The Persecution I Suffered in Dalian Forced Labor Camp

By Wan Xiaohui, a Falun Dafa practitioner from China

(Clearwisdom.net) My name is Wan Xiaohui, and I am fifty years old. I was illegally arrested by the Malan Police Station on October 9, 2002. I was standing in front of my apartment entrance on the fifth floor after coming back from grocery shopping, when a policeman named Xiao Qiao and a policewoman rushed down from the sixth floor to intercept me. They wanted me to go to the local police station with them. I told them that if there was something that needed to be discussed, it could be handled right there. Otherwise, I had to get home to prepare dinner. They called for backup, and several policemen came, arrested me, and threw me into a police car. On the second day, they forcibly sent me to a brainwashing class in the Shahekou area. After three days, they sent me to Yaojia Detention Center. On November 1, the policemen in Shahekou Police Station ordered me to sign an agreement for a two-year sentence in a labor camp. I tore the document into pieces. Without following proper procedure or any evidence, the police sent me to Dalian Forced Labor Camp.

Since I did not cooperate with the police's requests, I was tortured in a solitary confinement compartment. Policewoman Xu Lili and several inmates tore off all my clothes, gagged my mouth with my socks, put a padded helmet on my head, and used wooden boards to hit me in the head. With the helmet, others would not see physical evidence from the brutal beating. A big inmate put all his weight on one foot as he stood on my left calf. I fainted from their beating. They pulled me into another room and pinched my upper lip to see if I was still alive. Then, they pulled me into another solitary confinement compartment for further persecution. They forced me to lie down on a bench and tied my hands and legs in opposite directions, with all of them fully extended. Then, they used wooden floorboards, longer than half a meter, to hit me. Both my legs were seriously injured and turned dark purple.

Since I refused to follow their requests, the policewoman ordered the same big inmate to sit on my right leg, which was hanging in air. At the same time, another inmate pulled my left leg. The pain was excruciating. After that, they deprived me of sleep and forced me to remain standing for three days and three nights. On November 3, it was windy and rainy. The police opened the door and window of the compartment to freeze me, while they wore warm clothing and sat on the bed wrapped in a comforter. When I was jailed in the solitary confinement compartment, I was not allowed to wash and could only use the toilet three times a day. With only thin clothing and no socks or shoes, I was continuously cuffed and forced to stand past midnight. My hands and feet were swollen and bruised.

In the labor camp, guards monitored the steadfast practitioners twenty-four hours a day and did not allow them to move, talk, or communicate with other practitioners. If some people came to inspect or visit the labor camp, the police would move all the Falun Gong practitioners from the first team into the room where the night-shift guards slept. Practitioners from the second team would be locked into a storage room. This way, the visitors never saw them.

They also sent the practitioners to brainwashing classes. I was sent for brainwashing two days before the end of 2003. In the classes, collaborators constantly introduced fallacious theories to practitioners. They pretended to be kind, but in reality they deliberately distorted the meanings of Falun Gong books in order to turn steadfast practitioners against Dafa. If a practitioner could not be transformed by them, physical punishment would follow, such as standing for an extended period, sleep deprivation, and solitary confinement. One practitioner who was there before me refused to comply with the authorities. When the two of us met, we always encouraged each other. In the end, however, she yielded to the brainwashing. I really wanted to bring her back to the right thinking. With such a strong attachment, though, I was transformed, as well.

Master Li said, "By going there to listen, didn't you want to seek something?" (Zhuan Falun) Two days after leaving the brainwashing class, I came to the third team. Everyone there was a practitioner. By reading Master Li's articles to me, they helped me to understand my mistake. I felt so guilty and sorry for the loss I had caused Falun Gong and our merciful Master Li because of my mistakes.

The practice of Falun Gong is serious. Under the guidance of Master Li and the help of fellow practitioners, I read Master's articles. I found my shortcomings, improved myself, and changed my incorrect mindset. With righteous beliefs and actions, I did not acknowledge any further arrangements by the old forces and refused to accept them at all. Though I fell, I would stand up right away. I wanted to make up for the loss that I caused Falun Gong. I wrote an announcement to declare that my transformation was null and void. A perpetrator named Yuan Lingyue tore my announcement apart and threw it on the ground. Several labor camp prisoners hit me and tore off my clothes. They even checked for Master Li's articles in my underwear. That day was a family visitation day. After I told my family that I had been beaten, Yuan Lingyue assaulted me even more viciously. During the torture, one of my eyes hit the desk corner and swelled shut. I lost consciousness during the beating. When I woke up, the doctor told me that my injury was self-inflicted . I was then sent to a solitary confinement compartment for the second time. Because of the persecution, I was extremely weak and could not even stand up.

When policewoman Han Jianhua was on duty, she asked inmates to pull me up from the ground. She stood on my left foot with her high heel shoes. She hung my arms in the air and tied my legs to steel rods through the night until 8:00 the next morning. She screamed, "You are the most impudent person in the whole labor camp. You dare to disregard the regulations of the camp. You will see how I deal with you!" She tortured me with all kinds of methods. She especially struck at my heart, head and hips. She deprived me of sleep for fourteen days. She forced me to squat, even though my leg was so swollen that it would bleed with the slightest touch. She broke off a chunk from one of my teeth. After fifty-six days of torture, I was finally released from the solitary confinement compartment.

In April 2004, I was send to the solitary confinement compartment for the third time and changed from the second team to the third team. When we did not give acknowledge labor camp guards, Xu Lili took three of us to her office to demand a reason. She slapped my face several times. We refused to cooperate with her, and, as a result, we were punished with excessive forced labor. After the normal workday, we were forced to package chopsticks past midnight, and sometimes until noon the next day. Because I tore down three banners slandering Falun Gong, Xu Lili sent me to the solitary confinement compartment again. The guard on duty, Wan Yalin, directed two inmates to cuff my hands to the wall with my feet suspended off the ground. The handcuffs quickly cut into my flesh and cut off the circulation to my hands. When I was taken down to use the washroom, I could not move my hands at all and needed assistance to use the toilet. Even today, scars from the handcuffs can easily be seen. Some Falun Gong practitioners became permanently disabled from the abuse suffered in the solitary confinement compartment, yet practitioners' injuries are often not readily apparent. The officers were very good at concealing their crimes. After being handcuffed for four days, I was released and ordered to admit my mistake. I told them firmly, "What I am doing is the most righteous thing. That slanderous banner would poison anyone who saw it; that's why I tore it down. I did not do anything wrong."

After nine days, I was released from the solitary confinement compartment and came back to the second team.

On October 13, 2004, I was released from the labor camp, three days after my scheduled release.

March 25, 2005

Chinese version available at http://minghui.org/mh/articles/2005/3/30/98455.html

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