22 May 2009 -Jieshou, Anhui, China Reuters News agency reports that 32 people, ages 25 to 45 and who had intellectual disabilities, were rescued from forced labor in brick kilns. Ten people have been arrested in the case who were accused of forcing the workers to work in inhumane conditions and beating them. The case shares many similarities to a 2007 case in which about 1,000 slave laborers withintellectual disabilities were discovered wroking in brick kilns in Shanxi province.
As reported in the Washington Post:
The kiln boss, a man surnamed Zhang, bought the workers from the nearby province of Shandong, Xinhua added.
“Zhang said he bought them at a price of hundreds of yuan from a taxi driver, who said he found the mentally handicapped roaming on street,” Gao said.
The laborers were forced to work long hours without pay and some had been beaten, he added.
