First Hand Account of Widespread Torture at the Wanjia Forced Labour Camp

On August 27th, 2002, practitioners in Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province experienced another round of torture at the Wanjia Forced Labour Camp. I have written down my personal experience below.

The torture began in the No. 6 Ward (where my cell was), with three male guards assigned to each ward. Liu Tao, director of the No. 4 Men's Section, and Sun Qingqiang, an instructor of the No. 4 Section, forcibly dragged Ms. Cui to an unknown location and tortured her for not wearing the forced labour camp's uniform. After some time, Ms. Cui stumbled back to her cell, escorted by a male guard.

Ms. Cui clasped her neck in pain and her face was all black and blue. She said that guard Sun Qingqiang had beaten and shocked her. Shortly after, Ms. He Miao was dragged out of her cell and forced to sit on an iron chair¹. The guards simultaneously beat and shocked her with an electric baton.

After Ms. Chen Xianjun and I were dragged from our cell to two empty iron chairs, guard Sun took our arms and handcuffed them behind our backs and around the back of the chair. With every breath I took, I experienced excruciating pain. Even though it was autumn and very cold and windy, the guards still took off our coats, leaving us with only a thin layer of clothes. In the evening, we shivered uncontrollably, nearly freezing to death.

During the day, the guards put us in the hallway in full view of the other practitioners. At night, we were carried to the corner of the stairs where two male guards monitored us and prevented us from falling asleep. Sometimes when I just briefly closed my eyes, the guards would smack my head. Since they did not allow us to use the toilet, we were forced to abstain from eating or drinking anything. We were in extreme pain from morning until night.

After two days of being tortured like this, Ms. Chen found it too hard to bear and against her will she reached a compromise with the guards. Only then was she unlocked from the iron chair. Shortly after, guards Liu Tao and Sun Qingqiang came into my cell and asked me whether I was willing to recite the "Thirteen Rules." Due to the severe pain that I was experiencing, I could only shake my head, as if to say, "No."

Sun immediately punched me in the chest and temples, then he hit me with an uppercut to my chin. Suddenly I felt dizzy and found it difficult to breathe. For five days and five nights I was locked in the iron chair without any food, water, or the use of any toilet facilities.

On the morning of the sixth day, I started to exhibit symptoms of heart disease and felt awful. The guards brought a doctor to my cell and had him examine my blood pressure and heart rate. They took me out of the iron chair and carried me to the bed in my cell. I felt so dizzy that the people that were talking around me sounded like mosquitoes.

After three days of being out of the iron chair, I had not fully recovered and still had difficulty walking. Yet the guards forced me to participate in group training.

This new round of persecution is not just confined to the No. 6 Ward, practitioners throughout the Wanjia Forced Labour Camp are being tortured. Although no one has died during this round of persecution, the guards' unconscionable behaviour has had very damaging results, leaving some practitioners partially or fully disabled.

Note

1. Iron Chair: The "Iron chair" is made of iron pipes. Victims are restrained on the iron chairs with both arms and legs tied for a long period of time, see illustration at http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2002/1/9/17577.html

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2009/4/2/198249.html