(Clearwisdom.net) Information leaked from the Zibo City Legal and Law System in October 2000 indicated that Luo Gan allocated a huge budget specifically for creating a prison for Falun Gong practitioners. In November 2000, the No. 4 Forced Labor Camp, under the Shandong Province Forced Labor Bureau (located on Sibao Mountain in Zhangqiu City), was identified as the facility to be used to detain female Falun Gong practitioners. The officers at the prison were Liu Changzeng (prison director), Wang Jun (female, deputy director), and Zhang Guilin (female, political director).
The first group of female Falun Gong practitioners (several hundred) were illegally detained at the No. 4 Forced Labor Camp beginning around the first week of November. The practitioners were divided into four teams. Together they protested the persecution by continuously reciting the Fa, practicing the Falun Gong exercises, and engaging in a hunger strike. The prison officials brought in fully-armed, male guards to brutally persecute the practitioners. Cries of pain from practitioners who were tortured could be heard throughout the entire building. The guards dragged practitioners into the hallway for no reason and arbitrarily shocked them with electric batons. The odor of burnt flesh permeated the building.
Under the direction of First Division head Shi Cuihua, Xiao (the Education Section head) directed a group of male guards to brutally persecute the practitioners. They tied practitioner Li Yumei (from Linqing) onto a metal chair. Her trousers were raised to expose her legs and feet, and the guards shocked her with batons to an extreme degree, until both legs were bloody and it was difficult to distinguish her flesh from blood. Ms. Li's skin was burned and she was dehydrated. Her clothing clung to her burned flesh and both legs turned black.
Again, Education Section head Xiao, as ordered by Wang Huili (the Second Division head), led a group of male guards, who dragged practitioners Shao Xirong (from Wendeng), an anonymous practitioner (from Dongying), Tang Huixian (from Penglai), Fu Ping (from Weichai), Huan Chunhua and Zhuang Rufeng (from Zhucheng) to the fourth floor and handcuffed them to the windows. They were left there and denied food or drink. Two days later, these six practitioners were dragged to the "Strictly Monitored room."
The six practitioners were each handcuffed to a metal chair. Then they had to sit on the cement floor, disrobe, and maintain outstretched arms and legs. The guards swarmed in, pushed the practitioners' heads down, stomped on their feet, and applied five to six electric batons simultaneously to these slender females. It is hard to describe the scene in words. The guards had stuffed the practitioners' mouths with cloth before torturing them, so during the entire process others heard only the buzz of the electric batons and smelled the odor of burned skin. Practitioner Shao Xirong could hardly bear this evil persecution and turned to the wall. She lost consciousness right away and was sent to the hospital. The rest of the practitioners were shocked until they were near death. Their arms and legs were completely black and blue. The swollen blisters were almost as large as eggs, and after the blisters burst, the practitioners could not wear clothing for quite some time.
Practitioner Shao Xirong was forced to pay for her own hospital expenses. After she returned from the hospital, she was again handcuffed and placed in the "Strictly Monitored room." She was not allowed to stand up or sit down. This kind of torture lasted for more than one month. She was not allowed to go back to her team until her hair, which had been cut off, grew back. Shao Xirong was also not allowed to spend any of the money that her family left for her. Even money for toilet paper was deducted by the Second Division head, Wang Huili. Ms. Shao was tortured for more than two years, until she suffered a mental collapse and could no longer take care of herself. Her family then brought her back home.
This type of persecution also took place in other divisions that housed practitioners. Some guards applied five or six electric batons simultaneously to their victims. The sound of electric batons and the cries of pain from Dafa practitioners could be heard around the clock. An older practitioner, Song Guifen (from Linqing), who is in her sixties, was also shocked by the guards and was seen crawling in the hallway.
Under the direction of the Third Division head, Chen Suping, Education Section head Xiao led a group of male guards to use electric batons on practitioner Shen Zhongxia (from Liaocheng City). Her left arm festered with egg-sized blisters. After the guards saw the blisters on her arms and legs, they began shocking the practitioner on the palms of her hands and on the arches of her feet. They shocked practitioner Guo Fang to near death, and shocked practitioner Chen Yuxiang (a former nurse at Zhangdian City Hospital) until she was covered with blisters and her face was deformed. Because their mouths were gagged, only the buzz of electric batons was heard while they were being tortured.
Some time around September 2001, this prison, used specifically to detain female Falun Gong practitioners, was transferred to Wangcun in Zibo City, and its name was changed to the Shandong Province Second Women's Forced Labor Camp. Here the guards introduced a new form of torture called "boiling the hawk," which consisted of sleep deprivation for several consecutive days with constant beatings. As soon as a practitioner entered the labor camp, collaborators told lies to the practitioner in an attempt to shake their belief in Falun Dafa. The practitioners were then asked to write a Guarantee Letter (to stop practicing Falun Dafa). If the practitioner refused, she was deprived of sleep. A group of two people took turns monitoring the practitioner until she wrote the guarantee letter. Even when a practitioner (due to unbearable pressure) wrote the guarantee letter, she was still not allowed to sleep. Practitioners were also forced to disclose information about other practitioners. Their responses were often deemed insufficient, especially if they were not in line with the thinking of the guards. Later, the labor camp officials and guards offered the reduction of prison terms for practitioners who revealed the identities of other local practitioners. However, many steadfast Dafa practitioners were aware of the guards' hypocrisy and refused to cooperate. They eventually left the labor camp with dignity.
Practitioner Li Li (from Pingdu) was sentenced to forced labor for two years and assigned to the First Division. Because she was steadfast in her belief, she was persecuted to near death by the time her term was completed. The division head, Shi Cuihua, inhumanly tortured her. Initially, Ms. Li was not allowed to sleep or to close her eyes. Later, collaborators were ordered to make her stand upright continuously, 24 hours a day. Then Li Li was detained in a single cell with both hands cuffed to the bed. She lay there with her arms and legs stretched out, and she was not allowed to use the restroom. So she resolved not to eat. Shi Cuihua force-fed her. The feeding tube was inserted into Li Li's stomach and remained inserted at all times. Her legs and feet were so swollen that she could hardly wear shoes. The miserable scene was unbearable to witness. Shi Cuihua was very frustrated but failed to "reform" Li Li.
Practitioner Wang Liping (from Changyi) also refused to be reformed. Division Head Shi Cuihua instructed those who were not true practitioners to monitor Wang Liping and to not allow her to close her eyes. Whenever she closed her eyes, they would pinch her face or her body. As a result, her face was black and blue, and often bloody. One evening, her head had become swollen and her ears had been damaged. Another practitioner, Yang Xiurong, who was in her thirties, had acquired presbyopia due to not being allowed to close her eyes for a long time [presbyopia is vision condition in which the crystalline lens of the eye loses its flexibility, which makes it difficult to focus on close objects].
When first detained at the forced labor camp, practitioner Song Dexia (from Zhaoyuan) tried to encourage, with her steadfast belief in Dafa, the practitioners who had been "Reformed" or signed guarantee letters. As a result, she was placed in the "Strictly Monitored room." Ms. Song remained there for a long time, and after she came out, she seemed mentally traumatized. She developed abnormal behavior, and her screams were often heard.
Zhang Shue, a practitioner from Laixi, also refused to be reformed. Under Shi Cuihua's instigation, about six people forced her into the full lotus position (both legs crossed, on top of each other), and then they all sat on her. They didn't stop until Ms. Zhang lost consciousness from the extreme pain. Several months later, she could still hardly walk.
Practitioner Sui Hongju (from Zhucheng) was detained in the Second Division of the prison. She refused to be reformed. The division head gave directions to not let her sit down (day and night) and to not allow her to sleep for as long as 40 days. Sui Hongju could not remember how many times she fell down from exhaustion. Finally, she could not bear it and yielded to the demands of the perpetrators and wrote things against Falun Dafa. However, as soon as she woke up, she immediately declared the statement that she made was invalid. Guard Wang Huili gave directions to impose further persecution on Ms. Sui, which made her legs swell to double their original size. The guards didn't allow her to eat. Occasionally, Sui Hongju was given a chunk of salted vegetable and a bun. Ms. Sui was detained in solitary confinement at all times. In the summer of 2003, the guards detained her in a dark room in the basement, and again deprived her of sleep. They didn't give her food until she completed her assigned work quota. Ms. Sui was not allowed to take a shower for three months. However, Sui Hongju remained steadfast throughout the persecution. Finally, the guards hung her up by her handcuffs, with one hand pulled to each side. For ten days Sui Hongju was not allowed to eat. Her stomach ached. She could not control her bladder and almost broke down. Seeing that she could not hold it any longer, the guards released one pair of handcuffs. The evil division head, Wang Huili, made numerous attempts but failed to shake Sui Hongju's firm belief in Dafa. In November 2003, she was released with the label of Schizophrenia, a type of mental illness.
In the Third Division, practitioners Song Jing (from Yantai), Wu Xiuhua and Sun Keling (from Weifang) suffered the same type of persecution because they were steadfast in their belief in Falun Dafa. They were deprived of sleep, handcuffed to the window frame, and were not allowed to use the restroom. Because she continued practicing Falun Gong, Sun Keling was tied up in the full lotus position. They didn't release her for a long time. She was in such pain that her screams were heard throughout the building.
Xu Li (the Fourth Division head) and Wang Hongmei (the deputy head) exerted force on practitioner Li Guilan (from Huang County) in their attempts to reform her. Because she didn't give in, Li Guilan was handcuffed with her arms behind her back to the radiator. She shouted "Falun Dafa is good!" The guards put a respirator on her. This was repeated on and off for two years and eventually caused mental injury. The same torture was done to practitioner Duan Jiazhi. She was not allowed to sleep. She became mentally unstable as a result of the torture. She was not allowed to use the bathroom, and had to relieve herself in the cell.
The Fifth Division head, Qu Xiuying, was even more brutal in the torture of Dafa practitioner Zhong Falan (from Zhucheng). Ms. Zhong was deprived of sleep as soon as she entered the forced labor camp. After one week, Zhong Falan could no longer tolerate the torture and was forced to write a guarantee letter. Several days later, she declared the guarantee letter invalid. Division head Qu Xiuying forced her to stand inside the same restroom that the guards used. After almost one year of such brutal persecution, Zhong Falan became more aware of the evil nature of the persecution. She asked to study the Fa and to practice the exercises, and she did begin to practice. Consequently, the guards handcuffed her to the bed. Under the direction of Qu Xiuying, Ms. Zhong was detained for almost two months in the guards' restroom. She had to stand and was not allowed to sleep. She had to eat and drink there. Her feet and lower legs were terribly swollen, and she could not wear shoes. In the summer, the place where she stood was wet from the hot, humid weather. Later, Zhong Falan was transferred to the First Division, and she kept practicing, even in the division head's office. At that time, because of lack of sleep and doing hard labor, she could not see things clearly. Later, Ms. Zhong again was deprived of sleep, this time for seven consecutive days. She began a hunger strike at the same time. The guards made several attempts, but failed to shake her firm belief in Dafa. Finally, they claimed that Zhong Falan was schizophrenic and allowed her family to take her back home.
Practitioner Liang Yu, in the Sixth Division, entered the forced labor camp in 2001 and refused to be reformed. The guards didn't allow her to sleep, and forced her to stand. Her legs became swollen from this torture. They ordered all the people in the division to write letters to her and try to force her to reform. Later, Liang Yu was transferred to the Seventh Division. There were another dozen nights when she was deprived of sleep. In the chilly winter, Liang Yu was allowed to only wear thin clothing, and she caught a cold. Ms. Liang was also forced to clean the restroom every morning.
December 23, 2004
