Amnesty Annual Report 2011- China

The Chinese government responded to a burgeoning civil society by jailing and persecuting people for peacefully expressing their views, holding religious beliefs not sanctioned by the state, advocating for democratic reform and human rights, and defending the rights of others. Popular social media sites remained blocked by China’s internet firewall. The authorities continued to repress Tibetan, Uighur, Mongolian and other ethnic minority populations. On the international stage, China grew more confident and more aggressive in punishing countries whose leaders spoke publicly about its human rights record.

Background

Annual Human Rights Report release at U.S. Capitol brings together scholars, activists and victims of persecution in China

WASHINGTON DC– The Falun Dafa Information Center marked the release of its 2010 Annual Report on Monday with a press conference and panel discussion at the U.S. Capitol Building.

Levi Browde, executive director of the Falun Dafa Information Center, introduced the key findings of the report, including the observation that tens of millions of Falun Gong practitioners continue to face “lawlessness and brutality” in Mainland China, and that they constitute “the largest group of prisoners of conscience” in the world. (read the executive summary)

“In the persecution of Falun Gong, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is developing more effective and comprehensive mechanisms for brutal suppression and censorship,” explained Browde. “We’re already seeing the CCP unleashing these mechanisms onto other targets…using them against Tibetans, Christians and other persecuted groups, as well as for hiding incidents like SARS and poisonous products, the effects of which reach far beyond China’s borders.”

“In this sense, the persecution of Falun Gong is serving as the CCP’s test lab for tyranny, and the longer it continues, the greater the threat to us all.”

The annual report (full report) includes details of 109 Falun Gong practitioner who died in 2009 as a result of torture and abuse in China, in addition to over 2,000 more who were sentenced arbitrarily to reeducation through labor or prison camps.  Due to the difficulties associated with obtaining information from inside China, the actual numbers are believed to be significantly higher. The report also includes analysis of the origins, motivations, and tactics behind Falun Gong’s peaceful resistance to persecution.

The presentation of the annual report’s key findings  were followed by a panel discussion moderated by Nina Shea, director of the Hudson Institution’s Center for Religious Freedom and commissioner with the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.  It brought together human rights scholars and authors David Matas, a Canadian human rights and immigration attorney and 2010 Nobel Peace Prize Nominee, and Ethan Gutmann, author of a forthcoming book on Falun Gong.

Among the findings cited by Gutmann was his estimate, based on extensive surveys with former Chinese detainees, that there are between 450,000 – 1,000,000 Falun Gong prisoners of conscience in China at any given time. Gutmann also explored the history of China’s online censorship, surveillance and denial of service attack capabilities, which he found originated as tools to be used against Falun Gong.

These findings, noted Ms. Shea, highlighted the intersection between human rights or religious freedom issues and U.S. national security concerns.

The panel also featured Dr. Shiyu Zhou, a leading Falun Gong activist for the cause of internet freedom in China, and Ms. Pang Jin, a young Washington DC resident whose mother and aunt were both sentenced in sham trials to long prison terms in 2009 for their belief in Falun Gong.

Ms. Pang referred in her speech to House Resolution 605 (news), which passed in March 2010 and which expresses “sympathy to Falun Gong practitioners and their family members who have suffered persecution, intimidation, imprisonment, torture, and even death” for their belief in Falun Gong.

“This kind of support from kind-hearted Americans really gives hope and light to all the people suffering in China,” said Ms. Pang, who lost contact with her mother after she was sent in a show trial to 10 years in prison. (The Falun Dafa Information Center)

Map: Torture Close to China Olympic Venue (2): Beijing Women’s Labor Camp

BEIJING

Labor Camp:

Name: Beijing Municipal Women’s “Re-education Through Labor” Camp
– formerly Xin’an Women’s Labor Camp
Address: 12 Weiyonglu Street, Daxing District, Beijing City.

Nearby Olympic Venue

Name: National Stadium, a.k.a. Bird’s Nest
Events: Opening and closing ceremonies, track and field, soccer finals

Directions: View below, or click here to download .doc file (48kb)

– From Beijing International Airport: Total 59.5 km
– From Beijing Train Station: Total: 32.8 km

Beijing area map, showing the location of Beijing Municipal Women’s Labor Camp

A. Beijing International Airport: (首都国际机场)
B. National Stadium:( 鸟巢国家体育场)
C. Tiananmen Square: (天安门广场)
D. Subway station
E. Women Labor Camp: (女子劳教所)
F. Tuanhe Labor Camp: ( 团河劳教所)

About Beijing Municipal Women’s “Re-education Through Labor” Camp

Description:

The camp was renovated in 2001, and is said to hold approximately 1,000 prisoners, all female. Among those detained are individuals sentenced for drug addiction, prostitution, or practicing Falun Gong. In 2006, 80 percent were reportedly Falun Gong adherents, while recent accounts indicate that nearly all detainees are currently Falun Gong.

United Nations visit:

The camp was among those visited by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture during his mission in November 2005. Among his findings was that record books at the camp showed that prisoners were placed in solitary confinement for as much as 60 days, far beyond the legally permitted length of time. According to his report on the visit: “Detainees …stated that Falun Gong practitioners who had not renounced their beliefs after six months in detention were placed in the Intensive Training section until they were ‘reformed’. Falun Gong practitioners formerly detained at this facility mentioned that they would refer to this section as the ‘Intensive Torture Section’.” Annie Yang, a former prisoner, states that several dozen Falun Gong adherents were removed from the premises immediately prior to the Rapporteur’s visit.

Prison conditions:

According to former detainees, prisoners are held in unsanitary conditions and severely deprived of food and sleep. Many report being subjected to beatings and anti-Falun Gong study sessions. At least one woman was injected with nerve-damaging drugs whose side-effects, such as muscle spasms and memory, continued long after release.

Products:

Former prisoners speak of working over 16 hours a day performing the following forms of forced labor: packaging disposable chopsticks, knitting sweaters, gloves and seat cushions, producing large quantities of slippers, and manufacturing stuffed animals.

Individual cases:

Jennifer (Zheng) Zeng, author of Witnessing History: One Chinese Woman’s Fight for Freedom

Former prisoner of conscience: Jennifer (Zheng) Zeng

Jennifer (Zheng) Zeng, author of Witnessing History: One Chinese Woman’s Fight for Freedom, held April 2000 to April 2001

Excerpts from The Sydney Morning Herald, December 28, 2001: “Cute Toy Rabbits Belie Suffering of Chinese Labor Camps.”

“In February 2001, nearly 1000 illegally detained Falun Gong practitioners were forced to make 100,000 toy rabbits for Beijing Mickey Toys Co., Ltd subcontracted by Nestle at the Xin’an Labor Camp. Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Jennifer Zeng was detained there for 12 months.

‘I was forced to squat motionlessly and continuously under the scorching sun. The longest period lasted more than 15 hours. I was beaten, dragged along the floor and shocked with two electric batons until I lost consciousness. I was forced to stand motionless with my head bowed, looking at my feet for 16 hours every day, while repeatedly reciting out loud the insulting labor camp regulations. I was watched 24 hours a day by criminal inmates, who were given the power to do anything they liked to me. From February of 2001 I was forced to make 100,000 promotional toy rabbits for Nestle where 130 of us worked up to 22 hours a day to fill the order.’”

Former prisoner of conscience: Annie (Feng) Yang

Annie (Feng) Yang, detained from April 2005 to September 2006, was visited by the U.N. mission but refused to speak for fear of retribution. She currently lives in the United Kingdom.

“At the beginning of June 2005, I was sent to a special unit whose sole purpose is to deal with Falun Gong practitioners with a firm belief. The first method they used was ‘sitting on a high chair’, which was made of plastic about thirty centimeters across. The surface was very uneven. Everyday one was forced to sit for over eighteen hours a day, with a strict sitting posture: both knees touching each other tightly, both legs touching each other tightly, both hands resting over the knees, the back must be kept straight, eyes must be open, and no movement is allowed. After a week or two, many people’s bottoms started to rot.”

According to the Falun Dafa Information Center, at least three women given “re-education” terms without trial in a recent pre-Olympics crackdown in Beijing are serving their sentences at the camp.

Former prisoners Jennifer Zeng in Australia, Annie Yang in the United Kingdom, and Chen Ying in France are available for interviews upon request.

– Excerpt from report “Torture Outside the Olympic Village: A Guide to China’s Labor Camps“, by CIPFG

Related:
– Map: Labor Camps Close to China Olympic Venue (1): Beijing Tuanhe
– Guide to Beijing Olympic Reporters: Torture Outside The Olympic Village in Labor Camps, By CIPFG

Map: Labor Camps Close to China Olympic Venue (1): Beijing Tuanhe

Nearby Olympic Venue in Beijing City:

Name: National Stadium, a.k.a. Bird’s Nest
Events: Opening and closing ceremonies, track and field, soccer finals

Labor Camp:

Name: Tuanhe “Re-education Through Labor” Camp
Address: 1-Tuan’gui Street, Liu Village, Huangcun Town, Daxing District, Beijing
Phone: +86-(0)10─61299888

Directions

Directions to Tuanhe Labor Camp: View below, or click here to download .doc file (44kb)

From Beijing International Airport: Total 55.2 km
From Wangfujing (City Center) Subway Station:Total 29.4 km

Map:

Beijing area map, showing the location of Tuanhe Labor Camp and Beijing Olympic Venue- National Stadium

A. Beijing Capital International Airport: ( 首都国际机场)
B. National Stadium: (鸟巢国家体育场)
C. Tiananmen Square: (天安门广场)
D. Subway station
E. Women Labor Camp: (女子劳教所)
F. Tuanhe Labor Camp: (团河劳教所)

About Tuanhe “Re-education Through Labor” Camp

Description:

Tuanhe Labor Camp has been in use since the 1960s, and is said to hold several thousand prisoners. Tuanhe Dispatch Center is part of the same complex, and all prisoners sent to “re-education through labor” (RTL) facilities in Beijing must first pass through the Tuanhe Dispatch Center before going to other sites. Both men and women are confined in the dispatch center, but in separate facilities. Tuanhe Labor Camp is male only.

Prisoners:

According to Chen Gang, a New Jersey resident and Falun Gong practitioner held in Tuanhe for 18 months, from 2000-2001, the majority of prisoners were Falun Gong adherents.

Prison conditions:

According to former detainees, prisoners are held in unsanitary conditions, with over a dozen individuals sharing a room of 130 square feet in which they eat, work, and perform bodily functions. Former prisoners speak of working over 16 hours a day packaging chopsticks for domestic and international use in unhygienic conditions, as well as being subjected to beatings, severe sleep deprivation, electric baton shocks, and anti-Falun Gong study sessions.

Products:

Chopsticks (primary) and steel brushes.

Falun Gong practitioner Chen Ying, now living in France, wrote the following about her experience producing chopsticks in Tuanhe:

“I was locked up with over a dozen other Falun Gong practitioners in a cell that was about twelve square meters (130 square feet) in size. We did everything in this cell, including working, eating, drinking, and using the toilet; therefore, there were many flies and mosquitoes. If we could not finish the work assigned to us, we were not allowed to clean ourselves.

“We were allowed very little sleep each day, and forced to start working the moment we opened our eyes. My hands had blisters and thick calluses from working long hours to finish the assigned quota of packaging disposable chopsticks. I often worked until midnight. We were not allowed to sleep unless we finished the quota. We were forced to work over 16 hours every day, and everything was done in our cells.

“The sanitation conditions were extremely poor. Even though we were packaging disposable chopsticks and the label said the chopsticks were disinfected at a high temperature, the entire process was unhygienic. We could not wash our hands, and we had to package those chopsticks that had fallen on the floor. In order to seek a huge profit, Tuanhe Prisoner Dispatch Center and Tuanhe Labor Camp disregarded the health of the general public and knowingly committed such wrongdoings. Many restaurants in Beijing are currently using these chopsticks. I heard they are even being exported to other countries.”

Show Tours:

In 2001, a closely managed tour of the Tuanhe Labor Camp was conducted for foreign media, exhibiting sections of the camp containing green fields and animals such as deer. However, former prisoners held in the camp at the time speak of a staged presentation by prison officials for the benefit of reporters. Chen Gang reports that before the tour, roads were repaired, buildings painted, and prisoners were given a list of questions and answers to memorize. The list included questions like, “Were there any beatings?” Answer: “No.” During that period of time, practitioners who had not renounced their beliefs were sent to a remote corner of the camp. When they were returned, they were told that reporters had come for a visit, but that officials did not want them to see the practitioners.

Chen also learned after his release that two practitioners who had arrived at Tuanhe only a day or two before the tour were allowed to meet reporters. They were separated and isolated upon their arrival. When reporters asked them if they practice Falun Gong, they replied, “Yes” and when they asked if they had been beaten, they said “no.” Each situation was crafted to convey a positive impression of the facility, as realistically as possible.

Individual cases:

1. Amnesty International Prisoner of Conscience: Bu Dongwei

Bu Dongwei (image courtesy Amnesty International)

Bu Dongwei currently serving 2.5 year sentence.

Mr. Bu Dongwei was working for the Asia Foundation, an American aid organization, when he was taken from his home in May 2006 by security agents and sentenced to two and a half years of “re-education through labor” (RTL) because he practices Falun Gong.

According to Amnesty International (AI): “This is not the first time Bu Dongwei has been imprisoned for his beliefs. After petitioning the authorities to review their ban on Falun Gong in 2000, he was sentenced to 10 months RTL…. Amnesty International has been told that during RTL he was deprived of sleep, beaten and forced to sit in a small chair all day – all to make him renounce his beliefs.”

AI considers him a prisoner of conscience and is calling for his immediate and unconditional release, an end to the crackdown against Falun Gong, and abolishment of the RTL system. See: http://www.amnestyusa.org/document.php?id=ENGASA170522007&lang=e

2. Former prisoner of conscience: Zhao Ming

Zhao Ming

Zhao Ming, post-graduate student at Ireland’s Trinity College, held at Tuanhe from July 2000 to March 2002

“When I visited China to appeal on behalf of Falun Gong, I was jailed. In the labor camp…I was forced to stand and squat for long periods of time, repeatedly shocked with electric batons, sleep deprived, made to attend brainwashing classes, and force-fed.

“Ten inmates who were under orders by the police guards in the camp once beat me together, which made my thighs black all over with bruises and made me unable to walk for two weeks after that. Two weeks before I was released, I was shocked with 6 electric batons by 5 policemen while tied up on a bed board.”

3. Message for reporters from former prisoner Chen Gang, a musician currently living in New Jersey.

“The CCP can stage everything. I don’t know if they [reporters] can discover the truth there. If you want to know the facts you have to find a way. Don’t be fooled by the CCP. A few of my friends are still in prison there. They could even be tortured to death by now.

“It’s really hard and dangerous but I hope reporters can discover the crimes behind closed doors.”— July 26, 2008

Chen Gang, Zhao Ming, Chen Ying, and Bu Dongwei’s wife, herself a former prisoner of conscience currently residing in the United States, are available for interviews upon request.

– Excerpt from report “Torture Outside the Olympic Village: A Guide to China’s Labor Camps“, by CIPFG

Related:
– Guide to Beijing Olympic Reporters: Torture Outside The Olympic Village in Labor Camps, By CIPFG

Guide to Beijing Olympic Reporters: Torture Outside The Olympic Village in Labor Camps, By CIPFG

The Coalition to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong (CIPFG)-

TORTURE OUTSIDE THE OLYMPIC VILLAGE: A GUIDE TO CHINA’S LABOR CAMPS

The polished exteriors of China's 'Re-education Through Labor' (RTL) facilities belie the horrors within. Shown: Tuanhe RTL Camp (left); Gao Rongrong, a Falun Gong practitioner who was incarcerated in Masanjia and tortured to death (right).

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Introduction

“When you come to the Olympic Games in Beijing, you will see skyscrapers, spacious streets, modern stadiums and enthusiastic people. You will see the truth, but not the whole truth…. You may not know that the flowers, smiles, harmony and prosperity are built on a base of grievances, tears, imprisonment, torture and blood.”

– Open letter by prominent Chinese rights defenders Hu Jia and Teng Biao, September 2007.

When 25,000 reporters arrive in China to cover the Olympic Games, enthusiastic youngsters, glittering venues, primly trimmed parks and state-of-the-art subways will leave a strong impression. As Hu Jia and Teng Biao note above, however, there is another side to the “New China” that the Chinese Communist Party is much less keen on showcasing to the international community.

It is a China of electric cattle prods, of 18 hour work days, of unspeakable torture and humiliation, of religious believers forced to endure endless hours of “thought reform.” It is a China of “re-education through labor” (RTL) camps.

It is this China, its daily reality to millions of Chinese, and its incongruity with Olympic ideals of human dignity, peace, and non-discrimination, that this modest booklet seeks to bring forth.

What’s in the Guide?

The focus of this guide are seven labor camps and other detention facilities located in close proximity to Olympic venues and known to be particularly egregious in their treatment of adherents of the Falun Gong spiritual practice, a religious minority that remains the single, largest persecuted group in China today.

Each of the seven detention facilities is presented with:

• Map: A map showing the location of the facility, the location of the closest Olympic venue, and English-language directions to the camp from the nearest airport and train station.
• Description of facility: A photo and general description of the facility, details of its prisoner population and overall conditions
• Products and show tours: Products known to have been manufactured at the site and details of prior show tours to the facility, when relevant
• Individual cases: Brief individual case summaries of current and former prisoners of conscience, the abuse they have suffered in custody, and whether they are available to be interviewed.
• Contact information: The contact names and phone numbers of the labor camp, as well as of officials who are alleged to have participated in the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners at these facilities. The contact information was gathered from documents published online over a period of several years; as such, since the information was made public, it is possible that it may have been changed.

Background

The RTL System:
China’s “re-education through labor” (RTL) camp system has been in place since the 1950s and includes a network of dozens of camps. It is a form of administrative detention to which individuals are sentenced by police or other security agencies for up to three years without charge, trial, or possibility for judicial review.

The speed and secrecy with which individuals may be sentenced has made it a central method used by the Party for detaining “undesirables.” Those detained at RTL camps include:

• Drug addicts, prostitutes, and vagrants
• Political dissidents and citizens petitioning the government
• Since 1999, large numbers of people who practice Falun Gong.

According to the U.S. State Department’s 2007 report on human rights in China: “some foreign observers estimated that Falun Gong adherents constituted at least half of the 250,000 recorded inmates” in China’s vast labor camp system.

Maltreatment and torture:
Conditions within the camps are widely acknowledged to be extremely poor and abusive. Former prisoners report being fed inadequate rations, being denied sufficient time to wash, and being forced to participate in long hours of slave labor, performing a variety of manufacturing tasks.

According to Amnesty International, it “continues to receive regular reports of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment taking place in RTL facilities.”

In this context, Falun Gong detainees are particularly vulnerable to severe forms of abuse. A 2006 report by the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Torture stated that Falun Gong practitioners accounted for 66 percent of all alleged torture victims in China. In over 3,000 documented cases, such abuse in custody has led to the adherent’s death.

Pre-Olympic “Clean-up”

Unfortunately, this dynamic has not changed with the approach of the Olympics. On the contrary, according to Amnesty International: “In the lead-up to the 2008 Olympic Games, Beijing police have used abusive detention practices such as RTL to ‘clean up’ the city.” Among those systematically targeted for such detention have been Falun Gong practitioners.

In early July, the Falun Dafa Information Center reported that “there have been at least 8,037 arrests of Falun Gong adherents across 29 provinces, major cities and autonomous regions since December 2007.” Of these, over 208 individuals have been arrested in Beijing and at least 30 of them sentenced without trial to RTL camps for up to 2.5 years.

Their crime? Peacefully safeguarding their fundamental human and Chinese constitutional right to freedom of belief.

Conclusion

Despite pledges by Chinese leaders of complete media freedom when bidding for the 2008 Olympic Games, it is becoming clear that foreign reporters arriving en masse in Beijing will confront a security-obsessed city and significant challenges in covering stories that do not match the choreographed China the regime seeks to portray to the world.

Nevertheless, we urge you to find ways to follow the directions in this guide, cover the stories of the prisoners mentioned, and seek out the true reality in these facilities. We urge you to do so outside of official channels, because, as several show tours and one former detainee have indicated, “The CCP can stage anything.”

In conducting your investigation, however, we also highly recommend reading Human Rights Watch’s Reporters’ Guide to China Olympics, and taking great care to minimize risk to interviewees, support staff–such as translators, drivers, and guides–and of course, yourself.

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– Original : Torture Outside the Olympic Village: A Guide to China’s Labor Camps

Special Report: China’s Implementation of Global United Front Work Strategy

WOIPFG, Saturday, 31 May 2008-

Investigative Report on the Control of Overseas Chinese and the Implementation of Global United Front Work Strategy by the Chinese Communist Regime

Prologue

On April 9, 2008, the Beijing Olympics Torch reached San Francisco. This would be its only stop in North America. After a series of massive protests in the UK and France where the protesting crowds overwhelmed the pro-China supporters, the Chinese Communist regime began to mobilize through its embassy and consulates in the US. Virtually all available human resources in the San Francisco Bay Area Chinese Communities, Chinatown, as well as human resources from the neighboring areas were called upon to amass a huge supporting group. This was the first time the Chinese Communist regime openly demonstrated its will and power to mobilize large scale Chinese Communities while under the scrutiny of major US social groups and Western media. It also exposed the long-term effect of the Chinese Communists of organizing and controlling local Chinese Communities.

A well-known private intelligence analysis firm, Strategic Forecasting Inc, conducted an analysis on this special San Francisco incident in its “Terrorism Intelligence Report.” This report aimed to comprehensively reveal the background factors of this incident in both theory and its practical operational perspectives.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was founded by the Chinese Communists’ objective of a totalitarian, authoritarian dictatorship and the doctrine of Marxism. [2]

As soon as they seized power in Mainland China, the CCP began its tyranny with the goal of brutally and systematically purging traditional Chinese values, moral conduct and civilization. This resulted in the unnatural deaths of 80 million Chinese people. [3]

It also caused major damage to the social environment, natural habitat, and disrupted people’s lives. Even though the Chinese Communist Regime repeatedly proclaims how good the Socialist System is, how “great” the CCP is, the number of Chinese abandoning their homes and immigrating to other countries increases daily.

The International Organization for Migration [4] and U.N. Secretary Kofi Annan [5] drew the same conclusion that “China is the country with the largest overseas immigrants.” According to historical records, the total accumulated overseas Chinese immigrants up until 1949 brinked 10 million. [6] However, up until 2005, overseas Chinese immigrants increased sharply to 35 million. [7] So in the short span of 56 years from 1949 to 2005, there were at least 25 million Chinese immigrating overseas, accounting for 2.5 times the historical total immigration population.

At present, 90 percent of the 30 million overseas Chinese immigrants and their descendants have adopted citizenships from their residing countries (foreign national Chinese). [8] But the Chinese Communist regime never let go of its grip to control these Chinese immigrants, [9] or ways to transform their ideology. They exploit and utilize them to expand the Chinese Communist sphere of influence in the international society.

Under the leadership of the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of the State Council [10] and with the cooperation of the Department of Consular Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, [11] the regime has established a Chinese immigrant political strategy and procedures that specifically targeted the overseas Chinese. They have conducted systematic, long-term deceptive propaganda and indoctrination of Chinese Communist ideological concepts.

The regime has worked on exploiting Chinese immigrants’ sentimental emotions towards their homeland, confusing them and lumping together the notion that China and the CCP are the same, instigating Chinese immigrants to legitimize and act loyally to the Chinese Communist Party.

The implementation of this strategy is carried out by the United Front Work Department of the CCP Central Committee. [13] The Office of Overseas Chinese Affairs of the State Council specifically emphasized, “Maintain the continuity of the work in overseas Chinese affairs,” requesting officials of overseas Chinese affairs to “identify, nurture and establish major targets” among 2nd and 3rd generation overseas Chinese, as well as new immigrants. [14]

Even though the Chinese Communist’s activities of “overseas Chinese affairs” were not conducted in the Communist organizational forms, such political alliances formed overseas under the driving force of the Chinese Communist regime, with the purpose of “conducting work for Chinese Immigrants, Overseas Chinese and its Social Organizations” [15] being very similar to the then “Third Communist International” formed by the Soviet Communists. [16] Their purpose was to seek out representatives and to establish Communist branch offices in various countries.

Such effort directly nurtures and establishes Chinese Communist influences inside the belly of other nations. Such political alliances have the same will as the Chinese Communist regime, exerting subtle and gradual influence on the value direction and national policy of residing countries through ideological infiltration and assault.

In the eyes of the international society, the Chinese Communist regime is, quietly and without traces, seizing a controlling power of other nations beyond its own domain. Now, a huge network of political alliances, organizations, social clubs and administrative divisions under the control of the Chinese Communists has been established within many countries. They have essentially become a nation within a nation among many countries.

– Full report can be found from WOIPFG: Investigative Report on the Control of Overseas Chinese and the Implementation of Global United Front Work Strategy by the Chinese Communist Regime

Pressure China on human rights post-Olympics: Amnesty

AFP, May. 28, 2008-

LONDON (AFP) — The world needs to maintain pressure on China for human rights reform after the Beijing Olympics, the head of Amnesty International said, as the group published its annual report Wednesday.

Irene Khan said China’s growing weight as a world power means it can no longer ignore human rights both at home and abroad, after Western criticism of its involvement in hotspots like Sudan, Zimbabwe, Myanmar and North Korea.

Abuses, including the torture and ill-treatment of prisoners, use of the death penalty, censorship, restrictions on assembly and repression of minorities are still commonplace in China, the report said.

Severe restrictions remain on freedom of religion, freedom, and association in Tibet while peaceful expressions of support for the Tibetan spiritual and political leader the Dalai Lama were “harshly punished”, it added.

“I think it will be important to maintain the pressure on and engagement with China post-Olympics. That will be a real challenge as it slips off the (news) agenda,” Khan said in an interview to mark the report’s publication.

Amnesty’s secretary-general said the group had detected “some improvement” in 2007 in Chinese civil society and on the death penalty — where there are moves to hold trials and appeals in public — and for access by foreign media.

Chinese moves to support African Union and United Nations peacekeepers in Darfur and its help in Myanmar, after a military crackdown on pro-democracy campaigners last year, were “glimmers of hope”, she added.

But she said Beijing still had a way to go and should realise that, even on a business level, promoting stability in places like Zimbabwe, North Korea, Myanmar and Darfur could be in their own interests.

“In the longer term, we hope China will begin to realise the value of human rights,” she added.

Amnesty gave a bleak assessment of the state of the world’s human rights in 2007, 60 years since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was signed……. (more details from AFP)

Most Wicked Labor Camps in China (1) – Liaoning Masanjia

Liaoning Masanjia Labor Camp

Address:

Masanjia Village, Masanjia Town, Yuhong District, Shenyang City
Liaoning Province, northeast China
Post Code: 110145
Tel: 024-89210822, 024-89212252, 024-89210454

Brief about Masanjia

The Masanjia Labor Camp, also called the “Ideology Education School of Liaoning Province,” is located in a suburb of Shenyang City, and is notorious for its heinous crimes against Falun Gong practitioners and known worldwide for its forced-brainwashing techniques.

Over the past four years and seven months, from July 1999 to February 2004, at least 99 practitioners were murdered there because of their belief in the universal principle of “Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance.” Their ages ranged from 27 to 65 and majority of them were only between 31 and 39 years old.

In one incident that was reported by several news agencies, 18 female practitioners were stripped naked and thrown into the cells of male criminals.

The Masanjia Labor Camp is a fascist camp for the purpose of enslaving prisoners to perform labor for profit. Prisoners must work for extended hours under the most appalling conditions.

The main “business” of the women’s section of the Masanjia Labor Camp is textile production. Not only are the detainees not paid, but also their work hours and workloads are pushed to the limit to “boost productivity and profits.”

Falun Gong practitioners from 14 years of age to over 60 have been forced to do intensive labor in the labor camp. They are routinely forced to work 14-16 hours a day, with no days off. Sometimes when there is a big order, they are forced to work for 36 hours nonstop.Falun Gong practitioners live in the most inhumane conditions. There is no bathroom in the camp. They are not allowed to brush their teeth, or to wash, shower, or change their clothes. Even the time for using the toilet is limited. The food given is minimal and is often rotten.

The horrendous conditions and excessive workload damage the health of the practitioners. Many have swollen legs and experience irregular menstruation. Some even develop atrophy of their buttocks due to the extensive hours of being forced to sit still and work.

Due to exhaustion, some have even fainted while working. However, no matter what physical conditions they are in, and no matter what the state of their health, they are not spared from the hard labor.

Torture methods used in Masanjia Labor camp

Nearly 100 torture methods used at the Masanjia Forced Labor Camp to force Falun Gong practitioners to renounce their beliefs, here we only list the the most commonly used 20 torture methods. ( details including photos see this report)

Torture Names

Torture method 1: body folding
Torture method 2: torturing the arms
Torture method 3: handstand (standing upside-down)
Torture method 4: hanging upside-down
Torture method 5: sealing the mouth
Torture method 6: tie-up
Torture method 7: handcuffing
Torture method 8: sitting with arms raised
Torture method 9: split legs and head against the floor
Torture method 10: sitting on a small stool
Torture method 11: sitting in a basin with cold water
Torture method 12: savage beating
Torture method 13: electric shock
Torture method 14: sitting on metal chair in solitary confinement cell
Torture method 15: sitting on metal chair inside “sardine can”
Torture method 16: force-feeding
Torture method 17: force-feeding through the nose
Torture method 18: handcuffed in “dead person’s bed” while naked and receive force-feeding through the nose
Torture method 19: “golden dragon in the ocean”
Torture method 20: freezing.

Cases of torture

1. Zhang Guizhi, female, tortured to death in Masanjia

“On April 12th, 2003 Ms. Zhang’s family received a notice issued jointly by the Masanjia Labor Camp, the local police station and Liujiawopu Village Committee stating that Ms. Zhang “is receiving emergency treatment because she’s critically ill.”

“By the time Ms. Zhang’s family arrived at Masanjia, she was already dead.

“Family members say there were noticeable wounds on her body, including numerous bruises as well as bloodstains in her nose and mouth.

“Labor camp officials refused to allow the family to take any photographs of the body.

“Initially, police and camp officials declined to answer questions about the cause of her death. When Ms. Zhang’s family members demanded to know why her body was black and blue, the police claimed that she had fallen in the shower, triggering a heart problem that led to her death.

“According to a source familiar with Masanjia Labor Camp, prisoners are only allowed to take showers on specific days. April 12th was not a designated “shower day” for those held in the camp, the source says.”

– excerpt, Report from Falun Dafa Information Center, 8/4/2003, “Falun Gong Woman Exhibits Torture Injuries, Dies in Masanjia Forced Labor Camp”

2. After 23 Days of Torture, a Farm Woman Suffers a Mental Collapse

“While she was in the camp, her hands and feet were handcuffed to a pole. She was not allowed to sleep or to use the toilet facilities. The Masanjia staff wrapped her up in a plastic bag to contain the bad odors emitted from her bodily waste.

“After twenty-three days of torture, Ms. Liu finally broke down physically and mentally and could not recognize her own family. Even so, the police from the Beigang Town Authority still attempted to put her in a brainwashing session. ” ( More details )

3. A Woman’s Breasts Disfigured and Infected from Severe Electric Shock Torture

“Two guards from Benxi, holding electric batons, shouted, “We will see who is tougher!” The two men tore Ms. Wang’s shirt open and shocked her breasts with two electric batons for 30 minutes……. ( more details )

Warning: It is recommended that children and those with delicate sensitivities refrain from viewing these photos.

Photo 1, Photo 2

Cases of forced labor

1. Forced to Make Clothing for Export

“Zhou Yanchun, female, 33, product Inspector of the Shenyang Antibiotic Factory 104 workshop (illegally dismissed because she practices Falun Gong), resident of Haiwang Street construction working committee, New Town District, Shenyang City, Liaoning Province, ID number: 210113680412642

“In the labor camp, Ms. Zhou was forced to make products for export, such as clothing, handicrafts, and embroidered goods, for the “Xinghua Clothing Manufacturer.”

“She was forced to work from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m., and sometimes even until midnight, with no breaks, no weekends off, and no compensation.

“Her hands were often swollen and covered with blood blisters, and her finger joints ached from the strenuous work.

“She was only given a limited amount of mildewed cornbread to eat. Her health declined rapidly. Due to the long work hours and appalling conditions, her face and eyes were swollen and she suffered intense abdominal pain. Yet, she was still not allowed to take any breaks.

“If she ever slumped over from weariness or showed signs of fatigue, she would be shocked with electric batons by the guards……. ( more details )

2. Forced to Work for Extended Hours to Make Products for Export

“Falun Gong practitioners, including Ms. Liu Fengmei, Ms. Cui Yaning, Ms. Xie Baofeng, Ms. Dong Guixia, Ms. Jiang Wei, Xu sisters, Ms. Li Ping, Ms. Luo Li, Ms. Li Yingxuan, Ms. Li Zemei, Ms. Bai Shuzhen, have been illegally imprisoned at the Masanjia Labor Camp due to the central government’s persecution of Falun Gong practitioners.

“The practitioners are forced to work from 6 a.m. to 12 a.m., making clothing, handicrafts, and embroidery for export.

“They have no breaks, no weekends off, and no compensation. Sometimes they are forced to work for as long as 36 hours without a break.

“From March 7 to 12, 2000, they were forced to work on a batch of products that were waiting to be immediately shipped overseas because the customer had a rush order.

“On March 11, 2000, they were informed that they would have to work overtime. They were forced to work non-stop from 6:30 a.m. on March 11, 2000 to 4 p.m. on March 12, 2000 (totaling 33.5 hours).

“However, on March 12, they had not been able to finish the assigned work. To punish them, the guards did not allow them to eat lunch. In addition, the guards beat or shocked the practitioners with electric batons…… ( more details )

Perpetrators

Camp director: Sun Fengwu, 86-24-89212096 ext206; 86-24-89210262;

Institute director: Su Jing, 86-24-86210074 ext 30; 86-24-89210567; 86-24-89210054;

Prisoner leaders: Shao Li, Xue Fenglu, Yue Qin, Zhang XX, Yu XX, Qiu Ping: 86-24-89210074 ext383;

Zhao Jinghua: 86-24-89212252; 86-24-9240454;

Judicature: Gao Fusheng, office number: 86-24-7340130; Home number: 86-24-7612366; Cell phone number: 86-13130446378;

Vice secretary: Cui Yanlin, office number: 86-24-7340321; Home number: 86-24-7616101; Cell phone: 86-13940816031

More reference:

– Masanjia Forced Labor Camp— Wrecking Lives and Destroying the Human Conscience
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 6

Related:
– List of the Most Wicked Labor Camps in Modern China
– List of China Modern Torture Methods (slideshow)

List of the Most Wicked Labor Camps in Modern China

Under China’s “reform through labor” policy, hundreds of modern labor camps are built up through out the country to hold political prisoners, dissidents, religious, lawyers, journalists, human rights defenders along side dangerous criminals.

Torture to death

Torture is widely used in these labor camps to force prisoners to reform.

Till the year 2003, “at least 69 labour camps have directly persecuted Falun Gong practitioners to death (Appendix 2 contains detailed information)”, said in a report by World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong (WOIPFG).

“Even practitioners who were senior citizens older than 65 years, infants as young as eight months, or disabled had no impunity”, it said.

Two specific cases:

“In November 2000, Ms. Wang Lixuan and her nearly eight-month-old infant son were both tortured to death at the Tuanhe Labour Camp in Beijing. ” ( details)
(photo right: Ms. Wang Lixuan and her 8-month-old son)

“In October 2000, 18 female Falun Gong practitioners were stripped of their clothing and thrown into the male criminals’ cells at the Masanjia Labour Camp in Shenyang City, Liaoning Province. ” ( details)

The worst- organ harvesting

large-scale of organ harvesting is happening in China labor camps, said by two well-known Canadian human rights activists, David Kilgour and David Matas, in their independent report “BLOODY HARVEST– Revised Report into Allegations of Organ Harvesting of Falun Gong Practitioners in China”.

List of most wicked labor camps

I’m trying to collect information from the Internet to list out some of the most wicked labor camps in modern China.

By click on the name on the list, you can find out the labor camps’ location, introduction, cases of abuses and killing, victims and Perpetrators.

1. Masanjia Labor Camp
– Shenyang City, Liaoning Province, Northeast China

2. Harbin Wanjia Labor Camp
– Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province, Northeast China

3. Beijing Tuanhe Labor Camp
– Daxing County, Beijing City, Capital city of China

4. Beijing Tiantanghe Women’s Labor Camp
– Daxing County, Beijing City, Capital city of China

5. Beijing XinAn Labor Camp
– Daxing County, Beijing City, Capital city of China

6. Hebei Gaoyang Labor Camp
– Gaoyang County, Baoding City, Hebei Province, north China

7. Tianjin Banqiao Labor Camp
– Tianjin City, north China

8. Harbin Changlinzi Labor Camp
-Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province, northeast China

9. Shenyang Longshan Labor Camp
– Shenyang City, Liaoning Province, northeast China

10.Shenyang Zhangshi Labor Camp
– Shenyang City, Liaoning Province, northeast China

11. Changchun Heizuizi Women’s Labor Camp
– Changchun City, Jilin Province, northeast China

12. Shandong Zibo Wangcun Labor Camp
– Zibo City, Shandong Province, east China

A few more will be added on the list later.

Video: Part 1, Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party

This is the first of Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party, by The Epoch Times, Dec 09, 2004-

On What the Communist Party Is

Foreword

For over five thousand years, the Chinese people created a splendid civilization on the land nurtured by the Yellow River and Yangtze River. During this long period of time, dynasties came and went, and the Chinese culture waxed and waned. Grand and moving stories have played out on the historical stage of China.

The year 1840, the year commonly considered by historians as the beginning of China’s contemporary era, marked the start of China’s journey from tradition to modernization.

Chinese civilization experienced four major episodes of challenge and response. The first three episodes include the invasion of Beijing by the Anglo-French Allied Force in the early 1860s, the Sino-Japanese War in 1894 (also called “Jiawu War”), and the Russo-Japanese War in China’s northeast in 1906.

To these three episodes of challenge, China responded with the Westernization Movement, which was marked by the importation of modern goods and weapons, institutional reforms through the Hundred Days’ Reform in 1898 [1] and the attempt at the end of the late Qing Dynasty to establish constitutional rule, and later, the Xinhai Revolution (or Hsinhai Revolution) [2] in 1911.

At the end of the First World War, China, though it emerged victorious, was not listed among the stronger powers at that time. Many Chinese believed that the first three episodes of response had failed. The May Fourth Movement [3] would lead to the fourth attempt at responding to previous challenges and culminate in the complete westernization of Chinese culture through the communist movement and its extreme revolution.

This article concerns the outcome of the last episode, which is the communist movement and the Communist Party. Let’s take a close look at the result of what China chose, or perhaps one can say, what was imposed on China, after over 160 years, nearly 100 million unnatural deaths, and the destruction of nearly all Chinese traditional culture and civilization. (……more details……)

>> Video: Part 2, Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party – On the Beginnings of the Chinese Communist Party

Related:
– Video: Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party
– Official website of Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party

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1. China: The Human Cost of the Economic ‘Miracle’
2. Human Body Parts From China Sent to Michigan Home
3. Video: China Secret, 6 Years Ago Today on Tiananmen Square
4. Two Falun Gong Women Dead in Double Torture Case
5. Pressure on UK Government to Act Over “Chinese Organ Harvesting”
6. World Bank Warning on China Inequality Between Rich and Poor
7. China’s Disturbing Lapses in application of new rules for foreign media
8. List of China Modern Torture Methods (slideshow)
9. Chinese Hackers Wake Up to Malware
10. Video Report: The Hardest ‘Nail House’ in China
11. China Cyber-dissident Gets 6 Years in Prison for views he express
12. Defected Diplomat’s Wife Fears Torture in China for her beliefs
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14. Martial Law Imposed In China’s Rioted City Yongzhou
15. Wife of Chinese Diplomat in Ottawa Defects
16. Jailed China Blind Lawyer Honored International award
17. Photo: China Modern Torture Methods (3)-sexual abuse
18. Photo: China Modern Torture Methods (2)- Electric Shock
19. Photo: China Modern Torture Methods (10)- Death Bed
    
20. Photo: China Modern Torture Methods (1)- Burning

List of China Modern Torture Methods (slideshow)

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Evidence has surfaced of over 100 torture methods being employed against Falun Gong practitioners from the year 1999 till now in China’s labour camps, detention centers, and mental hospitals, in where over 100,000 practitioners have been detained.

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List of China Modern Torture Methods:

1. Burning
2. Electric Shock
3. Sexual Abuse
4. Psychiatric & Drug Abuse
5. Force-feeding
6. Savage beatings
7. Freezing and Exposing
8. Water Dungeon
9. Forced Abortions
10. “Death Bed”
11. “Tiger Bench”
12. “Hell Confinement”
13. “Small Cage”
14. Forced to Jump from Tall Building
15. “Flying an Airplane”
16. “Squat”
17. “Handcuffed in a Painful Position”
18. “Tied up”
19. Sitting on “Triangle-ridged Iron Plank”
20. “Carrying a Sword on the Back”
21. “Chain”
22. “Tied to a Bed”
23. “Tortured under a Bed”
24. “Tied to Trees”
25. “Solitary Confinement”
26. “Rope Tying”
27. “Hanging over the Head”
28. “Hanging by Two Thumbs”
29. “Hanging Upside Down”
30. Hung Up for Extended Period of Time
31. “Dog Bite”
32. “Snake Bite”
33. “Cutting of Flesh”
34. “Impaling the Fingers and Toes with Bamboo Stick”
35. “Needle Piercing” and “Toe Smashing”
36. Cigarette Burn
37. The Rampant Spread of Scabies
38. Forced to Sit in a “Sewage Pot”
39. Garbage Stuffed into the Mouth
40. Phlegm Poured into the Mouth
41. Force-Feeding with Urine
42. Force-Feeding with Feces
43. Deprivation of Sleep
44. Restricting the Use of the Toilet
45. Prohibiting the Use of Sanitary Napkins
46. “Covering a Shed” or Suffocation

More torture methods used by China police can be found under torture section on Falun Gong Human Rights Working Group website, and will be continuously added on this list later.

See Youtube video What is Falun Gong (falun Dafa), and here below Why is Falun Gong persecuted in China

Youtube Video: How did the persecution of Falun Gong happen in China

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Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment in China

extract from Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 2006- China, the U.S. State Department, March 6, 2007-

c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment

The law forbids prison guards from extorting confessions by torture, insulting prisoners’ dignity, and beating or encouraging others to beat prisoners. However, police and other elements of the security apparatus employed widespread torture and degrading treatment when dealing with some detainees and prisoners. UN Rapporteur on Torture Manfred Nowak’s March report to the UN Commission on Human Rights blamed the prevalence of torture on institutional weakness and lack of judicial independence in a system that pressures police to solve cases and allows them wide discretion in matters of arrest and detention.

Former detainees credibly reported that officials used electric shocks, beatings, shackles, and other forms of abuse.

In January four teenagers from Anhui Province were released from custody. Media reports said authorities were investigating three police officers on suspicion of using torture to coerce false confessions from the teenagers. Public security officials acknowledged that the teenagers’ cases were mishandled.

In June authorities charged Alim, Ablikim, and Qahar Abdurehim, three of Uighur businesswomen Rebiya Kadeer’s sons, with state security and economic crimes. Authorities beat Alim and Ablikim, and Alim confessed to the charges against him after reportedly being tortured.

In October 2005 Falun Gong adherents Liu Boyang and Wang Shuohui of Changchun, Jilin Province reportedly died in custody after being tortured by police.

Beijing-based petitioner leader Ye Guozhu was reportedly tortured and abused in prison, including beatings with electric batons, suspension from the ceiling by his arms, and shackled and forced to sit in extreme positions for extended periods of time.

Inner Mongolian cultural activist Hada was also reportedly tortured. Approximately half of all alleged acts of torture occurred in pretrial criminal detention centers or reeducation-through-labor centers.

In February the Ministry of Justice established punishments for prison and reeducation-through-labor police who beat, or induce others to beat, prisoners.

In March UN Special Rapporteur Nowak reaffirmed earlier findings that torture remained widespread. Nowak reported that beatings with fists, sticks, and electric batons continued to be the most common tortures. He also found that prisoners continued to suffer cigarette burns, prolonged periods of solitary confinement, and submersion in water or sewage, and that they were made to hold extreme positions for long periods, were denied medical treatment, and were forced to do hard labor. Death row inmates were shackled or handcuffed 24 hours per day and systematically abused to break their will and force confession. According to Nowak, officials specifically targeted house church groups, Falun Gong adherents, Tibetans, and Uighur prisoners for abuse. Nowak found that procedural and substantive measures to prevent torture were inadequate.

Since the crackdown on Falun Gong began in 1999, estimates of the numbers of Falun Gong adherents who died in custody due to torture, abuse, and neglect ranged from several hundred to a few thousand (see section 2.c.).

UN Special Rapporteur Nowak reported in March that Falun Gong practitioners accounted for 66 percent of victims of alleged torture while in government custody.

The Ministry of Public Security (MPS) began audio and video taping of police interrogations in homicide and organized crime cases in an attempt to prevent coerced confessions. In May the government concluded a campaign to curb coerced confessions. The campaign exposed 3,700 cases of official abuse and resulted in 1,924 prosecutions and 1,450 convictions.

On November 29, the PSB punished 100 alleged prostitutes and their procurers in an act of public shaming in the southern city of Shenzhen. Officials paraded the women in front of jeering crowds, revealed their names and alleged crimes over a loudspeaker, and then sentenced them to administrative detention without trial. According to reports, the purpose of this campaign was to dissuade women from turning to prostitution and intimidate men who patronized brothels.

Sexual and physical abuse and extortion were reported in some detention centers. Falun Gong activists reported that police raped female practitioners, including an incident in November 2005 at the Dongchengfang police station in Tunzhou City, Hebei Province, in which two women were raped while in detention.

According to foreign researchers, the country had 20 ankang institutions (high-security psychiatric hospitals for the criminally insane) directly administered by the Ministry of Public Security. Persons committed to these institutions had no mechanism for objecting to public security officials’ determinations of mental illness.

Some dissidents, persistent petitioners, and others were housed with mentally ill patients in these institutions. Patients in these hospitals were reportedly given medicine against their will and forcibly subjected to electric shock treatment. The regulations for committing a person into an ankang psychiatric facility were not clear. Credible reports indicated that a number of political and trade union activists, underground religious believers, persons who repeatedly petitioned the government, members of the banned China Democratic Party, and Falun Gong adherents were incarcerated in such facilities during the year. These included Wang Miaogen, Wang Chanhao, Pan Zhiming, and Li Da, who were reportedly held in an ankang facility run by the Shanghai PSB.

Activists sentenced to administrative detention also reported they were strapped to beds or other devices for days at a time, beaten, forcibly injected or fed medications, and denied food and use of toilet facilities. ……

– full report can be found here from the U.S. State Department’s website

Related:
– Two Falun Gong Women Dead in Double Torture Case in China, The Falun Dafa Information Center, 3/12/2007
– Photo: China Modern Torture Methods (1) – Burning

Photo: China Modern Torture Methods (11)- “Tiger Bench”

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Falun Gong Human Rights Working Group–

Evidence has surfaced of over 100 torture methods being employed against Falun Gong practitioners in China’s labour camps, detention centers, and mental hospitals.

Torture Methods (11) – “Tiger Bench”

During this torture, police tie the victim’s legs tightly to the tiger bench using belts. They then put bricks or some other hard objects under the victim’s feet. They keep adding layers of bricks until the belts break. Victims endure unbearable pain and often pass out during these torture sessions.

Other tortures are often used on the victim at the same time, including shocking the victim with electric batons, cuffing the hands behind the back, burning the body with cigarettes, inserting wood slivers under the fingernails, stabbing the ribs with a sharp pen, hitting the cheekbones with a screwdriver, slapping the face, pricking thumbtacks into the face, and even reining the mouth with a rope (oftentimes the victim cannot close his mouth since the two corners of the mouth have been torn.)

Cases

1. Woman tortured to death

Ms. Wang Shouhui, resident of Changchun City, Jilin Province, Northeast China

” On April 11, 2002, Ms. Wang (Shouhui) was walking down the street when she was again abducted by the police from Zhengyang Police Station of Luuyuan District. She was blindfolded by the police from the First Division of the Changchun Public Security Bureau and was taken to a secret torture room in Jingyueshan, Changchun. She was tortured on the tiger bench for two days and one night, during which time she was also beaten with two electric batons on the breasts.

Three men used their fists to punch her face, chest, and back. As a result, Ms. Wang’s left cheekbone was fractured and she vomited a great amount of blood. Later, her lungs were infected.

While at the police hospital, Ms. Wang’s four limbs were confined when she received infusions. She was prohibited from using the restroom. Instead, the hospital forcefully inserted a tube into her bladder, but did not give her care. She could not move for five days and five nights. Subsequently, her bladder was permanently damaged and she could no longer control her bladder.” – from lawyer Gao Zhisheng’s 3rd open letter to Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and Chairman Hu Jintao on December 12, 2005 in Changchun City

” At 4:20 p.m. on October 28, 2005, Ms. Wang Shouhui (mother) and Mr. Liu Boyang (son) from Changchun City were followed by 6-10 Office staff and were illegally arrested. The two were brutally tortured by the police. At about 8 p.m., 28-year-old Liu Boyang died from the torture. About 10 days later, his mother was also tortured to death.” – from lawyer Gao Zhisheng’s 3rd open letter to Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and Chairman Hu Jintao on December 12, 2005 in Changchun City

2. Li Yanming, female, resident of Changchun City, Jilin Province, Northeast China

On January 25, 2002, Ms. Li Yanming was taken away from her home by the police from Changchun City. The next day, several policemen took Ms. Li to a remote building where they tortured her for two days and two nights.

(Photo: demonstration: Tiger bench torture)

They forced her to sit on the “tiger bench,” on which she was forced to sit straight up with her eyes looking straight ahead. Her hands were placed on her knees, and she was not allowed to turn her head, close her eyes, talk to anyone or raise her hand. She was severely beaten whenever she moved a little bit on the bench.

The severe beating left her arms paralyzed and she could not even eat anything for a few days.

3. 63-Year-Old man Tortured to Death on the “Tiger Bench”

Li Xuechun, male, 63, a retired worker at the Macheng City Light Industry Bureau, resident of Macheng City, Hubei Province

Because Mr. Li Xuechun went to Beijing to appeal to the government to stop persecuting the practitioners of Falun Gong, he was arrested and severely beaten to the point that he could not walk for a long time.

In the Gulou Police Substation, Macheng City, Hubei Province, Mr. Li was tied to a “tiger bench.” Six groups of police personnel took turns to interrogate and beat him. During this process, Mr. Li was not given any food and was not allowed to sleep. He was detained and tortured for three months.

In late December 2000, Mr. Li died from the repeated torture sessions. He left a letter with his son, describing his torture. However, the government confiscated the letter. The government officials threatened Mr. Li’s son with arrest if he ever talked about his father’s death.

Page 1~9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16

<< Photo: China Modern Torture Methods (10)- “Death Bed”
>> China Modern Torture Methods (12)- “Hell Confinement”

Related:
– List of China Modern Torture Methods (slideshow)
– Youtube Video: What is Falun Gong (falun Dafa)
– Youtube Video: Why is Falun Gong persecuted in China
– China: 2508 Family Members’Open Letter Expose Torture, the Epoch Times, Dec 11, 2006
– Lawyer’s 3rd open letter urge China to stop the Brutality(1), December 12, 2005, Gao Zhisheng

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Photo: China Modern Torture Methods (10)- “Death Bed”

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Falun Gong Human Rights Working Group–

Evidence has surfaced of over 100 torture methods being employed against Falun Gong practitioners in China’s labour camps, detention centers, and mental hospitals.

Torture Methods (10) – “Death Bed”

The “death board” (or “death bed”) is a particularly hideous torture device. It is an iron or wood board with handcuffs and shackles to lock the victims four limbs in a stretched position.

A victim is usually confined to a death board for a minimum of seven days. As movement is completely restricted, the confinement of a victim on the death bed leads to painful muscular atrophy.

In severe cases, the victim even loses control of bladder and bowel movements. The excretion of stool and urine is directly on the iron bed, resulting in an unsanitary condition.

To save them-selves the trouble of cleaning, the torturers usually strip the victim down to a T-shirt or even naked, adding to the humiliation.

Since the victim is not released from the board for many days, torture on the death board is usually coupled with the torture of force-feeding.

The death board was originally devised for use against political dissidents subjected to the death penalty.

The muscular atrophy resulting from the death board torture will cause the victim to wither and collapse on the ground at the moment of sentencing making the government seem powerful and the victim defeated.

Cases

1. Ms. Song Yanqun, English teacher, tortured by death bed, body weight drop to 67 lbs in year 2006

Ms. Song Yanqun (photo left) is from Shulan City, Jilin Province, North-east China. She is an English teacher from Dade Japanese-language School in Harbin City. She was illegally sentenced to twelve years of prison after the Shulan City Police Department Police abducted her on November 27, 2003.

In May 2005, she was tied to and stretched on the death bed when the prison implemented persecution to forcibly “transform” Falun Gong practitioners.

Since then, her legs have lost feeling and remain cold all day long and her right arm bones feel extremely painful.

She could not even write since her hands are shaky. Her brain feels numb and cannot function normally, and her lungs feel intense pain. The pulmonary tuberculosis is rapidly worsening.

The two-year torture has caused Ms. Song to become very emaciated. (more details can be found from this report )

2. Wang Xiufen, female, in her 30s, English teacher at Jilin Zuojia Special Products School, resident of Jilin Province

On February 4, 2000, the guards at Heizuizi Labor Camp, Changchun City, Jilin Province took Ms. Wang Xiufen to a room and confined her to a death board.

A guard then ordered a criminal inmate to open the all the doors and windows. They pulled her underwear down, and pull her T-shirt up to expose her to the cold wind.

Ms. Wang was left on the death board and in the cold for 18 days.

The torture left Ms. Wang paralyzed from the waist down, even after being taken off of the bed.

3. Wang Xiuzhi, female, college instructor, resident of Jilin Province

In May 2001, the guards at the Heizuizi Labor Camp assaulted Ms. Wang when they saw her doing Falun Gong exercises. Five guards took turns beating and shocking her with electric batons. Afterwards, they confined her to a death bed.

(Picture: demonstration: death bed)

She was not able to get up and had to defecate and urinate on the bed.

This torture lasted 8 full days, during which time her arms were in an extremely painful position.

On the ninth day when they untied the belts, her arms were completely numb.

She was not able to take care of herself for two months after this torture.

Page 1~9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16

<< China Modern Torture Methods (9) – Forced Abortions
>> Photo: China Modern Torture Methods (11)- “Tiger Bench”

Related:
– List of China Modern Torture Methods (slide show)
– China: 2508 Family Members’Open Letter Expose Torture, the Epoch Times, Dec 11, 2006
– Lawyer’s 3rd open letter urge China to stop the Brutality(1), December 12, 2005, Gao Zhisheng

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China’s Big Dams: Are They Safe?

by Fan Xiao, translated by Three Gorges Probe, January 29/2007-

More than a third of China’s reservoirs are poorly constructed and dangerous, writes Sichuan geologist Fan Xiao, who describes them as “time bombs waiting to explode in the event of a severe flood or other unexpected occurrence.” In an article that first appeared in Chinese National Geographic magazine, he goes on to discuss geological disasters such as landslides and earthquakes that have been triggered by the filling of dam reservoirs. Below, an abridged version of the article, translated by Three Gorges Probe.

Dams and flood control: Safety insurance or Damocles sword?

It goes without saying that flood control is one of the most important functions a dam project can fulfill. However, it is unrealistic to build a dam expecting it to achieve a permanent solution to a flood problem.

The Three Gorges reservoir, for example, has a total storage capacity of 22.15 billion cubic metres. But if one takes into account the fact that 16.5 billion cubic metres of this capacity is given over to power generation and navigation on the Yangtze River, the project really has a flood-control capacity of only 5.65 billion cubic metres.

And even if its entire capacity of 22.15 billion cubic metres were to be dedicated to flood control, the dam could not do all that much because the total volume of flood water during the one-month flood peak on the Yangtze can be as much as 100 billion cubic metres.

Moreover, the dam is useless in controlling the floods that occur in the downstream region below the dam.

On flood control, Professor Huang Wanli strongly questioned the wisdom of building the Three Gorges dam. He warned that Chongqing harbour at the tail end of the Three Gorges reservoir would silt up with coarse pebbles after the reservoir was filled, causing more frequent and severe flooding in the densely populated region of Sichuan province and Chongqing municipality. (to be cont’d…)

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>> Dams and Flood Control in China: Safety Insurance or Damocles Sword?

– original report from Three Gorges Probe

China Modern Torture Methods (9) – Forced Abortions

The Falun Gong Human Rights Working Group –

Evidence has surfaced of over 100 torture methods being employed against Falun Gong practitioners in China’s labour camps, detention centers, and mental hospitals.

Torture Methods (9) – Forced Abortions

The Chinese laws and codes explicitly prohibit the jailing of pregnant women.

(photo right: demonstration: Forced Abortion)

However, with the instructions from the central government that, “No measure is too excessive [when dealing with] Falun Gong,” the Chinese police not only regularly jail pregnant Falun Gong practitioners, but also use their pregnancy to force them to choose between their un-born children and their practice of Falun Gong.

Listed below are only a few cases we have confirmed.

Cases

A. Pregnant Falun Gong Practitioners Who Suffered Forced Abortions

1. Liu Qiuhong, 39, employee of Zhongce Pharmacy Company, resident of Yantai City, Shandong Province, in East China

Ms. Liu Qiuhong was arrested at her home by the Zhifu District Police Station of Yantai City, merely because she practiced Falun Gong.

Ms. Liu was more than eight months pregnant at the time. The police, however, tied her down and forcefully induced an early labor.

The baby was born alive and healthy, and was crying when the police forced it from her womb.

The authorities did not even allow Ms. Liu any time to recover. They immediately sent her to an Anti-Falun Gong Brainwashing Center for one month, and then sentenced her to a forced labor camp.

No one knows what became of the child.

2. Wang Hongmei, Ph. D. candidate in the History Department, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou City, Gansu Province, North-west China

On June 7, 2001, police from the Lanzhou University Police Station arrested Ms. Wang Hongmei merely because she refused to stop practicing Falun Gong. She was sent to the Taoshuping Detention Center in Lanzhou City, where she went on a hunger strike to protest her detention.

Because she was pregnant at the time, she was sent back to her dorm at Lanzhou University and placed under surveillance.

The university authorities pressured her to renounce and defame Falun Gong. Ms. Wang refused, and as a result they escorted her back to the detention center.

There the police cruelly subjected her to a forced abortion.

3. Zhang Wuying, a teacher at Changzhou City’s Technology Education Institute, resident of Changzhou City, Jiangsu Province, in South China

Ms. Zhang Wuying and her husband went to the central government in early April 2000 to appeal for an end to the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners. Although she was more than 4 months pregnant, over twenty police-men beat and kicked her and her husband in front of the State Appeal’s Office.

When Ms. Zhang was 5 months pregnant, Officer Li from the Cuizhu Police Station ordered the principal of her school, Li Minmin, to send her to the Military 102 Mental Hospital to have an abortion.

There, she was tied to a bed, injected with a labor-inducing drug, and force-fed some unknown drugs. The forced-abortion failed.

Just before Ms. Zhang gave birth, the police detained her husband for 40 days, leaving no one to take care of her at home. Even when she gave birth to a son in a hospital at the end of August 2000, she was under constant police surveillance.

On February 8, 2001, when Ms. Zhang and her husband came back from visiting their parents in Shandong Province, the Changzhou City Police arrested them at the Chang-zhou Railway Station.

The police injured her son’s head and legs during the forceful arrest. The police also threatened to send Ms. Zhang to a labor camp when her son reached one year of age.

B. Pregnant Falun Gong Practitioners Suffer Miscarriages Due to Torture and Hard Labor

1. Dou Jianhua, 28, kindergarten teacher, resident of Mishan City, Heilongjiang Province

In June 2000, Ms. Dou Jianhua went to Beijing to appeal to the government to stop the persecution of Falun Gong, and was arrested and escorted back to the Beishan Detention Center in Lianzhushan Town.

When the police noticed that Ms. Dou was pregnant, they forced her to load heavy bricks, which required repetitive kneeling and bending. This caused Ms. Dou massive bleeding, which resulted in a miscarriage.

The police extorted 2,000 Yuan from Ms. Dou’s family in exchange for her release.

However, less than a week later, the police came and took Ms. Dou back to the detention center.

2. Jiang Zhongli, 25, employee of the Hengyang Blood Bank, resident of Hengyang City, Hunan Province

In January 2000, Ms. Jiang Zhongli was ar-rested for her practice of Falun Gong.

She was pregnant at the time. She was detained in the Hengyang City Detention Center. To force her to renounce Falun Gong, the guards at the detention center frequently beat her.

In early February 2000, the guards savagely beat Ms. Jiang again, causing her to hemorrhage and miscarry.

Even then, the police refused to give Ms. Jiang any medical treatment, and they let her health deteriorate to a critical condition.

Afraid that she would die in the detention center, the police extorted 1,500 Yuan from Ms. Jiang’s family in exchange for her release.

Ms. Jiang is currently under house arrest.

More cases of Forced Abortions can be found from here .

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<< Photo: China Modern Torture Methods (8)- Water Dungeon
>> Photo: China Modern Torture Methods (10)- “Death Bed”

Related:
– China: 2508 Family Members’ Open Letter Expose Torture, the Epoch Times, Dec 11, 2006
– Lawyer’s 3rd open letter urge China to stop the Brutality(1), December 12, 2005, Gao Zhisheng

Photo: China Modern Torture Methods (8)- Water Dungeon

Falun Dafa Information Center –

Evidence has surfaced of over 100 torture methods being employed against Falun Gong practitioners in China’s labour camps, detention centers, and mental hospitals.

Torture Methods (8)- Water Dungeon

Based on reports from across China, different detention centers use the idea of the water dungeon in different ways.

Water dungeon is a grotesque torture. A victim is stripped down to underwear or naked and locked into a small iron cage with spikes on all sides.

Some water dungeons submerge a Falun Gong practitioner in chest-deep, filthy water; in others, the water is too deep to stand in.

Usually, the water dungeons are well-hidden rooms or cells where practitioners are forced to stay for days and nights on end in total darkness. The water is most often extremely filthy, containing garbage and sewage.

Cases

1. Ms. Ding Yan Confined in a water dungeon for months

Ms. Ding Yan, 32, ( from Shijiazhuang City, Hebei Province, north China) is pictured here at a secret press conference held in Beijing in October 1999. It was the first time that foreign media were able to meet with Falun Gong practitioners and learn first-hand of the persecution they been suffering.

Ms. Ding, one of the principal organizers of the press conference, was arrested soon afterwards and sentenced to four years in prison. While she was incarcerated in different places, the police used various methods to torture her, including forced hard labor, painful shackling, and being hung in the air with her hands shackled behind her back.

In the Shijiazhuang Detention Center, Ms. Ding was placed in an iron cage with nails sticking up more than an inch through the wooden floor.

At the Chengde City Prison, guards stripped Ms. Ding naked and locked her in an iron cage with spikes on all sides, then submerged the cage in dirty water up to her neck. The area was kept completely dark.

Ms. Ding died in September 2001, after enduring months of the water torture.

2. 13 practitioners were tortured in Xishanping Labor Camp

Kang Hong, male, 30’s, resident of Jiangbei District, Chongqing City;
Han Yiming, male, 30’s, teacher of South-west Normal University;
Li Xiangdong, male, 30’s, resident of Jiangbei District, Chongqing City

In 2001, Mr. Kang Hong, Mr. Han Yiming, Mr. Li Xiangdong and another 10 Falun Gong practitioners were tortured with the water dungeon at the Xishanping Labor Camp of Chongqing City, Sichuan Province.

There was no light in the water dungeon at any time, and there were even dead rats and snakes in the cell in addition to the sewage water.

The cage was less than a person’s height, and the practitioners were handcuffed to the top of the cage. As a result, they could neither stand straight up nor sit down. The practitioners had to defecate and urinate in the dungeon.

The torture lasted 7 to 15 days.

When Mr. Kang was taken out of the dungeon, his whole body was contorted, and the lower part of his body had festered. He was paralyzed for the next few days.

– more cases of water dungeon torture can be found from here and here

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<< Photo: China Modern Torture Methods (7) – Freezing and Exposing
>> China Modern Torture Methods (9) – Forced Abortions

Related:
– List of China Modern Torture Methods (slideshow)
– Youtube Video: What is Falun Gong (falun Dafa)
– Youtube Video: Why is Falun Gong persecuted in China
– China: 2508 Family Members’ Open Letter Expose Torture, the Epoch Times, Dec 11, 2006
– Lawyer’s 3rd open letter urge China to stop the Brutality(1), December 12, 2005, Gao Zhisheng

Video: China Secret, 6 Years Ago Today on Tiananmen Square

“The regime points to a supposed self-immolation incident in Tiananmen Square on January 23, 2001 as proof that Falun Gong is an ‘evil cult’. However, we have obtained a video of that incident that in our view proves that this event was staged by the government. We have copies of that video available for distribution.”

– Statement in the United Nations (and now part of UN’s official records), by International Education Development (IED), on Fifty-third session, Agenda item 6, Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, August, 2001

Incident:

On January 23, 2001, 6 years ago today, the day before the Chinese Lunar New Year, it was reported by China state-controlled Xinhua Agency that 5 people set themselves on fire in Tiananmen Square in Beijing.

Two hours after the occurrence of the self-immolation, Xinhua broadcasted the English version of the news to the world, claiming the self-immolators were Falun Gong practitioners.

A week later, the Chinese government television station, CCTV, broadcast a program showing a video of the incident. In the video, the number of victims was increased from 5 to 7, including a severely burned 12-year-old girl Liu Siying, and Her mother Liu Chunling, who was died.

The Chinese government utilized this incident to intensify its campaign against Falun Gong by forcing every citizen to sign a form condemning Falun Gong.

By using the pictures of 12-year-old girl Liu Siying to foment the public’s hatred towards Falun Gong, the government hoped to justify the long-lasting violent crackdown against Falun Gong, which has already lasted for 7 and half years from 1999 till now.

Holes can be found from CCTV’s Video it broadcasted:

1. Liu Siying, the 12-year-old girl who was allegedly burned badly, was purported to have had a tracheotomy, but spoke and sang clearly in a TV interview, a medical impossibility;

Photo upper left: The image of 12-year-old Liu Siying wrapped in gauze after allegedly setting herself on fire was used to incite hatred against Falun Gong. But burn victims are never wrapped in gauze.

Photo upper right: The CCTV reporter wears no protective clothing or mask, and is shown interviewing the victim without any concern for spreading infection.

2. Ms. Liu Chunling, mother of the 12-year-old girl, can be seen from the slow-motion sequence of the CCTV video that she fell down when she was hited on the head by a blunt object thrown by a police; ( full sequence photo here)

Photo right: Ms. Liu Chunling received a sharp blow to the forehead, with what looks like a metal bar, delivered by a man wearing an army overcoat. She is seen crumpling instantly to the ground and most likely died from that blow.

3. Mr. Wang Jindong was shown to have been badly burned; while hair burns and plactic melts extremely quickly, his hair and the plastic Sprite bottle that he had used to dowse gasoline remained miraculously intact.

photo upper left: the policeman stands patiently behind Mr. wang jindong with a fire blanket, only throwing it on him after he yells out some words incriminating Falun Gong.

photo upper right: The Sprite bottle used as a gasoline container in between Wang’s legs was suspiciously unburned and fully intact after the fire.

4. The Chinese media claimed that it was CNN journalists who recorded the close-up shots. CNN’s chief news executive, Eason Jordan, was quoted in the Washington Post as saying that “the footage used in the Chinese television reports could not have come from CNN videotape because the CNN cameraman was arrested almost immediately after the incident began.” CNN did not have a chance to shoot any footage.

…… and more.

International reports:

Washington Post: Reporter Finds Holes in China’s Tiananmen Immolation Story (Read this article)

National Review: Beijing is Burning – More lies from the PRC (Read the article )

MediaChannel: The Fires This Time:Immolation Or Deception In Beijing? (Read the article)

WOIPFG: Investigation Uncovers More Lies in Chinese Regime’s Story of Tragic Self-Immolation Incident (Read this article)

FalunInfo: Tiananmen: Court of Last Resort (Read this article)

Epochtimes: Tiananmen Square Self-Immolation? Actually a Hoax

Accusations bogus, but misperception lingers on four-year anniversary (Read this report)

Amnesty International: Another important part of the government’s propaganda campaign has been to publicise statements from people identified as former Falun Gong practitioners…? (Read this report)

Reporters Without Borders: China’s determination to prevent the foreign press from covering the activities and government repression of the Falungong clearly illustrates its rejection of independent news gathering.?/i> (Read this report)

Movie “False Fire” won award

The movie “False Fire: China’s Tragic New Standard in State Deception” which analyzes the 2001 Tiananmen Square “self-immolation” incident, won a Certificate of Honorable Mention at the 51st Columbus International Film & Video Festival. New Tang Dynasty TV, a non-profit privately owned Chinese TV station, produced the movie.

The award ceremony was held in the Kansas Center, Columbus Arts College, Columbus, Ohio.

Related:
– Xinhua: the world’s biggest propaganda agency, The Reporters Without Borders, 30 September 2005
– Youtube Video: What is Falun Gong (falun Dafa)
– Youtube Video: Why is Falun Gong persecuted in China
– List of China Modern Torture Methods (slideshow)

Photo: China Modern Torture Methods (7) – Freezing and Exposing

Falun Dafa Information Center –

Evidence has surfaced of over 100 torture methods being employed against Falun Gong practitioners in China’s labour camps, detention centers, and mental hospitals.

Torture Methods (7) – Freezing and Exposing

Many Falun Gong practitioners in China’s northern provinces have been exposed to extreme cold as a form of torture. They are routinely doused with cold water and left outside or in unheated cells to freeze.

( picture: Painting: torture- freezing in snow )

Some have been forced to stand in or run through snow wearing only a thin layer of clothing. Thousands are left to sleep on the concrete floors of unheated prison cells in the dead of winter, and to make the cold even more unbearable.

Prison staff have been reported to leave the windows open in practitioners’cells during the night, even when practitioners badly injured or on the verge of death.

They are also exposed to extreme heat, being forced to work long hours in unventilated sweatshops or being left outside in the scorching sun.

Cases

1. 42-year-old Factory worker frozen to death refusing to renounce Falun Gong

Mr. He Huajiang ( photo left) , male, 42, employee of the 6^th Daqing Oil Factory, resident of Daqing City, Heilongjiang Provinc ( in North-east China)

Police abducted Mr. He Huajiang from his workplace, then sent him to the Daqing Labour Camp, where policemen ordered several prisoners to force him into writing a “repentance letter” denouncing Falun Gong.

That night, from around 9-11 p.m., prisoners poured cold water on him, tied him to a steel chair, stuffed his mouth, opened the windows and doors, and sometimes took him outside to freeze.

Other prisoners and Falun Gong practitioners detained there could hear Mr. He moaning terribly from the pain.

Because he was kept in the freezing cold for too long, his heart stopped beating. He froze to death at around 11 p.m. in the 2nd unit bathroom. ( details can be found from here )

2. “Hot Weather”

1. Wang Hongsheng, male, from Taitou Township, Shouguang City, Shandong Province
2. Ms. Sui, female, from Taitou Township, Shouguang City, Shandong Province
3. Seventeen other Falun Gong practitioners from Taitou Township, Shouguang City, Shandong Province

In July 2000, nineteen Falun Gong practitioners from Taitou Township, Shouguang City went to Beijing to appeal to the government to stop the persecution of Falun Gong. They were arrested and detained by the local authorities.

During their detention, twenty people, led by the local Communist Party Committee Secretaries (Wang and Ma), beat the practitioners with wooden clubs.

They then forced the practitioners to lie on the scalding cement surface so as to expose them to the burning sun for as long as six hours per day, between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m..

The practitioners were given no food or water for three days. The practitioners were also confined in a garage with no airflow. It was so hot that it was hard to breathe. The secretary, Wang, directed several people to beat the practitioners.

Since Mr. Wang Hongsheng was suspected as the organizer of the appeal, they tied him to a tree using iron cables. Then they covered his head with a plastic bag. Over ten people beat him with wooden sticks and leather whips. Some hit him on the head until he lost consciousness. They burned his chest and stomach with cigarettes and then poured cold water on him to revive him up for more torture.
– UN Document number: E/CN.4/2004/56/Add.1 , Date: 23 March 04

3. Burn with Boiling Water

Victim: Liu Zhengxing, male, resident of Cuijiayu Town, Yishui County, Shandong Province (East China)

Location of Detention and Torture: Cuijiayu Town, Yishui County, Shandong Province (East China)

In July 2001, the Cuijiayu Town Government tried to force local Falun Gong practitioners to sign their names or put their fingerprints on a statement of renouncing Falun Gong. Liu Zhengxing refused to be fingerprinted. Mr. Liu was beaten with wooden sticks and rubber batons. Then the staff poured boiling water on his body, which left bruises, scars and burns all over him. To avoid any further torture, Mr. Liu left home. Learning about his departure, the police detained his wife. (Reported on 10/3/2001)

– UN Document number: E/CN.4/2004/56/Add.1 , Date: 23 March 04

———
– More torture cases of Freezing and Exposing can be found here , and here

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<< Photo: China Modern Torture Methods (6)- Savage beatings
>> Photo: China Modern Torture Methods (8)- Water Dungeon

Related:
– China: 2508 Family Members’ Open Letter Expose Torture, the Epoch Times, Dec 11, 2006
– Lawyer’s 3rd open letter urge China to stop the Brutality(1), December 12, 2005, Gao Zhisheng

Photo: China Modern Torture Methods (6)- Savage beatings

The Falun Gong Human Rights Working Group –

Evidence has surfaced of over 100 torture methods being employed against Falun Gong practitioners in China’s labour camps, detention centers, and mental hospitals.

Torture Methods (6) – Savage beatings

Thousands of Falun Gong practitioners have been routinely beaten while in police custody for refusing to renounce Falun Gong. Police frequently beat practitioners with plastic truncheons, wooden boards, belts, and spiked batons, to name just a few.

( Picture at right: Painting: Savage beatings )

Many practitioners have had their bones broken or have incurred internal bleeding as a result of these beatings, and dozens – if not hundreds – have died.

In most cases, their bodies are hurriedly cremated to destroy evidence of abuse in custody.

Cases

1. 25-year-old female worker extremely beaten in custody

Liu Aiqing, female, 25, employee of the Shouguang Phosphate Fertilizer Factory, resident of Sunjiaji Town, Shouguang City, Shandong Province. (in east China)

On June 4, 2001, Ms. Liu Aiqing was arrested in Majia Village of Sunjiaji Town.

The police grabbed Ms. Liu by her shoulders and arms, punched her fore-head, and slapped her face repeatedly. As a result, Ms. Liu was covered with bruises, and her forehead, face, and lips became swollen.

On the evening of June 6, six drunken policemen dragged three Falun Gong practitioners, including Ms. Liu, to a room and started another round of savage beating. The policemen grabbed the practitioners’ hair and took turns beating the them on the torso or the legs with metal batons. They also used high-voltage electric batons.

During the torture, a group of policemen beat Ms. Liu with leather belts, “Billy Clubs” (an iron or lead bar covered by rubber), and electric batons. When she passed out as a result of the extreme pain, the police poured cold water on her to re-vive her, and then resumed beating her.

The torture continued for several hours.

The next day, Ms. Liu was near death and was sent to the hospital. A medical examination revealed many serious injuries including hematuria, hypotension, and dehydration. Many blood clots were pumped out of her swollen legs.

Several days’ later, surgical drainage was performed leaving her right leg with two large holes.

One morning at the hospital, Ms. Liu was forcibly given an injection. Shortly afterwards, she lost consciousness When she awoke at around 4 p.m., she noticed that plastic surgery had been performed to re-place the damaged skin on her legs. (photo above).

This surgery was performed to cover up the evidence of the extreme torture Ms. Liu had endured.

2. 19-Year-Old Girl Beaten to Death while in Police Custody

Chu Congrui, female, 19, resident of Xujia Village, Tiande Town, Shulan City of Jilin Province. (in Northeast China)

On December 1, 2000, Ms. Chu Congrui went to Beijing to appeal to the government to stop persecuting Falun Gong. She was arrested and detained at the Haidian District Police Substation.

She died at the substation on December 13, 2000.

On December 17, 2000, the Haidian District Police notified Ms. Chu’s family to come and claim her body.

The police claimed that Ms. Chu died from fasting, but a doctor disagreed. The doctor told Ms. Chu’s family that her nose was broken, her face and lips were severely swollen, her body was bloody all over, and both ears were plugged with blood-soaked cotton swabs. These signs indicated that Ms. Chu had suffered horrific physical pain and mental anguish while being violently beaten before she died.

On December 18, 2000, she was cremated in Changping County in Beijing.

Ms. Chu’s parents have suffered enormous sorrow and grief. When Ms. Chu’s fiancé and her mother returned to Shulan City from Beijing, the local policeman tried to arrest them simply because they knew the truth of Ms. Chu’s death.

In order to avoid arrest by the local police, they have both been forced to flee their homes and go into hiding.

3. 32-year-old female teacher beaten to death

Ms. Zhao Xin (photo at right), female, 32, resident of Beijing, a faculty of the Beijing University of Business and Industry

Ms. Zhao Xin was arrested on June 19, 2000, when went to Zizhuyuan Park to do Falun Gong exercises. She was sent to the Qinghe Detention Center of the Haidian Police Department.

In the detention center, the officers, led by Bai Gang, severely beat and tortured Ms. Zhao because she refused to renounce Falun Gong. They kicked her and punched her face violently, injuring her head and left eye.

Ms. Zhao went on a hunger strike to protest the maltreatment. Responding in violence, the police force-fed her and beat her with a heavy object. The beating fractured her neck vertebrae, and Ms. Zhao became paralyzed from the neck.

On June 22, 2000, Ms. Zhao was sent to the Haidian Hospital while still in shackles and handcuffs. The police ordered the hospital to perform surgery on her without informing her family.

Ms. Zhao remained paralyzed after the surgery.

Ms. Zhao died on December 11, 2000, after another six months of suffering.

——

more savage beating cases can be found from here, here and here .

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<< Photo: China Modern Torture Methods (5)- Force-feeding
>> Photo: China Modern Torture Methods (7) – Freezing and Exposing

Related:
– China: 2508 Family Members’ Open Letter Expose Torture, the Epoch Times, Dec 11, 2006
– Lawyer’s 3rd open letter urge China to stop the Brutality(1), December 12, 2005, Gao Zhisheng

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Photo: China Modern Torture Methods (5)- Force-feeding

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Falun Dafa Information Center –

Evidence has surfaced of over 100 torture methods being employed against Falun Gong practitioners in China’s labour camps, detention centers, and mental hospitals.

Torture Methods (5) – Force-feeding

Note: Force-feeding is NOT an attempt to nourish or feed; rather, it is a a torture method, the brutal procedure has resulted in at least 100 deaths of Falun Gong practitioners in China labour camp.

The force-feeding is most often carried out by labour camp staff with no medical training, or by criminal inmates who are coerced to assist.

Firm, unsanitized tubes are forced into a practitioner’s nose and into the stomach, often rupturing or damaging tissues; sometimes the tube enters the lungs instead.

The tubes are sometimes left in a practitioner’s stomach for days or weeks, causing severe infections, or pulled out and reinserted repeatedly.

The practitioners are often “fed” irritants such as highly concentrated salt water, hot pepper oil, boiling water, or detergent.

In the summer of 2003, the Gaoyang Forced Labour Camp (in Baoding City, Hubei province, north China) began force-feeding Falun Gong practitioners with human urine and excrement; the Chinese government awarded them for this innovation, and sent labour camp staff from around the country to learn this procedure.

Cases

1. Ms.Wang Yuzhi (photo below ), now canadian resident, recalls her experience of being force-fed in China labour camp before she escaped from China:

“I vividly remember my first hunger strike at the Harbin City Detention Centre. In order to force-feed me, the doctors at the Harbin City Detention Centre used a metal clamp to pry open my teeth and then pushed a thick rubber tube down to my stomach. My mouth was filled with blood and my body was covered in bruises after every force-feeding. Several people were there to beat and subdue me for these force-feedings. They would pour two big bowls of cold water mixed with corn flour into me, saying that it was for ‘stretching the stomach’. When I screamed, the police were afraid of others hearing me. They ordered inmates to gag and beat me even more.

“Before they force-fed me for the first time, I saw them grab a female Falun Gong practitioner named Shang by the hair and knock her head against the wall and floor. When she was finally unconscious, they forced the tube into her nose to force-feed her. There was no sterilization – they simply brushed the tube around in a basin, then forced it through her nose and down into her stomach. Then they injected ground corn grain mixed with cold water.

“After they’d finished with her, the two prison doctors turned around and looked at me. They stood there with their forceps and tools in their hands and said, ‘You see that? You’re next.’ After that, I was subjected to this kind of force-feeding every day in jail.

“They would beat us to the point where we were almost unconscious before tying our arms and legs down and forcing the tubes through our noses and down into our stomachs. We were tied up to prevent us from pulling the tubes out because of the excruciating pain.

(Photo right: demonstration by Ms. Wang Yuzhi – force-feeding )

“One day I heard the desperate cry of a man in the woman’s ward. It was the husband of a Falun Gong practitioner named Ding Yanhong. He had begged to be able to visit her, and when he finally was allowed to come in, they force-fed her right in front of him. This man cried terribly while his wife struggled in pain.

“I always knew that if I would simply write a letter denouncing Falun Gong, denouncing its teachings and promise to never practice again, I would be released immediately. But if it is wrong to believe in ‘Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance,’ what hope does humanity have? This persecution was forcing people to choose between their lives and their conscience. I knew that I was being forced to make that choice, and I chose my conscience because I knew that when good men and women renounce good, wholesome beliefs under pressure from a dictatorship, something much greater than us dies.”

– more detail story of Ms. Wang Yuzhi can be found from this report: From Rags to Riches to Torture in a Chinese Labour Camp , by the FALUN DAFA INFORMATION CENTER

2. Ms. Zhang Guiqin, 37, mother of 2 girls, died after being force-fed

… At the end of July 2000, Ms. Zhang Guiqin (photo left) was again arrested, this time for distributing information about the persecution of Falun Gong. She was again sent to the Feidong Detention Center and handcuffed in heavy shackles. She and other practitioners started a hunger strike to protest the torture.

As a punitive measure, the prison guards force-fed them. After a prolonged hunger strike and forced-feeding, Ms. Zhang became very weak and ran a high fever.

The detention center officials sent her to a hospital for a check-up. The doctor’s diagnosis revealed that her lungs had been punctured during the inept force-feeding.

Fearful that she would die in the detention center, they sent her home on August 24, 2000.

On January 17, 2001, at 1:03 p.m., Ms. Zhang passed away after suffering five months of pain. She left behind two daughters, one 9 years old and the other 12 years of age.

– more detail story about Ms. Zhang Guiqin can be found from this report: Zhang Guiqin Died from Force-Feeding , by Falun Gong Human Rights Working Group

3. Mr. Zhang Zhenzhong, 22, undergraduate university student, died from the force-feeding

Mr. Zhang (photo left) was an undergraduate student at the Business Administration School of the Shandong Industrial University, Jinan City, Shandong Province.

On January 1, 2001, Mr. Zhang was arrested in Beijing because he appealed peacefully on behalf of Falun Gong. At the police station, the police hit him with eight electric batons simultaneously and burned him with cigarettes. This went on for almost twelve hours.

On May 17, 2001, the police arrested Mr. Zhang again. The policemen used their fists and electric batons to hit sensitive areas on his body and repeatedly kicked him.

More than an hour later, he was so badly beaten that he began to vomit blood and his nose became bloody. The policemen tied him up with ropes and sent him to a jail cell. He began a hunger strike to protest the maltreatment.

On the sixth day, the policemen ordered the inmates to force-feed him. They handcuffed him to a chair and repeatedly tried to insert a feeding tube into his nose. On the fifth try, Mr. Zhang lost consciousness and died from the force-feeding.

– more detail story about Ms. Zhang Guiqin can be found from this report: Zhang Zhenzhong Died from Force-Feeding at Tangyin Public Security Bureau , by Falun Gong Human Rights Working Group

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<< Photo: China Modern Torture Methods (4)- Psychiatric & Drug Abuse
>> Photo: China Modern Torture Methods (6)- Savage beatings

Related:
– China: 2508 Family Members’ Open Letter Expose Torture, the Epoch Times, Dec 11, 2006
– Lawyer’s 3rd open letter urge China to stop the Brutality(1), December 12, 2005, Gao Zhisheng

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