Practitioners Tied, Handcuffed, Hung Up and Tortured With Electric Shocks in Shijiazhuang Forced Labour Camp

In Shijiazhuang Forced Labour Camp, Hebei Province, Unit 304 of No.3 team has set up a disciplinary unit to specially persecute Dafa [Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance] practitioners. In the camp all forms of communication amongst the practitioners are prohibited, and even the use of toilet facilities have to be supervised.

Zhang Weimin, a 40 year-old male, was a police officer in Unit 304. Due to his ruthless performance of torturing practitioners, he was acclaimed as a "work model," and promoted to the supervising officer of No.1 Team. Two other leading-officers, Xu and Liu were also police officers originally from Unit 304. Xu, a female officer, in her mid-forties, was mainly in charge of persecuting Falun Gong practitioners. Whereas Liu, a female officer of about 50 years of age, was put in charge of what they called the "re-education" programme.

During the months of March, April and May 2001, police officers from the camp summoned Dafa practitioners at midnight, one by one to an empty room above the canteen. To avoid attracting attention, they locked up all the doors and windows before starting the interrogations and torture of the practitioners. To avoid being recognized by the practitioners, the officers masked their faces. After forcing some practitioners to remove their clothes, the officers tied them up with thin wire ropes. The ropes quickly cut into their flesh and within minutes, the practitioners passed out from the pain. Some other practitioners were handcuffed and hung up, for a few days at a time in.

Zheng Pengxiu, a female practitioner in her forties, came from Xingtai District. She experienced a miraculous cure from a serious heart disease after practicing. Since she refused to give up her practice, she was forced to squat down for a few days in a room corner as a punishment. The police officers then applied high voltage electricity to shock her. For days afterwards, she kept having nightmares.

Xu Haili, female, age 23, an employee of a certain enterprise from Jingjing County, was arrested in Beijing for appealing against the injustice and ongoing slander of Falun Gong, and later sentenced to forced labour. While she was in No.1 team, because of her refusal to submit even under pressure, she was transferred to Unit 304 for disciplinary action, where she was put through some of the cruellest tortures. First they kept her on 24-hour surveillance, and continually bombarded her with some ridiculous lies to confuse her. Seeing that she still refused to give in, the officers would not let her sleep. They forced her to stand for hours on end until finally her feet were swollen and she was unable to wear shoes anymore, but had to use slippers instead. For over half a month in the middle of winter, they continued torturing her in this way. Finally Xu was completely exhausted from the ordeal and was about to collapse. To keep her awake, two guards supported and walked her around the courtyard, splashing her face with cold water at the same time. They wanted to break her spirit. According to information received, Unit 304 was the prime centre of torture in the whole country. Officers from the central and provincial "the 610 Office" were often sent in for training to refine their techniques [to persecute practitioners], and they often took video recordings of the torture process on the practitioners. Perhaps Xu's case had upset the reputation of their record, for she was removed and transferred to No.4 Team in Shijiazhuang shortly afterwards.