Ms. Li Xiuhong Tortured in Heizuizi Women's Forced Labour Camp

Communist regime officials in the Tonghua area of Jilin Province made the Olympic Games their excuse to arrest a large number of Falun Gong practitioners on April 22nd, 2008. Ms. Li Xiuhong was arrested and held in Heizuizi Women's Forced Labour Camp in Changchun City. Agents from the Shanshang Police Station in the Erdaojiang District participated in the arrest at her residence. The following is Ms. Li's personal account of the brutal and inhuman torture she was subjected to in Heizuizi Women's Forced Labour Camp.

When her term was over, the labour camp authorities extended her sentence by four more months.

Brutal Torture Combined with Brainwashing and "Reform" Attempts

Brainwashing attempts were the first tactic the camp officials used to try to "reform" [forcibly renounce Falun Gong] Ms. Li. Camp officials assigned several collaborators¹ to constantly bombard Ms. Li with slanderous information.

Ms. Li practised the Falun Gong exercises on the morning of June 4th, 2008. Wei Dan and a few others shocked her with five electric batons. Wei Dan and Ye Ying shocked her in the presence of head guards Yan Lifeng, Jiang Lijun and guards Wang Lei and Duan Yajuan.

Ye Ying and Wei Dan also kicked Ms. Li, slapped her face, struck her face with the handle of a pair of scissors, and cut her hair. Knocking her to the ground, Yan Lifeng grabbed Ms. Li's head with his legs while Ye Ying and the others stripped off her trousers and jacket. They put her in a prisoner's uniform, shocked her with electric batons and struck her. This went on for a day. The room was filled with the smell of burnt clothes and skin. Ms. Li was shaking so badly that she could no longer stand still. The shocks left her with scabs on her arms for two months. She was bound to a death bed² with her hands and feet tied until the last day of March 2009. The bed was made with overlapping metal bars. Two days after she was tied up on the death bed she was unable to urinate for 20 hours. The monitoring guard suggested she be released. Once she got up, she could not keep her balance. She felt dizzy but could eventually relieve herself. The guard tied her to the death bed again. On each subsequent emptying of her bladder, her belly cramped and she had back pain. A week later the lesions on her buttocks festered.

Ms. Li was not even untied so that she could eat. The person monitoring her had to feed her and also had to remove her undergarments so that she could relieve herself. The maximum number of days a person can endure the death bed is seven. Having attended to personal hygiene after 12 days, she was once again bound to the death bed. Unable to move, her back was numb and she experienced an abnormal heartbeat and blood pressure. Her festering buttocks needed relief. The guards loosened her legs for a few days, but tied them up again as soon the spots had improved. It took a long time for the scars to heal when her legs were loosened. The metal bars hurt her back tremendously. The lengthy death-bed torture also resulted in huge swelling and numbness of her buttocks.

Mental Torture

After tying Ms. Li on the death bed, collaborators read books to her that demonised Falun Gong. They also put a TV set next to the death bed and played DVDs that slandered Falun Gong at full volume. The guards urged those who monitored her to chant the camp rules. All these endeavours were used in an attempt to "reform" her.

Even after her release from the death bed on May 1st, 2009, the guards found some collaborators to continue their efforts to "reform" her.

Not Allowed to See Family Members

The guards declared that, by doing the exercises, she had violated the rules, which was reason enough to not allow family visits in 2008. They continued this policy to 2009, saying that Ms. Li refused to wear the prison uniform. At her family's insistence, they were permitted two telephone conversations, nothing more.

Her family frequently called the labour camp to ask about her but were given only inaccurate information. When she wanted to reply to her family's letter the guards told her, "Head Yan said that, to have the handcuffs removed, you have to write a statement to denounce Falun Gong; otherwise, you can't write to your family." She firmly refused to write the statement, so she was unable to write responses to her family. Toward the end of August 2009 she finally was able to write to her family, explaining her situation in the labour camp. Guard Wang Lei said she could not mail that letter. The guards turned the letter over to the procuratorate.

Refusing to Wear the Prison Uniform or Name Tag

While cutting Ms. Li's hair against her will in October 2009, guard Wang Lei intentionally cut her forehead and the back of her neck, leaving four scars. Since Ms. Li refused to wear the prison uniform, the guards sewed her name tags on her clothes. Prisoner Feng Boye from Hebei Province and prisoner Zheng Jianxia from Guizhou Province pushed Ms. Li onto a bed while her hands were cuffed to the headboard. Pulling her hair and ears, the two prisoners held her down so that her legs were flat, then sewed the name tag to her winter coat. Following that, others put the prison uniform on her, scratching one of her hands. Each time they put her in the uniform and sewed the name tag on her garments, she removed them. The guards eventually gave up.

Vicious Guards

When Ms. Li practised the exercises, guard Wang Xiuli slapped her face once, but guard Wang Lei hit her face numerous times. Head guard Jiang Lijun kicked her. After Ms. Li was bound to the death bed in July, Wang Lei gave orders that nobody was to wipe the sweat off her or wash her or change her clothes and socks. He checked frequently to make sure his orders were being followed. Ms. Li's handcuffs were not removed between September and October 2008. During those two months she was unable to tend to her personal hygiene. In addition, Wang Lei prohibited anyone from talking to her. The guards would tightly close the door to the room during times when others passed by on the way to eat or use the toilet. Except for those who guarded her, no one else was allowed to talk to her. Furthermore, she was barred from smiling or looking at anyone. The guards cut her off entirely from the outside. She was not given break time or allowed to look out the window. She lived in isolation for those two years.

Evildoer Wang Yuqin

After Ms. Li was finally released from the death bed the last day of March 2009, Wang Yuqin (a non-practitioner) who was arrested in Songyuan City for appealing her personal case, cut the bed sheets and tied up Ms. Li's arms and legs. She also forced the other prisoners to wrap Ms. Li with tape and brutally strike her. They pushed her head into the corner of the bed's metal bars. Wang Yuqin also instigated other prisoners to hit Ms. Li and grabbed Ms. Li's ankle and towed her around the floor several times. Wang turned the volume of a tape recorder to the maximum and put the recorder next to Ms. Li's bed. She knew that Ms. Li had a weak heart and could not tolerate noise. The noise was so loud that it could be heard several floors away with the doors closed.

When Ms. Li practised the exercises on September 6th, 2009, Wang Yuqin poured lots of water on the floor, then kicked Ms. Li to the ground and towed her around on the wet ground. After that, she pushed Ms. Li, making her head hit the ground. Ms. Li stopped breathing. Once she regained consciousness, Wang immediately dragged the soaked and barefoot Ms. Li to the hallway. The temperature was unseasonably cold, but Wang opened all the hallway windows.

More Evildoing Persons and Deeds

Prisoner Pu Shilian also actively participated in torturing Ms. Li. She poured water on the floor near Ms. Li's bed. When she got up, she had to wade through it. Because Ms. Li practised the exercises on April 25th, 2009, Jilin City prisoner Zhang Lijuan grabbed Ms. Li's head and hit it against the bed frame. On another occasion, Zhang kicked Ms. Li's head so hard against the heating pipe that it bounced back and Ms. Li's mouth bled. Zhang once pushed Ms. Li down and then stepped on her back and screamed. Zhang also ordered prisoner Wu Hailin to hit Ms. Li. Lin Yuxue, a collaborator, pushed Ms. Li down and struck and kicked her when she practised the exercises. Lin injured Ms. Li many times and once made Ms. Li's neck bleed. When it was Lin's turn to watch Ms. Li, she used handcuffs almost every morning. Lin clasped them so tightly that the cuffs unlocked by themselves. Ms. Li's wrists were covered in scars from the handcuffs cutting into the skin, injuring her hands and wrists.

As mentioned above, the camp officials refused to release Ms. Li and extended her term by four more months, even though her term had expired on April 22nd, 2010.

Ms. Li is still in Heizuizi Women's Forced Labour Camp, suffering from inhuman, cruel torture.

Heizuizi Women's Labour Camp switchboard: 86-431-85384312
Ma Liting, head of Heizuizi Women's Labour Camp: 86-431-85384312, ext: 8001
Tian Yanqiu, deputy head: 86-431-85384312, ext: 8005

Note

1. "Collaborators": former practitioners who have turned against Falun Gong under brainwashing and torture. They are then made to assist in brainwashing and torturing practitioners.

2. "Death Bed" torture: A practitioner is tied to a bed with his hands handcuffed above his head to the bed rails, and his legs tied with thin nylon ropes. The rope is then tightly wrapped around the practitioner's body and the bed, from his legs to his chest. The rope is wrapped so tightly that the practitioner has difficulty breathing and eventually loses consciousness.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2010/6/8/225027.html