Older Practitoner Ms. Shi Xiuyan from Tangshan City Sent to Forced Labour Camp

Name: Shi Xiuyan
Gender: Female
Age: 56
Address: Residential housing for Fengrun District Traffic Management Bureau, Fengrun District, Tangshan City
Occupation: Retired employee of Fengrun District Traffic Management Bureau
Date of Most Recent Arrest: July 6th, 2009
Most recent place of detention: Kaiping Forced Labour Camp
City: Tangshan City
Province: Hebei
Abuse suffered: Forced Labour

Shi Xiuyan suffered severe heart disease and rheumatism before practising Falun Gong. Medical treatment failed to cure her, and she was unable to perform even simple housework. She could not write with her right hand, and could only write slowly with her left hand. Frustrated from her diseases, she became very short-tempered.

In the winter of 1996, she started practising Falun Gong. As she studied the teachings and practised the exercises, her diseases were cured and she became very happy. She could do housework and would always think of others first. All of her family and colleagues were quite happy to see the changes in her. People from her work unit--the Traffic Management Bureau--and the family's residential building all knew that she had become a kind person because she practised Falun Gong.

After the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) started persecuting Falun Gong in 1999, Shi Xiuyan was frequently harassed by CCP officials. Personnel from the County Political and Legislation Committee, 610 Office¹, and the Traffic Management Bureau all attempted to arrest her, but were stopped by her husband. Her husband told the people who came to arrest her, "In the past, Shi Xiuyan suffered all kinds of diseases, and I had to take care of her. Now she has become healthy after practising Falun Gong. I no longer need to take care of her. On the contrary, she can take care of me. She can knit and take care of housework. If you arrest her, my son and I will go to Tiananmen." After hearing this, the officials left silently.

At around 9 a.m. on July 6th, 2009, Shi Xiuyan was posting messages regarding the persecution of Falun Gong near a bank in the west part of Fengrun city, when she was suddenly abducted by plainclothes policemen. Li Chunyuan, vice director of the Fengrun Public Security Bureau led six or seven policemen and ransacked her home. They confiscated her printer, computer, Falun Gong books and other personal belongings. She was detained at the Fengrun Detention Centre and subsequently given a two-year sentence in a forced labour camp. On August 4th, 2009, she was secretly taken to the Tangshan Kaiping Labour Camp.

People involved in her arrest include:

Li Chunyuan, vice director of the Fengrun Public Security Bureau: 86-315-2534658 (Office), 86-315-5188068 (Home), 86-13832987098 (Mobile)
Tangshan Fengrun Detention Centre: 86-315-5132475, 86-315-5122081
Dianchun, director, Tangshan Fengrun Detention Centre: 86-13832985269 (Mobile)
Wu Yuliang, vice director: 86-13803313070 (Mobile)

Note

1. "The 610 office" is an agency specifically created to persecute Falun Gong, with absolute power over each level of administration in the Party and all other political and judiciary systems.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2009/8/23/206954.html