Torture of Practitioners at the Seventh Team of Xinkaipu Forced Labour Camp in Hunan Province

Falun Gong practitioners are selectively housed at the Xinkaipu Forced Labour Camp's Seventh Team. By the end of July 2007, 17 practitioners were still being held in the team. These practitioners are still suffering all kinds of torture.

What follows is a description of several sections within the Seventh Team:

Section A

Section A is a high security area, where practitioners who are not cooperating with the guards are detained. There is no break for lunch. Apart from basic needs like eating, drinking, use of the toilet and sleep, practitioners are forced to sit on small benches for as long as over 10 hours a day without moving. The guards beat and verbally abuse the practitioners if they move their limbs even a bit. Sometimes practitioners are deprived of normal sleep and kept awake until 3 or 4 o'clock in the morning.

Practitioner Mr. Zhao Xianghai from Xiangtan City of Hunan Province, who is detained in section A, has been tortured to the point of being extremely weak. He sometimes falls to the ground, having difficulty breathing and showing symptoms of dehydration. However, the inmate in charge still forces him to sit on the bench for long periods from time to time.

Mr. Huang Qihua, from Longhui, Shaoyang City, Hunan Province was forced to sit on a small bench all day long. The inmate in charge further tormented him by forcing him to clean the toilet, which is usually easily done with detergent and steel wool. But Mr. Huang was not given anything to use. This made the job slow and painful, especially since the toilet smelled bad.

When Mr. Lu Yongliang from Qianliang Lake, Yueyang City, Hunan Province was first sent to the labour camp, the inmate in charge injured him by hitting his left foot with the leg of a metal chair. After a few months, his injury flared up and caused him severe pain. When the injury started to fester, the guards used it as an excuse to force drugs on him. When Mr. Lu tried to refuse, the guards force-fed him the drugs.

Section B

Section B appears to be relatively less strict than the others and holds inmates who are considered to be "cooperative" by the guards. Practitioners are not routinely beaten there, but are deprived of the freedom of belief and speech.

Section C

Section C masquerades as the "entertainment area" for the camp inmates because it contains the library, video room, gym, etc. However, except when visitors come from outside, or when there is an inspection or an important holiday, these facilities are not open to inmates. In fact, this section conceals a place for the inhuman torture of practitioners.

Newly-detained practitioners and those who persist in doing the Falun Dafa exercises and saying "Falun Dafa is good" are transferred to Section C to be tortured. The floors, walls and curtains are often splattered with blood. Practitioner Mr. Huang Qihua was beaten until he vomited blood when he was first taken to the camp. Mr. Zhao Xianghai was forced to sit in a painful position until his buttocks developed festering wounds. His pants were drenched in blood and he left blood marks wherever he sat. Mr. Lu Hai's hands were tied to a metal window frame and he was exposed to the freezing cold wind. His ears were frostbitten and it took him a long time to recover.

Practitioners who do not give up the practice after they are first taken to the camp and tortured are taken to solitary confinement. This is a small dark cell where inmates are allowed to wear only their underpants in the summer and a single layer of clothes in the winter. They are not provided with chopsticks and have to use their hands to eat. Periods of isolation range from seven days up to a whole month. Practitioners locked up in solitary cells are monitored by four inmates, two during the day and two at night. Cameras are used to monitor the cell at all times.

Practitioners who do not give up the practice after 20 days to one month in solitary confinement are transferred to the Tenth Team, which is another high security unit. The Tenth Team is housed next door to the solitary cells. Conditions there are the same as in the solitary cells except that practitioners are allowed to use chopsticks and wear decent clothes. Practitioners are often detained in the Tenth Team for two to three months.

On May 15th, 2007, during a meeting held by the camp authorities, practitioners Mr. Li Huali and Mr. Zhou Wenxuan shouted "Falun Dafa is good!" They were dragged by the guards to Section C, beaten savagely and then locked up in solitary cells. Zhou Wenxuan was transferred to section A after 9 days in solitary confinement. The next day, he suddenly had a severe stomach hemorrhage and was taken home by his family. The hemorrhage was probably a direct result of the heavy beatings he suffered. Li Huali was beaten and shocked with electric batons multiple times during his 20 days in the lock-up. The most severe electric shock lasted over 10 minutes. Afterwards, he was transferred to the Strict Monitoring Team. His current situation is unknown.

The Seventh Team is where the inmates are taken first after they are taken to the camp because it also functions as a "Re-education" Team. The Hunan Province Forced Labour Bureau is regulated by the Office of Judiciary Enforcement and has ten rules regulating how camp inmates may be used to supervise other inmates; the regulations forbid beating or insulting inmates. However, the managerial group on duty is made up solely of inmates who are in charge of everything. They set up a few fixed and mobile on-duty hillock spots, administer the daily routine of the team, check for violations of regulations, carry out punishment, log in the names of newly-detained inmates, arrange their board and lodging, and determine the general behaviour of all inmates. Falun Gong practitioners are controlled and punished by the managerial group on duty and the inmates in charge. Whenever a visitor or an official inspector comes from the outside, the inmate managerial group is replaced by the camp guard group on duty. Inmates who potentially pose a problem for management, such as Falun Gong practitioners, are transferred to other floors that are not likely to be inspected.

Although the management of the camp pretends to be humanitarian, they are hiding the brutal torture of Falun Gong practitioners. To quote a former political instructor of the Seventh Team, Zou Shixiong: "Law? Don't you talk law to me! This really annoys me and I will get back at you for this." In 2005, the director of the Education Division, Shi Meng, said to practitioners, "If the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) tells me to bury you alive, I will actually dig a hole and bury you alive." The camp guards also incite the criminal inmates to torture Falun Gong practitioners by promising to reduce their terms.

In late February 2007, nine practitioners did not cooperate with the camp authorities and refused to write something called a "percentage scheduling table." The authorities deployed a special team of guards holding police batons and had them surround all of the inmates in the Seventh Team during a meeting. At the meeting, guard Hu Qifeng shouted, "We will fight Falun Gong to the end!" After the meeting, Hu Qifeng extended Huang Qihua's term by 19 days, Zhou Baogui's term by 9 days, and Zhu Musong's term by 9 days. Later, he extended Luo Xiangjiang's term by 16 days, Zhao Xianghai's term by 19 days, and Peng Anlin's term by a month. In March 2006, practitioner Luo Xiangjiang shouted "Falun Gong is good!" and was savagely beaten by inmates of Section C.

All of the incidents described above are just the tip of the iceberg. We appeal to all kind-hearted people to pay attention to the situation, give a helping hand, and help stop the persecution immediately.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2007/8/23/161381.html