The Persecution of Falun Gong Practitioners in Moganshan Women's Forced Labour Camp in Zhejiang Province

A special team in Moganshan Women's Forced Labour Camp in Zhejiang Province persecutes Falun Gong practitioners. It is the third middle team in the fourth guard in the camp. The special team supervisor is Chen Zhiying, the team leader is Zhou Xiaoqing, and the deputy team leader is Zhu Hongxia. Guards torture practitioners mentally and physically, trying to force them to give up their beliefs in Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. Guards do this for rewards given by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The following are some facts about the persecution there:

1. Inmates Monitor Practitioners Closely and Subject Them to Mental Torture

Newcomers and steadfast Falun Gong practitioners are all monitored closely. Inmates live in the same room with them and watch over them at all times, even when they use the toilet, or are writing, or sleeping, unless the inmates have other things to do.

Every room has a monitor to watch over everyone inside. Generally, two inmates are in a room with one practitioner. The light is on around the clock, and inmates take turns watching the practitioner.

Inmates selected for this work are malicious drug addicts and sex workers. They were chosen by guards who tried to select prisoners who had been sentenced to forced labour camps or prisons many times, or who were very ferocious, had foul mouths, were impulsive, or who easily got into conflicts with others. A few were chosen due to personal ties with guards. The selected inmates did not need to do heavy labour and could get bonus points every month to reduce their terms. They could insult practitioners freely and generally assisted the guards in persecuting practitioners. They are allowed to make phone calls regularly, meet with their family and friends, send letters, read books they like, go to dinning halls or order their own meals, go to a funeral, get in and out of a certain area, etc. All the above activities are forbidden to Falun Gong practitioners.

In order to weaken practitioners mentally, they are assigned to different rooms and are closely watched whenever they go to the toilet, take a shower, or wash clothes, so that they do not say hello or smile, or even look at another practitioner. If they do, they are insulted by the inmates following them. Only a very short time is allowed for the toilet, about 15 minutes. If they exceed that time limit, they are punished by inmates, and sometimes the tap is turned off. All these rules are designated by the guards.

The guards are all in their thirties. Some have higher education, but have been very deceived by the CCP, and are more malicious. They use methods of torture typical of the CCP. Team leader Zhao Xiaoqing and supervisor Chen Zhiying always shout, insulting practitioners loudly. Guards tell the inmates not to treat practitioners well or help them, talk to them, or listen to them. Videos containing lies are broadcast again and again to Falun Gong practitioners and inmates, along with morally degenerate programmes. All the inmates are encouraged to treat practitioners badly.

When inmates insult practitioners, guards stand by and assist the inmates. If workers in the corridor find through monitors that inmates are not behaving in a fierce manner, they report it. If guards find an inmate treating practitioners a little nicely, the inmate then will be criticised or ordered to do slave labour. Inmates watch over practitioners, workers watch over inmates, guards manage workers, and they all create a vicious system mental torture system.

2. Brainwashing

New or steadfast practitioners are intensely brainwashed from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. Videos denouncing Falun Gong are broadcast loudly and continuously. Materials written by some practitioners under intense pressure are also used to deceive other practitioners. Practitioners are ordered to read books denouncing Falun Gong. If they become sleepy, their sitting posture is not good, or they want to drink water or even need to use the toilet, they are insulted. Once a programme is broadcast or an article read, practitioners are forced to write their “understanding” of it. If many programmes have been broadcast, practitioners are forced to write an “understanding” of each one, or else points are deducted from them. Ten points deducted results in a one-day sentence extension.

Those who wrote the “five statements” to denounce Falun Gong reluctantly were not released. They were also forced to watch the videos and TV programmes that are full of lies and Party culture, then to write “homework” assignments denouncing Falun Gong with standard answers given by the CCP. Every evening they had to watch CCTV News, which made people sick, and sing “red songs” that praise the Party. They had to read books of Buddhism and the CCP, and write their personal understandings within a given time and with a required word count, or else they would be fined points. Inmates were still watching them daily with some additional people called “messengers,” who would report their situation to guards regularly. If two or more practitioners gathered together, messengers would appear immediately to find out what was going on.

Falun Gong practitioners are forced to do “homework” to report their thoughts to the guards, and inmates have been forced to write “homework,” too, to report what the practitioners did and said. Inmates insulted practitioners in their homework, and some even made up stories to avoid losing points and to please the guards. The content is mined for insights for the guards to insult and brainwash practitioners. Sometimes they pretended to be kind but meanwhile made up rumours to defame practitioners.

3. Mistreatment and Physical Torture

Falun Gong practitioners were forced to endure brainwashing for over ten hours per day sitting on a stool. They were sometimes ordered to sit on a stool about a foot high for over ten hours except for using the toilet or eating. They were not allowed to straighten their legs, but had to keep them bent. They had to look forward and were not allowed to look around or close their eyes. Their hands had to be on their knees, their backs not touching anything. They could not doze, or else inmates would insult and beat them.

In the cold winter, practitioners were not allowed to put on gloves even when their hands got frostbitten. During the hot summer, they are not allowed to take a shower even when they were sweating profusely, until an assigned time. For general detainees in the forced labour camp, if they have money, they can buy things, add extra dishes at meals, and buy fruit, but Falun Gong practitioners do not have these rights. They are not allowed to eat in the dinning hall—inmates have bring back food for them. Even if there are better dishes on holidays, inmates and other workers take away some, leaving little for practitioners. On holidays, the forced labour camp would offer fruit and other better food to practitioners. But practitioners were not allowed to eat the food offered, as inmates feared losing points if they permitted it. For practitioners who don't cooperate, like going on a hunger strike, refusing to wear a prison uniform or badge, refusing to write homework, refusing to report when exiting the door, guards found all kinds of ways to persecute them, including detaining them in a small solitary room, forced feeding, exposure to the sun, forced standing, doing heavy and filthy work, and deprivation of sleep.

4. Extended Detention or Sent to a Brainwashing Centre after Term Ended

Party members extend the terms of steadfast practitioners for a variety of reasons, or let the local 610 Office take them back to local brainwashing centres. So-called brainwashed practitioners are also taken back by the local 610 Office. Although not sent to a brainwashing centre, they are not fully released—someone is assigned to monitor their daily lives and phone calls. Informants follow them and monitor them online.

Guards participating in the persecution in Moganshan Women's Forced Labour Camp included Li Yingying, Chen Wei, Yao Yinhua, Mou Linghan, Xu Xia, Cai Jinxing, Chen Lingli, Zhou Ying, Li Yan, Yu Wangxia, Jiang Cui, Wang Xiaoe, Jiang Hongya, Jiang Li, Hu Honghua, Xie Qi, Chen Linli, and Zheng, etc.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2011/6/21/42778.html