Inside the Labour Camps

My Experience at the Shandong Province First Women's Forced Labour Camp

2009-09-20

I was sentenced to one and a half years of forced labour in 2008, and imprisoned at the Shandong Province First Women's Forced Labour Camp. The labour camp was overcrowded. The younger ones had to sleep on the floor. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) imprisoned many people in the labour camp in order to make money through free labour. The labour camp had many orders to fulfil. Some were for toys, some were for mobile phone cases. Inmates had to work more than ten hours a day, seven days a week. Some inmates' wrists and fingers were injured by the repetitive labour. Some had friction burns on their hands, some had swollen legs. Inmates had to ask for permission before using the toilet.

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Shandong Province Men's Second Forced Labour Camp Uses Unknown Drugs to Harm Practitioners

2009-09-20

During 2008 and 2009, approximately 300 male Falun Gong practitioners were detained in the Shandong Province Men's Second Forced Labour Camp. The camp guards instructed other inmates to mix unknown drugs into food that was fed to practitioners. The unknown drugs caused symptoms that included headache, dizziness, body numbness, and nosebleed, along with swelling of the face, feet and legs. The prison guards' motives were to destroy the will and spirit of the practitioners and force them to renounce Falun Gong.

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Masanjia Labour Camp Brutally Tortures Nearly Sixty-Year-Old Woman

2009-09-12

In March 2005, 58-year old Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Wang Shufen was subjected to three years of forced labour, and she was then sent to Masanjia Labour Camp. For practising Falun Gong, she was brutally tortured including forced sitting on a small stool, death bed, the "big hang-up" and others. In April 2006, Ma Jishan (education section head) and Liu Yong (security section head) came to Division 2 with more than 20 male guards to persecute practitioners who refused to do the hard labour. Guards beat Ms. Wang Shufen brutally. They dragged her up and down, and forced her to kneel down in front of them. Ms. Wang Shufen refused and Zhang Jun became angry. He beat her severely until she lost consciousness.

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Guangdong Province's Sanshui Forced Labour Camp Freezes Practitioners

2009-08-24

Guangdong Province's Sanshui Forced Labour Camp once carried out multiple sessions of torture to "conquer the toughest fortress" in an attempt to "Reform" or "Transform" Falun Gong practitioners. They used sleep deprivation, electric shock, verbal abuse and humiliation, excessive sun exposure, hanging by handcuffing, force-feeding, and prolonging forced labour terms. They also froze practitioners with air conditioning units.

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Tumuji Forced Labour Camp Celebrates 50th Anniversary by Torturing Falun Gong Practitioners

2009-08-21

The authorities at the Tumuji Forced Labour Camp celebrated the camp's fiftieth anniversary on June 29th, 2009. They invited many personnel from other units to visit. During the celebration, the guards from this labour camp brutally tortured Falun Gong practitioners. Female guard Zhou Guoling held a meeting in advance to order practitioners to wear prison uniforms and then clean vegetables. In doing so, the guards were to avoid letting the practitioner detainees meet up with the visitors. In order to protest the persecution, for a period of time the Falun Gong practitioners had not worn prison uniforms, and they had refused to participate or cooperate with anything. The guards forcefully stripped the practitioners and even removed their underpants and bras, forcing them to wear only the prison uniform.

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Ms. Yuan Shuzhe Barbarically Persecuted in Masanjia Forced Labour Camp

2009-08-21

On March 31st, 2005, policemen took Ms. Yuan Shuzhe, a Falun Gong practitioner who had been detained in the Shenyang City Detention City for forty days, to Masanjia Forced Labour Camp. The police pushed Ms. Yuan to the ground. She shouted, "Falun Gong is good!" and "Stop the persecution of Falun Gong!" He stuffed a dirty sock into her mouth and stomped on her head. In Masanjia, because Ms. Yuan Shuzhe refused to do hard labour, a policewoman called her into her office and struck her face and kicked her head.

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Ruthless Abuse of Falun Gong Practitioners in Wangcun Women's Forced Labour Camp

2009-07-31

The first thing a new arrival in Wangcun Women's Forced Labour Camp encounters is several "reform" strategies. These include having to read documents or watch DVDs that slander Falun Gong, writing statements to give up the Falun Gong practice and defame it, standing for a long time, being handcuffed and hung up, being deprived of sleep and water and food, being deprived of toilet use, and being forced to take drugs. Ms. Lu Xiumin was forced to sit on a small stool for two days and nights, but she refused to "reform." A guard shouted at inmates, "If she [Ms. Lu] does not 'reform' today, beat her today! If she does not 'reform' tomorrow, beat her tomorrow! Beat her till she 'reforms.'"

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Practitioners Tortured in Shandong Province Second Forced Labour Camp

2009-07-27

The guards in the Second Forced Labour Camp, Shandong Province, have tortured Falun Gong practitioners for a time. On May 4th, 2008, prisoners Gao Wei and Yang Bo were supposed to be released. Guard Sun Fengjun told Gao and Yang to help "transform" Mr. Sun Yugen, a Falun Gong practitioner, who was taken to the camp not long ago. Gao and Yang beat and kicked Mr. Sun until he was on the ground, moaning in pain. The two threatened Mr. Sun that they would beat him like that every day if he continued to refuse to "transform." Mr. Sun was beaten so badly that he had difficulty breathing and eating. He then signed the three statements denouncing Falun Gong against his will.

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Ms. Chen Hongyu Severely Persecuted at Jilin Women's Forced Labour Camp

2009-07-25

In May 2009, Ms. Chen Hongyu and her husband were arrested for practising Falun Gong. Ms. Chen was sentenced to two years in a forced labour camp and is being detained in the Six Division of Heizuizi Women's Forced Labour Camp. She has been subjected to severe abuse and torture in detention. After Ms. Chen was sent to the forced labour camp, she firmly resisted the persecution and refused to write a "guarantee letter" to renounce Falun Gong, do forced labour, or wear the prison uniform. The two guards used two electric batons to shock her neck. Later, guards ordered prisoners to hang Ms. Chen by the arms from a bunk bed, with her two arms pulled straight and only her toes touching the ground. She was kept in this position from 6:30 a.m. to 12 midnight, the intense pain making Ms. Chen sweat profusely.

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Practitioner Ms. Liu Hongmei from Heilongjiang Province Repeatedly Arrested and Brainwashed

2009-07-23

On December 8th, 2000 Ms. Liu Hongmei, 42, went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong. She was arrested and detained and hung up with her hands cuffed to the wall. Ms. Liu was sentenced to a one-year term at the Wanjia Forced Labour Camp where she was forced to work, sit straight on a small bench for long periods of time and read articles and watch videos slandering Falun Gong. Because she remained steadfast in her belief in Falun Gong she was isolated and mistreated in a dark and humid cell for long periods of time. As a result she developed scabies all over her body and became unable to look after herself. Being afraid that she might die, the labour camp released her. Officials at her workplace confiscated over 6,000 yuan from her husband's salary.

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Cruel Torture Methods in Beijing Women's Forced Labour Camp

2009-07-21

There are eight regular wards in the Beijing Women's Forced Labour Camp and one training ward, and in total they hold more than eight hundred people, 80 per cent of whom are Falun Gong practitioners. Among these practitioners, more than 70 per cent are senior practitioners aged 50-70 years old. They are forced daily to do slave labour for nearly 10 hours, and this time does not include the weed-pulling they do before breakfast or after dinner. Prisoners are used as torturers; they are given special privileges to beat or curse practitioners at will, steal practitioners' belongings, and force practitioners to watch slanderous DVDs or read slanderous materials.

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The Persecution in Nanmusi Women's Forced Labour Camp, Zizhong County, Sichuan Province

2009-07-12

Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Zhang Nengmin has been isolated and handcuffed to a bed for six months. Some of the drug addicts take turns watching her at all times and she is beaten every day. Ms. Zhang has reportedly suffered an ear injury as a result of their beatings. A prisoner has written abusive and humiliating slogans on Ms. Zhang's belly, breasts, and lower body. Ms. Zhang is developing a mental disorder, and is suffering from incontinence.

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Ms. Guan Hua Severely Tortured by Wanjia Forced Labour Camp Guards

2009-07-03

On February 1st, 2007, Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Guan Hua was sentenced to one year and six months of "re-education" through forced labour in Wanjia Forced Labour Camp. The guards attempted to force the practitioners to take a so-called test. The guards decided that Ms. Guan failed her "examination," so they forced her to stand on a stool, then pulled both hands behind her back. A guard tied her hands with one end of a rope, then passed the another end through a heating pipe above a window, while two other guards pulled forcefully on the rope. Ms. Guan then hung helplessly in the air. In order to cover up their torture activities, guard Jiang Tao used adhesive tape to cover Ms. Guan's mouth.

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Unimaginable Cruelty at Masanjia Forced Labour Camp

2009-06-21

Mr. Luo Chungui, a 55-year-old practitioner, shouted, "Falun Gong is good" while he was being tortured in Masanjia Forced Labour Camp. The guards used electric batons on his mouth. Within half an hour his mouth was swollen and all his teeth were loosened. That was not enough. The guards continued to shock his face and neck for over two hours. Mr. Luo still refused to be "reformed." The guards then forced him to stand with both hands handcuffed to the metal headboard of an upper bunk bed for three days. He could only rely on infusion because he could not eat anything. Three days later he could barely manage to consume porridge. His mouth was swollen for a month. Even now the colour of his face, mouth and neck is still black.

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Persecution at the Masanjia Forced Labour Camp

2009-06-07

Practitioner Ms. Tao Yuqin was subjected to the "Big Hang Up" torture in the camp in 2007. The guards handcuffed her left hand to a radiator under a window, and her right hand to a radiator pipe from the roof, then gradually pulled the right handcuff. Ms. Tao's arms were stretched out straight but not parallel to the ground. Her body was bent. As a result, her right arm was injured and became crippled. During the "strict policing", she was subjected to further torture which led to chronic diarrhoea. Ms. Tao was released at the end of 2008. She is unable to bend or move her right arm, hand or fingers.

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