(Minghui.org) The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) abolished the forced labor camp system in 2013 and replaced it with prison sentences to persecute Falun Gong practitioners. Before that, many practitioners who refused to renounce their faith were taken to forced labor camps without due process and subjected to relentless torture.

Among all the labor camps in China, the Masanjia Forced Labor Camp in Liaoning Province was one of the worst when it comes to cruelty against practitioners. The following is a summary of what I learned on how the authorities in Masanjia tortured the practitioners between 2005 and 2006.

1. Physical Tortures

An elderly practitioner from Dandong City (name unknown) could barely walk because of a corn on her foot. She had to skip the prison morning exercises. A guard said that she violated the rules on purpose and beat her until her head swelled up and her face became severely bruised.

A group of guards choked and killed Ms. Li Baojie from Yingkou City while force-feeding her. Shortly after her death, a practitioner named Ms. Tian Baojie from Jinzhou City was transferred to the labor camp. Ms. Tian was known to be a brave and steadfast practitioner. The guards were overheard saying that they worried that they might accidentally kill her during the torture.

Torture illustration: Force-feeding

Ms. Zhang Jinrong from Jinzhou City was forced to renounce Falun Gong against her will after she could no longer bear the extreme tortures. She later recanted and declared that she’d continue to practice Falun Gong. In retaliation, the guards tortured her and put her in solitary confinement for three days.

The guards made Ms. Zhu Jiahuan from Shenyang City do heavy work on a farm all day. In the evening they forced her to stand still until midnight. She had to go back to work the next morning. This lasted several days.

The torture against the practitioners was so cruel that another elderly practitioner whose name was unknown, hung herself to death with a bedsheet. (Editor’s note: The teachings of Falun Gong strictly prohibit killing and suicide. Such extreme behavior was a result of the persecution.)

2. Mental Abuses

The then director of Masanjia, Su Jing, actively participated in brainwashing practitioners who refused to give up Falun Gong.

Upon learning that a soon-to-be-released practitioner’s son died in a mudslide at work, Su mocked her, “Why didn’t Falun Gong protect you? If it did, your son wouldn’t have died. Now that he’s gone, you should come to your senses and give it up.” The practitioner ignored her.

A young practitioner was caught and locked in solitary confinement when she tried to run away while working in the fields. The inmates deprived her of sleep, beat and verbally abused her around the clock. Two months later the practitioner suffered a mental breakdown and was released before the end of her term.

Another steadfast practitioner, Ms. Ma Yingjun from Shenyang City, also suffered from relentless verbal abuse. The inmates often locked her in a water dungeon or the foul-smelling restroom. One time a guard instigated an inmate to repeatedly smash a stool on her head. The inmate shouted, “If you don’t wake up (give up Falun Gong), I will crack open your head!”

The guards often yelled at and ridiculed Ms. Li Feng from Liaoyang City. Ms. Li had poor health and often coughed. After the guards took her to a hospital for a checkup, they told everyone that Ms. Li had an infectious lung disease. As a result, no one wanted to be anywhere near her. When she went to the laundry area to wash her clothes, other inmates kicked her out.

The guards tortured Ms. Jiang Huiqin from Dalian City into writing a statement to renounce Falun Gong. She later voided the statement and continued the practice. The guards locked her inside the toilet area, where she ate and slept in the stench for a week.

3. Nutritional Deprivation

The practitioners in Masanjia never had an edible meal. The rice didn’t taste like rice, the meat had a repugnant stench, the fibrous vegetables could not be chewed through, and the soup came with rotten leaves. The breakfast most of the time was hardened cornbread, rice water, and a little pickle.

The practitioners once shouted “Falun Dafa is good” together to protest the persecution. The guards retaliated and added sand and concrete bits into their food for days.

One practitioner’s family brought fruit and other food to visit her because she got ill. The guards had the family take the food back saying that they didn’t want food poisoning in the camp. She then had to pay to get boiled eggs, which often came with chicken feces on top.