Persecution Cases in Shuanghe Forced Labor Camp, Qiqihar City, Heilongjiang Province

By a Falun Dafa Practitioner in China

(Clearwisdom.net)

Shuanghe Forced Labor Camp in Qiqihar City currently holds more than one thousand Falun Dafa practitioners. Over the last several years there have been many changes to the outward appearance of the labor camp, including several new buildings and newly planted trees and grass. It has been touted as the so-called "civilized labor camp" to which visitors often come. Those visitors, though, can only see the so-called "civilization," and they are not allowed to see the truly dark and cruel interior of the camp. (Every time the camp authorities hosted visitors or inspectors, the detainees would clean everything up and then tell lies to the visitors and inspectors on orders of the camp authorities).

The following is my own eyewitness account of some situations in the labor camp.

This place is called by those who know, "hell in the human world." More than 1,000 practitioners are still detained here and most of them have suffered severe mental torment and physical torture.

The labor camp sets the goal of earning 100,000 yuan per year from each detainee's labor. If the goal fails to be achieved, the division head will not receive any bonus. In the women's divisions, female detainees are forced to work 12 hours per day without a break. Most of these female practitioners are of older age. Male practitioners have to absorb heavy work loads; some even work for 24 hours without a break. In addition, they often suffer brutal beatings. Because of the inhumane treatment, some people from the male division risk their lives to try to escape. If they are caught and sent back, their lives would be even more miserable, as they would be beaten nearly to death. To amass more money, the police do not care whether one lives or dies, therefore they force people to do heavy labor beyond their physical endurance. People can not eat well or sleep well and are not treated as human beings.

On May 13, 2002, practitioners hung some banners in the labor camp with the phrases, "Falun Dafa is Good," and "Restore Our Master's Reputation and Respect." Because of this, more than ten practitioners suffered the torture of "sitting on the metal chair," some for as long as 45 days.

In the fall of 2002, because practitioners refused to cooperate with the police to do the heavy labor, several practitioners again suffered the torture of "sitting on the metal chair." Practitioner Liu Jinyu refused to cooperate with the camp authorities, so female guards Wang Yan, Wang Yujing and Li Yaping, and two male guards, grabbed Liu's hair to remove her from the room. The practitioners at the site tried to stop such brutality, but the male guards started to beat the practitioners. A detainee couldn't bear to watch this and said, "How can you beat them?" Upon hearing this, guard Wang Yan turned around to beat this detainee, who later suffered the same torture of "sitting on the metal chair" for two days and had her prison term extended. Practitioner Zhang Liqun was beaten to the ground. Practitioner Li Jing was beaten to the point of feeling dizzy, causing her to bump her head into the corner of a brick wall, which caused internal bleeding and nerve damage. After that she was unable to walk for a long time and her eyesight failed. Being helpless, she was nevertheless still detained for an additional year until her family bailed her out for medical treatment.

In November 2002, practitioners Shi Shufang, Gao Shuying, Zheng Weili, Wang Yanxing and Kong Xiangli suffered the torture of "sitting on the metal chair" for resisting the police search for Master's articles. It was quite cold then. The five practitioners wore light clothes, some just a thin pair of trousers. The torture chamber was cold. Shi Shufang had just finished her menses then. Sitting on the cold metal chair in the unheated room, her menses started again. Police withheld sanitary pads and cotton pants that were sent to her [by her family] and refused to let her have them. It was a messy situation. She was tortured for more than ten days. Like her, other practitioners were also brutally tortured.

On New Year's Day of 2003, practitioner Li Shunying was tortured with "sitting on the metal chair" for resisting a police search for Master's articles. Later, after practitioners protested with a hunger strike, she was released.

During the celebration party for the 2003 Chinese New Year, practitioner Wang Juan stood up to stop those who had abandoned Dafa and slandered Dafa and was punished. More than ten practitioners started a two-day hunger strike to protest. Just before midnight on the Chinese New Year's Eve, Wang Juan was released.

On February 16, 2004, to achieve a high rate of so-called "transformation," the police in the labor camp started to torture more than 40 practitioners who firmly persisted in Dafa practice. They took very mean and cruel measures to abuse those practitioners. The practitioners were taken to the fourth floor. They were blindfolded, handcuffed from behind and hung to the back of metal chairs.

Male guards had no scruples when beating practitioners. Among them, the labor camp political head Wang Yufeng was the fiercest. It was said that he was the one who plotted this round of torture of practitioners. There was no one in the camp who hadn't been beaten or kicked by him. The police viciously beat male practitioners with wooden clubs, and they hit so hard that even the clubs broke in half. Practitioner Yang Shulan, over 50 years old, had her head covered with a plastic bag, making her unable to breathe. Some practitioners were tortured into unconsciousness, but after having been given oxygen or medicines they would suffer beatings again. Guards Sun Bo and Zhang Shuguang were extremely cruel. Some evildoing people from the Qiqihar Farm Bureau Hospital were also involved. An ambulance from the hospital is parked in the labor camp, equipped with oxygen and medicine at all times.

When evening arrived, the police became more vicious and crazy. Some practitioners had been tortured into unconsciousness many times. Some became disabled from the torture. Zhang Liqun, Gao Shuying, Xu Hongmei and several male practitioners were unable to walk normally for a long time afterwards. Li Deqing suffered muscle atrophy. Still, they were forced to work 10 hours a day.

When Gao Shuying was found writing her solemn declaration, she was immediately dragged to the fourth floor. Guards Quo Li, Wang Yujing, Wang Yuying and Zhao Lijuan brutally beat her. They pulled her hair and struck her head against the wall. They hit her face with fists and kicked and punched her. Gao was unable to walk normally for several months from this torture. On the day she was released she still needed to be supported to walk.

In the middle of March 2004, practitioner Wang Guofang was seen writing a solemn statement and was pulled to the fourth floor to suffer torture. In less than three days she was beaten to death, with blood all over the floor. The scene was too miserable to look at.

One day in the fall of 2004, when detainees in the male division went to have breakfast, police officer Wang Yufeng saw that several practitioners were a little behind in their work. The reason they were behind was due to weak health conditions brought on by police torture on February 16. Wang rushed up, scolding and kicking the practitioners viciously until they fell down to the ground. People who saw the scene had tears in their eyes and no one was able to eat.

The guards now will not let newly arriving practitioners sleep if they refuse to cooperate.

So many incidents of gross abuse and mistreatment happened in Shuanghe Forced Labor Camp during the last five years - they are countless. What I have witnessed is just the tip of the iceberg.

July 11, 2005

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.ca/mh/articles/2005/7/13/105996.html

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