How Mr. Hao Wenmin Was Persecuted to Death by the Handan Forced Labour Camp

Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Hao Wenmin, 43, was from Lianghexia Village, Chengguan Township, Wei County, Handan City, Hebei Province. After the persecution of Falun Gong began, he was harassed and persecuted by the vicious local police, the 610 Office¹, and the Handan Forced Labour Camp. Unable to endure the cruel persecution, he passed away on October 15th, 2005.

After they started practising Falun Gong, Mr. Hao and his family benefited a great deal. From July 1999, when the persecution began, to the 2002 New Year holiday, personnel from the local police department and the 610 Office constantly harassed Mr. Hao because of his unwillingness to give up his belief in Falun Gong. Twice he was unlawfully detained. He went on hunger strikes to protest the unlawful arrests and was released without yielding to the persecutors.

On March 7th, 2002, police arrested Mr. Hao Wenmin and sent him to a county detention centre because he told the facts of Falun Dafa to people who had been misled by the government propaganda and exposed the persecution. After he went on a hunger strike for 20 days to protest the persecution, the police released him. In May 2002, three police officers from Wei County found Mr. Hao and lied to him, asking him to repair a TV for them. (Mr. Hao made a living repairing TVs). When Mr. Hao brought his tools to the county police department, they arrested him and sent him to the Handan Forced Labour Camp. When they got to the labour camp, a policeman from Wei County said to him, "Weren't you released after you went on a hunger strike? Let see how you'll get out of here this time."

Mr. Hao was sent to the "special unit" in charge of Falun Gong practitioners in the Handan Forced Labour Camp. To try to force practitioners to give up their beliefs in Falun Gong, they were made to listen to audio programs slandering Falun Gong. Some personnel acted as if they were practitioners in an attempt to change Mr. Hao's belief in Falun Gong. But Mr. Hao persisted in cultivating Dafa and refused to accept the so-called "reform²." They thus escalated their efforts to brainwash him. After some discussions, the captain of the "special unit" decided not to let Mr. Hao sleep. They used criminal inmates to take turns watching him. They refused to let him sleep, sit down, lie down, or lean on a bed. If he closed his eyes, they'd wake him up or beat and kick him. While depriving him of sleep, those in charge of "reforming" took turns speaking to him with their crooked reasoning, and penalised him by forcing him to stand for a long time. Mr. Hao was forced to stand for more than 20 days and nights. His feet and legs swelled, and the capillaries burst. They made him stand under the scorching sun and beat him with electric batons. For the first 12 days, they denied him sleep. But after that, they couldn't even wake him up by beating him. From June to August 2002, Mr. Hao was deprived of sleep for nearly three months.

By the end of August 2002, after being tortured for three months with sleep deprivation, Mr. Hao started a hunger strike to protest their unlawful persecution. On the third day of his hunger strike, Mr. Hao walked unsteadily to the "special unit" as ordered. Labour camp guard Li Haiming said to him fiercely, "You are faking illness. Go to eat, or I'll teach you a terrible lesson." They then used several electric batons to shock him for longer than an hour. His armpits and chest were full of blisters, which oozed with pus.

On the fifth day of his hunger strike, Mr. Hao was in critical condition. His blood pressure plummeted. Afraid of being held responsible, the guards quickly took him to the Fifth Hospital in Handan City for treatment. They then force-fed him while he was being treated. Even under such conditions, they didn't give up trying to brainwash him.

After a period of treatment, Mr. Hao gradually recovered. By New Year's Eve 2003, as Mr. Hao had basically recovered, the "special unit" again reinforced their brainwashing. They used every threat and means of intimidation. In the Handan Forced Labour Camp, when practitioners went on a hunger strike, they were force-fed, shocked with electric batons, beaten, hung up, or locked up. They were force-fed with highly concentrated salt water. Many of them couldn't sustain such torture and resumed taking food. For those who were severely injured, the guards didn't use extreme means to torture them, as they were afraid of causing death and being held responsible.

At the beginning of 2004, Mr. Hao's health gradually declined and his food intake decreased. A few days before his release, the "special unit" extended his term for three more months, claiming he had violated the camp's rules. The announcement was timed so as to have the worst effect on his mental state. In April 2004, Mr. Hao was released. He stayed home and couldn't work. He had to depend on his wife to care for him.

In September 2005, policemen Gao Fei, Xing Yansheng, and Gao Jinli from the Handan Forced Labour Camp went to "visit" Mr. Hao, while both Mr. Hao and his wife were at home. When they found out Mr. Hao still believed in Falun Gong, Xing Yansheng threatened him, "If we find Falun Gong material in your home, we'll arrest you." He then added, "In your current condition, you won't survive to see the New Year." (Note: In September 2005, Mr. Hao had a physical. The results indicated that he had a pierced lung and improperly functioning blood platelets, and that his internal organs, except for his heart, showed signs of decline. In addition, he had had blood in his stool for some time. When Xing Yansheng mentioned that Mr. Hao wouldn't live to see the New Year, the two other policemen motioned for him to stop talking about it. Some people suspect that the labour camp had used drugs to poison Mr. Hao while he was in the labour camp.) The policemen's visit cast a shadow on the unfortunate family, according to his friends and relatives who visited him.

On October 15th, 2005, Mr. Hao Wenmin passed away.

Below are names of the most vicious guards and policemen from Handan Forced Labour Camp and Wei County who are responsible for his death:

Wei XX, deputy head of the Handan Forced Labour Camp in charge of Falun Gong affairs
Yao Jianming, brigade captain of the "special unit" in the Handan Forced Labour Camp
Wang Zhiming, deputy brigade captain of the "special unit" in the Handan Forced Labour Camp (Wang is the most vicious person there): 86-13832089622 (Mobile)
Gao Fei, captain of the "special unit" in the Handan Forced Labour Camp

Note

1. "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.

2. "Reform or Transform" Implementation of brainwashing and torture in order to force a practitioner to renounce Falun Gong. (Variations: "reform", "transform", "reformed", "reforming", "transformed", "transforming", and "transformation")

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2005/11/21/114948.html