The Persecution of Practitioners at Xishanping Labor Camp

(Clearwisdom.net)

Since November 1999, many Falun Gong practitioners have been continuously sent to the Xishanping Labor Camp in Chongqing City. Since Jiang Zemin and his associates began to persecute Falun Gong practitioners on the July 20, 1999, the persecution and torture against Falun Gong practitioners at the Xishanping Labor Camp has been escalating. A number of practitioners have died or become physically injured during their detention there. The following is a report of some of the incidents that have occurred in this labor camp.

Falun Gong practitioner Kang Hong was held in Team 11 in the camp. During this time he was handcuffed to the iron bar of the door for several consecutive nights. Whenever he was subjected to this torture, his hands and feet were swollen so badly that he was unable to walk. When he was kept in the "strict team"( note: A team specially used to brutally force Falun Gong practitioners to renounce their faith), he was frequently locked in the "Leifeng Tower," which is a horrendous cell for solitary confinement. It is a famous water dungeon. It was dark all year long. There was neither natural nor electric light. Standing water and human waste accumulated several inches deep inside the dungeon. To make it more frightful, many dead rats and snakes were tossed in.

Once the guard cruelly handcuffed him to the iron door inside of the tower for several days and nights without a break. The guards gave him food only twice a day and in addition, due to his hands being handcuffed and the fact that he was denied the use of the bathroom, his pants were soaked with urine and had a terrible odor. Although he was in such a terrible state the guard still didn't allow him to change his clothes. When he was finally allowed out of the tower he was disfigured and both his face and body were black and swollen. The guards often instigated the inmates to beat him, or stab him with needles. Although Kang Hong was tortured so severely, he carried on practicing the Falun Gong exercises in the exercise yard. In order to stop him from practicing, several guards brutally beat him up.

Two practitioners named: Cao Xianlu and Zhang Hongxu were working in the leather shoe production factory of the labor camp. Because the two practitioners were very firm in their belief, officer Chen Youling often forced them to walk back and forth carrying heavy rocks. Zhang Hongxu's feet were badly swollen due to this torture. The guard also forced them to stand for many hours in front of a wall with their nose touching the wall. They have also been frequently locked in the tiny bathroom to be bitten by bugs and mosquitoes. Once the officer Chen Youling forced practitioner Cao Xianlu to take off his shoes and stand in a pool of water. Officer Chen then shocked him with an electric baton until the battery ran out, while shouting, "Let's see whether you give in!"

For a period of time, the labor camp put all of the practitioners into the "strict team." When practitioners asked the chief officer for an explanation for this action, they were cursed and verbally abused. The guards directed the inmates to punch and kick the practitioners. The guards themselves (Chief Officer Du Yi, Deputy Chief Zhou Kaizhi and Wu Chengxin, etc.) tied practitioners up and used batons to torture them without restraint. The practitioners who were being tortured in this way are: Zhou Jian, Li Chunyuan, Li Xiangdong, Han Yiming, and Chen Jianhua. This brutal torture caused practitioner Shang Xuetao to become physically disabled.

Guarding officer Zhou Ping (female), a member of the strict team sent for practitioner Han Yiming (a lecturer in Southwest Normal College) to sign a statement to stop practicing Falun Gong and to pay for the clothes that he had to wear in the labor camp. Han Yiming refused to sign. He kindly told her that "the persecution of Falun Gong and Falun Gong practitioners is an insult to the constitution and the law as well as a violation of human rights and one's human conscience. Such conduct will receive retribution." Yet Zhou didn't listen to him. Instead, she ordered the guard on duty to handcuff Han and hang him up on the frame of the basketball net stand. Other practitioners protested against this inhumane behavior. Chief Officer of the team, Du Yi and other guards then beat Han Yiming and the other practitioners. They then forced the inmates to take off practitioners' shoes and then make the practitioners run barefooted.

Facing various brutal and vicious forms of torture, dozens of practitioners who were in the Strict Team started a hunger strike. Several days later the head of the labor camp, the head of the supervising office (his last name is Yang), and the head of the education office (Tian Xin) joined the Strict Team to force-feed practitioners. Many practitioners suffered injuries to the esophagus. Some practitioners were tied to beds with the tubes left in their esophagus' (note: practitioners are normally tied to beds during the force feeding). Han Yiming had been on a hunger strike for over 20 days thus he was tied to the bed in the clinic of the labor camp for force-feeding. A doctor named Chen (who is also a supervising guard) threatened him by saying, "Next time I will use a larger tube. We will see whether you can endure that."

In November 2000, the labor camp held most practitioners in one place so that they could be continually brainwashed. The walls were covered with slogans that slandered Falun Gong. The practitioners were also forced to listen to the loud noise of the speakers that played information that slandered Falun Gong. In order to stop this relentless mental torture, practitioners repeatably tore off the posters and erased the slanderous words that were on the blackboard. But for this they were viciously beaten by the inmates. On one occasion the education officer Li Yong was reading a slanderous report to the practitioners. Practitioner Zhou Jian then asked for permission to speak. When approved, he conceded to tell the truth about Falun Gong to the guards and the assisting officers. But the inmates who were present cruelly insulted him. Other practitioners stood up to tell them that it was not right to insult or swear at people. But they themselves were beaten and cursed at. As a result of the beatings, many practitioners were injured, including a 60-year-old practitioner named Wang Zhande, who suffered injuries to the head. Yet the police officers who were present claimed that they didn't see anyone being beaten.

What we have exposed here is merely the tip of an iceberg of the violent conduct in the Xishanping Labor Camp. The inhuman torture against Falun Gong practitioners continues. Let us remember Li Zetao, who was beaten to death for his faith in Falun Gong, Yuan Yugang and Cao Xianlu, who have suffered severe injuries, and many other practitioners. Let the world learn of the inhuman actions carried out by the perpetrators. Let us double our efforts in clarifying the truth and sending forth righteous thoughts to eliminate the evil behind these vicious conducts.

Perpetrators in the Xishanping Labor Camp:

The Strict Team

Head: DU Yi

Vice Chief Officer: Zhou Kaizhi, Wu Chengxin

Quarter Master Zhou Ping (female)

The Education Team

Head: Tian Xiaohai,

Supervisor: Chen (last name)

Supervisor of the printing plant: Tian Minhai,

Chief Officer of the leather factory: Chen Youling

Chief Officer in the education office Tian Xin

Bp: 86-191-8369311,

Office phone: [phone]-2036

Deputy Director of City Police Department Zhou Zhiren,

Bp: 86-23-96800-109,

Office Phone: [phone]

Home: 86-23-63758393

Deputy Director of City Police Department Li Jiaowei

Office phone: [phone]

Bp: 86-23-96800-19781