(Clearwisdom.net) Recently, new arrivals of Falun Dafa practitioners at the Wanjia Forced Labor Camp, in Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province, were severely persecuted. Details of the human rights abuses follow:

They forced the Falun Dafa practitioners to squat down facing the wall [This means to confine a practitioner to a small space to squat in and be unable to move. The victim is forced to squat for a very long time, and the torture will not be stopped until he or she develops a severe, life-threatening physical reaction or emergency.] Falun Dafa practitioners were awakened at 5:00 a.m. and then forced to squat until midnight. During that time, they were allowed only a few minutes for eating or going to the restroom. For those Falun Dafa practitioners who could not squat, or were "not up to the standard," the criminal prisoners would brutally attack and mercilessly beat them. The most commonly witnessed abuse is slapping on the face. It is common to see Falun Dafa practitioners with swollen and bruised faces, bleeding from the nose and mouth. During that time, whenever Falun Dafa practitioners reported that the prisoners were beating people, the guards would not care at all. Even worse was that the guards would tell the prisoners, "Cruelly beat anyone who dares to speak again." The worst criminal in the Wanjia Forced Labor Camp is Bai Xuelian, whose methods are extremely ruthless.

If the above persecution methods could not make the Falun Dafa practitioners renounce their beliefs, then the police would force the Falun Dafa practitioners to sit on the Tiger Bench, with hands tied behind their back. The police would force the practitioners to sit for several days until they would give up their belief. [The practitioners are forced to sit on a small iron bench that is approximately 20 cm (6 inches) tall. Practitioners' knees are tightly tied on the small bench -- called the "Tiger Bench." They have to sit straight up with eyes looking straight ahead. Their hands are tied behind the back or sometimes placed on their knees. They are not allowed to turn their heads, close their eyes, talk to anyone, raise their hands or call out for the attention of the guards. Many inmates are assigned to watch each practitioner. Usually some hard objects are inserted underneath the practitioners' lower legs or ankles to make it harder for them to tolerate this abuse (see illustration on http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2001/11/24/16156.html).]

If the Tiger Bench still could not make the Falun Dafa practitioners yield, the police then sealed the practitioners' mouths with tape, in an attempt to silence them. Later, the police used electric batons to shock the Falun Dafa practitioners. The police would shock practitioners mostly on the face, with the intent to disfigure them, and also because when the electric baton touches the face, it causes yellow fluid to ooze, creating a horrible sight to behold. One female practitioner's leg turned white and purple due to the electric shocking, and one could often smell the burning flesh.

For those Falun Dafa practitioners who still refused to renounce their belief, the police then hung then up in the air with their hands tied behind their back. [With both hands cuffed, both feet off or only toes touching the ground, one is hung onto the basketball support or the beam of the house by the handcuff. The hands and arms will soon become paresthetic and numb.] Some Falun Dafa practitioners were hung up for nine days and nights without being taken down. During that time, the police also used electric batons to shock the helpless practitioners.

The various forms of cruel persecution of Falun Dafa practitioners by the Wanjia Forced Labor Camp are too numerous to record. The leader of the brigade, Zhang Bo, even said, "Experiencing this (cruel torture) is good for you." However, while facing the cruel torture, those determined Falun Dafa practitioners were unshakeable and remained "solid like diamonds". They used their righteous thoughts to resist the evil. Falun Dafa practitioner Wu Yajie, from Yilan County, endured all kinds of persecution but never yielded. Instead, she went on a hunger strike to resist . When the police force-fed her, they were extremely heartless. They first tied her to the bed, and after beating her they injected her with an unknown drug. After the injection, Wu Yajie became drowsy and her mind was not clear. Then they poured some corn paste into the tube to sustain her life. Currently, Wu Yajie spits blood all day long, yet they still persecute her.

Under the above cruel tortures, some practitioners could not endure and signed their names on the "three statements" against their will. [Note: these are documents coerced under extreme pressure, torture and brainwashing, designed by the Chinese authority to ensure that detained Falun Gong practitioners are appropriately brainwashed. The statements consist of a letter of repentance, a guarantee to never again practice Falun Gong, and a list containing names and addresses of all family, friends and acquaintances of the detainee who practice Falun Gong. This system was concocted by the "610" office, an agency specifically created to persecute Falun Gong, with absolute power over each level of administration in the Party and all other political and judiciary systems.] One practitioner who did not want his name to be disclosed was tortured so badly that he could not bear anymore and finally was brainwashed against his will. After this practitioner was brainwashed, he could not take care of himself, and he should have been allowed to go out to seek medical treatment on bail. Under this situation, the leader of the brigade Zhang Bo openly extorted 20,000 Yuan from this practitioner's family members before releasing him. [The average monthly income for an urban worker in China is 500 Yuan.] When Liu Chunsheng, the policeman from the Fifth Section of the Harbin City Public Security Bureau, sent a Falun Dafa practitioner to the No.2 Detention Center in the city, the detention center found this Falun Dafa practitioner was too ill to be detained there. Liu Chunsheng then tried to extort 5,000 Yuan from this practitioner. If the practitioner paid the money, he would release him. But this practitioner did not have money, so Liu used his connections to send this practitioner to Wanjia Forced Labor Camp, where the practitioner is currently being persecuted.

We hope more people will learn of the evil crimes of the Wanjia Forced Labor Camp, and together with us, resist the evil.

2002-9-24