Tortures Endured by Falun Gong Practitioners in Masanjia Forced Labour Camp During the Olympics

Shortly prior to the 2008 Beijing Olympics, officials from the Beijing Forced Labour Camp transferred over 100 practitioners who refused to renounce Falun Gong to the Masanjia Forced Labour Camp in Shenyang City. Several were scheduled to be released during the Olympics but officials at the Masanjia camp found all kinds of excuses to prolong their terms for six months. I was one of them.

This was the second time I had been held in a forced labour camp. Seven policemen and security officials from the Liulitun Police Station in the Zhaoyang District of Beijing broke into my house on February 24th, 2006. They claimed that they wanted to know about my plan to go to Hong Kong and insisted that I go to the police station. I repeatedly told them that it was my right as a citizen to travel, but that I could not go to Hong Kong because of financial reasons. They took me with them against my will and searched my house. I was sentenced to two and half years in a forced labour camp because they found Falun Gong books in my house. At that time, practitioners in the Beijing Forced Labour Camp protested the persecution in many ways. We refused to give up the practice, answer roll-call, say or memorize things the guards told us, carry IDs, or do hard labour. We also went on hunger strikes. The camp officials gave those who renounced Falun Gong reduced sentences. Those who did not were forced to do hard labour and were denied other privileges. Those who refused to renounce Falun Gong and refused to do any kind of work were allowed to sleep very little and were not allowed to contact anyone from outside the camp.

The Beijing Forced Labour Camp had a "rule," that those who received two warnings within a year would get prolonged sentences. Before the Olympics, the guards worked very hard to give practitioners warnings. For example, a guard told a practitioner to wear an ID. If the practitioner refused, he was given a warning. If the practitioner obeyed, the guard then ordered him to attend a brainwashing session. If the practitioner refused, then the guard told the practitioner to take a stand on the Falun Gong issue. If the practitioner said that Falun Gong was righteous, then the guard gave him a warning for "spreading illegal ideology." If the practitioner agreed to attend brainwashing sessions, then the guard told him to write essays denouncing Falun Gong. This went on and on. From March to May 2008, many practitioners were received warnings twice in a month.

On July 14th, 2008, a guard woke me up 3:00 a.m. and ordered me to pack up. Two guards were standing by with handcuffs and electric batons. Before I could question them, the guards jumped on me, covered my mouth with my pillow, handcuffed me, and dragged me into a police car. Several practitioners were already in the car. The guards pushed our heads way down so that I could barely breathe.

We were taken to a dispatch station and switched to another car. Many armed policemen were standing by to deal with us women. They used capture skills to force head covers on us. Only our eyes and noses were exposed. After a ten-hour drive, we found out we were in the Masanjia Forced Labour Camp.

In Masanjia, we continued to tell the guards the facts about the persecution of Falun Gong and refused to cooperate with the prison rules, attend brainwashing sessions, or memorize the prison regulations.

On the morning of July 17th, 2008, the guards took Li Li, Zhang Yinying, Wang Guizhi, and me out of our cells and handcuffed us to metal beds in separate rooms. We were not allowed to eat or use the toilet. In the afternoon, many guards came with electric batons, handcuffs, ropes, and wooden boards. A woman took our blood pressure. A guard told me if I admitted that I was wrong, I would be spared, but I refused. The guards sat me on the ground, pushed me forward so my head was against the ground, and handcuffed my hands to separate beds. They moved the two beds in opposite directions. My arms were stretched until they couldn't be stretched any further. It felt like my arms were about to be torn off and my wrists were about to be cut off. Soon my arms were purple and swollen and the handcuffs cut deeply into my flesh. My hands were bleeding. Seeing that I wasn't cooperating, the guards pushed my legs together and onto a wooden board. They then tightly wrapped my legs to the board so my legs and my feet were in a straight line. As time went by, my ankles, knees, and tendons became extremely painful, plus my back was still bent over and my arms were stretched out. Every part of my body was in excruciating pain and I was sweating profusely.

After the torture, I was not able to move my arms, and my fingers were numb. I couldn't take care of myself for several months. I knew a practitioner whose arms were disabled after being tortured. Another practitioner's chin was permanently dislocated because of violent force feeding.

Sometimes the guards handcuffed a practitioner's arms on the top railing of a bed frame, tied his legs to the front railing, and pushed his bottom down below the bed level (the bed had no mattress). The practitioner's arms were stretched to the maximum for many days. That practitioner was not allowed to use the toilet or eat anything. In the winter, the guards even took off the practitioner's clothes.

The Masanjia Forced Labour Camp's "strict management team" forced practitioners to sing songs praising the Chinese Communist Party. If practitioners refused, the guards slapped them, shocked them with electric batons, or tortured them with the "extreme stretching methods." Every day one could hear screams coming from that team. A female practitioner sang quietly and a male guard covered her eyes and electrically shocked her breasts and crotch area. Practitioners had to form a straight line every day on a drill field. If they did not do well, they were forced to stand under the scorching sun for hours until their skin was burnt.

Practitioner Ms. Zhao Suzhen from Tieling was savagely beaten by guards Zhou Qin, Zhang Huan, Zhang Jun, and Zhang Zhuohui. Ms. Zhao's legs were fractured and she could no longer walk. Guards Zhao Guorong and Guan Lin had shocked Ms. Zhao with electric batons. Now she is mentally unstable, suffers from memory loss, and is often dizzy.

Practitioners Ms. Lu Lin and Ms. Zhang Suxia did the Falun Gong exercises in January 2009. Guard Li Yuming from the First Brigade beat them with an electric baton and electrically shocked them for fifteen minutes.

Ms. Lu Lin and Ms. Zhang Guozhen refused to do hard labour. The guards tortured them with the "extreme stretching methods" on January 10th-11th, 2009. Ms. Lu was stretched for six hours and Ms. Zhang for thirteen hours. During the torture, a guard smeared an unknown drug into Ms. Zhang's nose. The drug was extremely irritating to her respiratory system, which caused her eyes to water severely. That guard then took off her clothes and together with guards Li Mingyu, Zhang Chunguang, Zhao Guorong, and Guan Lin beat and kicked her until she passed out.

When the guards noticed that Ms. Zhong Zhuzhen carried Falun Gong articles and did the exercises, her sentence was prolonged. She was tortured with the "extreme stretching methods." Her muscles became atrophied and she can no longer walk well. Ms. Wang Jinfeng was tortured with the "flying stretch" method. She was forced to stand on a stool with her hands handcuffed high up. A guard kicked the stool away so that her entire body weight was sustained by her arms. One year later, her arms are still numb.

Practitioners Ms. Zhang Lianying and Ms. Qiu Shuqin shouted, "Falun Gong is good, Truth-Compassion-Forbearance is good," and "Stop the persecution of Falun Gong" during a mealtime. The guards took them away and beat them. Ms. Qiu couldn't stop vomiting after the beating. The guards secretly transferred her somewhere else and her whereabouts is unknown.

Officials from Masanjia Forced Labour Camp had deals for contract work from many companies. Practitioners have to work hard ten hours a day without rest or pay. The required workload has to be completed every day. Most practitioners were in their fifties and physically unable to handle the workload, thus they were often beaten or otherwise abused. Wang Shuzheng from the Second Brigade and guard You Ran often pinched practitioners' arms or inner thighs. Practitioners Ms. Wang Jinfeng, Ms. Xu Xiaoyan, Ms. Zhao Renhua, and Ms. Duan Jun were often verbally abused and beaten.

Guard Liu Yong at the Masanjia camp is the leader of the strict management team. Liu often slapped practitioners' faces with heavy leather boots and shocked them with electric batons.

Two male guards enthusiastically participated in torturing practitioners. In January 2009, these two were awarded for their "outstanding work performance" during the Chinese New Year ceremony.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2009/4/25/199623.html