The Tortures Used at Beijing Women's Forced Labour Camp

Beijing Women's Forced Labour Camp in the Daxing District has been a place where Falun Gong practitioners are detained and tortured. The practitioners detained there have been tortured by means such as being detained in a solitary compartment, forced-feedings, and sitting on a small stool for long periods of time.

In May 2009, after the Beijing Dispatch Department was dissolved, all the practitioners detained there were sent directly to Beijing Women's Forced Labour Camp. The drug offenders detained at the labour camp have been the hatchet men used by the guards to persecute practitioners.

There are five divisions in the labour camp, including an assembly division, with less than 100 detainees in each division (except for the assembly division). About two-thirds of the detainees in each division are Falun Gong practitioners. Some practitioners are also detained in the patient team—a division designated for detainees who are sick or unable to take care of themselves.

The No.4 Division in the labour camp is the assembly division. This is where all the newcomers are sent for the first month before being distributed to other divisions. Torture is commonplace in the assembly division, but the torture is conducted secretly and carefully concealed.

Zang in the clinic is in charge of gynaecological examinations. She is very rude during the medical check-up and has often caused injury to the detainee's genitalia. The doctors in the clinic have often participated in the persecution of practitioners and have force-fed practitioners.

Special Sound-proof Rooms

There are two rooms in the No.4 Division, where all the walls are covered with foam to absorb sound. One cannot hear any sound from the room, even while standing very close to the door. A practitioner from Sichuan Province, around age 20 or more, had been detained in such a room for several months in 2009. She was seen twice a day being dragged to the clinic for forced-feeding. After the forced-feeding, she was forced to sit on a child's stool.

Sitting on Child's Stool

The torture of sitting on a child's stool includes specific rules that are imposed on the practitioner. One must sit with the upper body straight, the feet and knees touching each other, and hands lying down flat on the knees. This position makes the body form a right angle from the side view. One is required to hold this position without moving.

Everyone must sit in this position every evening during the one-hour of the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) TV news programme. Those who are detained in the solitary confinement cells have to sit this way for a much longer time and more frequently. One practitioner was tied up to remain sitting on the small stool for months. The flesh on her bottom was raw and festering, and the bone was exposed. Such physical torture is hard to tolerate, especially for older people. One would feel pain in the back and waist shortly after sitting in this position. Many people had swollen feet or legs after sitting on the child's stool.

Mental Persecution Under High Pressure

There is an atmosphere of terror in the No.4 Division, which often makes everyone highly tense. Whenever encountering a guard, one must stop to say greetings and to report on one's conduct. One will be punished and scolded if one does not call out the standardised words. Such beatings and scoldings are often heard in the ward section.

The ways to walk and stand are also specialised. When facing a guard, one must lower one's head to the chest and put the two arms tightly against the sides of body. When answering a question from a guard, one is not allowed to raise the head and look at the guard directly. One practitioner had been exposed publicly because of refusing to lower her head when facing a division head called Du.

A practitioner called Qing Xiuying was put into a solitary compartment because she called out "Falun Gong is good" in the activity hall. Three days later she had a mental breakdown. Her whereabouts are unknown.

The Fierce Observation and Protection Team

There is an observation and protection team in the forced labour camp, where the guards are equipped with electric batons and can conduct savage beatings directly. Guo Kaiyang, the former head of No.1 Division, and Zhao Guoxin, the former head of No.5 Division, had ordered the team to shock practitioners in their divisions.

Guo Kaiyang, who is over 50, is retired now. Zhao Guoxin, who is over 30, took over his position and is now the head of No.1 Division. He has been involved in the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners since he began to work in the labour camp. He has been promoted since then.

The above facts are based on several practitioners' experiences while being detained at Beijing Women's Forced Labour Camp.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2011/12/15/250593.html