Many Mudanjiang Falun Gong Practitioners Sent to Forced Labour Camp

The Mudanjiang police followed, monitored and videotaped Falun Gong practitioners when they talked to people about Falun Gong, distributed Falun Gong materials and shared their experiences. Then the police arrested the practitioners and searched their homes. On November 2nd, 2012, the police arrested dozens of Falun Gong practitioners from their homes or work places.

Ms. Ma Shujie, Ms. Xu Huijuan, Ms. Zhai Shuqin and Ms. Fang Shuyun were sent to the Qianjin Forced Labour Camp in Harbin. The camp refused to accept Ms. Fang Shuyun because of health issues. Ms. Fang has since been released. Ms. Han Xiufang, Ms. Liu Chunlan, Ms. Liu Nan and other practitioners are being detained in the detention centre. The police fabricated their cases and sent the files to the Aimin District Procuratorate in Mudanjiang.

1. Ms. Ma Shujie Harassed and Arrested Many Times

Ms. Ma Shujie was a teacher in Xi'an District, Mudanjiang. Because she did not give up practising Falun Gong, she was assigned to be a mail clerk and was not allowed to contact teachers and students. On the morning of January 24th, 2008, Mudanjiang Domestic Security officers went to Ms. Ma's home and arrested her and her husband, who is not a Falun Gong practitioner. The officers also confiscated her computer and other property. Ms. Ma was released on March 7th, 2008. However, the District Education Bureau and the District Politics and Law committee did not allow her to work because she did not “transform”[forcibly renounce Falun Gong]. They also called the principals of all local elementary schools to have a meeting on persecuting practitioners at each school.

Ms. Ma Shujie's father, who is in his 70s, started practising Falun Gong before July 20th, 1999. He went to visit his daughter in the middle of May 2008. Officers from the Sansuotong Township Police Station in Mishan City went to his home several times inquiring about his whereabouts. His family told the officers that he went to visit his daughter, but the police did not believe him. They asked Ms. Ma's father to call back to confirm that he was at his daughter's home, but he refused. The police then demanded his family to disclose Ms. Ma's mobile phone number. The police called Ms. Ma's cell phone and said that they wanted to confirm if her father was at her home. The police were worried that Ms. Ma's father would go to Beijing to appeal in support of Falun Gong.　

When Ms. Ma Shujie received the call from the Sansuotong police, she did not let her father talk with the police and thought the incident was then over. However, on the next day, the Sansuotong police colluded with Zhang Hui from the Nanjiang Police Station in Mudanjiang City. They called Ms. Ma's husband to further confirm whether Ms. Ma and her father were at home, and asked what Ms. Ma and her father did every day. They also demanded that Ms. Ma's husband report to them about the father and daughter's whereabouts every three to five days.　

The series of phone calls brought a huge amount of pressure on Ms. Ma and her family. Ms. Ma Shujie was arrested again on November 2nd, 2012, and is being detained in a forced labour camp.

2. Persecution of Ms. Fang Shuyun and Ms. Zhai Shuqin　

Ms. Fang Shuyun lives in the Yangming District, Mudanjiang. She was detained in the Harbin Drug Rehabilitation Centre because she did not give up her belief in Falun Gong. In the centre, she insisted on practising Falun Gong and was once hung up. When she was on a hunger strike to protest the persecution, other people in the same cell as her force-fed her, giving her a dislocated jaw. She was confined in a small cell when she had a severe stomach illness and became very thin and weak. She was harassed again before the 2010 Chinese New Year. Her elderly mother was frightened and suffered a heart attack.

Ms. Fang Shuyun was arrested by officers from the Mudanjiang Domestic Security Division and the Yangming Police Department on the night of November 2nd, 2012. She was detained in the Mudanjiang Detention Centre and went on a hunger strike to protest the persecution. The guards force-fed and tortured her. She was often unable to talk or open her eyes, and her neck was stiff and limited in range of motion. The guards tried to send her to the Qianjin Forced Labour Camp, but the camp refused to accept her. She has since been released.　

Ms. Zhai Shuqin lives in Xi'an District, Mudanjiang. In 2007, the police arrested her and took away her satellite receiver. She was then detained in a detention centre. She was not released until the police extorted 20,000 yuan¹ from her family. Ms. Zhai was arrested again on November 2nd, 2012. She is being detained in the Qianjin Forced Labour Camp.

Officers from the Mudanjiang Domestic Security Division, the Xi'an Police Department and the local police branches joined in the arrest on November 2nd, 2012. Those who were in charge included Zhao Min (Deputy Party Secretary of Mudanjiang Politics and Law Committee), Yang Danbei (Commissar of Domestic Security Division), Li Gaoyang (Deputy Chief of Mudanjiang 610 Office (an organisation of special agents just for persecuting Falun Gong)), and others.

Note

1. "Yuan" is the Chinese currency; 500 yuan is equal to the average monthly income of an urban worker in China.