Falun Gong Practitioners Abused in Shandong No. 2 Women's Forced Labour Camp

On the surface, the Shandong No. 2 Women's Forced Labour Camp looks like a civilised place. It is actually a nefarious jail facility used to persecute Falun Gong practitioners. The practitioners detained in the compound are divided into four teams. Each team leader employs vicious tactics to reach their goals. When the practitioners arrive, they are first isolated and instilled with false theories by collaborators. The team leaders will pretend to be considerate to try to coerce the practitioners into writing the three statements to renounce practising Falun Gong.

If the practitioners fail to write the three statements, they are forced to stand upright for long hours or subjected to harsher tactics such as insults and corporal punishment. Provocative tactics such as emotional pressure and incitement to divorce are also commonly used on the family members of practitioners. The guards often say, "You see. All Falun Gong practitioners are selfish and don't care about their families, including their children. They are obsessed and won't come home even after they serve their terms." Many families have been destroyed because of these deceitful tactics. In reality, the cultivated practitioners are healthy and kind. They bring harmony and happiness to the family.

The practitioners who refuse to write the three statements are subjected to physical and mental torture. Even after the torture, they still are forced to do hard work like others and may suffer from relentless mistreatment for insubordination. The mistreatment pervades the entire labour camp. Several incidents of abuse that took place in Team No. 1 exemplify what goes on throughout the compound.

Incidents of Abuse in Team 1

Ms. Meng Yuzhen, assigned to Group #1, which is under the supervision of Chang Wenbo and Shen Ran, was forced to stand upright from morning until night on April 8th, 2010, because she did not wear her badge. She was denied food, water, and use of the toilet.

Ms. Liu Shuzhen, assigned to Group #2, in her 50s, was repeatedly beaten and forced to stand upright for refusing to wear the prison uniform. In the spring of 2010, she was taken from the plant site to the leader's office, allegedly not doing the assigned work. She was kicked and forced to stand upright for days. She has been forced to stand upright for extended periods many times. Standing upright while being denied use of the toilet is very common in the camp.

Ms. Yi Shanglin, assigned to Group #3, was forced to stand upright and denied use of the toilet because she refused to write the three statements. She was unable to urinate after the long hours of torture and has since become incontinent.

Ms. Lang Huiqun, assigned to Group #4, also in her 50s, was sent to the camp in April 2009. Ms. Lang was abused throughout her detention until her release in June 2010 because she refused to write the three statements. She was not allowed to take a shower or do laundry for the first three months and was allowed only a few hours of sleep or rest each day. She was constantly monitored. She was often violently insulted and her neck was wrapped up with woollen material during the hot summer days. On one occasion she was severely beaten by the group leader and guards all at the same time.

Ms. Lang was held in solitary confinement because of her responses to a survey that was conducted during a visit by the camp general supervisor on New Year's Day 2010. Of course, severe retaliation was inevitable. She was prohibited from using the toilet during her confinement. A urine bucket was placed in the cell instead. The air was heavy with the smell of urine. She was also not allowed to wash up or change her clothes, and she was forced to sleep on hard planks on the floor.

In the cell, she often yelled, "Falun Gong is good!" For this she was handcuffed to the cell window bars during the afternoon of March 21st, 2010. A towel was crammed into her mouth and her bloody lips were sealed with plastic tape. She lost two teeth in this incident.

Zhao Wenhui was transferred from Team 2 to become captain of Team 1 on April 1st. She was notorious for persecuting Falun Gong practitioners and eclipses her predecessors in brutality. For example, each detainee usually receives two eggs on the day of the tomb-sweeping festival. Zhao Wenhui withheld the eggs from Ms. Lang and others who could not work due to health problems. She also reduced their meal portions to half for a period of time. She also prohibited the detainees from using the toilet.

To protest the relentless persecutions by Zhao, Ms. Li Xuerong (who was in her 60s at the time) held a hunger strike until she became weak and was sent home. Another practitioner, Ms. Sun Qimei, also assigned to Group #4, was isolated and forced to stand upright daily for a month in November 2009 because of her firm belief in Falun Gong.

Ms Ding Zhengxue was assigned to Group #4 in 2008 when she was in her 50s. She held a hunger strike at the end of that year to protest the unreasonable treatment. She was force-fed and taken to the hospital. She later developed chronic lumbar pain as a result of sleeping on a cold bed in the hospital in the cold of winter. Despite this painful condition, she was not released until late 2009.

Since her arrival, Zhao Wenhui has not only imposed heavier workloads but also extended the work days for those who cannot finish their assignments in time due to their physical conditions. She openly brags during weekly meetings about how she has extended the terms of detention of those who have failed to complete assignments on time. She even illustrated a case where one practitioner was detained one year longer than her three-year term.

Persons responsible:

Shandong No. 2 Women's Forced Labour Camp address:
Wangcun Township in the Zhoucun District of Zibo City, Shandong Province, P.O.Box 162-2, zip code 255311
Zhong Ning, chief of the labour camp
Zhao Wenhui, leader of Team 1: 86-533-6689409
Zhang Yang, leader of Team 2: 86-533-6689411
Wang Huiying, leader of Team 3: 86-533-6689415
Li Aiw, leader of Team 4: 86-533-6689415

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2010/7/27/227556.html