Practitioners Beaten to Disability and Death in Anyang Forced Labor Camp, Henan Province

6-3-2002

I am a 50 year-old female retiree from a company in Henan province. As it is well known to the world, Falun Dafa practitioners have been ill treated in China. Even a person like me, who merely stays at home to study Falun Gong, was arrested on April 29, 2001. After my illegal arrest, I was sent to the Anyang Forced Labour Camp in Henan Province. My life during my 11-month stay in the labour camp was a living hell.

According to the current Chinese Constitution:

1. Citizens have the freedom of belief. No one is permitted to force people to change their beliefs, or to discriminate against them for their beliefs.

2. Citizens' personal freedom is not to be infringed upon. Illegal detention or illegal constraints to a citizen's personal freedom are prohibited.

3. A citizen's human rights are not to be infringed upon by any means of insult or slandering.

4. A citizen's residence is not to be trespassed upon. The illegal search of a citizen's residence is prohibited.

Currently, the dignity of the Chinese Constitution is being trodden upon. I was arrested from my residence and my home was illegally searched. All materials related to Falun Gong were confiscated by the police. We practice compassion and have not committed any crime in the past, nor will we in the future. Then, why are we still being persecuted as criminals?

In the forced labour camp, the police order two or more criminal inmates to monitor each Falun Gong practitioner, depriving the practitioners of any personal freedom. It is very common that practitioners are beaten and cursed. The filthy words and brutality of police and criminals are beyond description.

I witnessed many Dafa practitioners being beaten in the second workshop of the fourth brigade. A female practitioner named Li Jingrong was left badly cut on the head, bleeding heavily. Another female practitioner named Wu Xiaohua was seized by the throat fiercely, making it hard for her to swallow food. She was also frequently beaten, leaving bruises all over her body. Her genital area was beaten, leaving her painfully bruised and with difficulty urinating. Practitioner Zhang Yali (female) experienced similar brutalities.

The scars can be seen on many practitioners' bodies while they bathe. For going on a hunger strike, Practitioner Xu Yunxia (female) was forced to the floor and beaten by ruffians. Many practitioners were thrown to the ground from the upper bunk and beaten. I saw such things happen every day in the labour camp. Under such extreme situations the only way we could protest our illegal detention was to go on a labour strike, a hunger strike, or refuse to report to police. Instead of being restrained, they employed all the male and female police in the labour camp to "take care of" the Falun Gong practitioners.

They knocked down all of the practitioners who had protested, handcuffing or tying them up. The practitioners were then taken to the labour camp office to be continuously tortured. They tortured 37 practitioners in the 4th brigade in such an inhumane manner. Policemen brought me into their office on December 27, 2001. They tied my arms behind my back, pulled the rope up behind my neck, and then forced me to maintain a squatting position. If I refused to comply, they would beat me up. They also tied up my neck and legs, and then tightened the rope, forcing my head down. If I merely tried to raise my head, they would beat me. My thighs were kicked over one hundred times by an evil policeman, who also kicked me countless times on my feet and legs. My head and face were punched repeatedly. After the evil policeman became tired of kicking, he would whip me with a belt. For three days and nights I was not allowed to sleep or eat. After the intense beating, I couldn't stand up because I lost mobility in my lower back. I told the head of the camp, "I will sue you. You are law enforcement officials, but you are breaking the law, and you know it." Then a female police officer said, "Which year hasn't there been a Falun Gong practitioner that has died?" She meant that it is "normal" for Falun Gong practitioners to be beaten to death.

One practitioner reported, "In the third brigade during the year 2001, one practitioner was tortured to death, one was physically disabled, and one was tortured to mental disability. Another was tortured to death in the first brigade. Even the basic right of being allowed to speak was withheld."

In the labour camp, Falun Gong practitioners are forced to work from 6a.m. until 10p.m. For 16 hours a day, they are not allowed to take a break except at meal times. Talking between the practitioners is prohibited. Even toilet times are scheduled and all of the practitioners are made to go together while being monitored. We were treated as slaves, with all of our basic rights deprived. This, of course, all during what the Chinese government has labelled the "best period of human rights in Chinese history!"

The above is only my experience in the labour camp, and there is much more evil yet to be exposed. I urge all international human rights organizations to investigate the labour camps in Henan province, along with other parts of China. The true human rights situation in China will then become clear to the world's people.

Source: http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2002/6/12/23019.html

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2002/6/4/31265.html