August 8, 2003

(Clearwisdom.net) In October 2000, I was sent to the Hebei Province's First Forced Labor Camp. I personally watched and experienced various cruel tortures and abuses at the hands of prison guards, from the warden to the section heads.

Beating, hanging and shocking with electric batons are three routine tortures in this forced labor camp. Besides punching and kicking, prison guards whipped us, using wooden boards and chains of flexible handcuffs.

Dafa disciples frequently had new wounds on top of old wounds, and many of them were crippled from torture. Hanging people from trees became a routine torture. There are about 100 trees in the forced labor camp. People were hanging from those trees in different positions day and night. Prisoners were frozen to the point of being unconscious in the winter. In the heat of the summer they were dehydrated and passed out from heat exhaustion.

Dafa practitioner Ms. Zhu Yourong from Xuanhua County, Zhangjiakou City died in the forced labor camp after a few days of these kinds of abuses.

The prison guards' favorite weapons are the electric batons. In the winter of 2000, a Dafa practitioner was shocked by a prison guard named Wang and passed out. Shocking from electric batons permanently damaged the faces of Ms Hao and Ms. Li, Dafa disciples from Qinghuangdao. Another person named Mr. Da Fu lost control of both bladder and bowels due to electric shocks, and his foot hurt so much that he couldn't touch the ground. Numerous people were badly hurt by the electric shocking.

Even worse, they forced us to live in a "fungus room." More than 10 Dafa practitioners were asked to live in a room where red, green, yellow and white long hairy fungus were everywhere, including on the ceiling, walls and ground. The room was not disinfected. We were not allowed to dry our comforters under the sun and were not allowed to take a bath. It was spring. After a month, everybody living in this room developed different kinds of lumps on their bodies. Even the doctors didn't know what those were. During this time, We asked repeatedly to change cells, but it was not until a few months later that they agreed. The so-called "room change" was to separate us and to put us in different rooms, instead of putting us in a clean environment and treat this odd disease. A month later, 90% of Dafa practitioners in the camp contracted the disease. The lumps were unbearable itchy. You couldn't sit for long during the days and couldn't fall sleep in evenings. It was miserable.

We were not allowed to speak to each other in the cell and had to sit in certain positions. The guards also forbade us to walk inside the cell. We were constantly watched and would be punished if their rules were broken. The frequency of going to the bathroom was also controlled. No pen and papers were allowed, and letters to family members were arbitrarily withheld. We were subject to body searches at any time, and our comforters were torn into pieces at their whim. The food and clothes sent by our families and relatives were held back. The prison guards kept some of those for themselves, and some were given to others.

While on a hunger strike we were not allowed to sleep. We were forced to run and perform hard labor. We were also force-fed with a highly concentrated saline solution. We had severe diarrhea and vomiting, and were physically extremely weak.

Dafa practitioner Ms. Cui Yulan from Lang Fang died as a result from such abuse. After being force-fed with this saline solution, she had severe diarrhea, but was not allowed to go to the bathroom. She was so emaciated that only skin covered her bones. One day she was told that she could go to bathroom, and she went. As soon as she got to the bathroom, a few people rushed in and knocked her head to the ground. She lost control of her bladder and bowels, and suffered a mental breakdown. The camp officials told us that she was sent to a hospital and had then been sent home after recovery. Later on we learned that it was her ashes that were sent home.

Prison guards also used other inmates to monitor us. The guards even ordered them to beat, curse and hang us up. The guards also told inmates that they were the head of that section if the head was not present, and they could do whatever they wanted with Dafa practitioners. If prison guards were satisfied with their work, inmates could get rewards, such as a reduced sentence and more responsibilities. If inmates sympathized with us and didn't satisfy prison the guards' orders, they could be either punished or had their sentence extended.

Posting date: 9/1/2003
Original article date: 8/31/2003
Category: Eye Witness Accounts
Translated on 8/11/2003
Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2003/8/8/55266.html

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