The nightmare is over. The nine dark-skinned workers sitting on their beds at a nursing house in Ruicheng County in north China's Shanxi Province are watching television while staff clean the room for them.

 

The drudgery, the fear, the whips and the fierce dogs are gone. But the brick kilns from which they were rescued will remain in their memories for a long time.

 

They are waiting to be taken home, although many cannot say clearly where their homes are.

 

They are among the 65 mentally retarded rescued in Shanxi, where the brick kiln slavery scandal burst into the national consciousness last week.

 

A total of 359 people, including 12 children, have been rescued from illegal brick kilns in the province, the joint investigation group announced on Friday afternoon.

 

Police are checking the ages of nine people to see whether they should be classified as child laborers, said Sun Baoshu, vice minister of labor and social security and concurrently head of the investigation group -- representing the Ministry of Labor and Social Security, the Ministry of Public Security and the All-China Federation of Trade Unions -- that is probing the forced labor scandal.

 

Employment of children below 16 is forbidden in China.

 

One mentally retarded worker, Liu Bao from northwest China's Gansu Province, was beaten to death in a brick kiln in Caosheng village of Hongtong County in November 2006. According to the other 31 workers rescued from the kiln, they were confined there with no means of escape and forced to work for more than 15 hours a day without salary.

 

Six suspects, including kiln boss Wang Bingbing and foreman Heng Tinghan, have been arrested, while three others are on the run.

 

In total, 35 people have been detained and 20 others are being sought.

 

Meanwhile, Sun vowed to spare no effort to rescue and help victims of the forced labor scandal.

 

"Salaries will be paid and the injured treated," he said, adding that aid will be given to those whose home addresses are not yet known.

 

In the inspection, police also found that 2,036 of the 3,347 brick kilns were operating without all the legal licenses. Police have closed 315 of them and put another 358 under investigation, ordering the brick kilns to pay the 1,024 workers involved.

 

Behind the scandal lie indifference and dereliction of duty, Sun noted, pointing out that some cadres even made profits from their participation in the operations of illegal brick kilns.

 

Two labor watchdog officers in Yongji City, Shanxi, have been detained by local police in connection with the kiln slavery scandal.

 

Hou Junyuan, head of the labor inspection team of Yongji City's labor and social security bureau, was accused of dereliction of duty and detained on Thursday afternoon. Another officer from the team, Shang Guangze, was arrested on charges of abuse of power.

 

Shanxi's provincial governor Yu Youjun apologized over the forced labor scandal, promising to do everything in his power to root out the illegal practices.

 

"I feel guilty and heart-stricken over the scandal," he said. "It has infringed the rights of migrant workers and children, hurt them both physically and mentally, and had a shocking effect both in and out of China."

 

Yu praised the active role of the mass media, which drew the attention of society as a whole.

 

The use of slave workers hit the headlines after a "call-for-help" letter was posted on the Internet earlier this month by more than 400 parents in Henan who believed their missing children had been sold to the small brick kilns as slave workers.

 

"People's reaction to the event reflects better legal awareness and a greater respect for human rights," Yu said.

 

China will launch a nationwide investigation of labor conditions in small kilns and collieries.

 

Lawbreakers that illegally employ children, force people to work or maliciously injure workers will be severely punished, according to a State Council conference chaired by Premier Wen Jiabao on Wednesday.

 

(Xinhua News Agency June 23, 2007)