Inner Mongolia Man Dies After Three Terms of Forced Labor and Years of Harassment

(Minghui.org) A resident of Morin Dawa Daur Autonomous Banner in Inner Mongolia passed away on March 28, 2021, after suffering two decades of persecution for his faith in Falun Gong.

Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual discipline that has been targeted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.

For speaking up for Falun Gong and filing a complaint against Jiang Zemin, the former head of the communist regime who ordered the persecution, Mr. Liu Guixiang was given three labor camp terms for a total of five years, during which time he was constantly beaten and tortured.

Mr. Liu’s wife, Ms. Li Furong, and their daughter, as well as Ms. Li’s brother, Mr. Li Fudong, and his family have also suffered persecution for their shared faith in Falun Gong.

Arrested for Appealing for Falun Gong

Mr. Liu, his brother-in-law Mr. Li Fudong, Mr. Li’s son Mr. Li Chunhua and daughter-in-law Ms. Nie Lianhui, went to Beijing on January 1, 2001 to appeal for the right to practice Falun Gong. 

Mr. Liu displayed a banner about Falun Gong at Tiananmen Square and shouted “Falun Dafa is good.” He and his three relatives were immediately arrested and pushed into a police van. They were interrogated and beaten in Beijing, before being taken back to Inner Mongolia and held at the Morin Dawa Daur Autonomous Banner Detention Center.

Because of doing the Falun Gong exercises at the detention center, Mr. Liu was beaten by guard Du Yulin. Du kept asking him, “Is Falun Gong good or not?” As Mr. Liu repeatedly answered yes, Du dragged him out of the cell, kicked him and beat him with a police baton. Mr. Liu was severely injured and he was unable to stand or sit after the beating.

After six months of detention, Mr. Liu was given two years of forced labor. Mr. Li was given three years, his son one year, and his daughter-in-law ten months. They were transferred to the Tumuji Forced Labor Camp on June 2, 2001.

Zhang Shibin, the head of 610 Office (an extralegal agency created specifically to persecute Falun Gong), arrested Mr. Liu’s wife, Ms. Li Furong and held her at the Fuyu County Psychiatric Hospital for two months. She was forced to take handfuls of unknown pills frequently.

Tortured in the Labor Camp

At the labor camp, Mr. Liu and his relatives held a hunger strike beginning on August 24, 2001, to protest an exhibition slandering Falun Gong. Mr. Liu was beaten and taken to solitary confinement.

In late August, the labor camp began to organize guards and inmates to torture and force-feed the practitioners on hunger strike. Guards Zhang Yaguang, Wang Liwei, Zhi Wenqi, Meng Qingcai, and Ding Xiaxi took the lead in beating the practitioners.

Guard Zhang once shouted in the hallway, “The Communist Party is the gang of bandits. Police are thugs and I’m the head of thugs!” Another guard named Chen Qiang said to the practitioners, “Where is the law here! Where are the principles!” Zhi Wenqi yelled while holding a practitioner in a chokehold, “I am the demon!”

As a result of the beating, Mr. Liu twice lost consciousness. His hands were severely swollen and he couldn’t sit up on his own.

The guards targeted Mr. Liu again on November 2, 2001, after seeing him doing the Falun Gong exercises. He was hung up in the warehouse, with his toes barely touching the ground. He sweated profusely and his entire body became soaked. The guards instigated the inmates to beat him with wooden sticks and planks. To prevent him from screaming during the beating, they stuffed his mouth with a rag. He lost consciousness several times. When he later complained to other guards about the beating, they refused to do anything about it, with the excuse that they didn’t see the beating themselves.

On another occasion, Mr. Liu was beaten for doing the Falun Gong exercises. His clothes stuck to his bleeding flesh and he was unable to take a shower for a week. Yet guard Wang Liwei still wrapped a wet towel around his hand and punched Mr. Liu in the face. His eyes were bruised and swollen so badly that he could hardly open them.

After nearly one and a half years of torture at the labor camp, Mr. Liu was released in January 2003.

Another Two-year Labor Camp Term for Suing Jiang Zemin

Shortly after he was released, Mr. Liu filed a complaint against Jiang Zemin and the guards of the Tumuji Forced Labor Camp for their participation in the persecution. 

When Zhang Shibin, the 610 Office head, found out about the complaint, he ordered the police to arrest Mr. Liu again, just 15 days after he had returned home. Zhang said to him, “Because of the complaint, we will either sentence you or give you a labor camp term!”

After eight months of incarceration at the Morin Dawa Daur Autonomous Banner Detention Center, Mr. Liu was given another two-year term at the Wuyuan Forced Labor Camp.

When his term expired, Zhang didn’t allow him to go home, but took him to a brainwashing center for further persecution.

Third Labor Camp Term and Persecution of Family Members

Mr. Liu and his wife were arrested again in September 2005, after Zhang suspected them of distributing Falun Gong informational materials around town. His two DVD players, an audio recorder and 500 yuan in cash were confiscated. While Mr. Liu was later released, his wife was detained for 15 days.

The couple’s daughter, Ms. Liu Yunyun, was also arrested on November 25, 2006, at the Nahe City Train Station, about 40 miles from her home. She was savagely beaten at the Morin Dawa Daur Autonomous Banner Detention Center. Her bed had large areas of bloodstains and locks of hair. The wall next to the bed also had bloodstains. 

After Ms. Liu held a hunger strike to protest the persecution, the guards injected her with an unknown drug, which caused her hands and body to shake involuntarily. She lost her memory and was in a delirious state. She became incontinent, sometimes refused to wear clothes, knelt down, and talked nonsense. 

Zhang arrested Mr. Liu and his wife and gave them one year of forced labor each in early December 2006. Zhang put Ms. Li in the same cell with her daughter at the detention center so she could take care of the younger woman.

After January 7, 2007, Ms. Liu began to regain her normal function. While the police released her shortly afterwards, they followed her and arrested her again on May 25, 2007, after seeing her visiting another Falun Gong practitioner. She was sentenced to seven years at the Inner Mongolia No. 1 Women’s Prison. She was forced to do unpaid labor for five years and was released two years ahead of time.

While Ms. Li was also released in January 2007 to spend the Chinese New Year with her family, she was taken back into custody after the holiday and held in a detention center until late 2007. Mr. Liu remained in custody the entire time. The authorities also extended his one-year term by an additional month before releasing him.

For the many years after their incarcerations, the police and 610 Office agents kept coming to harass Mr. Liu and his family. Many of their retirement benefits and subsidies were also withheld. 

After enduring two decades of brutal persecution, Mr. Liu died on March 28, 2021. He was around 70.