Older Female Falun Gong Practitioners Cruelly Tortured by Male Guards at Masanjia Forced Labour Camp

I am a Falun Gong practitioner in my sixties. Because I talked to people about the persecution of Falun Gong, I was arrested by police in Shenyang. The following is my personal experience and testimony about how staff at the Masanjia Forced Labour Camp in Liaoning Province are cruelly abusing practitioners and violating the law.

Masanjia Forced Labour Camp imprisons female Falun Gong practitioners. It is also called the "Second Labour Camp." The camp directors are police officers Liu Yong, Ma Jishan, and Li Jun (all male).

One day in March 2006, the Falun Gong practitioners on the second floor of the labour camp opposed their detention by not putting on the prison uniforms. After two male guards entered the room one of them asked, "Why do you refuse to wear the uniforms? Do you not like the food here?" I said, "We are good people who follow the principles of Truth-Compassion-Forbearance, and we have committed no crimes; so we won't wear prison uniforms like common criminals. In the last several years, there have been about 10,000 Falun Gong practitioners sent to this prison. People do not know that this is occurring because they have been deceived by propaganda-laden television programmes. You, as guards here, should know this better than anyone!" He responded, "The problem is that we do what is required by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)." I told him, "You must do things according to your conscience. Otherwise, how are you to be distinguished from a robot?"

He stood up abruptly and cursed at me. He shouted, "I will torture you to death!" He dragged me to the door and stomped on me. Because I was still standing, he kicked me to the ground. Then he kicked my ribs many times, which caused me to gasp for air and every move became painful.

He then dragged me to the guards' office. Team Chief Shi Ning, Chief Zhou Qian, Xiang Kuili, Deputy Zhao Laixi, and several other guards that I didn't recognize kicked me, pulled my hair and shook my head. One person asked, "Who organized people to take off the prison uniforms? If she doesn't stand up and admit it, I will impose an extension of your term at the camp!" Zhao Laixi said, "It is easy to obtain evidence needed for an extension. I just need to ask two people to write statements, which become all the evidence I need."

The next day, several female police officers, led by Zhang Xiurong and Xiang Kuili, stormed into the cell and shouted, "Will you wear the prison uniforms or not? No? Then let's ask male guards to come in and 'service you' for a while!" They abused us with other foul language. Two days later, when a Falun Gong practitioner from Fushun refused to wear a uniform she was severely beaten by the male guards and was left unable to walk or move. Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Zhao Shuyun was also beaten so severely that she also was in too much pain to move.

Later, chief Shi Yu handed me over to three male guards, one named Wang Qi, who took me to a room in the "Comprehensive Building." There were eight males in the room. One guard asked me, "What is your name and where do you live?" I said, "First I must know what you intend to do and why you have brought me here." Then I tried to tell them about the goodness of Falun Gong. They did not want to listen and ordered me to shut up. I kept talking. Several police rushed at me, and one yelled, "If it was up to me, I would burn you to death, dig a pit, and bury you in it!"

Li Jun signalled to three male guards. Two held me down while the other forcefully put the prison uniform on me. The three guards then took me back to the cell. Over several days, most female Falun Gong practitioners were mercilessly beaten by the male guards for not wearing the uniforms.

By July of 2006 it had been about a year that the Falun Gong practitioners in one jail cell on the second floor had refused to do forced labour. One day, I heard a guard in the hallway calling: "I want the people I call to come out of the cell and bring a small stool with you." After a while, the guard appeared at the cell door along with several ferocious-looking male police officers.

Shi Yu called my name. If someone was called and did not step into the hall, the police would drag her out and stomp on her. A male guard threw one Falun Gong practitioner from Dalian to the ground so violently that she could not move.

They locked Falun Gong practitioners in several rooms and forced them to do such slave labour as peeling garlic. If anyone refused to work, she would be beaten, have her face slapped, be kicked, trampled, forced to kneel down, handcuffed, and tortured. Falun Gong practitioners were beaten so often that their faces became badly swollen. Some had a fever, some couldn't walk, and some shook uncontrollably. The Falun Gong practitioner who had been violently dragged out of the cell was unable to move for several days.

At the end of September 2006, Shi Yu handed me over to another police chief who took me to a room. Ma Jishan, head of the guards, came in and asked if I would agree to "transform¹." I said, "No." He immediately handcuffed me to the upper rail of a bunk bed. I said, "What are you going to do?" He replied, "'Transform' you. Today you must 'transform' whether you want to be 'transformed' or not. We have a lot of ways to make you do what we want. If you don't cooperate we will feed you drugs and destroy your gong."

I tried to tell him about the benefits of Falun Gong. He did not allow me to talk and instead, slapped my face. He got another guard from the Education Section. He then handcuffed each of my hands to opposite rails of the bunk bed and pushed my head under the upper berth. Thus I could not squat down or stand up. My arms were pulled to the limits of my tendons and I quickly felt extreme pain in my arms.

I said, "You also have parents, brothers, a wife, and children. Do you not you fear meeting with retribution?"

The police knew they were wrong, so they went out to the hallway.

I was forced to stay in that position for about five hours and was in such pain that I almost lost consciousness. About four days later I learned that most of Falun Gong female practitioners had also been tortured and for many, their bodies had become disfigured. For some, their mouths were swollen and distorted; the faces of others were swollen so much that they were unrecognizable; and some were left lame from torture. Ms. Shen from Fushun was tortured for over two months and became mentally disabled although she was a healthy person originally. She couldn't even take care of herself. The abrasions and scabs on her wrists caused by the handcuffs were very big and thick. I asked if her mouth had been stretched. She said, "Yes." I asked, "How many times?" She said, "I don't remember because I lost consciousness."

Despite such ill treatment, the guards also forced the Falun Gong practitioners to do military drills, sing the evil Chinese Communist Party songs, and recite the prison regulations. Anyone who did not cooperate was subjected to torture. Police also assigned a Falun Gong practitioner to be "the recreation committee member" who was expected to lead practitioners in singing the propaganda songs. She was beaten if she did not cooperate.

The above is just a small sampling of the persecution experienced by practitioners at Masanjia Forced Labour Camp. Many other vile acts have been covered up.

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://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2008/12/24/192138.html