(Minghui.org) The Chinese Community Party (CCP) has persecuted Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, for the past 19 years. Countless Falun Gong practitioners, people who follow the principles of “Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance” have been incarcerated in detention centers, drug rehabilitation centers, forced labor camps, prisons and other facilities.
In addition to trying to “transform” practitioners, they force practitioners to do slave labor. At a forced labor camp the practitioner not only has to undertake physical labor but also suffers mental and physical torture.
“Transforming” Through Physical Exhaustion
The CCP's law concerning prison management, promises an “8-hour labor system,” and holidays. This is widely publicized in the CCP's propaganda. However, the prison authorities adhere to internal rules that are kept secret from the public.
Falun Gong practitioners are treated worse than any other inmate. They often work between 10 to 19 hours a day. One is given a quota and punished if this quota is not met.
It has been proven that when one is deprived of rest and sleep for a prolonged period of time, the biological rhythm may become damaged, and mental and physical endurance will reach its limit. This may result in a serious illness or fatal incident.
The prison authorities overwork Gong practitioners in order to wear down their will. Once they are exhausted, they could be manipulated into giving up their faith. This method is called “Physical Elimination.”
Third Forced Labor Camp in Henan Province
The Third Forced Labor Camp in Henan Province purchased Falun Gong practitioners at a price of 800 yuan per person from other forced labor camps. These practitioners are forced to work around the clock and are tortured for any infraction they might commit. The labor camp is under contract and well paid by the Henan Rebecca Hair Products company.
Given its contribution to the suppression of Falun Gong, this labor camp was awarded special recognition by the CCP Central Political and Legal Affairs Committee, 610 Office, and Labor Re-education Bureau. The camp was even recognized as being an “Advanced Entity of the Nation.” On the day of the award ceremony, three practitioners at the camp fell unconscious from exhaustion.
Qu Shuangcai, the camp director, was recognized by his boss given his dedication to persecuting Falun Gong practitioners. He was later assigned to the Zhenzhou Shibalihe Women's Forced Labor Camp, and signed a contract with Rebecca Hair Products, Inc. to manufacture “restriction suits.”
Soon afterward he tortured three female Falun Gong practitioners to death.
Exposed to Toxins
In China, some bosses of unethical companies secretly produce and sell prohibited or toxic products for enormous profits. To avoid inspection by law enforcement, these companies go into business with forced labor camps and prisons. These places are controlled by the CCP's system and do not require any oversight. As the authorities refuse to inspect them, these places become underground production facilities.
Attracted by this type of lucrative business, the prisons and forced labor camps are not averse to ignoring the fact that many ingredients are harmful and still forced Falun Gong practitioners to use them to make the products.
Practitioners are not provided with protective measures, such as masks and gloves. Thus, many have lost their lives.
The end products are sold nationally and internationally, without mentioning the toxicity of the materials. Numerous consumers have been harmed without even knowing it.
Driven by huge profits, the Jiamusi City Forced Labor Camp in Heilongjiang Province signed a contract with such a company to manufacture cell phone cases and car seat mats using toxic materials, which end up being harmful to consumers.
The labor camps warehouse was filled with poisonous gases, smelling so awful that even the supervising guards could not bear it. They asked that the Quality and Technology Supervision Bureau do a test. The results showed that the carcinogens and toxins from the raw materials far exceeded the allowed limit. After inspection, the prison guards would rather stay out in the freezing cold of winter, than entering the warehouse. But, they continued to force the inmates to work overtime to finish contracts on time.
Many people suffered from nosebleeds, rapid heart rate, inability to breathe, swollen red eyes, and other physical injuries.
Falun Gong practitioners who refused to do the forced labor were beaten by the guards. Many ended up with perforated eardrums, and some lost their sight.
Death of Practitioner Mr. Wan Guifu
At the onset of the persecution, the arrested Falun Gong practitioners were held in the same cell, as the authorities found it easier to deal with them. As the persecution continued, practitioners were detained in cells with criminal inmates. This made it easier to humiliate practitioners, and to use the criminal inmates to monitor them. When a practitioner refused to do hard labor, the prison authorities demanded that the inmates torture them.
Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Wan Guifu, 57, was illegally arrested and held in the No.1 Detention Center of Lanzhou City, Gansu Province, at the end of April 2001. He was forced to crack open sunflower seeds with his teeth and fingers every day. This resulted in injured lips and loss of nails. Unable to finish the assigned work, guard Lu Jun from the fourth squadron ordered criminal inmates from the No. 9 cell to viciously beat him.
Mr. Wan's stomach was severely injured. He was taken to the Lanzhou Dashaping labor re-education hospital on December 22, 2001, and died three days later.
An inmate from the Dashaping detention center said that the annual fatality rate of inmates at the detention center is astonishing. However, the exact figure could not be obtained, because of the information blockade.
Brutal and Harsh Environment
The CCP prisons, labor camps, and detention centers are a living hell. Outside the prison walls, the CCP promotes these places as “spring winds with gentle rain” or “humanized management.” In reality, there is more than just the loss of freedom. This is because of bullying by criminal inmates, “transformation” through torture by prison guards, and brainwashing under close confinement by inmates, among others.
The harsh living and work conditions can easily destroy a person's spirit and drive them mad. Forced labor workers have to bring in huge profits for the guards. Our investigation revealed that the horrible living and working conditions of labor camp inmates.
Meals for practitioners and inmates are of extremely poor quality. They are given moldy rice. Many inmates suffered from malnutrition and infectious diseases, such as tuberculosis, hepatitis, and scabies. But they are still forced to work.
A glove manufacturing workshop in the second squadron in Zhongba Forced Labor Camp in Guizhou Province makes the inner lining of gloves using cast-off clothes collected from hospitals, trash centers, and funeral homes. They are dirty and hazardous, filled with blood stains, dirt, and mildew.
The air in the workshop is poisonous and swarming with flies. Inmates at the camp have to work under such conditions without any protection.
The hands and feet of dozens of inmates in the second squadron festered and oozed pus. A large hole appeared on some inmates' feet, exposing the bones. They were still forced to make the gloves.
Practitioners Forced to Produce Goods
Products made using forced labor add more value and profit than those produced by labor outside the prison walls. All profits fill the pockets of the prison and labor camp guards and officials.
It has been reported that the inmates, including practitioners, may receive a small amount of money, but only a fraction of what should be given for the work done. Using those incarcerated for forced labor is against international law, and is a violation of human rights.
The inmates held in the Second Squadron at the No.1 Women's Forced Labor Camp of Shandong Province produce fishing wheels – something that looks and operates like a watermill but is outfitted with baskets to catch and carry fish.
There are two production lines of more than 50 inmates. Inmates have to process 5,000 to 6,000 fishing wheels, working 15 to 18 hours a day. The fishing wheels are labeled “Guangwei Fishing Equipment Company, Weihai City, Shandong Province,” which is a subsidiary of the Guangwei Group of Weihai. Their products are exported to over 70 countries. The labor camp earns a large profit from using free labor.
Using “Shandong Eighty-three Silicon Carbide Heat Factory” for their label, the Shandong No. 2 Forced Labor Camp uses forced labor, from mainly Falun Gong practitioners. It sells to the domestic and international market. This camp even promoted their products online.
The factory manufactured 700,000 silicon carbide products and 700 tons of heat resistant material in January 2006, with a revenue of six million six hundred thousand yuan and a profit of one million and one hundred-fifty-thousand yuan.
Falun Gong practitioners' speech and behavior are monitored closely, and they are forced to work non-stop, even on weekends, and are only allowed time off for sleeping and toilet breaks. Although practitioners' health deteriorates, they are still forced to work.
Brainwashing and Transforming Practitioners
As well as being used for cheap or free labor, practitioners are also subjected to brainwashing sessions. Guards use all kinds of method, including torture, and will stop at nothing when trying to transform practitioners. Guards are rewarded with fame and monetary gain by increasing the transformation rate.
Inmates are used to monitoring the “transformed” practitioners and make them listen to fake news and read articles and books that slander Falun Gong. These practitioners also have to write a pledge on a weekly basis while they are in the labor camp. The physical and mental pressure is non-stop and brings great harm to practitioners.
Guards at the Beijing Women's Forced Labor Camp try to attract business from around the country and receive a large commission for doing so. Guards from different squadrons compete for business in any way possible.
In the evening, all inmates in the camp must listen to state news broadcast. They must sit with a straight back on a small stool. When many elderly practitioners were too tired, they fell asleep during the news broadcast. Then they were forced to stand.
China Violates International Laws
Afraid of condemnation from the intentional community, the CCP tries its best to keep all of these atrocities secret. Thus, people inside China are not aware of crimes committed by the CCP. When practitioners die while incarcerated, the authorities claim that the practitioner committed suicide, or died from different kinds of illnesses.
On October 4, 1988, China signed “The United Nations Convention against Torture,” which is defined in Article 1, Part I, as, “any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity.”
Torture is internationally recognized as a crime, and is not tolerated by the civilized world, and is expressed so in international law.
Since Jiang Zemin, the former communist leader started to target Falun Gong, the 610 Office, the security/legal/justice system have willingly been involved in the persecution and murder of Falun Gong practitioners.
The tortures methods used on practitioners include violent beatings, electric shock, force-feeding, poisoning, exposing practitioners to extreme temperatures, medical experiments, water dungeons, deathbed, hanging practitioners with their hands tied behind their backs, and even organ harvesting from living practitioners.
Slave labor is forbidden under the “Forced Labour Convention,” 1930 by the International Labor Organization. China has been a member of the organization since June 28, 1919.
However, since the CCP's persecution of Falun Gong, countless Falun Gong practitioners have been taken to forced labor camps and prisons where they were made to perform slave labor and have been tortured. China has officially been recognized as violating international law, but the world has not taken China to task, thus the violations continue.
(Note: Cases mentioned in this article are from Minghui reports)
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