A Dafa Practitioner's Personal Experience of Persecution at the Shibalihe Forced Labor Camp in Henan Province

By a Practitioner in China

(Clearwisdom.net) I once had a wonderful family. When I was little I was weak and I suffered many ailments. I had congenital heart disease, severe skin disorders, etc. I endured unspeakable pain and torments caused by illness. In 1998 I started practicing Falun Gong after friends introduced me to it. All my ailments miraculously healed within one month after I started the practice. I was immensely grateful to Teacher, who gave me my second life.

No one ever expected that out of jealousy former Chinese Communist Party head Jiang Zemin would become outraged by Falun Gong's popularity, with more than one hundred million people starting their path of cultivation by adhering to the principles of "Truth, Compassion, Forbearance." He mobilized the entire nation's resource to persecute the kind and gentle Falun Gong practitioners. Charges of murder and mental illness were fabricated, framing Falun Gong, and the contents of Zhuan Falun were falsified, and its founder vilified.

Seeing all this I cried. Was I wrong by following the principles of "Truth, Compassion, Forbearance" to be a good person? I knew Falun Gong and it was never like what the television, newspaper purported, and all fellow practitioners were honest, kind and cordial with people. They were never like what the Chinese Communist propaganda claimed.

I wanted to seek justice for my Teacher and Falun Gong. On July 20, 1999, when the persecution began, I started the difficult journey to appeal for Falun Gong. I went to appeal four times between July 20, 1999 and July 20, 2000. I was detained, fined, extorted, threatened and intimidated. My salary was suspended at work, yet they forced me to continue work on endless chores without pay. During the detention at my workplace I nearly lost my life due to gas poisoning. My employer and the 610 Office tried to force me to sign a repentance statement. I was tortured until my chin swelled to the point that I could not even open my mouth to eat. They sent the factory doctor to forcibly inject me with drugs, but I refused. They only let me go home because they were afraid that I might die at the workplace. I continued to study the Fa and practice the exercises at home. With Teacher kindly watching over me and my mother meticulously taking care of me, my physically condition improved day by day. As soon as I could drink some porridge the 610 Office and work unit people came to harass me again, coerce my elderly parents, husband and young child. One time Wu Zibao, a deputy from the 610 Office, Yu Xinfang, and my workplace union president went through my neighbor's house, went onto the flat roof of my house, then kicked open the side door of my house to get in, and tried to force me to sign the repentance statement.

Without a single day of peace at home, I was forced to go to Beijing for the fourth time to appeal for Falun Gong. I was detained after I unfurled my banner at Tiananmen Square on July 20, 2000, and then I was detained at the Changping Detention Center. I was beaten by the police because I refused to divulge my name. I went on hunger strike to protest the inhuman treatment. They sent me and other Dafa practitioners to the mental hospital. They tied my four limbs like a starfish on the bed, and started force-feeding me. They even charged 50 yuan for each "forced feeding torture." After 19 days of tortures like this, the city's 610 Office sentenced me to two years in a forced labor camp, charging me with "disturbing social order." I was sent to the Shibalihe Forced Labor Camp in Zhengzhou City, Henan Province.

At Shibalihe Labor Camp, I suffered endless mental and physical tortures. I was forced to do many laborious jobs, and was supervised by inmates. They tried to force me to do the "prison physical exercise" but I refused. I started doing Falun Gong exercises. The labor camp guards handcuffed me and took me to the activity room. Several guards held me down, and they beat me, kicked me, and dragged me by my hair, until one of my legs became limp and I could not walk. Even so, they still forced me to do work. On October 1, 2001, the Provincial 610 Office, Bureau of Labor Reeducation Administration, and the Department of Justice started a new round of tortures on all resolute Falun Gong practitioners under the guise of inspection. The methods used included tortures such as electric shock, and roping. They locked me into a room, and several guards took turns tying the rope, including the camp director Wu Hongru, who personally tied me. They hung me up by my handcuffed wrists for more than 24 hours, resulting in my inability to take care of myself for a very long time. They still forced me to do the labor. When my husband brought my 9 year-old son to visit me at the labor camp, camp authorities refused the visit, telling my husband that I refused to be "transformed." My son held on to the iron door and cried, "Dad, I want to see my mother, I want to see my mother. If they do not allow us to see her in the morning, let us wait until in the afternoon." My husband shook his head. He was very distraught, but maintained his composure, thinking about the young child. They could not do anything but go home (this was what my husband later wrote in a letter to me). My husband could no longer endure the torments, both mental and physical, and filed for divorce. A once wonderful family was broken up by the evil.

Even though my term expired on August 15, 2002, the labor camp refused to release me but added another seven months. After the seven month extension, they still refused to release me, and the city's 610 Office sent me to the party school for continued brainwashing and torture. They forced me to listen to and watch videos defaming and vilifying Teacher and Dafa, and forced me to write a repentance statement and slander Teacher and Dafa. I refused to watch the videos. In order to escape from the mental torture, I jumped from the second floor window at midnight on the second day. I broke my right foot and crawled my way out of the evil's den. Later, the 610 Office deputy Wu Zibao brought his men, and forced my elderly father to take them to every relative's house to coerce and threaten them, and monitor their telephones. I became homeless and wondered around. My mother could not endure such an assault and confrontation, and died painfully a short while after.
Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2006/1/3/117919.html

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