Tortured at a Forced Labor Camp in Dalian, Liaoning Province: A Personal Experience

(Clearwisdom.net) Over 150 Falun Gong practitioners have been held in the Dalian Forced Labor Camp. On March 19, 2001, all practitioners were put in the Education Building. A group of guards, led by Qiao Wei, stormed into the classroom and dragged me away, claiming to be searching for Master Li's articles. They forced me to undress in the hallway and used electric batons to shock me around the neck, causing my nose to bleed instantly. They stripped me naked and dragged me off to an office and pressed me to the floor. They stomped on my head, my arm and my leg. They continued to shock me with several electric batons simultaneously. I was trembling from the sharp pains felt from my neck to my feet. When I cried out, they shocked my mouth.

They continued for a long time and then someone said, "That's it." However, a guard named Wang Jun didn't want to stop. He asked me to get up and get in a position in which my head would be positioned very low while my hands would be held up behind my back. Slowly, I got up and put on my clothes. I had only one thought in my mind. I will not give in. When I did not comply, Wang dragged me in front of the other practitioners. He slapped my face with the sole of a shoe. An inmate held my neck so I couldn't turn away. My nose bled. Blood ran down my shirt and onto the floor. Wang then shocked my back under my shirt. As I still did not give in, they dragged me to an office and continued to shock me until I fell to the floor unconscious.

They poured cold water on me in order to wake me up. I found that I had been moved to the hallway upstairs. My hands and legs were shackled together. I could hear the sounds of electric batons downstairs mixed with the screams of practitioners being tortured. It was getting dark and more and more people were lying or sitting beside me, including elderly people in their 60s or 70s. We exchanged eye contact to encourage each other. They never stopped torturing us and continued throughout the night. When dawn broke, we were moved to an empty room. There were 16 of us. In the following days, some were made to sit on the "Tiger Bench" and shocked in the most sensitive places on their bodies. Some were even beaten to death.

(Explanation of the "Tiger Bench" torture: 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 - "Tiger Bench." He has to sit straight up with his eyes looking straight ahead. His hands are tied on the back or sometimes placed on his knees. He is not allowed to turn his head, close his eyes, talk to anyone, raise his hand, or call out for the attention of the guards. Many inmates are assigned to watch the practitioner. If he turns his head, they would force the practitioner to hold his head in that position indefinitely. If the practitioner raises his hand to call the attention of the guards when his hands are placed on his knees, they would force him to hold his hands in the air indefinitely. Usually some hard objects are inserted underneath the practitioner's 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)

Torture cannot break a true practitioner. On the contrary, we became even more steadfast. The guards knew that no amount of force could change our righteous belief. We hope that they understand the heavenly principle of retribution. We hope that they will stop committing crimes and stop following a path of self-destruction.

May 27, 2002

 Yearly Archive   Printer Version