The Brutal Persecution of Practitioners in the Hebei Province No. 1 Forced Labour Camp

Hebei Province's No. 1 Forced Labour Camp was originally known as the Tangshan City Kaiping Forced Labour Camp. Numerous Falun Gong practitioners have been tortured, disabled, and lost their lives there since the persecution of Falun Gong started in July 1999. In recent years, as practitioners inside and outside of China used different ways to expose this outrage and explain the facts of Falun Gong, the environment has improved in many places. However, in 2008, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) intensified the persecution and arrested, detained, and persecuted practitioners in "preparation" for the Beijing Olympics. The torture, harassment and mistreatment of practitioners in the Hebei Province No. 1 Forced Labour Camp also increased.

The camp is a three-story building, with Levels One and Two laid out identically. The north side is shaded throughout the year. It is extremely cloudy and piercingly cold on that side in the autumn, beginning in September. On the northwest side is a three-story building. This is the "Education" Section, where practitioners are confined on the north side on the ground floor. The guards do not like to patrol this area, and it was vacant for a long time. It is extremely cold and has been designated as the place where Falun Gong practitioners are tortured.

In July and August of 2008, about 30 to 40 practitioners were detained in the camp. Camp officials took photos of all the practitioners, although many resisted. The guards pulled their faces, grabbed their hair, and took the photos. At the beginning of August, the practitioners protested the detention by refusing to follow the labour camp rules, such as greeting the chief. As a result, they were tortured.

At the end of August, an elderly woman who was detained after appealing for the right to practise Falun Gong saw that guard Wang Yufeng tortured practitioners who refused to greet the chief. They had to stand for hours and were not allowed to go to rest 10:30 p.m. She could not take the mental pressure and tried to hang herself [Note: the teachings of Falun Gong expressly forbid killing, including suicide; such an act is not condoned by the practice, but it does underscore the intensity of the persecution.] but other inmates discovered her. From then on, no practitioner greeted the chief. Because of this suicide attempt in September, they installed in every cell the most advanced monitors. The guards no longer trusted other inmates to monitor practitioners. From then on, the guards themselves monitored everyone.

From the end of October to the end of November 2008, practitioners practised the Falun Gong exercises in the morning. Guards Lu Haicun, Wang Wenping, and Yan Hongli dragged practitioners Ms. Wang Weiyue and Ms. Zhou Shuyin into the Education Section. They tied them to a chair for an entire day. Their hands and feet were tied to the armrests and legs of the chair, and they couldn't move. It was extremely cold, so after long hours tied to the chair they could barely walk. Practitioner Ms. Bai Fengyu was tied up for three days, and Ms. Zheng Baohua for two days and a night. Then they were taken to the northern "icehouse" and tied up for five days and nights. Although it was ice cold, the guards opened the windows and the wind blew directly on Ms. Zheng Baohua. Ms. Liu Shuge was tied to a chair for nine days and nights. Yan Hongli did not allow practitioners Ms. Liu Shuge and Ms. Zheng Baohua to use the toilet and Ms. Liu lost control of her bowels. She went on a hunger strike in protest and her blood pressure rose, so she was released.

On December 31st, 2008, Wang Wenping and the camp guards searched all the practitioners to see if they had any Falun Gong articles. They did full body searches.

On January 1st, 2009, the practitioners refused to count off and resisted body searches and any harassment. Wang Wenping took Ms. Wang Weiyue to an office, slapped her face more than ten times, and tied her to a torture chair for four days and nights. All the practitioners were brutally tortured. Ms. Bai Fengyu and Ms. Ren Shufen were tied to the torture chair for two days and one night. Ms. Zheng Baohua was tied to that chair for five days and nights. Ms. Liu Shuge, Ms. Hou Fang, Ms. Liu Xiaojun, Ms. Yang Miao, and Ms. Li Hui were taken to the Education Section and made to stand in the extremely cold corridor from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Because they continued to resist, all those that refused to count off outdoors were taken outside where it was freezing cold. Only Ms. Wang Lanfeng and Ms. Yang Miao were spared because they were not feeling well. The wind was bitterly cold. Over 20 practitioners were put outside in the cold. After Ms. Zheng Baohua fainted they were brought back inside.

The guards began to torture seven practitioners: Ms. Bai Fengyu, Ms. Liu Shuge, Ms. Liu Xiaojun, Ms. Hou Fang, Ms. Zheng Baohua, Ms.Yang Miao, and Ms. Wang Lanfeng. Then, they transferred them to the coldest northern room. The guards did not give them food and demanded that they count off before eating. For two days and nights, these practitioners were given 30 biscuits and one-and-a-half bags of instant noodles. Despite the freezing cold, hunger, brutal mental pressure, and physical torment, these practitioners did not compromise. On the third day, they looked for Wang Wenping and rationally, peacefully, and compassionately explained the facts about Falun Gong. Wang Wenping and Lu Haicun finally agreed to provide them food. Ms. Wang Lanfeng suffered from hypertension and was released on bail for medical treatment. A week later, the remaining six practitioners were transferred to the south side of the building.

During the 2009 Lantern Festival, the guards began another round of torture. They took Ms. Yang Miao to the hospital for a check up, because her blood pressure was too high (110/195). Wang Yufen claimed that he was taking the practitioners to the camp store, but instead took Ms. Bai Fengyu, Ms. Liu Shuge, Ms. Zheng Baohua, Ms. Hou Fang, and Ms. Liu Xiaojun to the Education Section. Lu Haicun, Wang Wenping, and Yan Hongli tied them to the torture chair for a day.

Six of the practitioners suffered mental anguish and bodily harm, and they were quite weak. Ms. Bai Fengyu developed heart disease due to the torture. Ms. Liu Shuge and Ms. Liu Xiaojun suffered from high blood pressure (120/180), Ms. Zheng Baohua had leg cramps, and Ms. Hou Fang suffered a bad headache.

On February 20th, 2009, six practitioners did the Falun Gong exercises. The guards separated them and transferred Ms. Zheng Baohua and Ms. Liu Xiaojun to the west room for torture on February 23rd (see Minghui report of December 12th, 2009 for details: "Brutality of Police at Tangshan Kaiping Women's Forced Labour Camp"). Ms. Liu Shuge and Ms. Yang Miao were taken to the north room, the "icehouse," after they were seen doing the exercises in the morning. The guards handcuffed them and tied them up with ropes from 5 a.m. to 7 p.m. Later, Yang Haifeng and Ding Xiaoguang tortured them with electric batons. When Yan Hongli was on duty, she threw the practitioners' blankets on the ground, tied Ms. Liu Shuge to the bed, and forbade her from using the toilet. Ms. Liu wet the bed three times.

On March 26th, 2009, Ms. Liu Xiaojun, Ms. Hou Fang, and Ms. Zheng Baohua went on a hunger strike to protest the torture and demanded to be released unconditionally. They stayed on a hunger strike for a month. The practitioners refused to co-operate with the persecution and often shouted, "Falun Gong is good," "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good," and "Don't beat people!" Guards Lu Haicun, Wang Wenping, Yang Haifeng, Wang Yanhua, Wang Yufeng, Liu Liying, Ding Xiaoguang, and Jia Fengmei and Dr. Wang Hongli and He Hongwei often beat practitioners and barbarically force-fed them. Force-feeding caused nasal cavity haemorrhage, diarrhoea, vomiting, and extreme pain. The feeding tube injured Ms. Zheng Baohua's lung and was bloody when it was pulled out.

At the beginning of April 2009, six practitioners protested the brutal torture by not wearing the prison uniform. In late April, guards put Ms. Hou Fang, Ms. Bai Fengyu, Ms. Liu Shuge, and Ms. Yang Miao into one cell and detained Ms. Zheng Baohua and Ms. Liu Xiaojun by themselves as they were on a hunger strike. They took off their outerwear, leaving them only in their bras and underpants. On April 25th, when Wang Wenpin and Wang Hongli force-fed Ms. Liu Xiaojun, she shouted "Falun Gong is good!" Ms. Hou Fang, Ms. Bai Fengyu, Ms. Liu Shuge, and Ms.Yang Miao heard her and also shouted "Falun Dafa is good," "Stop the persecution," "You are not allowed to beat people!" Soon after, Ms. Bai Fengyu's heart disease reoccurred but she returned to normal after about an hour.

On April 29th, as the prisoner population swelled, the guards divided the female team into two brigades, the No. 5 and No. 6 Brigades. They separated the practitioners. Ms. Liu Shuge, Ms. Hou Fang, Ms. Bai Fengyu, and Ms. Liu Xiaojun were transferred to the No. 5 Brigade on the first floor, and Ms. Zheng Baohua and Ms. Yang to the No. 6 Brigade on the second floor.

In early May, due to long term force-feeding earlier, Ms. Zheng Baohua was emaciated, although she ate normally. She always had a low-grade fever and coughed up phlegm daily. After taking her to a hospital outside of the prison, guards Yan Hongli and Liu Liying isolated Ms. Zheng Baohua in order to give her liquid food intravenously for a week. When she was extremely weak, Yan Hongli pulled off her clothes and put the labour camp uniform on her. They feared that she would take off the uniform, so they tied her to the bed. At the same time, Yan Hongli personally pulled off Ms. Yang's clothes. This went on for two days. They ripped Ms. Yang's camisole and finally left her with only two bras and three pairs of underpants to wear.

On May 19th, the guards put Ms. Zheng Baohua and Ms. Yang Miao into the same cell. Because Ms. Zheng was emaciated, she put on her fall clothes and trousers. The guards insulted them and prohibited them from going to the toilet. On the seventh morning, when Ms. Zheng and Ms. Yang were practising the exercises, Yan Hongli came in with handcuffs and ropes. Ms. Yang immediately pointed out that they had not been to the toilet for 6 days and nights and asked to go to the toilet. Yan Hongli refused to let them go and handcuffed Ms. Yang, so she shouted, "Brigade chief Yan pulls off practitioners' clothes and forbids them from using the toilet!" Ms. Zhang shouted, "Brigade chief Yan pulls off our clothes and won't allow us to us the toilet!" Yan Hongli immediately put the ropes into Ms. Yang's mouth, seized the base of her tongue with her thumb, and almost caused her to suffocate. Yang Hongli and a prisoner stuffed a towel into Ms. Zheng's mouth, which injured her mouth and caused her to bleed. On the tenth day after not using the toilet for 9 days and nights, both practitioners were very weak, could not sleep, and were unable to lie down. Ms. Zheng's belly was swollen. After 4 p.m., the guards called the doctor, and soon after told both to use the toilet. They had blood in their urine. They went back on a hunger strike to protest the persecution.

At the beginning of July 2009, Ms. Yang was isolated in the ice house, because she refused to wear a camp uniform. For more than 3 months, she only wore a bra and underpants. At the end of August, she was finally allowed to put on clothes.

At the beginning of October, Ms. Zheng and Ms. Miao were put into the same cell. The weather was already very cold. They repeatedly asked for their clothes. In early November, they were given their woollen sweaters and trousers, but Ms. Zheng's cotton-padded jacket and their down clothes were not returned. The north room was piercingly cold. Other inmates had two to three layers of mattress covers and three blankets. However, the two practitioners were only allowed one of each and were freezing all the time and could not sleep.

On November 15th, Ms. Zheng had a high fever and coughed up phlegm for several days. She was taken to a hospital and found to be in a later stage of tuberculosis. The labour camp refused to accept responsibility for her illness and released her.

In addition, Hebei No. 1 Forced Labour Camp made all inmates fill out certain forms monthly and sign and fingerprint them. For doing that, their term was reduced by two days every month. The precondition for this reduction in term was that they obey all rules. These rules include acknowledgment of guilt and admitting mistakes, listening to the Chinese Communist Party's "education," not practising Falun Gong, and so on.

The above is only a partial account of the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in the Hebei No. 1 Forced Labour Camp.

Partial list of guards at Hebei Province No. 1 Forced Labour Camp:
1. Lu Haicun, male, around 38 years old, former brigade chief of the female brigade and now head of the Administrative Office
2. Wang Wenping, female, 39 years old, brigade chief of the No. 5 Brigade
3. Wang Yanhua, female, over 30 years old, squadron head of the No. 5 Brigade
4. Yan Hong Li, female, 39 years old, brigade chief of the No. 6 Brigade and formerly political instructor. Her name has shown up on a list on the Minghui/Clearwisdom website, of those who have tortured practitioners. Her name is also on the list for the Coalition to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong.
5. Yang Haifeng, female, 42 years old, squadron head of the No. 6 Brigade

Guards in the No. 6 Brigade.

1. Liu Liying, female, 33 years old
2. Jia Fengmei, female, 43 years old. She does not use physical violence against practitioners, but verbally abuses them.
3. Wang Yufeng, female, over 30 years old
4. Zhang Ning, female, 29 years old. She does not use physical violence against practitioners, but verbally abuses them.

Doctors:

Wang Hongli, male, director of the hospital. He is very brutal and beats female practitioners during force-feeding sessions.
He Hongwei, male

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2010/1/28/217097.html