Forced Labour and Violent Abuse in the No. 9 Ward of Liaoning Province Women's Prison

Wu Li, the head guard of the No. 9 Ward of Liaoning Province Women's Prison, forced the inmates to do slave labour day and night for the past dozen years. The prison authorities demanded that for each Falun Gong practitioner who does not renounce her belief, the ward will have to pay the prison 10,000 yuan¹. The prison guards desperately torture and abuse practitioners, not hesitating to endanger practitioners' lives in order to make money.

Ms. Ding Zhenfang was tortured to death in the No. 9 Ward

On August 1st, Ms. Ding Zhenfang was tortured to death for refusing to do hard labour and to be “transformed” [forcibly renounce Falun Gong].

Ms. Ding, 60, from Dalian City was imprisoned in the No. 9 Ward for the second time in 2008. She was confined in a small isolation cell and was tortured. She was forced to stay in the water room without clothes in the winter and was deprived of sleep. After several days of abuse, Ms. Ding experienced heart problems, hypertension, and symptoms of stroke. After she started practising Falun Gong, all her illnesses had disappeared. In the prison, however, she became very weak due to the ongoing abuse.

Ms. Ding was subjected to escalated persecution in 2011 because she refused to be “transformed” and to do forced labour. Wu Li instigated criminal inmates to beat and torture her.

Ms. Ding died on August 1st, due to the tortures she suffered in the No. 9 Ward. According to the people who knew the situation, she was tortured to death when she was on a hunger strike.

Imprisoned for 10 years, Ms. Fu Yan frequently tortured for refusing to do forced labour

Ms. Fu Yan was confined to a small isolation cell on November 15th, 2009, for refusing to do labour. She was released from the cell and returned to the ward on December 9th. It was very cold in the tiny cell and she only had on a thin coat and trousers. It was so cold that the frost on the door was very thick and she could not sleep. She also suffered from heart problems, but no one helped her.

In March 2011, Ms. Fu was sent to a tightly monitored division for refusing to do forced labour. She was denied any family visits.

Ms. Fu's family, including her young daughter Qing Quan and her grandmother worried about her day and night. Her grandmother died from excessive grief. Now her parents have all passed away and her young daughter is on her own. In July during summer vacation, her daughter wanted to see her mother, but the guard refused to allow her to visit.

Ms. Fu was persecuted in the tightly monitored division for more than three months before she was sent back to the original division in July 2011.

Practitioners routinely abused and tortured

Practitioner Ms. Gong Yueyuan from Yingkou City was beaten violently by criminal inmates Liu Chunzhen, Dong Jing, and Jiang Ping. She suffered a concussion from the beatings and lost consciousness. Another practitioner had been imprisoned in the 5th Team for only five days before her toes were crushed by criminal inmate Jiang Ping.

During the time of the spring festival, a guard stripped off the practitioners clothes and poured ice cold water over their heads repeatedly.

Practitioner Ms. Wu Yefeng lost the ability to speak after being persecuted, and suffered end nerve necrosis in her hands and feet.

Practitioner Ms. Wu Shuqing was imprisoned recently. Wu Li beat her violently because she was not able to keep up with the hard labour requirements.

Note

1. "Yuan" is the Chinese currency; 500 yuan is equal to the average monthly income of an urban worker in China.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2011/9/29/247273.html