Exposing the Dark Secrets of the Persecution of Falun Dafa Practitioners in Hezuizi Forced Labour Camp

During the months of December 2004 and January 2005, the Hezuizi Forced Labour Camp intensified the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners. In Brigade 4, in particular, practitioners who refused to denounce their beliefs were not allowed to sleep. As soon as they closed their eyes, the guards would use electric batons to shock them. A captain of Brigade 4, Zhang Guimei, said deceptively, "They renounced Falun Gong of their own free will." Let us look now at how Falun Gong practitioners were forced to denounce their beliefs, and how much "free will" was involved.

Psychological and Emotional Persecution

Falun Gong practitioners who are illegally jailed at this labour camp are closely monitored. Practitioners who refuse to renounce Falun Dafa are followed and monitored 24 hours a day. The people who monitor the practitioners stay within one meter (about 3 ft.) of the practitioners. When two practitioners so much as exchange a glance, the guards, and their collaborators (1) berate the practitioners and curse at them. When practitioners first arrive, collaborators surround them night and day with no break whatsoever. If a practitioner remains steadfast in practising Falun Dafa, they are not allowed to sleep. The collaborators take turns, in two-hour shifts, trying to coerce the practitioners to denounce Falun Dafa. One practitioner was not allowed to sleep through an entire night for three months, with no sleep at all every couple of days. Another practitioner was not allowed to close her eyes for ten consecutive days and nights because of her refusal to renounce Falun Gong. Practitioners are forced to watch and listen to slanderous propaganda daily. They are threatened with either having their sentences extended or being sent to prison unless they denounce Falun Gong. The labour camp guards also coerce the family members of practitioners to slander Falun Gong's founder. Sometimes steadfast practitioners are not allowed to see their families, or else family members are pressured into abusing or insulting the practitioners. Guards even incite disagreements between husbands and wives, sometimes even causing practitioner's spouses to divorce them. Other methods of abuse include forbidding practitioners to wash, use the toilet or purchase basic personal items for daily use such as sanitary napkins. It is common to see practitioners being humiliated and scolded. Many practitioners feel suffocated living in such an evil environment for long periods of time, and some even lose their lives.

A captain from Brigade 4 by the name of Guan Wei not only tries to force practitioners to denounce their beliefs, but also threatens their families. Guan tried to force a family member of a practitioner who was on a hunger strike to sign an agreement stating that the labour camp would bear no responsibility if the practitioner died. When the family member refused, Guan had that person detained as well.

For practitioners who still refuse to give up their practice after their sentence terms are completed, camp officials notify the local "610 Office" (2) and have the practitioner transferred to a brainwashing centre for further persecution. There is one practitioner held in Team 3, Brigade 4, who finished a three-year sentence. After her sentence was extended, she still refused to denounce Falun Gong. The labour camp notified the local 610 Office, but no one was sent to pick her up, so they detained her for three more days. At the end of the three days, when the practitioner's husband saw that she was still not being released, he appealed to the authorities. The practitioner also went on a hunger strike to protest her treatment. Finally, the labour camp relented and released her. A practitioner from Team 1, Brigade 4, was sentenced to three years in the forced labour camp; her sentence was extended by 100 days. Because she still persisted in practising Falun Gong at the end of that time, she was sent to a brainwashing centre in Changchun for another month. The practitioner's family refused to cooperate when officials tried to extort money from them to pay for her illegally-extended imprisonment, so eventually the authorities had no other choice but to release her.

Physical Persecution

As well as depriving Falun Dafa practitioners of sleep, other physical punishments include forcing practitioners to stand for long periods of time, using electric batons to shock practitioners, and beating them and kicking them. Practitioner Han Xihuan from Team 1 is over 60 years old, and refuses to denounce Falun Dafa. After labour camp guard Wang Zhufeng forbade Han Xihuan to sleep and used electric batons to shock the practitioner, Han Xihuan can no longer walk normally.

Several practitioners from Team 2 wrote a statement declaring that any "Guarantee Statement" (3) they wrote under pressure was invalid, and that they would start their cultivation in Falun Dafa all over again. Prison guard Liu Zhiwei shocked them with electric batons to punish them for this, and both the electrical noise from the batons and their screams of pain could be heard outside in the hallway along with the practitioner's frequent shouts of "Falun Dafa is Good."

When one practitioner from Team 3 refused to write the so-called "Report on Latest Thoughts," guard Feng Xiaochun used his electric baton to shock the practitioner so severely that the practitioner lost bowel control. For several days thereafter, this practitioner could not walk without help from others.

Guard Wang Jin is from Team 4. In addition to beating Falun Gong practitioners in Team 4 and extending their sentences, she forces practitioners from other teams to live with patients who are suspected of having SARS. She also forces practitioners' families to put money into their accounts. One family member gave a practitioner 100 "yuan," (4) but when the practitioner checked her account later, she found that only 50 yuan had been deposited. Some family members paid money for physical exams for practitioners, but Wang did not return the change to them after the exam was paid for. As for practitioners who have given up the practice under pressure and have written statements denouncing Falun Dafa, Wang still persecutes them. For several nights in a row she keeps them from sleeping. She also forces them to read and recite materials that slander Falun Dafa and its founder. A 50-year-old practitioner from Changchun was pressured to write a denouncing statement, and when she refused to write statements that slandered Falun Dafa, Wang used her electric baton to shock the practitioner's private parts. When the practitioner could no longer endure the torture, she was forced to write the statements 40 times over. Wang also conspired with the labour camp's doctor, as well as inmate Zhang Yinghua, and a former practitioner named Zhao Yaqiu (who now collaborates with the guards in persecuting practitioners) to put large amounts of salt into porridge that was to be force-fed to a practitioner. The practitioner almost died from salt poisoning as a result, and was unconscious for several hours.

The captain of Brigade 4 is Li Xiaohua. She forces practitioners to work excessively. If a person is slightly slow, they are chastised. There is no protection against harmful materials such as toxic glue and feathers. During the SARS epidemic, some teams were given the assignment of making protective masks, but in the same workshop other teams were making handicrafts using feathers that were not even disinfected. The officials here are careless with peoples' lives. Practitioners from Team 4 were forced to harvest garlic in the cold, and their hands were frostbitten as a result. Practitioners are forced to get up 5 o'clock in the morning to work, even when they are sick. Because there is not enough lighting in the workshops, most practitioners' eyesight deteriorates. Practitioners are also given insufficient food. After the SARS epidemic, the situation improved a little, but the quantity of food given to practitioners is still inadequate and most people don't get enough to eat. Even though people cannot get a decent meal, the menu lists much better food items, and camp officials force practitioners to sign theses menus so they can submit them to authorities during camp inspections. There is a practitioner from Yanbian who was sent to the labour camp for refusing to give her name to the police. On the way to the labour camp, the police dug a hole along the roadside and tried to bury her alive, but the attempt failed. When the practitioner got to the camp, she reported the incident to the authorities, but has received no response from them to this day.

Extortion

The guards illegally extort money from Falun Dafa practitioners. The merchandise at the camp convenience shop sells at 2 to 3 times the price on the open market. Visiting family members are not allowed to bring items for daily use, and purchases must be made from the labour camp shop. Usually, 20 yuan can only get 3 or 4 yuan worth of merchandise. Some guards directly solicit money from family members, and threaten to extend practitioners' sentences or send them to a brainwashing centre if their demands are not met (Brigade 3).

Products manufactured by Brigade 4 are sold to Japan as burial items. In order to make money for the guards in Brigade 4, practitioners are forced to work without weekends or holidays off. The captains of Brigade 4 are Li Xiaohua and Guan Wei. For a while, they forced practitioners to work evening overtime in addition to working in the workshop during the day. In the evenings, they would take materials back to dormitories in black sacks. Sometimes practitioners were forced to work until 11 or 12 o'clock at night. During the Labour Day holidays of 2003, the practitioners in Brigade 4 were forced to work through an entire night. Although it is made to look like the illegal overtime occurs without the consent of upper management, the fact is that the management has colluded with the guard to make money out of the practitioners' labour.

People who live under such conditions become very weak, and they look tired and old. Their gaze is dull and their reflexes slow. Some people arrived the labour camp with full heads of black hair and had it all turn grey in a single year showing how heavyhearted they have become. The stories related here are only the tip of the iceberg. This is a truthful portrayal of the methods the Chinese Communist Party have been claiming they use to "educate, transform and save" people. Their so-called "transformation" turns good people to bad people. Those who have given up the belief in "Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance," have become worse than some criminals at large in society. With the full support of the guards, they stop at nothing in doing their evil actions, including passing rumours on to the authorities and having the sentences of practitioners extended. An example of this is former practitioner Li Fengli, who is called "Junior Warden" for her behaviour. Because of the relentless persecution from the guards and their collaborators, some practitioners have become physically disabled, others have developed health issues or mental disorders, and some have even lost their lives.

(1) "Collaborators": Former practitioners who have turned against Falun Gong under brainwashing and torture. They are then made to assist in brainwashing and torturing practitioners.

(2) "The 610 office" is 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.

(3) "Guarantee Statement": A statement to declare that one is remorseful for practising Falun Gong and guarantees not to practise Falun Gong again, not to go to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong, and never again associate with any Falun Dafa practitioners.

(4) "Yuan" is the Chinese currency; 500 yuan is equal to the average monthly income of an urban worker in China.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2005/1/21/93904.html