Masanjia Forced Labour Camp Torturing Practitioners with Appalling Cruelty

Masanjia Forced Labour Camp in Shenyang City, Liaoning Province, has been torturing Falun Gong practitioners for over ten years, attempting to brainwash them and force them to give up their practice of Falun Gong. Many instances in which practitioners were tortured to death, disability, and mental disorder have been made public. The extent of the cruelty taking place in Masanjia Forced Labour Camp is really shocking.

In the first half of 2010, more than 150 practitioners were detained in Masanjia. From October 11th, 2009 to January 2010, many practitioners were subjected to many kinds of brutal torture. Currently Zhang Lianying, Xia Ning, Zhang Min, Liu Yanqin, Liu Shiqin, and other practitioners are suffering in a strictly-controlled group.

Examples of the Brutal Means of Torture Inflicted on Practitioners in Masanjia Forced Labour Camp

Stretching Bed: The practitioner's hands are fixed between two beds (the beds all have two levels), sometimes one hand up, the other down. Then one or two people pull the two beds apart so that the victim's limbs are stretched. Every stretch causes sharp pain. The handcuffs cut into the flesh on the wrists, which become swollen and numb.

Demo picture: Stretching Bed

Splitting the Legs: Practitioners are forced to sit on the floor, with their hands tied separately to the railings of a bed. Then one person pulls one leg to one side as another person pulls the other leg to the other side to "split the legs." After this, the victim can hardly walk for one to two months because the leg muscles and tendons have been strained and injured. Even after six months, a practitioner from Jinzhou had great difficulty walking even with the help and support of others.

Demo picture: Splitting the Legs

Big Hang Up: The victim is handcuffed, with the hands either together or separate, and the cuffs are then hung up onto heating pipes. The person's feet do not touch the ground, and the handcuffs cut into the flesh. Before and after the 2008 Olympic Games, those who refused to quit Falun Gong; those who restarted practising Falun Gong after they had been forced to write the Three Statements to renounce practising Falun Gong, or those practitioners who had just been detained in this labour camp, were tortured even more brutally.

Demo picture: Big Hang Up

Hanging Bed: Generally enforced by male police. First, the victim's legs and heels are tightly tied to a wooden truss, then his or her hands are fixed to the upper railing of a metal bed (sometimes one hand high, the other low), and the abdomen is pressed to the railing of the bed. The upper body and head are suspended while the whole body bends about 90 degrees. After one or more days, the person cannot straighten his or her back, the legs are severely injured, and the wrists are numb. Usually it is very difficult for the person to resume normal walking. On July 14th, 2008, seven practitioners out of 50, who were transferred from Beijing to the Masanjia Forced Labour Camp, were tortured in this way. Many of the local practitioners from Liaoning suffered even more from this brutal torture.

Demo picture: Hanging Bed

The brutal torture also includes electric baton shocks, electric shocks on women's breasts, and so on. The practitioners under rigourous control are taken out to be electrically shocked, shut in a solitary small cell, kicked and punched, slapped in the face, and so on if they show any sign of defiance or refuse to sing the required songs.

Some of the Practitioners Who Were Brutally Tortured from October 11th, 2009, to January 2010

Xiao Huiye from Fushun City was severely beaten, stripped naked and frozen, and tortured with Splitting the Legs.

Ms. Li Hong from Dalian was sentenced to forced labour in October 2008. She was brutally beaten.

Ms. Bao Qingying is from Huanren County, Benxi City. In March 2009 she was admitted to the camp. In November she was beaten and kicked and then subjected to the Big Hang Up in the strictly-controlled group.

Ms. Fan Jingzhi was shut in a solitary small cell and subjected to the Big Hang Up and the Stretching Bed because she refused to recite the "30 Items."

Yu Jie from Dalian is subjected to brutal beating.

Li Shumei from Zhuanghe was taken to the camp in January 2010 and was repeatedly beaten and tortured with the Stretching Bed.

Fu Yan from Jinzhou City was repeatedly beaten and tortured with the Stretching Bed.

Ms. Liu Xia from Dalian City was sentenced to forced labour camp for one and a half years, but was released early. In May 2002, she was sentenced to six years imprisonment in Dabei Prison in Liaoning Province. In May 2008, she was arrested again after she was at home for only two months and was sentenced to forced labour for two years. In October 2008, she was taken to Masanjia, where she was shut in a solitary small cell, subjected to such severe torture as the Hanging Bed in mid-June 2009. Currently she is doing heavy labour in group 2.

Shi Guifen from Dalian City was arrested along with Ms. Liu Xia. She was slapped in the face in June 2009. Currently she is doing heavy labour with Ms. Liu.

Practitioners Still in the Strictly-Controlled Group

Ms. Zhang Lianying from Beijing was handcuffed to a bed for a long time. She was released from the bed in April 2010.

Ms. Xia Ning, Liaoning Province, went on a long-term hunger strike. She was cuffed to a bed and force-fed everyday.

Ms. Zhang Min from Dalian City shouted, "Falun Gong is good" many times in the canteen. She was hung and severely beaten many times.

Ms. Liu Yanqin was seriously injured due to severe torture in 2008. She has been held in Donggang of the Masanjia Forced Labour Camp.

Liu Shiqin's situation is unknown.

Policewomen Involved in the Persecution

Zhang Jun, over 50, is the leader of the former group 3 and plays a major role in every beating. Her police number is 2108050.

Zhang Zhuohui, deputy group commander of the former group 3, is the current political instructor. Her police number is 2108469.

Zhang Huan was formerly the sub-director and director of the group for the newcomers. She has become worse since she became the team leader. Her police number is 2108455

Zhang Lei often participates in persecuting Falun Gong practitioners. She beats them and is involved in every torture. Her police number is 2108456

Zou Xiaoguang is actively involved in beating practitioners.

At present, the forced labour camp holds more than 100 Falun Gong practitioners, who are detained to do forced labour making military clothing. They have to work up to 9 or 10 hours every day.

The dormitory area in the Masanjia Women's Forced Labour Camp looks clean and tidy. The sample quilts are in neat, straight squares; the bed covers are all same colour. However, these are only displays for outsiders and the upper level leaders. The environment for the detained Falun Gong practitioners is extremely evil. During the daytime, sitting or lying on the beds is not allowed. The model quilts are not allowed to be used; they are only for display. All of Falun Gong practitioners' belongings, including clothes and baggage, are packed and sent to Donggang warehouse. They cannot be taken back until night time. The food in the camp is rice, steamed buns, and boiled vegetables in water as soup. The vegetables are always the cheapest all year round except that at a few festivals the food may improve slightly. Sand and mud is seen at the bottom of the soup bowl, so one dares not chew. Five or even more people share a single pot of boiling water.

The main building has four stories where practitioners are held, and also a place for police and staff. Their offices are also in this building, in which they live, work, rest, and have activities.

On the first floor of Xigang is a clinic, a pharmacy, and a warehouse. Donggang is the dormitory area for the police.

The second floor of Xigang is a mixed group, including more than 130 ordinary inmates and Falun Gong practitioners, who are in red and white. The second floor of Donggang is for luggage. The second floor here is for group 1.

The third floor is for group 2. It is different from the second floor and can accommodate approximately 130 or more. They wear blue and white clothing. Two mixed teams are held here. They are forced to do slave labour making military clothing. The forced labour is intense, 9 to 10 hours per day.

The fourth floor of Xigang is only for Falun Gong practitioners. Over 330 practitioners were held there in 2008, about 200 in 2009, more than 150 practitioners in the first half of 2010. There are six groups, including a group that holds the practitioners who have just started their detention in the camp. There are 10 to 20 practitioners in each group. Group 4 is in a strictly-controlled group in Donggang. There were 50 to 60 practitioners in 2008. At the end of May 2010 only five to six practitioners remained. The 5th group is for the elderly (some are nearly 76), the sick, the weak, and the disabled, which is a special mixed group. They are detained for a relatively long time, mainly to do forced labour.

In addition, there is a secret room on the fourth floor in the interview building (where the inmates can meet their families under the surveillance of police). In this secret room, female Falun Gong practitioners are detained while male police are in charge.

Current Situation of group 3 in Donggang:

Group 3 was where practitioners were forced to do slave labour. On July 14th, 2008, about 50 practitioners from Beijing were transferred here. Then it served as a special, strictly-controlled group. Since October 2009, it has served as a place to persecute Falun Gong practitioners.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2010/7/12/226889.html