71-Year-Old Ms. Su Zebi Dies Soon after Being Released from Forced Labour Camp

Name: Su Zebi
Gender: Female
Age: 71
Address: Jianbei'er Village, Jiangbei District, Chongqing City
Occupation: Retired
Date of death: November 14th, 2009
Date of most recent arrest: May 19th, 2008
Most recent place of detention: Chongqing City Shabao Women's Forced Labour Camp (Tel: 86-23-67549131; Address: 28-Ganyu Street, Shimahe Community, Jiangbei District, Chongqing City, zip code 400021; 400021)
City: Chongqing
Persecution suffered: Electric shock, sleep deprivation, forced labour, brainwashing, forced injections/drug administration, beatings, hung up, imprisonment, solitary confinement, torture, rape, sexual assault, force-feedings, extortion, fired from workplace, physical restraint, detained in a mental hospital, home ransacked, interrogation, detention

Around 10 a.m. on May 19th, 2008, Jiangbei District Domestic Security agents Liang Shibin, Liu Ling (female), and others arrested Ms. Su Zebi and took her to the Yubei Brainwashing Centre after ransacking her home. On June 1st, 2008, she was sentenced to one year in a forced labour camp and taken to the Shabao Women's Forced Labour Camp in the Jiangbei District.

At the camp, she was placed in the Fourth Ward, otherwise known as the "Education Ward," which was established specifically to house Falun Gong practitioners. In January 2009, 127 practitioners were detained in that ward, 58 of whom were older than 60. Regardless of age, everyone was forced to "exercise" outdoors from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. for a month. Exercises included military-style marching, standing, and squatting. Practitioners were not allowed to talk or make eye contact. Prisoners detained on drug charges were assigned to watch them closely and around the clock. They were authorised to beat and curse practitioners at will. Practitioners were forced to read books slandering Falun Gong and were forced to write reports to "correct their thinking." If they were reluctant, they were beaten and deprived of sleep. They were given little to eat or to drink while having to perform forced labour. Typically, practitioners in their 60s had to wrap more than 60 pounds of confectionary every day, fold 350 boxes for packing down jackets, and sew details on six pairs of trousers. Whenever someone could not finish her quota, she was forced to stand upright for a long time, write a statement of guilt, or copy the prison rules.

During her time at the camp, Ms. Su Zebi suffered serious physical and psychological injuries. After she was allowed to return home on June 1st, 2009, local police continued to threaten and harass her. She died on November 14th, 2009, due to the stressful conditions.

Luo Chuanmei (female), Shabao Women's Labour Camp Director
Fourth Ward: 86- 23-67549185
Chen Yanyan (female), Su Can (female), wardens of the fourth ward: 86-23-67549181

Chinese version available at http://minghui.org/mh/articles/2009/11/18/212835.html