Ms. Xie Zhiying, 52, Dies After Torture and Persecution

Name: Xie Zhiying
Gender: Female
Age: 52
Address: Unknown
Occupation: Government employee of Akasu Tax Bureau
Date of Death: August 6th, 2011
Date of Most Recent Arrest: 2001
Most Recent Place of Detention: Alar Mental Hospital
City: Aksu
Province: Xinjiang Region
Persecution Suffered: Electric shock, sleep deprivation, forced labour, brainwashing, forced injections/drug administration, beatings, solitary confinement, detainment and abuse at mental hospital, denial of toilet use, denied visitation

Ms. Xie Zhiying, born in Henan Province, was a cadre of Aksu Tax Bureau in Xinjiang Province. She was detained in a mental hospital twice without reason, just for cultivating Falun Gong. Her employer, under the influence of the local 610 Office (an organisation of special agents just for persecuting Falun Gong), held her captive seven years without the right of visitation of her family. She died suddenly on August 6th, but the 610 Office authorities have not allowed her family to see the body.

Before cultivating Falun Gong, Ms. Xie was a very kind person and an accomplished employee. But suddenly she suffered an unknown disease that left her unable to walk. All sorts of medicine had been of no use. Her life came to a turning point in 1997, after her mother, Yuan Jingyun, began to practice Falun Gong and encouraged her to give it a try. Within one month, a miracle happened, as Ms. Xie could walk! She treasured this second life, firmly cultivating her heart and mind.

After the persecution began in 1999, her employer and colleagues, based on false presumptions, misunderstood her completely, to the point of forcing her into a mental hospital. Though perfectly normal, she was tortured violently in Alar City Mental Hospital, including electric baton abuses, forced-feedings, high-dosed drug injections, solitary confinement, denied family visitations and more. She was said to need the so-called “close treatment,” which necessitated the so-called “psychiatric treatment” of forced brainwashing, no less. None of these tortures, however, netted the persecutors the intended effect.

After being released from the mental hospital, she went to Beijing to appeal. Aksu City Domestic Security sentenced her three years forced labour in 2001, which she served in Wulapo Forced Labour Camp. She was transferred to a newly built women's forced labour camp in November 2002. Ms. Xie was subjected to violent brainwashing during her captivity, along with other abuses, including electric baton shock, sleep and toilet deprivation, starvation, lengthy forced standing time, brutal beatings, and profanity from drug-addicted prisoners.

Ms. Xie refused to cooperate with the persecutors in multiple ways, including refusals to read or watch anything slanderous of Falun Gong, to shout numbers as asked, to wear a name tag, to sing evil songs, to recite prison regulations, or follow labour dictates. She also went on hunger strike to protest the physical torture and brutal beatings. On one occasion the camp held a meeting, where all inmates watched her being dragged into the meeting hall. Guards were nonetheless unable to force her into joining the meeting. Others also witnessed how she was dragged to the dining hall during a hunger strike. Her acts in open defiance of the persecution strongly shocked the persecutors, and encouraged those practitioners who had said words against their conscience to speak the truth.

After first coming back from the labour camp, officers constantly harassed her and soon took her to Alar Mental Hospital again. Her family was deprived their right to visit her. Several months after her release, she lost the ability to speak. Her employer also withheld her salary and deprived her free liberty. Someone was assigned to watch her all day, as she endured such a state of isolation in her home since 2004.

Over the past seven years, her husband could not visit her due to Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Political & Judiciary Committee. They were forced to live separated. Her son, too, was not allowed to visit her. Meanwhile, her mother Yuan Jingyun refused to accept brainwashing of her own, and went to Beijing to appeal. She was arrested in Beijing and sent to forced labour. Upon release, she was closely watched by her employer—Wushi County Tax Bureau. Her brother Xie Zhiming was twice sent to forced labour due to practising Falun Gong. He was under custody of his employer for eight months, and sent to brainwashing once. He once met secretly with a person who watched Ms. Xie Zhiying, to learn that his sister's isolation at home was ordered by the 610 Office, and conducted by her employer.

Ms. Xie's mother suffered a fall in late May 2011, leaving her unable to walk or take care of herself. Her son was allowed to pick her up, and live with her. She worried about her daughter. On June 23rd, she sued Aksu prefecture 610 Office chair Bao Liqun for not allowing her to see her daughter. She was notified on June 28th, that she could see her daughter accompanied by her son.

More than a dozen officers surrounded their visit, and urged them to leave after only half an hour. Ms. Yuan insisted on her right to eat and sleep in her daughter's home, and allow her daughter to cook a meal. With so many officers gathered in her home, Ms. Xie appeared threatened, opening her mouth upon receiving her mother's embrace, but was unable to actually say “Mom.” Her mother kept hugging the daughter, who was shivering, and tried to calm her down while offering encouragement. When she heard her mother mention food, she cooked a simple meal, and quietly ate with her mother and brother.

Ms. Yuan requested to sleep at her daughter's place. Yang Jing, the prefecture 610 Office chair, said they must be monitored by five persons simultaneously, or they would take Ms. Yuan back to Wushi City. Finally Yang Jing declared that if the family wanted to see each other, multiple officers must be present. The reason fabricated and cited was to prevent Ms. Xie's escape, as she was insane, or may kill her family when together.

Alarmed by such wild statements about her daughter, Ms. Yuan even worried more about her daughter's safety. They repeatedly requested to see Ms. Xie Zhiying often, and allow their family's reunion. Wang Jihong, the Aksu City 610 Office chair, demanded that each of them write guarantee statements promising not to pass out flyers or contact fellow practitioners. Refusing to do so, all Ms. Yuan and Mr. Xie's requests were denied.

Only 39 days later, on August 6th, police suddenly announced that Ms. Xie Zhiying had died. Without any family present, the police ordered an autopsy, later notifying her husband of the result. They informed her mother that she was not allowed to see her daughter's body. When her brother Mr. Xie Zhiming went to Aksu Prefecture 610 Office, the gatekeeper stated, “The 610 Office has ordered that no one with the last name Xie is allowed to enter.”

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2011/8/12/245246.html