Ms. Zhao Shuyun from Inner Mongolian Detained in the Masanjia Forced Labour Camp

Ms. Zhao Shuyun is 50 years old and from Tonghua City, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. She used to be a staff member at the Commerce Bank. She began cultivating in Falun Gong in 1999. After the persecution of Falun Gong began, she was dismissed from her job and arrested several times. She is currently detained in the Masanjia Forced Labour Camp in Shenyang City, Liaoning Province.

After July 20th, 1999, Ms. Zhao went to Beijing several times to appeal for Falun Gong. While passing out Falun Gong fliers in 2001 in the Daode Township of Kailu County, she was reported to the police. As a result of this, she was detained in the Kailu County Detention Centre for more than one hundred days. Police officers from the Horqin Police Department interrogated her and beat her on the back with wooden clubs. She was later sentenced to three years of forced labour and taken to the Tumuji Forced Labour Camp.

In the labour camp Ms. Zhao suffered terrible abuse. Guard Su Hongyu forced her into a small cell and beat her brutally for as long as two hours. After she returned to her cell, she was covered all over with cuts and bruises. Ms. Zhao's face was swelling up, and her eyes were already too swollen to open and black and blue. Still, the guards forced her to do all types of heavy physical labour. Zhou Liping, another guard in the facility, also beat Ms. Zhao in the duty office. This kind of abuse took place numerous times.

After Ms. Zhao was released from the labour camp, her husband divorced her because of pressure brought on by the persecution, and she became homeless. After some time, she was arrested again and detained in the notorious Masanjia Forced Labour Camp.

In Masanjia, she suffered even more abuse. She was fixed onto the tiger bench¹ nearly every day. Beatings and cursing by the guards were commonplace. Since Ms. Zhao refused to sign any documents giving up her belief, her term was extended for three months. During this period, she was tortured with the tiger bench each day.

In July or August 2007, she was finally released. Within one year, however, she was arrested and detained in the Masanjia Forced Labour Camp again. On September 30th, 2008, some fellow practitioners received letters from her, asking them to bring her some winter clothes.

Note

1. "Tiger Bench": Prisoners are forced to sit on a small iron bench that is approximately 20 cm (6 inches) tall with their knees tied together. With their hands tied behind their backs or sometimes placed on their knees, they are forced to sit straight up and look straight ahead without movement for long periods of time.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.org/mh/articles/2008/10/23/188331.html