Guangxi Forced Labor Camp Accounts for Over 1,000 Cases of Illegal Detention, Practitioners Collectively Protest the Persecution
(Clearwisdom.net) In the Guangxi region, the police have detained a large
number of practitioners. They are incarcerated mainly in the No. 1 Men's Forced
Labor Camp and the Women's Forced Labor Camp in Nanning City. Based on my
three-year experience in the men's forced labor camp, I estimate that about one
thousand Falun Dafa practitioners were detained there. During this time, I saw
and experienced how Dafa practitioners opposed the illegal detention by various
means. They were effective by holding strikes, and as a group, restraining the
prison police by means of their words and actions. They also held hunger
strikes, wrote appeal letters, and used many other methods to protest the
illegal detention. There have been over 1,000 cases of detention of male Dafa practitioners in
the forced labor camp over the past three years On July 1, 2001, most Dafa practitioners detained in the men's and women's
forced labor camps were required to assemble in the large hall at the men's
forced labor camp. While there, they were required to watch a
"performance" slandering Dafa. There were approximately 180 male Dafa
practitioners from the men's camp and over 500 women from the women's forced
labor camp. During the period between the beginning of 2002 and March 2003, the
number of Dafa practitioners detained there increased greatly. My estimation was
that there were about 1,000 Dafa practitioners detained in the men's forced
labor camp during the three-year period. A substantial number of them were
abducted after their first release and returned to the forced labor camp. At
that time, Dafa practitioners were mainly detained in Section One and Section
Six in the men's labor camp. However, after 2003, Section Ten and Section Eight
were added to hold practitioners who were "transformed" and gave up
their belief in Dafa. The steadfast practitioners were scattered throughout the
rest of the sections of the camp. The forced labor camp persecuted resolute Dafa practitioners by instituting
slave labor Practitioners Su Guangye, Jiang Ning, Lu Zhonglei, and Zhong Longji, detained
in Section Six, were steadfast during their entire detention. The policemen used
the other prisoners in the forced labor camp to strictly monitor them
individually and slandered and ridiculed them many times in public. They also
assigned heavy workloads to these practitioners. In March 2001, having exhausted
their normal "transformation" methods, the guards still failed to
force them to give up their beliefs. The practitioners were then forced to work
beyond 2:00 a.m. for several nights in a row, with the excuse that they did not
finish their daily quotas. However, this still did not shake these
practitioners' righteous thoughts. Later on, some of those who once compromised with the evil became aware of
their mistakes and returned to Dafa. Others still hesitated to take that step
due to fear. In June 2001, a flu epidemic spread throughout the whole section.
Many detainees had a fever and became very ill. Many of those who had
compromised with the evil also developed similar symptoms. Meanwhile, none of
the steadfast practitioners and those who resumed practicing Falun Gong (more
than ten people in the section at that time) developed such symptoms. This left
a strong impression with many people in the section. In July and August 2001, Jin Hualiang, head of Section Six, often forced Dafa
practitioners to work continuously for several days from 7:30 a.m. to as late as
3:30 a.m. the next day. The excuse he used was that it was the peak season for
colored lanterns, so they needed to work hard to meet the delivery deadline. He
only allowed the detainees very short bathroom and meal breaks, without
compensatory leave the next day as required by law. The workload was very heavy.
Those practitioners who could not finish their work quotas on that day would be
punished by having another day added to their detention terms. If any Dafa
practitioner refused to work the additional hours, his detention term would be
extended two more days. At that time, more than ten of us who resumed our
cultivation experienced this abuse. None of us gave in, including one elderly
Dafa practitioner. We were concerned about whether he could make it through such
a hardship, but he persevered. Not long after that, we came to know that the "Implementation Procedures
of Forced Labor Reform" issued by the State Council on January 21, 1982,
stipulates that detainees should work for six hours a day and that it is illegal
to force detainees to work additional hours. From that time on, we resolutely
opposed being forced to work extra hours. Later on, after we had a chance to
read Master's article, "Dafa Disciples' Righteous Thoughts are
Powerful"(Essentials for Further Advancement II), we realized more clearly
that we should not cooperate with the evil persecution at all. Several other
steadfast Dafa practitioners refused to work extra hours, no matter what the
guards did.
Dafa practitioners oppose slave labor and request unconditional release In December 2001, news from the outside indicated that Dafa was spreading
broadly overseas and that its growth into other countries was accepted as
completely legal. Dafa practitioners detained in Section One were the first to
hold strikes requesting unconditional release. The eight practitioners detained
in Section Six also started a strike, protesting the guards' arbitrary
punishment of practitioner Liu Jinliang. Practitioner Wei Juzhen wrote an
article to call on both the section and the forced labor camp to release all
detained practitioners immediately and unconditionally. The prison guards were
enraged and nervous, singling out practitioners who were on strike one by one.
But this did not work. In the end, they gave up their abuse of Liu Jinliang. At the beginning of July 2002, the authorities illegally extended the
detention term of practitioner Wei Wei from Hubei Province for three months,
with the excuse that he did not finish his work and refused to give up
practicing Dafa. After this incident, the detention terms of many practitioners
were extended by seven to eight months. The detention terms of Su Guangye, Zhong
Longji, and others were prolonged by a year. The prison police in the section
had documentation that Wei Wei's official release date should occur at the end
of June. However, they refused to release him, saying that no one from either
the local police station or his work unit came to pick him up. Practitioner
Zhong Longji, Lu Yonghe and about eight others immediately held a strike to
protest this action. Soon after, these practitioners jointly wrote a letter to
the head office of the forced labor camp strongly requesting the immediate
release of Wei Wei. During the strike, practitioners Wei Juzhen, Wang Qifeng, Lu
Yonghe and Wu Guibin wrote letters of accusation based on what they knew. They
exposed, from various aspects, the persecution suffered by practitioners
detained in Section Six of the forced labor camp. This made the policemen all
the angrier. They took these practitioners individually to the office many times
to intimidate them. We could even hear, from far away, the policemen's loud
voices reproving them in the office. After the policemen read a letter written
by Wang Qifeng, they became extremely angry. All letters sent out by
practitioners and other detainees are reviewed by the guards. During that
period, when Wang Qifeng went to the office to receive his living expenses sent
by his family, the Section Head, Jin Hualiang, refused to give it to him. Exposing the persecution at a so-called symposium Wei Wei was released ten days after the due date, when three people from his
work unit finally came to pick him up. Practitioners, however, were still on
strike and demanded that the labor camp authorities provide an explanation for
the illegal treatment and persecution against the practitioners at the labor
camp. Chen, the head of the labor camp, reluctantly went to Division Six and
held a "symposium meeting," during which he talked to over a dozen
practitioners on strike. He used all kinds of excuses to defend the labor camp's
persecution of the practitioners. The practitioners refuted these excuses. Aside
from the fact that it is illegal and unconstitutional to send practitioners to a
labor camp because of their belief, the slave labor, mistreatment and willful
extension of their terms are also unlawful. Practitioners exposed the
persecution, bringing up the following points: 2. The guards extended the term of determined practitioners, claming they
"refused to reform," without any due legal procedures, and they never
gave any written notice to the practitioners concerned, nor did they give the
practitioners any legitimate reasons for the extension, such as which law or
rules they broke. Laws governing forced labor are not being followed here at the
labor camp.
3. Article 33 of the Regulations for Re-education-Through-Labor published
by the Judicial Department on August 9, 1993 clearly states the basic
re-education-through-labor consists of in-class education and requires credit
hours of study, with a total number of 230 hours per year, including 60 hours of
legal education. On January 21, 1982, the State Council published the Trial
Methods for Implementation of Re-education-Through-Labor, of which Article
23 and Article 32 state that people in a re-education-through-labor program
should have six hours of work time and three hours of study time per day. The reality in the labor camp is completely different. Detainees are forced
to work from 7:30 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. or midnight, and the labor camp doesn't
allot time for legal and other studies. The authorities occasionally even force
the practitioners to work until 2:00 a.m. or 3:00 a.m. to meet a deadline, and
no extra break time is allowed the next day. Obviously, the labor assignments
far exceed what the law permits. It's difficult for the majority of the
detainees to finish these heavy assignments. Many of them had their sentences
extended because they failed to meet the quota or deadline. The extension of
their term is also illegal. (One year later, the length of work time was
shortened but the detainees still had to work at least until 10:00 p.m.) The Methods for Work Points and Assessment System for Labor Camp Detainees
clearly states, "People who receive re-education-through-labor are entitled
to two-day weekends," which is not followed here. Despite this law, labor
camp detainees are forced to work for long periods of time while having little
time to rest. 4. The punishment for practitioners is unreasonable and vicious. Every time
practitioners talk to each other, their term would be extended by two days, or
five days if they were found to be doing the Dafa exercises or passing written
words. The guards said they were following orders from "higher up" but
when we asked to be shown these orders, the guards refused with various excuses. The guards isolate and monitor determined practitioners and do not allow them
to talk or get in contact with each other. For a while, the practitioners were
not even allowed to say hello to each other. 5. When practitioners' family members come to visit them, the guards use
various excuses to prevent them from seeing their family members. Wu Yongcheng,
a deputy division head, said to the practitioners, "No reform, no visits
[with family]." The law states that detainees are guaranteed certain legal
rights, and it is reprehensible to force practitioners to "reform"
through deprivation of family visits. Later the guards loosened the rules and
allowed visits, but they would sit next to the family members and observe them.
If the practitioners mentioned anything about the labor camp or Dafa, the guards
would stop them. 6. The guards also confiscated practitioners' books, magazines and
newspapers. Liu Jinliang and some other practitioners also had their pens taken
away from them, which is a violation of Item 4 of Ten Prohibitions for Labor
Camp Guards. Practitioners were simply reading books and magazines
officially published by the government. All officially published books are open
for reading by all labor camp detainees, why not for Falun Gong practitioners?
Guard Wu Yongcheng said, "If you don't reform, you can't read anything
other than brainwashing materials." They forced practitioners to read Dafa-slandering
materials, and those who refused would have their jail terms extended by one or
two days. This is a deprivation of freedom of thought and brainwashing. After we
protested, some books were returned. 7. According to our knowledge, there was a practitioner from Baise called
Huang Deli in Division Six. He suffered from stomach cancer five years ago
before he started practicing Falun Gong. Because of the terrible conditions and
the huge pressure at the labor camp, he suffered a severe relapse and could not
eat for over ten days. His family brought his previous diagnosis and showed it
to the authorities, asking for medical parole, but Wu Yongcheng said, "He
must reform before he can be granted medical parole." Several practitioners
solemnly pointed out that Huang Deli's condition required immediate medical
attention. While Wu Yongcheng tried to deny his previous words, Division Head
Jin Hualiang became furious and roared at the practitioners. The practitioners
remained calm and undaunted. Later, Huang Deli gave up Dafa practice against his
will in order to obtain medical parole. His whereabouts and current condition
are unknown. We sincerely hope he can overcome such a tremendous tribulation. 8. All determined practitioners are designated as "Level C," the
lowest rank among labor camp detainees, who are given the worst food and only 10
yuan for living expenses per week. (The money was sent to the practitioners by
their families.) The deputy division head who is in charge of the ranking said
in public, "Regardless of whether one can finish his assigned work or not,
all Falun Gong practitioners who refuse to reform will be designated as Level
C." The head of the labor camp used bureaucratic tactics to avoid practitioners'
questions regarding the persecution. In the end he said, "Don't talk about
the law. We are following our superior's orders. It's purely political and
doesn't have anything to do with the law." Collective resistance to the persecution frightened the police officers A few days later, it was July 22, 2002, the third anniversary of the
persecution of Falun Dafa. Some practitioners discussed the issue together and
wrote an appeal letter to the National People's Congress. In the letter, they
protested the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners. The letter was circulated
secretly among practitioners to collect signatures. More than ten practitioners
who had given up under pressure declared openly that they would go back to Dafa
practice. Some of them also signed the letter. About twenty practitioners signed
the appeal letter. Back then, many practitioners were isolated under strict
control, and they did not see the letter. Since the camp searched for and
tightly controlled letters, it was not known if the letter would reach the
National People's Congress. Several days later, those practitioners who declared that they would go back
to practicing Dafa went on a strike. One morning they sat cross-legged in groups
on beds in the cell to send forth righteous thoughts. Monitors and the on-duty
detainees tried in vain to stop them. Hearing the news, several police officers
came and forced three practitioners into an office and threatened to punish
them. The three practitioners were not cowed. One police officer tried to coerce
them to squat down, but they refused. (The camp has a "rule" that when
talking with police officers, detainees are required to squat down in front of
the police officers.) Police officer Li, who is notorious for beating detainees,
rushed angrily toward a practitioner and dragged his arms to force him to squat
down. Another practitioner shouted: "No beating people!" Hearing the
voice, other practitioners who were working in different isolated rooms joined
in and shouted: "No beating people!" Some practitioners who had
yielded under pressure also joined in. Some practitioners who did not go to the
office also shouted towards the direction of the office: "No beating
people!" One shout followed another. The police officers were scared, and three of them came out to guard the
office door. Police leader Jin Hualiang also came. With fear on his face, he
explained to the practitioners, "We did not beat them, we really did not
beat them." Police officer Li roughly pushed anyone in front of the office,
but Jin Hualiang stopped him from beating people. Police officers from other
brigades also came to the office. They persuaded the practitioners to go their
rooms after promising that no beating would occur. Thinking back on that event, we were concerned for the safety of the three
practitioners, but we didn't intend to break into the office. But, it looked
like the police were very frightened by that prospect. In 2002, around the period of July 20, to support the righteous actions of
practitioners who resisted the brainwashing, more practitioners joined the
strike. This was the longest strike yet, with the largest number of
practitioners I had seen. Police officers monitored and isolated the
practitioners who joined the strike more strictly. They were confined to their
rooms without any freedom, and bath and toilet times were staggered. Those
practitioners who were considered "leaders" by the police were
transferred to other brigades. Police officers brought those who continued with
the strike to the office to threaten them. Some of those practitioners' terms
were extended. Police also reduced the quality of practitioners' meals, but the
practitioners did not give up. Then the police officers did not allow
practitioners on strike to accept money mailed to them from their families, so
the practitioners helped each other to overcome this difficulty. Later, I was
moved out of the 6th Brigade and so I do not know how long the strike
lasted. According to my later investigations, I learned from various sources that the
practitioners on strike were all punished with extended terms of various
lengths, mostly 7 to 8 months. Several practitioners' terms were extended for
almost a year, including Mr. Su Guangye and Mr. Zhong Longji. During the Chinese
Communist Party's 16th National Congress, the number of practitioners
sent to the forced labor camp increased quickly. Practitioner Mr. Wei Juzhen was
released after an extended term, but he was immediately picked up by a police
station in Nanning City. They did not allow him to go home, and instead sent him
back to the forced labor camp a few days later. Another practitioner, Mr. Zeng Fei (50 years old), who signed the appeal
letter to the National People's Congress, was released during that time. Right
after he had spent the Chinese New Year with his family, Mr. Zeng and his wife
were arrested again and sent to forced labor camp, leaving their two daughters,
who are school students, and their elderly mother alone. Going on hunger strike to protest the illegal detention Since September 2002, under severe persecution, many practitioners started to
protest by going on hunger strikes. They used this painful method to peacefully
protest the persecution of Dafa and practitioners. For those practitioners who
went on long-term hunger strikes, they were sent to the infirmary for
force-feeding or IV injection on the eighth day. In those three short months,
you could often hear those detainees in the labor camp who had visited the
infirmary say that they saw yet another Falun Gong practitioner being force-fed.
Almost every day during that period, you could see four to five strong detainees
of the labor camp grabbing the arms and legs of a practitioner; no matter how
the practitioner struggled, they forced him into the infirmary. One or two
police officers gave orders, and sometimes there was a police officer holding a
camera, taping the whole process. I found out that if a practitioner did not
cooperate, four to five detainees would hold him by the arms, legs and head and
then force a plastic tube through his nostril into the stomach and then perform
force-feeding. In order to avoid the brutal force-feeding, some practitioners
struggled furiously and the police officers would order the detainees to beat
them. They beat them until they were on the verge of collapse. Then they dragged
them inside to carry out the force-feeding. During that time, there were many practitioners on hunger strike. Despite the
information blockade, I found out that the following practitioners participated
in the hunger strike: Gao Xiaogui, Xu Chunsheng, Huang Xiong, Ling Feng, Liu
Jinliang, Wei Juzhen, Lu Yonghe and Feng Tingsheng. Among them, Huang Xiong went
on hunger strike for the longest time, about 60 days. (I learned that his
hometown was in Beiliu County, Guangxi Province. He was the platoon leader of a
radar division in Guangdong Province. He had been sent to a labor camp once
before due to practicing Dafa. After that labor camp term was expired, he got
married. His wife was also a practitioner. When their child was only a few
months old, both of them were sent to labor camps illegally.) Practitioner Ling
Feng from Baise stayed on the hunger strike for 34 days. There is much more information to report. The accounts above are what I saw
and experienced. There is much more that I did not completely describe or did
not see; hopefully other practitioners can augment what I have reported. During the severe persecution against Dafa and practitioners, there were some
prison guards, police officers and officials who had righteous minds. Not only
did they not take part in persecuting Dafa and practitioners, they also
sympathized with and secretly helped practitioners. I would like to express my
sincere appreciation to these righteous people. Finally, I'd like to recall Master Li's words from Hongyin (Collection
of poems from Master Li.): Falun Dafa The path for cultivating gong lies in one's heart Contact information Guangxi Province Male First Labor Camp, Sixth Team (86-771-5612533) Address: 8 Xin'an Road, Nanning City, Guangxi Province, Zip Code: 530023 Responsible people in persecuting practitioners in the Sixth Team: Jin Hualiang (team leader), Wu Yongcheng (Assistant team leader), Yang
Daiming (police officer), Le (police officer), Wei (police officer) Names of practitioners detained in the First Labor Camp Based on my memory from the end of 2000 to the beginning of 2003, the
following is a partial list of practitioners who were detained in Section Six,
First Labor Camp of Guangxi Province: Pang Shouguang, Zhou Hongyang, Wu Peihai, Cai Xufu, Liao Dawu, Liu Jinliang,
Jiang Yongqiang, Cheng Weiqun, Li Zuzhi, Zhang Shengzhe, Chen Xinchao, Zhang
Zuhong, Lu Hongwei, Wang Taifeng, Li Panyi, Qinn Shaoyuan, Zhong Heng, Liang
Ping, Wei Yanan, Chen Junsong, Huang Renjian, Lu Biwei, Zhong Dapeng, Wen
Quanzhi, Qin Zhongpang, Meng Zhonghua, Mo Shi, Yuan Xinmin, Liu Bin, Zhuge
Zhongyong, Cen Guanhua, He Runping, Yao Wusheng, Lan Yanxun, Zhang Hua, Song
Shengping, Liu Jianguo, Yang Zongzhi, Qin Zhongpang, Wei Yong, Liang Zhijun,
Xiang Yijun, Xiong Yize, Yang Wei, Wei Wei, Zhong Chaochang, Su Hongqing, Lei
Qili, Huang Deli, Gan Zhen, Zhu Peiru, Jiang Maolin, Kuang Xiangdong, Cai
Junping, Huang Bo, Gan Kaihua, Feng Tingsheng, Zhu Shengfu, Zhang Jinjun, Zhang
Shuqi, Huang Xiong, Huang Chengxing, Huang Chengxian, Huang Huanqiang, Zhu Rihui,
Liu Shuangquan, Liu Shengping, Gao Xiaogui, Jiang Yu, Lu Zhonglei, Lu Yonghe, Su
Guangye, Zhong Longji, Liang Yicheng, Wei Juzhen, Wang Qifeng, Wu Guibin, Xu
Gang, Lu Hongkun, Bi Tianbao, Zeng Fei, Guo Jianying, Zhang Hongbin, Wei Jiqian,
Ye Lin, Huang Chaoding, Huang Zhongwen Among them, the following were sent to labor camp illegally twice
(information based on my personal knowledge of their situations): Liao Dawu, Lu Biwei, Zhong Dapeng, Mo Shi, Cen Guanhua, Yao Wusheng, Xiong
Yize, Yang Wei, Gan Zhen, Gao Xiaogui, Wei Juzhen, Zeng Fei, Zhang Shuqi, Huang
Xiong, Huang Chengxing, Liu Shuangquan, Liu Shengping July 6, 2004
The boat to sail the boundless Dafa rides on hardships
Chinese version available at
http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2004/7/6/78794.html
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