Falun Gong Practitioners Are Still Being Brutally Tortured at the Tangshan City Forced Labour Camp

Falun Gong practitioners are still being tortured at the Tangshan City Forced Labour Camp in Hebei Province. On March 18, 2004, practitioners detained there held a group protest calling for the police to stop the physical abuse and respect the human rights of practitioners. Instead of respecting practitioners' request, the labour camp police launched another round of brutal persecution and torture of practitioners.

Practitioners were isolated from the outside so that news of the protest could not get out. Communication among practitioners and between practitioners and other detainees was absolutely prohibited. The police also told the detainees to keep their distance from practitioners. Moreover, practitioners were closely monitored. They could only go to the toilet at set times.

From 5:00 in the morning till 9:00 at night, practitioners were forced to sit on backless benches with their hands behind their backs. From time to time, these practitioners would also be sent to a special place in the labour camp, where they were subjected to intense persecution and torture. Oftentimes they were not allowed to sleep for several days in a row.

In the labour camp, it's not unusual that a once healthy person would be tortured to death in just a few days. Many people suffered from various symptoms due to the torture, such as dizziness, numb limbs, nausea, cerebral thrombus, high blood pressure, and headaches. However, the labour camp refused to release practitioners as long as they still had one breath left. The police claimed openly, "We are thugs. So what? Sue us as you wish! We don't care!"

Mr. Zhang Haiming, in his 60s, is from Tangshan Province. After he began to practise Falun Gong in 1994, his health improved tremendously and he benefited a lot. Because he persisted in practising Falun Gong, on December 19, 2004, guard Ai Zhenmin took him to a warehouse inside the labour camp and asked Li Zhigang and Zhao Baodong to torture him. First, they forced Mr. Zhang to stand on his tiptoes with his knees pressed against the wall. An average person would collapse after at most half an hour. However, Mr. Zhang remained steadfast in practising Falun Gong even after being forced to stand this way for a much longer time. Then they switched to different torture methods. They viciously kneed him from behind for several hours.

After all this torture, Mr. Zhang still refused to renounce Falun Gong. Ai Zhenming then ordered Li Zhigang and Zhao Baodong to apply the rope torture to him. They stripped Mr. Zhang of the clothing on his upper body, twisted his hands behind his back, and then used a rope saturated with water to tie him very tightly. At the same time, they raised his hands up to the back of his head. Each rope torture session lasted for about 15 minutes, and they used this torture on Mr. Zhang seven times in a row!

Mr. Zhang Haiming still would not give in. Ai Zhenmin then hung him up while at the same time applying the rope torture again. Ai Zhenmin didn't stop until 3:00 a.m.

Ai Zhenmin told his accomplice, "Be harder on him. Don't be afraid that you'll hurt him. The superiors will protect us. As long as he still has a breath left, you don't have to worry. Of course, don't cause any external injury to him. That way other people won't know he's injured." He also promised to reward detainees who helped torture practitioners.

We want the world to know that torture is still going on in the Tangshan City Labour Camp.

Some information about the Sixth Brigade (the team specially set up to persecute Falun Gong):

Office phone: 86-315-5931139
Captain: Li Weiping
Guard: Ai Zhenmin, phone: 86-315-5931016, 86-315-2266519

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2005/1/28/94395.html