The Masanjia Labour Camp Brings in Male Guards to Persecute Women Falun Dafa Practitioners

Previously there were no male guards in the Second Women's Section of the Masanjia Forced Labour Camp. Around the lunar New Year 2005, detained Falun Dafa practitioners shouted, "Falun Dafa is great!" and groups of male guards were then transferred to the Second Women's Section. The camp authorities use the men to persecute women practitioners.

Whenever practitioners shouted, "Falun Dafa is great!" the male guards and the female brigade head would pounce on them. Some of them beat the practitioners, some dragged them, some gagged them, and some handcuffed them. When the practitioners continued to shout, they taped their mouths shut, wrapping tape around the head in several layers. Sometimes they gagged practitioners with a towel; sometimes they handcuffed practitioners to heating pipes for different periods of time. Then they locked the practitioners in confinement cells.

After the 2005 New Year, some practitioners who had succumbed to brainwashing awakened and realised that they had taken the wrong path. Some of them refused to do the physical exercises the camp required. Many of them wrote a solemn declaration to return to Dafa cultivation. Some practitioners were secretly sharing their understandings. The majority of practitioners who were brainwashed began to awaken. The labour camp authorities were extremely afraid of that. On March 31st, 2005, the labour camp authorities separated the steadfast practitioners from the brainwashed practitioners. They singled out the practitioners who refused to work for the labour camp, who refused to do the physical exercises, who refused to listen to the "reformation¹" lectures, who resisted the persecution, and established a separate group for them, called the No. 1 Brigade. Brigade 2 consisted of practitioners who had once been "reformed" but later became clear-minded and returned to Dafa after awakening. Brigade 3 consisted of practitioners who were brainwashed and "reformed."

On the afternoon the labour camp reorganised the brigades, several practitioners in each cell refused to wear the prison uniforms or took off the prison uniform as a sign they resist the persecution. The police officers forced them to wear the uniforms, dragged them outside and forced them to stand for a prolonged period of time, beat them, handcuffed them, or dragged them into confinement cells. Dafa practitioners shouted, "Falun Dafa is great!" and "Stop persecuting Dafa practitioners." The guards are afraid of the words "Falun Dafa is great." They slapped the practitioners' faces hard. The male guards beat the women practitioners until their faces swelled and their eyes almost swelled shut. They also poked the cheeks of practitioners who shouted, "Falun Dafa is great."

The next morning, on April 1st, 2005, all practitioners in Brigade 1 took off their prison uniforms.

The labour camp authorities resorted to a new trick. In Brigade 1, they sealed all the doors and windows of the cells that confined practitioners. They then covered all the windows with dark plastic to prevent anyone from looking in or out, leaving only the top of the window uncovered, permitting a little light to go through. They made a cut about an inch long in the lowest corner of windows and doors. The head of the brigade and guards monitored practitioners through these cuts every few minutes. The practitioners were confined in these cells all along, except for two daily toilet breaks. They did not allow them to go to the dining hall, but brought the food to these cells. Practitioners were forced to sit from 5:00 a.m. until 9:00 p.m. If the brigade head felt unhappy, she would force them to sit until 10:00 p.m. or 11:00 p.m. Practitioners were prohibited from talking or getting close to one another. The labour camp authorities announced through the loudspeaker, "Brigade 1 is under closed governance. Practitioners there eat third-class food, the coarsest grains every day. 'Reformed' practitioners eat first-class food, flour and rice all day. Practitioners in Brigade 2 eat second-class food, half coarse food and half flour and rice. There are three classes [of detainees] altogether."

One practitioner had good teeth before she came to the labour camp, but now has only one tooth left. Because she firmly resisted the persecution, the police officers escalated the persecution against her. They forced her to sit in the confinement cell, and gave her hard, half-raw and half-cooked hoecakes for meals. The daily three meals also consisted of salted turnip sticks. She could only break off a piece of cake and swallow it with a bite of turnip stick. After she was forced to sit in the confinement cell for one month, the brigade head asked her if she still persisted in her belief. She answered, "Yes." They continued to confine her.

On April 25th, practitioners in each cell in Brigade 1 shouted, "Falun Dafa is great!" A group of guards rushed into the cells and beat them. The brigade head slapped the practitioners hard. Some practitioners were dragged out and handcuffed and made to stand for long periods of time. A practitioner was handcuffed for two days. The head guard shocked her eyes until one of the eyelids turned black. They shouted that they would extend practitioners' terms. They compiled false reports and forced the practitioners to sign them. Dafa practitioners didn't acknowledge the illegal detention and the extension of terms. Nobody signed the papers.

May 13th is "Falun Dafa Day." Practitioners from all the cells again shouted, "Falun Dafa is great!" Practitioners in some cells were doing the exercises. In some cells, practitioners underwent a hunger strike for three days to resist the persecution. They were thus persecuted even more frenetically. The guards rushed into each cell and screamed at and beat the practitioners. Some dragged the women out, some beat them. Practitioners were once again dragged out and handcuffed. Some practitioners were handcuffed and forced to stand for three days, some for two days. They were later dragged back to the confinement cells. It was during the hot summer and the confinement cells weren't ventilated. Sweat soaked the practitioners' clothes. Besides that, practitioners had very bad food, so many of them felt dizzy and weak.

A practitioner from Brigade 1 was reported to the authorities as "Anti-CCP" just because she did the exercises. On July 6th she was handcuffed and dragged into a police car. They said that they would send her to Dabei (now the Prison City in Shenyang). Some practitioners continued to do the exercises and were again persecuted in the same way as before and confined in the small cells.

Practitioners who were badly injured from gross abuse and those who were extremely weak from hunger strikes and forced feeding were dragged in and out by the authorities. Some practitioners were persecuted to the extent that they were at death's door. The guards and the brigade head would rather force-feed them than release them.

The labour camp authorities are still delaying the release of the practitioners who are at the brink of death. One practitioner had been illegally locked up for three years by April 2005 and is still locked up there. She is also suffering from high blood pressure. To demand her release, she refused to eat the camp food, but instead ate instant noodles she bought with her own money. She is still being detained in the labour camp. Many practitioners are now detained past their term.

As of 2005, many practitioners whose three-year or two-year terms had expired have been held over for several months. The labour camp authorities just refuse to release them.

Note

1. "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://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2006/1/7/118204.html