Schoolteacher Ms. Du Qingxiu Tortured and Abused in Masanjia Women's Forced Labour Camp

Name: Du Qingxiu
Gender: Female
Age: Unknown
Address: Unknown
Occupation: Middle school teacher at the Lingyuan City Middle School No. 2, in Liaoning Province (former Linggang Middle school)
Date of Most Recent Arrest: August 21st, 2007
Most Recent Place of Detention: Masanjia Women's Forced Labour Camp
City: Lingyuan
Province: Liaoning
Persecution Suffered: Forced labour, brainwashing, beatings, hung up, imprisonment, solitary confinement, torture, physical restraint, interrogation, detention

Ms. Du Qingxiu is a Falun Gong practitioner and teacher at the Lingyuan City Middle School No. 2, in Liaoning Province. In 2007, she was detained at the Masanjia Women's Forced Labour Camp for one year and three months. The following are details of the abuse she endured during that time.

Upon arriving at Masanjia, Ms. Du experienced heart discomfort, but the prison guards would not stop abusing her and used various ways to try to force her to give up her practice of Falun Gong. One night, Shi Yu, the assistant group leader in group 3 (he was moved to another section later) and assistant group leader Zhang Zhuohui (responsible for production) abused Ms. Du physically. They slapped her face, twisted her arms, and cut off her long hair. They then sent collaborators ¹ Li Peng (from Dalian) and Zhang Lijun (from Benxi), to brainwash Ms. Du with their twisted ideas. After failing to fool Ms. Du, they locked her in a storage room. Ms. Du was separated from the others as they intended to threaten and deceive her. After they failed again, Wang Xiaofeng (leader of group 3), Wang Danfeng (prison guard leader in squad 3), and Cui Hong (prison guard leader in squad 4) held Ms. Du by her hands. Cui Hong punched her in the face and held her shoulder down with her legs. They forced Ms. Du to sign her name on writings that said disrespectful words about Falun Gong's Teacher, and held her legs so that she would step on his picture.

After this incident, Ms. Du was sent to squad 3. Wang Xiaofeng, Shi Yu, Zhang Zhuohui, and Wang Danfeng often insulted Ms. Du. At the time, Ms. Du was physically unwell, and she had difficulty doing the work at the labour camp. They accused her of faking the illness, being very slow, stupid, etc., and pressured her to work faster. Ms. Du believed in the teachings of Falun Gong. She believed Falun Gong would restore her health. After a while, she became healthy again and was able to move around quickly, too.

Ms. Du refused to sign the prison's monthly exams. Newly-appointed group leader Zhang Jun, Zhang Zhuohui, Wang Danfeng, and Zhang Lei (squad leader) forced Ms. Du to sign it by forcing her fist open. One time, Ms. Du's left thumb was bent backward so hard that she could no longer flex it, and the sound of bone cracking can be heard if she moves it. Ms. Du also lost a tooth as a result of being slapped by Zhang Jun.

On July 28th, 2008, Masanjia Forced Labour Camp used the excuse of "Falun Gong harmed the Olympic Games" and ordered the "strict supervision team" to move several male guards from the central office. They locked the unyielding Falun Gong practitioners from Beijing and Liaoning together and brutally abused them. Ms. Du was put in squad 2. Yan Shiguang was the lead guard and was specifically in charge of brainwashing.

At the end of the day's labour, guard Shao Yuetong came in for his shift and ordered everyone to sing the evil "School Song" alone. The intention was to insult the Falun Gong practitioners. By singing the song, one would not only recognise oneself as a lawful prisoner, but also praise the forced labour camp for doing great deeds. Ms. Du refused to sing. Shao Yuetong punished Ms. Du by standing and cursing her. Another practitioner from Liaoning also refused to comply. Shao Yuetong got angry and called over Ma Jishan, Liu Yong, Li Jun, Wang Qi, Yan Shiguang, and another guard. Ma Jishan dragged Ms. Du out to make it easier to abuse her. When Ms. Du refused to co-operate, Liu Yanqin said, "Let her go out, I'll go with her!"

Led by Ma Jishan, the guards took Ms. Du and Liu Yanqin to another room. When Ms. Du asked them to send Liu Yanqin back, one guard started slapping Liu Yanqin's face and used handcuffs to hang Liu Yanqin to the head board of a bed. They tied her feet with a piece of fabric. After that, Ma Jishan started slapping Ms. Du's face. Liu Young used the same method to tie Ms. Du to the head board, and he complained how the other guards would not offer to help. They moved Liu Yanqin to another room while Li Jun guarded Ms. Du. Liu Yong went back to Ms. Du and punched her in the lower abdomen. After a long time, the guard went back again, and Li Jun ordered them to step up the physical abuse of Ms. Du. The torture they used was somewhat like the "separating the body with five horses," with her arms stretched out. Ms. Du was tortured like this for about five to six hours. Her arms were injured and very painful. Her injuries did not heal for a long time.

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.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2010/7/23/227432.html