The Atrocities at Nanmusi Women's Labor Camp in Zizhong County, Sichuan Province
March 10, 2004
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By a practitioner in Sichuan, China
(Clearwisdom.net) I started practicing Falun Gong in 1997, after which all my
illnesses miraculously went away. When the persecution started, I clarified the
truth to others about Falun Gong, and was arrested and illegally sentenced to
two years in a forced labor camp. I was imprisoned at Nanmusi Women's Labor Camp
in Zhizhong. The following is my personal testimony of the brutalities I
witnessed in the labor camp.
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The labor camp forces newly
imprisoned Falun Dafa practitioners to sit facing a wall for at least
seventeen hours a day. They are also forced to watch and read slanderous
material. The labor camp assigns two inmates [non-practitioners] to
monitor and constantly keep close watch on each of the practitioners.
Practitioners are not allowed to move away from the spot where they sit. Even
for eating and relieving themselves, they need to do it on the spot. Prison
guards and inmates abuse practitioners regardless of their age. The random
cursing and beating of practitioners are common. Practitioners who refuse to
write a "repentance statement*" after two or three days of such torture are
forced to stand facing the wall for even longer periods of time each day. If
they still refuse to write it, they will be forced to stand with both of their
arms stretched out and tied to the wall. I witnessed some practitioners being
put into solitary confinement right after they arrived at the labor camp. They
were handcuffed, and water was poured over their bodies and their beds.
*Repentance statement:
In this statement the practitioner is forced to express remorse for practicing
Falun Gong, promise to give up Falun Gong, and never again associate with
other practitioners or go to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong.
- After the first month, practitioners will be sent to a team that is
specialized in persecuting Falun Dafa practitioners. Those who persisted in
practicing Falun Dafa are subjected to scolding, kicking, electric shock, and
being beating with police batons. The prison police often call on inmates to
beat up practitioners. After the beating, they further punish practitioners by
forcing them to stand under the scorching sun, or to stand facing a wall. They
even keep practitioners from sleeping at night.
- I once witnessed twelve inmates taking turns torturing a practitioner who
refused to participate in the prison exercise drills. They pinned the
practitioner to the ground and tortured her in various ways. It turned out
such incidents happen quite often. It is common that a practitioner's clothes
are torn apart while she is being dragged and kicked on the ground. The
practitioner's body would be covered with cuts and bruises afterwards. To make
matter worse, they force the practitioner to stand from 6 am to midnight or
even until 3 the next morning. I know some practitioners who were forced to
stand like that for more than a month, and their jail terms were also
increased for a few months. Prison guards even framed practitioners for
beating other inmates.
- Prison guards often consciously look for excuses to punish those Falun
Dafa practitioners who refuse to give up the practice. They often force
practitioners to stand under the scorching sun for ten days or up to two
weeks. They also don't allow practitioners to brush their teeth, wash their
faces, take showers, or change their dirty clothes. It does not matter if it
is in the middle of a bitter winter, as long as it is not raining, prison
guards can torture practitioners by forcing them to stand day and night
outside where the wind blows the hardest. They limit the practitioners to
using the toilet only twice a day. Even then, practitioners still need to
plead for permission to go to the toilet. It is not unusual for practitioners
to urinate or defecate in their clothes. As part of the torture, they force
the practitioners to drink a glass of water every two hours. If they refuse,
the prison guards will force feed them with dirty water and then stuff their
mouths with dirty socks. I knew some practitioners who were tortured in this
way for almost two months. Afterwards, they could not stand up straight and
their bodies were covered with injuries.
- Some practitioners were tortured for more than sixty days. They had less
than twenty hours of sleep and spent most of the time standing. As a result,
their calves swelled so badly that they were bigger than their thighs. These
practitioners all had blisters on their feet. Yellowish fluid came out when
the blisters broke. If the practitioners dozed off while standing, jail guards
would have inmates take turns dragging practitioners while they jog. If they
fall to the ground, they are severely beaten. Whenever an external inspector
came and inspected the labor camp, all Falun Gong practitioners would be
locked up inside so the inspector would find nothing wrong.
- Other torture methods include forcing practitioners to stand by a wall
during the day and to stand in the middle of a field at night. Also, they do
not allow practitioners to sit or even crouch down when they are eating. Some
practitioners were punished by being forced to eat standing next to the toilet
surrounded by maggots. I knew some practitioners who were forced to stand over
21 hours a day in the middle of the winter, and they were all over fifty years
old. Some of them did not sleep for more than two months straight.
- The labor camp often puts practitioners into solitary confinement. To make
things worse, they handcuff the practitioners in various torturous positions.
Sometimes they hang the practitioners by the handcuffs. Sometimes they cuff
both hands behind the back and then hang the practitioner. Or, they cuff the
practitioner's hands behind her back with one of her arms over the shoulder
while the other arm against her lower back. To increase the pain, they
sometimes stuff a blanket between the practitioner's back and hands. They
sometimes cuff the practitioner's hands and feet together so that they won't
be able to move at all.
- Prison guards instigate inmates to beat or scold practitioners at will.
They sometimes force practitioners to swallow inmate's spit. I knew a
practitioner who had gallstones and was not able to eat. The prison guards
ordered inmates to force-feed her; they claimed she was pretending to be ill.
Later on, doctors diagnosed her as having gallstones. But, she was so
underweight the hospital did not dare operate on her. If a practitioner does
not have any money in her account, the prison guards will not take her to a
hospital at all.
- In order to brainwash practitioners, I witnessed prison guards stripping
practitioners and forcing them to stand outside in the middle of winter for
two hours. I also saw inmates making obscene gestures and stuffing foreign
objects into practitioners' vaginas. They also forced practitioners to mimic
their gestures and they beat up those practitioners who refused. In order to
humiliate the practitioners, they dragged them in front of mirrors without any
clothes on.
- I knew some practitioners who had been in the labor camp for more than a
year, and they spent most of their time in solitary confinement. They were
forced to sleep on the floor and they were often beaten and handcuffed. The
prison guards forced one of the practitioners to sit cross-legged; they then
tied up her feet and left her sitting in that position on the cold floor in
the middle of winter for a long period of time. Now one of her legs is
crippled.
- The jail police constantly look for new ways to torment Falun Dafa
practitioners. They often force practitioners to slander Dafa and the Teacher,
or to write statements of breaking off from Falun Dafa and the Teacher. Those
who refuse are physically abused. They also increase practitioners' jail
terms-- some by eight months. Some practitioners were not released even three
or four months after they had completed their sentences.
- Every few days, in the middle of the night, the prison guards organize
inmates to drag Falun Dafa practitioners outside and beat them up. I witnessed
many practitioners who suffered permanent injuries to their backs, legs, and
faces. The police work very hard to force practitioners to give up Falun Dafa
because they get a few thousand yuan as a bonus for each successful case. [500
yuan is the average monthly income for an urban worker in China.]
- All practitioners suffered from swollen feet and legs after being forced
to stand for long periods of time. In severe cases, swelling even occurred in
the abdominal area. Many practitioners' feet were frostbitten, and broken
blisters with pus oozing out were very common. Some practitioners could not
walk after the punishment. The police sometimes put stacks of newspaper on top
of practitioners' heads and between their legs while they are standing. If the
paper falls, they will beat the practitioner.
- I saw a practitioner whose hands were cuffed behind her back. Two people
pressed her shoulder and head down. Another person used an electric baton to
shock the top of her head. They were also beating and kicking her at the same
time. She was beaten into unconsciousness and now has permanent injuries to
her back and chest.
These are either my own personal experiences or incidents that I witnessed. I
did not see many other practitioners' horrible experiences because they were
confined separately on the third floor.