The Communist Regime Turns a Kind Woman into a Ruthless Labour Camp Guard

I asked a friend to search for information on Google regarding the "Beijing Women's Forced Labour Camp." I read the August 19th, 2004, report from the World Organisation to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong (WOIPFG): "Investigation Announcement of Perpetrators Ma Jie, Li Jing, Zhu Xiaoli, Li Jirong, Jiao Xuexian, Li Xiuying from the Beijing Women's Forced Labour Camp." The name Li Jirong, one of the guards, got my attention.

Li Jirong, as I knew, was a gentle and shy girl when she was young. She spoke little and was kind to everyone. How could she become an "evil guard?" I could not believe it. How could the communist regime turn a kind woman into a brutal, evildoing guard?

The report stated: "Li Jirong (Fourth Division head in the Beijing Women's Forced Labour Camp) obtained political gains due to her participation in the persecution of Falun Gong: representative of the 16th National Congress of the CCP, Political and Legal Model, the National Model Employee and Beijing City Model Employee, Secondary Hero and Model in the National Judicial System. She was also granted national 'May 1st' labour medals."

The crimes attributed to her include: depriving Falun Gong practitioners of sleep, physical attacks, brutal beatings, electric shocks, tie-ups, and sexual assault of women practitioners.

Li Jirong, a former teacher, was once a kind woman. Later on she followed her father and moved to Beijing. Because her father worked for the Beijing Municipal Administration of Forced Labour, she had the opportunity to become a police officer. Then she got married and became a mother. She should have wisdom and passion, she should understand and follow the law.

As a division head, she was cruel in persecuting Falun Gong practitioners. In fact, she was specifically responsible for persecuting one particular practitioner in 2001. Li Jirong wouldn't let her sleep, take a bath, wash her face or brush her teeth, or use the toilet. At each meal the practitioner was only given a plain and tasteless steamed cornmeal bun and a piece of pickled vegetable. She was beaten every day, so her nose often bled, her eyes were black and blue and swollen, and she was bruised everywhere. She was detained in a small dark cell. The cell door was always open in winter, so the room was very cold. Furthermore, she was handcuffed inside the room in a position in which she could neither stand straight nor squat. The walls, ceiling and floor of this small cell were covered with some type of electrified needles. If she leaned even a little and touched any part of the wall, ceiling, or floor, she would receive an electric shock. When she was exhausted and sleepy due to the forced long-term sleep deprivation, the electric needles lining her cell would shock her. She had needle puncture marks everywhere. Her skin looked like a sieve.

A once kind person has now become cruel and brutal, persecuting Falun Gong practitioners.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has persecuted Li Haoxue, Li Jirong's father, a veteran police officer, his entire life. When young, he was a guard at the Guard Regiments for the Central Committee of the CCP. After he was demobilised, he was transferred to the Xingkaihu Labour Reform Farm in Heilongjiang Province as a police officer.

Several years later the relationship between China and the former Soviet Union was intense. There were often border wars. People lived in a state of constant fear. At that time the family's household registration was frozen. They could not move back to Beijing. His daughter, Li Jirong, was a victim as well.

Beginning in 1979, many officers who used to work for Xingkaihu Farm asked to have their police officer positions restored and move back to Beijing. But they encountered interference and roadblocks. They even went to appeal in Beijing. Consequently, the regime withheld their pay and attempted to stop the group appeals. These officers were unafraid and continued to appeal with determination. Finally, after four years of efforts, in 1983, the first group of officers was allowed to bring one child per family to move back to Beijing. Li Jirong was part of that group and became a police officer.

Li Jirong Became a Guard and Persecutes Falun Gong

After the communist regime launched the persecution of Falun Gong on July 20th, 1999, the regime paid many guards from Beijing Forced Labour Camp and prisons substantial sums to persecute Falun Gong practitioners. Li Jirong forgot her father's history of persecution. Lured by money and prestige, she became an evildoing guard for the regime to persecute Falun Gong.

In order to earn more money, prestige, and advantages, Li Jirong often made up shameless lies. For example, she lied about dreaming of a so-called god telling her not to go easy on any practitioners; the god supposedly told her to poke practitioners with her fingers. She pokes determined practitioners very hard. She often poked and bruised practitioner Ms. Zhou Yuling's face. Practitioner Ms. Guan Fengling is over 60 years old. Li Jirong poked her, too. Li Jirong often insulted and yelled at practitioners, using foul language.

Li Jirong is the Fourth Division head. Although she seldom does it herself, she demands that inmates and other guards beat practitioners.

Li Jirong often isolated practitioners and deprived them of sleep, forced them to stand or squat in a military position behind the door, had more than ten people to take turns to monitor practitioners, even when they used the toilet. Practitioners' daily food consisted of only a few buns. The persecutors even recorded how much water practitioners drank. The captors would not let anyone speak. They did not allow practitioners to stand but forced them to squat in a military position from 6:00 a.m. to 12:00 a.m., even when they ate. They forbade anyone from crying.

In 2001 Li Jirong and prison guard Xu Yanling forced practitioner Ms. Liu Guifu to squat and "fly" for an entire night and forced her to stand for 18 days. She had to maintain that one position except for the time she used the toilet. Ms. Liu was confined in a dark cell, and drug offenders beat her. She often lost consciousness from the beatings. They also put unknown toxic substances in her food. Li Jirong also incited guards to take Liu Guifu to the head's office and force her to squat.

Practitioner Ms. Wang Yue, former deputy chief editor for the People's Press, was detained in the brainwashing centre in the women's labour camp. Li Jirong led collaborators¹ and accomplices to beat her brutally. Due to that gross physical abuse, Ms. Wang sustained a herniated cervical disc, neck pains, and pain in the upper arms and the back and legs. She was dizzy and nauseous. Her wrists, arms, and back were covered with bruises. The guards did not let her sleep.

Li Jirong tortured 68-year-old practitioner Ms. Su Guiying and injured her leg. Practitioner Ms. Liu Xiuping from Lanzhou City, Gansu Province, was tortured until she became mentally disordered. She was not released until December 31st, 2002 when her term was up.

Beijing Judicial Bureau and Beijing Forced Labour System officials often dispatch what they consider "experienced" police officers such as Li Jirong, Cheng Cuie from Beijing Women's Forced Labour Camp, and Kou Chenghui, Third Division head from Beijing Tuanhe Forced Labour Camp, to lead collaborators to brainwash practitioners.

Li Jirong has become an accomplice for the communist regime. The regime then "packages" such evildoing police officers as "models" and "heroes" to deceive people and cover up the regime's crimes in persecuting Falun Gong.

Just as I was about to publish this article, I heard the bad news about the death of 64-year-old practitioner Ms. Geng Jine as a result of the persecution in the Beijing Women's Forced Labour Camp. Since the onset of the communist regime's persecution of Falun Gong, the Beijing Women's Forced Labour Camp has been a terrible place for practitioners.

Personal Information Regarding Li Jirong:

Li Jirong, born 1961

Tan Zhijun, Li Jirong's husband, born 1960. He is currently the Party secretary in a company in Beijing.

Li Haoxue, a retired police officer, Li Jirong's father

Tan Yanshun, a retired worker, Li Jirong's father-in-law, currently lives in the Tiantanghe Residential District, the Daxin District, Beijing. He was also transferred back to Beijing from Xingkaihu Farm due to the implementation of relevant policies.

Note

1. "Collaborators": former practitioners who have turned against Falun Gong under brainwashing and torture. They are then made to assist in brainwashing and torturing practitioners.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2010/6/29/226164.html