drug offenders to strike Zhou with his elbows. Sometime at nights, they hung up and handcuffed Zhou tightly.

Just for saying, "Falun Dafa's name will be cleared soon," police guards hung up Zhang Huizan and forced him to criticise Master Li. Zhang also had to work intensely and finish a certain workload quota. He was physically and mentally exhausted from the torture and overwork.

Practitioner Hu Jiefei was released from a provincial prison and then abducted and taken to the Majialong Forced Labour Camp. He was fit with handcuffs and shackles and forced to endure brainwashing.

2. Women practitioners subjected to humiliation; Jiang Xiaoying had a mental breakdown from psychological trauma and abuse

If women practitioners refused to wear the prisoner's clothing, drug offenders were urged to strip off practitioners' clothes and take them away. The drug offenders would call others to come and insult the naked practitioners with dirty language.

Ms. Jiang Xiaoying was mercilessly tortured and verbally abused by drug offenders in Majialong. During the period that she was unconscious, they pinched her so much that her body was covered with bruises here and there, with some portions of skin cracked and bleeding. The skin on her breasts was ripped and bleeding from severe pinching. The blood stuck to her clothes and skin, and made it difficult to separate the two.

When Ms. Jiang Xiaoying was unconscious, drug offenders used needles to prick her fingers and poured boiling water on her to scald her. They dumped a whole thermos bottle of hot water on her body, soaking the bed covers. They forbade her to dry her bed cover and made her stay in the wet bed.

Ms. Jiang Xiaoying was beaten so severely that she was covered with injuries and was unable to get out of bed. She was skeleton-thin and unable to take care of herself. Fearing that their crimes would be exposed to the public, the labour camp authorities did not dare to take her to see a doctor. Two months later they had to take her to the Ruichang Hospital because her condition was deteriorating. She was diagnosed with a lung infection.

Police guards ordered drug offenders to give her injections of an unknown substance during her sleep. Jiang Xiaoying was abused to the point where she has become emaciated and suffered a mental breakdown.

3. Burning women's private parts with cigarette lighters

The labour camp made use of drug offenders to torture practitioners. They recruited three to five drug offenders to do the dirty work on those who firmly refused to be "reformed." They taught these drug offenders all kinds of brutal methods to torture practitioners.

The so-called "centralised reformation rooms" in Majialong specialised in extreme methods of abuse and torture. The doors and windows in these rooms were sealed off, and a group of drug offenders would take turns to savagely torture practitioners with shockingly evil methods. Every time practitioners were in there, their screams could be heard from far away.

Once, in the "centralised reformation room" of the No.4 Female Division, police urged drug offenders to torture a woman practitioner. They used a cigarette lighter to burn the practitioner's pubic area. They viciously jabbed her chest and back with their elbows and deprived her of sleep. One of the drug offenders removed her own soiled, bloody sanitary napkin. Forcibly squeezing the practitioner's cheeks to open her mouth, she stuck the soiled sanitary napkin into the practitioner's mouth and forced her to swallow it. Another drug offender wrote Master's name on the bottom of the practitioner feet and forced her to step on it; otherwise, the practitioner would have to stand on one foot. These were meant to try to force practitioners to write a "reformation statement."

Four drug offenders tortured a practitioner in the Male Division to try to force him to give up his belief. They took turns to try to prevent him from sleeping. They forced him to stand along the wall in the middle of the night. The torture lasted seven days and seven nights.

4. Enticing drug offenders with a reduction in their sentences to get them to torture practitioners

Majialong had all kinds of ways to torture practitioners in order to "reform" them. Police guards tempted drug offenders with a reduction in sentence to beat practitioners. They would give rewards such as cigarettes to those who were good at torture, and offered the most vicious prisoners reductions in their sentences. The drug offenders, including Zhang Qunqin, Feng Furong, Huang Xinqun, Zhang Li and Jiang Qingmeng, were released half a year earlier because of their torture of practitioners.

Other punishments are often used, including pressing the victim's head against the wall or against other hard objects, bending the victim's back for a long period of time with a cup of water on the back, standing straight for long periods of time, squatting down for long periods of time, and being tied up.

Practitioner Ms. Ge Ling was tied up savagely this way: one of her hands was tied to the back of her neck. At the same time, four wet sticks (later were increased to six) were suspended from her hand as well.

Guards forced practitioner Ms. Xia Cuilan to stand on tiptoes, with her head against the metal poles of a bed. Her head supported most of her weight. This torture caused the bones on top of her head to become concave and she lost almost all of her hair.

5. Inhuman force-feeding

Practitioner Mr. Huang Yonggui was illegally sent to Majialong. He protested the persecution through a hunger strike and suffered force-feeding every other day for about a month. During the force-feedings, several drug offenders firmly held his hands and feet, and police guards inserted the tube through his nose down to the stomach. The excruciating pain made him cough violently, in some occasions coughing up blood. Huang Yonggui was tortured so severely that he has become emaciated, with eyes deeply sunk into the sockets.

Practitioner Mr. Mao Rulun was over 60 years old and held a hunger strike to protest the persecution. Guards persuaded the prisoners to hang him up in order to force him to eat. Mr. Mao refused to cooperate with them and was hung up for several days. Afraid he could die during the torture, they put a blood pressure device on him. As long as his blood pressure was normal, the torture would continue. Mr. Mao's health became worse and worse from the torture. They still did not leave him alone and tried to force him to write a "reformation statement." In 2002, Mr. Mao was released with his health severely damaged. On February 11, 2004, Mr. Mao passed away.

6. Mental torment and forced brainwashing

Majialong widely implemented what they called "isolation management." Practitioners were not allowed to contact each other, and even a look was not allowed. They also implemented the implication policy of a three-person team to arouse hatred towards Falun Gong. If one would not cooperate with them, the other two would also be punished. The isolation gave the perpetrators the chance to persecute practitioners at will, since no one would know of their crimes. Practitioners were forbidden to read any Dafa materials and articles, and were not allowed to do the Dafa exercises. Even just talking about cultivation was forbidden. Any violation against their rules would mean sleep deprivation or being hung up.

In the "reformation class" of the No.1 Division, practitioners were forced to read books and watch videos that slandered Dafa. They were forced to write statements to criticise and expose others. Their statements would then be recorded. Sometimes the drug offenders and collaborators [former practitioners who turned against Dafa under pressure] would assist with the brainwashing to lie to and trap practitioners.

Practitioner Mr. Fei Weidong refused to read these materials that slandered Dafa. Inmates assigned to watch him forced him to kneel down. Drug offender Xu did not let him go to the toilet. Mr. Fei was forced to do intense physical labour during the daytime. For two consecutive nights he was forced to stand up straight with both feet touching and forbidden to close his eyes. The inmates assigned to him took turn to watch him and verbally abused and beat him at will.

Sometimes, after working intensively all day long, each team was forced to watch TV programs that slandered Dafa and then compelled to make comments to criticise Dafa. The guards incited those prisoners who did not know the truth to slander Dafa. To try to force Fei Weidong to give up the practice, guards urged drug offenders to keep Fei standing straight for a long period of time and watch TV programs that slandered Dafa. Fei was also forbidden to sleep at night. They even wanted to use a tape player and psychotropic drugs to brainwash him.

7. Overtime heavy labour

At Majialong, work started after practitioners got up at 5:30 a.m. and ended at midnight. There was no break at lunch. Practitioners would be forbidden to sleep if they did not finish the amount of work required. In worst cases, practitioners would only have one or two hours of sleep at night.

Practitioners, including older practitioners, were forced to work long hours and had no proper sleep or rest. They were forced to finish the workload assigned no matter what. Long work hours caused some older practitioners to have eyesight problems. They suffered from severe irritation in the eyes and even sometimes suffered temporary blindness. The situation was worse among the male practitioners.

For not finishing the required work, practitioner Fan Lujie was subjected to the "salamander" punishment for a long period of time, with both arms stretched out parallel and the whole body pressed up against the wall.

8. Abuse of the practitioners and detention beyond the original sentence

Majialong detained women practitioners in isolated environments. Except for using the toilet and washing in the morning and at night, practitioners were forbidden to step out of the door at all. Any activities were done under the eyes of inmates and police guards on duty. The inmates were in charge of bringing the food and water into the rooms. Even going to the toilet was strictly monitored.

Police guards would compel the inmates to mistreat practitioners, such as taking away toilet privileges or depriving the practitioners of drinking water.

The practice of extending steadfast practitioners' terms was wide spread.. Practitioner Fang Xixiang was abducted and taken to a brainwashing class in Majialong. She refused to be brainwashed and was thus sentenced to three years of force labour. So far she has been detained for nearly four years for her refusal to give up Dafa.

Many practitioners were illegally sentenced two years of forced labour, but their terms were then extended to three years. Many of these sentences were then extended to four years later on.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2004/11/7/88583.html