I Can't Remain Silent - My Conscience Won't Allow It

Recently, CCTV broadcast a programme that stated there was no persecution or torturing of Falun Gong practitioners in China, and no slandering of Falun Dafa. The CCP is still attempting to turn black into white and trying to cover up its crimes. After the central government gave orders to persecute Falun Dafa practitioners, various prisons and labour camps started a massive and organised inhumane persecution against Dafa practitioners. Now that these crimes have been exposed, they are trying to cover them up. They label the truthful reports of their criminal acts as lies. This completely exposes their shameless perverseness.

I am a practitioner from Tianjin in China. I have been in the labour camps, experienced the evilness there, and witnessed the bloody persecution against Falun Dafa practitioners.

In the Tianjin City Shuangko Labour Camp, they put all the newly arrived practitioners through a "washing cycle" when they enter the camp. During the daytime, they force practitioners to work, then continually beat and torture them during the night. Some people were rendered breathless and bruised purple and blue over their entire bodies. Practitioner Mr. Zhou Xiangyang was sent to the camp in 2000. Because he refused to be "transformed", a group leader from the labour camp beat him with electric batons and wooden batons throughout the night. The leader put the electric baton into his mouth to shock him. Mr. Zhou's tongue was scorched with blisters. His lips were terribly swollen.

Shuangko Labour Camp prison guard Yang Zhiqiu ordered other prisoners to torture a newcomer. They punched, kicked and then beat the practitioner's stomach with batons. They held an electric baton against his shin muscle during the beating. His stomach started bleeding internally, and a section of his stomach became hard. His legs were all swollen, purple and blue. Yet, the prison guards forced him to run in the camp yard. Later, Yang Zhiqiu ordered the prisoners to torture him by putting two lit cigarettes on his hands and letting them burn his skin. There were two strips of second-degree burns on his hands, and the entire room smelled of burning flesh.

The prison guards from the first middle-group in the Shuangko Labour Camp tortured practitioner Tangjian. When they transferred him to the fifth middle-group, he went on a hunger strike to protest the persecution. Prison guard Yang Zhiqiu promised prisoner Wang Huaming that they would reduce his prison term if he would torture Tangjian. Wang Huaming poured cold water on Tangjian all winter, and used a fan to increase the chilling effect. Wang Huaming even forced feces and spittle into his mouth. Beatings were commonplace. Prison guard Yang Zhiqiu never restrained or stopped Wang. Instead he sealed all the windows with paper, so that Wang Huaming could continue torturing Tangjian, without anyone seeing him or hearing his screams. Tangjian became very emaciated. When he was finally tortured to death in 2004, his entire body was covered with bruises and injuries.

After the 2003 Chinese New Year, the Tianjin City Labour Camp decided to give out financial rewards to anyone who forced a Falun Dafa practitioner to renounce his practice. All the labour camps in Tianjin City, now enticed by the money, started another extremely inhumane persecution against Dafa practitioners. The Shuangko Labour Camp purchased a large number of electric batons and bats. They prepared many torture devices. They used many torture instruments that national regulations prohibit. Beating and kicking became the lightest torture method.

Prison guard Yang Zhiqiu was transferred to the first group. Practitioners who refused to write a guarantee statement renouncing their belief were sent to this group. There they simultaneously used numerous 15,000-volt electric batons on a practitioner. When they were shocked, the practitioners wailed and rolled on the ground in agony.

They deprived the practitioners of sleep for a month, sometimes longer. If a practitioner fell asleep, they started beating him. The prison guards forced practitioners to maintain the same position without moving for extended periods of time. If the practitioners moved, the prison guards burned them with their cigarettes and beat them.

The prison guards tied practitioners tightly with nylon ropes, which cut into their flesh. Practitioners who were on a hunger strike to protest the persecution were already weak, but the guards ignored their condition and tortured them like anyone else. Due to these tortures, many practitioners' mouths bled and they lost consciousness. The walls were stained with blood. This is the so-called "National Outstanding Labour Camp."

This inhumane torture isn't just happening in the Shuangko Labour Camp. It is commonplace in other labour camps and prisons in China. In reality, the so called "Labour Camp Regulations" are nothing but a piece of useless paper.

The prison guards often torture practitioners during the night, which is a symptom that they know how shameful their actions are. They are afraid that people will discover what they are doing. But the truth will be known. Hundreds of thousands of practitioners are being sent to labour camps and prisons. Those who maintain their belief are tortured. How can the perpetrators conceal the truth about everyone they torture? It is also a fact that over 1,600 confirmed practitioner death cases have been documented with names and addresses.

The bloodstained truth, and the fact that the perpetrators have killed and maimed tens of thousands of practitioners through beatings and torture, cannot be concealed. This violation of human dignity is still in progress, and they continue to torture and kill Dafa practitioners. We must stop this persecution. As a practitioner, my conscience will not allow me to remain silent. I need to tell people about what is happening, and expose what the government-controlled media has been trying to conceal from the light of day.

The government is being controlled by Jiang Zemin's regime, and he has persecuted and killed many kind people. He has destroyed many happy families. The government-controlled media, in an attempt to shamelessly make the CCP look good, is still concealing this persecution. How evil! But the truth can't remain hidden. Justice will prevail, and the criminals will be held responsible for their actions. The law and history will judge them properly.

February 15, 2005

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2005/2/16/95617.html