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The Truth Behind the Brainwashing Center in Wuchang District, Wuhan City, Hubei Province

August 10, 2002 |  

(Clearwisdom.net)

The true nature of the Brainwashing Center:

The brainwashing center building is, in essence, Wuchang District's clandestine and unlawful prison.

Typical Detainees:

The brainwashing center is used to detain peaceful Falun Dafa practitioners, 70% of whom are senior citizens.

Facts about the building:

The Brainwashing Center building is situated on the bank of Wuchang's Yujiatou Bridge. The newly constructed building is three-stories high and it contains 42 cells. Every cell is sealed with a security door, metal windows, and a huge padlock. The building is literally encased by a metal cage, with, fortified walls, barbed wire fences, and security personnel guarding the perimeter. Every floor has a police officer on duty 24 hours a day. What's more outrageous is that every cell has two monitoring devices. One monitors the front half of the cell or the sleeping chamber, and the other monitors the washroom in the back. In other words, the detained practitioners' every single move, even showering and going to the toilet, is closely monitored.

Facts about the Brainwashing Center staff:

The officials named, Zhu, Chen, Wan, Ding, and Xu, of the Brainwashing Center, used to be crooks from various Wuchang District government offices, such as the military, commerce department, city security division, municipal office, or the environmental control office. Before, they would occupy their time demolishing the stands set up by the unemployed to make a living, and now they are utilized by Jiang's regime to persecute Falun Gong practitioners.

The administration at the brainwashing center:

In the brainwashing center, Falun Gong practitioners suffer long periods of time without any exposure to sunlight or being allowed outside. They are forbidden from nodding their heads to one another or acknowledging each other whatsoever. Some practitioners were beaten, tortured, or sent to solitary confinement because they spoke. Even this basic human right of verbal communication is denied.

Sometimes the staff torments practitioners by serving leftover food to them or reducing their food rations. For example, the staff feasted during the 2002 Chinese New Year, yet over the Chinese New Year (from February 9th to February 17th) the detainees were served table-scraps every day, some of which were even rotten. Over that period of time no meat was ever served, and the only token remotely symbolic of the New Year was an orange the size of a goose egg. Since February 18th, they received only half of their usual rations, and sometimes a meal wasn't even 2 liang (approx. 3.5 oz). This is how they treated Dafa practitioners.

The methods of the Brainwashing Center:

The Brainwashing Center doesn't speak the truth, nor does it abide by the laws in arresting innocent people. On the contrary, they persecute those who do speak the truth. This is what they call brainwashing session.

For example, on February 17th, Peng Min's father Peng Weisheng, was viciously beaten for saying a few words. Zhou Xinchun also told a truthful statement, "Speaking is a fundamental human right. How could you remove it?" An official named Wan said Zhou wasn't cooperating, so he ordered several people to forcibly take Zhou into solitary confinement and handcuff him. The official, Wan, hit and pounded Zhou with his knees, and then directed two young stout policemen to brutally beat Zhou in his third floor cell the following day. Zhou's right eye was blackened and swollen, his left ear was beaten deaf, and he suffered many internal injuries from the beating. His systolic blood pressure was over 200, while his diastolic pressure was only 40. A sturdy man in his forties was thus rendered almost lifeless. The center staff thought he was close to death, but fearing others finding out, they waited until night to ship him to Wuhan's Number 7 Hospital for emergency care.

What's worse, the brainwashing center even dares to arrest and beat severely ill people. One night, they used the excuse of arresting practitioners who were peacefully practicing the exercises to drag Yang Ying, who was recovering from a major operation and had trouble even sustaining herself, out of her bed and into their first floor office. They even dared to arrest and torture people in such dire conditions. At the time, every detainee on the third floor was furious, and even a tall policeman was angry. After she was tortured, Yang Ying wasn't able to get out of her bed at all, and had trouble eating liquefied rice. Fearing that she might die, they had to arrange for her release. Yang Ying, supported by two staff members and her relatives, took over forty minutes to get down from the third floor to first floor. Her mother's cries were full of agony and inexpressible anger. This is truly pitiful.

Also, they beat and torment old women, such as the 63-year-old Ms. Mao, the 57-year-old Ms. Wang, and the 58-year-old Ms. Xiong. They have all suffered severe beatings and solitary confinement in the Brainwashing Center.

The brainwashing center officials harass passersby and children.

The "Legal Re-education" staff not only persecutes the detained Dafa practitioners, but also regards passersby and children as criminals.

One day, among the bystanders there was a ten-year-old child on the riverbank toying with binoculars, and he was gazing here and there. He also looked at the Brainwashing Center building. He had stopped looking, but a staff member named Xu led a gang of policemen onto the bank and confiscated the child's binoculars. They even wanted to detain the child in solitary confinement. This apparently anonymous and nondescript building scared the child into crying. Was one look in the direction of the building considered a crime?

Another time, there was a group of people sitting at a rest stand looking toward the building. Someone in a cell waved towards the rest stand, thinking a familiar person was sitting there. It was more than 50 meters away, so no faces or words could be recognized. Soon the group left. At this time, a staff member named Wan led a policeman through the iron gates and dragged one of the people from the rest stand into the prison. They had no right or evidence to justify this action. After calling 110 (Chinese equivalent of 911), the police released the innocent person after they were satisfied with the interrogation. The official named Wan cursed at the police officers who questioned his persecutory acts.

Note 1: Wuchang District has covered up the death of Dafa practitioner Peng Min at the Qingling Detention Center, and fabricated "Peng Min's suicide."

Note 2: Wuchang District Brainwashing Center also tortured to death Peng Min's mother Li Yingxiu.