Witnessing the Horrors of Masanjia Labour Camp

Witnessing the Violent Brainwashing at Masanjia Forced Labour Camp

Written by a Falun Dafa practitioner in China

At Masanjia Forced Labour Camp, the warden said, "You [Falun Gong practitioners] don't have any say on whether or not you will be brainwashed (forced to give up the practice and abandon the belief)." The steadfast Falun Dafa practitioners who refuse to give in are not permitted to see their relatives for long periods of time. Their relatives come from great distances to visit but are forced to return home full of sadness. Camp wardens punish practitioners by extending their terms for no apparent reason. Some practitioners are placed in solitary confinement [These cells contain a basin and a pair of handcuffs. The basin is used both for face washing and relieving urine and bowels. One end of the handcuff is fastened to the wrist and the other end attaches to the door railing. The handcuffs can be fastened to the door railing at three different heights. In the highest position, the detainee has to extend his/her arm upward. The middle position is at waist level. In the lowest position, the detainee is forced to sit on the ground.]. Even during the Chinese Lunar Year festival or other holidays, eating, drinking, and relieving one's self is all done in the same place. Wardens would incite collaborators [former practitioners whose minds have gone astray due to the Jiang regime's brainwashing or torture] to torture practitioners and to put psychological pressure on them. They do not allow the true practitioners to talk to each other. Wardens punish practitioners by forced squatting, body folding, kneeling, and electric shocks with electric batons. They also deprive the practitioners of sleep for several days and nights at a time.

Li Jinghua is one of the practitioners who has encountered this torture. She was an optimistic lady who liked talking and laughing. After going through such severe torture, one could hardly recognize her. I witnessed how Li Jinghua had been persecuted. On August 2, 2000, Li Jinghua was locked up in a small isolation cell [The detainee is locked up in a very small cell individually. The practitioners are handcuffed with their hands behind their backs in a fixed position, in which the practitioners can neither move nor lie down. The small cell is very damp and dark. Detainees have to urinate and defecate in the cell. Only half of a regular meal is served to detainees locked up in a small cell during the daytime. During the night, rats scurry about. The stench in the small cell is so bad that it is difficult to breathe.] In the small cell, she endured mosquitoes and bug bites. She also persevered through the torturous forced squatting, body-folding, and sleep deprivation for three days and nights. She bore the verbal abuse and physical beatings by the collaborators, but she was not able to endure the electric shock torture by the chief warden, Zhang Yan (female, about 50 years old). Without sleeping for 3 days and nights, she was shocked on the neck, breast, chest, back, foot arches, palms and other sensitive places. She began twitching due to the shocks. Some witnesses cried when they saw the tragic sight. The chief warden questioned her closely: "Do you give in? If not, I'll keep shocking you until you do." In this way, she was forced to write, against her will, the so-called "repentance letter, and the exposing and criticizing letter" demanded by the wardens. Then she was released from the small cell, but she was still pale and sallow. The warden once again locked another determined practitioner into the small cell. Three days later, the practitioner was released because she was tortured so badly that her cardiac muscle became severely short of blood.

Li Jinghua regretted very much that she had written the "guarantee letter not to practice Falun Gong" against her conscience under the pressure. She solemnly made her statement to the chief warden that her "transformation" was invalid. The chief, Zhang Yan immediately hit her several times with a rod and ordered her back to the small cell. Zhang Yan also told the two collaborators, Zhang Yuru (from Xingcheng), Wang Lixin (from Benxi), who were watching her, not to let her drink water so that she would not use the toilet. This time, she was punished with "Flying the Airplane" [Standing facing a wall, her head dropped forward, and both hands pulled up from behind to touch the wall. For details and illustration go to: http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2001/11/24/16156.html] If she moved, the guard would curse her. After over two hours of this torture, she lost consciousness. She was carried to a bed by other practitioners. Her condition alerted the head of the squad, Yang Yu (female, about 30 years old, very fierce and malicious). The chief Zhang Yan and the evil policeman Yang Yu punched Li Jinghua's chest repeatedly and pinched her Renzong acupuncture point [on the vertical groove of the upper lip]. When she regained consciousness, they said: "Don't pretend. Being a warden for so many years, what kind of people have we not seen? You were fine when you were locked up here for several days before, how come you are not able to bear for only two hours now?" So they had someone put her in the small cell again and said viciously: "No one can independently decide [on releasing determined practitioners from confinement] without my approval." This time, Li Jinghua did not give in, even though she was forced into the "airplane" position in the small cell for four days and nights. The brainwashing was complete, with only skin and bones left.

At this time, a group of determined Falun Dafa practitioners were sent here from Dalian, Fushun and Chaoyang. The labour camp falsely claimed that all the practitioners in the labour camp had given in. In order to ensure that newcomers would not meet those who had not been brainwashed in the labour camp, the police moved all the determined practitioners to the second and third floors. This way, Li Jinghua was moved to the third floor, with the third platoon and continued her forced hard labour there. The work schedule is as follows: from 6:30 a.m. to 11:20 a.m., from 12:30 p.m. to 4:20 p.m., from 5:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., 10:00 p.m., 11:00pm, 12:00am, or even 1:00 a.m. Sometimes, in order to pass inspection, the night work is ended earlier and the mess is cleaned up. But as soon as the inspector leaves, the illegal working conditions will be reinstated. Practitioners seldom spoke to one another because wardens used term extension to threaten the criminal inmates who were in charge of watching over them. Whoever could not control practitioners would be given extended sentences. Under strenuous pressure and physical suffering from overwork, Li Jinghua peacefully appealed to see her relatives, but she was refused. Instead, she was further persecuted. For writing an appeal letter and reporting the cellmates who were watching her as well as the 8 hour work day, her body and mind were tortured to such an extreme that she unable to bear anymore. She lost her original optimistic attitude and became silent. She had also become incontinent due to the torture. She started practicing Falun Gong, disregarding the guard's persecution, and was locked up in the small cell again. Later, she was again tortured beyond recognition, and the labour camp thus notified her family to take her home. At that time, she had been illegally detained for more than 6 months past the original term of her sentence.

After watching the police inhumanly torture a determined practitioner, some at the Masanjia Forced Labour Camp were frightened so badly that they became very disturbed. Among those practitioners who gave in against their consciences and were released, some remain terrified. They are afraid of being kidnapped again and sent to the camp if they expose the evil deeds they suffered.

At the male section of Masanjia Forced Labour Camp, there was a young undercover policeman from the Public Security Bureau of Liaoning Province. He is a college graduate. After associating with practitioners, he experienced and witnessed the indomitable spirit of Falun Gong practitioners who are upholding justice by clarifying the truth. He also experienced the extraordinary power of "Truthfulness, Benevolence, Forbearance." He revealed his identity in public and resolutely started to cultivate Falun Dafa.

Source: http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2002/1/31/18277.html

http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2002/1/21/23540.html