Ms. Ma Youjuan Is Detained, Her Non-Practitioner Father Sent to a Forced Labour Camp

Mr. Ma Yiqing, 60 years old, is a farmer from Kong village, Qixian Town, Linqu County, Weifang City, Shandong Province. He does not practise Falun Gong but he is an honest and kind person.

Ma Yiqing's 30-year-old daughter, Ma Youjuan, is a hairdresser. Her husband, Yu Kejun, is a farmer in Changle County. Both of them practise Falun Gong and before the persecution they had a harmonious life together. However, after Jiang Zemin and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) began to persecute Falun Gong on July 20th, 1999, they were detained several times because they did not want to give up their practice of "Truth-Compassion-Forbearance". In July of 1999, Yu Kejun was detained for about one month by the local police station and detention centre because he went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong. In November of the same year, after Ma Youjuan had a baby, Yu Kejun was detained for over ten days. In October 2000, Yu Kejun was detained again for over ten days and was fined one thousand yuan¹. In the meantime, the township government withheld the certificate for their house (they still haven't returned it). In January 2001, Yu Kejun was sent to the Brainwashing Class in the Changle County Forced Labour Camp and was persecuted there for about one month. In August of 2002, the township police station went to Yu's home and tried to take Yu Kejun and Ma Youjuan away. Since then, they were forced to become homeless to avoid persecution.

On October 15th, 2006, after being homeless for over four years, Ma Youjuan and Yu Kejun were arrested by the Hanting National Security Brigade and Hanting West City Police under the order of the Weifang City National Security Brigade. They ransacked their home and took away their Dafa books and other valuable items. The police even took the items from the drawers in Ma Youjuan's hair salon. They also took away their home key. In the evening of the same day, their eight-year-old daughter was also taken to the West City Police Station and detained there. The following day, Ma Youjuan's father, Ma Yiqing, took the child home. The couple were both detained. One month later, Yu Kejun was sent to a forced labour camp for a year, while Ma Youjuan has been detained at the Weifang City Detention Centre to this day.

Since Ma Youjuan was arrested, Ma Yiqing went to the Weifang City Police Station and Hanting Branch Police Station several times. Each time, the police either did not allow him to visit or rejected his request. Ma Yiqing asked some people to help to look for his daughter and was extorted over 260,000 yuan in total. However his daughter is still detained.

On April 5th, 2007, after 9 o'clock in the morning, Ma Yiqing and his son-in-law Yu Kejun went to the office of the National Security Brigade in the Weifang City Police Station and asked them to release Ma Youjuan, and return their property. Right after they entered the office (there were three police in the office), even before they began to talk, one of the police berated them loudly, "Did you register your names in the hallway?" Yu Kejun said, "Yes. We did." Another policeman shouted at them, "Who asked you to come in? Get out!" At that time, a short policeman slammed his hand on the desk and shouted, "Get out!"

Ma Yiqing thought about his daughter who was detained without any reason only because she wanted to be a good person. He had heard that the Procurator had rejected the materials sent by the police about Ma Youjuan because they did not have enough evidence. However, the police still wanted to fabricate something to send his daughter to prison with. Now the police were so rude to them, he could not calm down. He also slammed his hand on the desk twice and said, "I haven't had a chance to say anything yet. Why are you kicking us out? This is the office of the police station. It is not your home." Then, he sat down on a nearby chair. The short policeman was mad and shouted "This is a chair in the office of the police station! You cannot sit on it! Get out!" Then, he dragged the chair out from under the old man's body. At that time, police officer Ding Jinguang and a tall policeman walked over and surrounded both of them and pushed them outside. Ma Yiqing would not leave. Ding Jinguang and two other police pushed him to the floor. Two people dragged his feet and one person grabbed his hand and dragged him outside. While struggling, Ma Yiqing grabbed the tall policeman's sweater. The tall policeman was mad and strongly slapped the old man's face. When they dragged him to the door, he grasped the door frame. One of the police strongly shut the door, intending to smash his hands. Yu Kejun saw this and blocked the door with his foot. Thus Ma Yiqing's hands were not crushed. Ma Yiqing shouted, "The police are beating people up!" The three police officers dragged him into the hallway. Ding Jinguang pressed down on Ma Yiqing's chest with his knee. Another policeman held down his hands. They stopped when the old man could not move.

The police shut the office door. They made a phone call near the elevator and asked Ge Kuanwen (the supervisor) and other police from the Dongming Police Station to come. They forcibly put the handcuffs on Ma Yiqing and the police took them to the office of the National Security Brigade and forced them to squat. The police beat up Yu Kejun by pulling his hair and beating his head. Then the police drove them to the Dongming Police Station and locked them in two separate rooms and handcuffed their hands on the heating pipes. Ge Kuanwen and other police interrogated them separately. Finally, they tricked Ma Yiqing, who could not see clearly, into signing his name on the fabricated and distorted notes. On the same day, around 6 o'clock in the afternoon, Yu Kejun was released. However, Ma Yiqing was sent to a detention centre and detained for seven days.

During the morning of April 11th, Ge Kuanwen from the Dongming Police Station called Yu Kejun and asked him to come to the police station and once again interrogated him. Around 6 o'clock in the afternoon, the police presented a fabricated note (he removed the paragraph about beating up Ma Yiqing and pushing him to the floor). They threatened to send him to a forced labour camp and forced Yu Kejun to sign his name. On the afternoon of April 12th, Yu Kejun and his 2nd elder brother went to the detention centre to pick up Ma Yiqing. The detention centre told them that he had been taken away by the Dongming Police. They then rushed to the Dongming Police Station. There, they were told that Ma Yiqing had been sent to the Changle Forced Labour Camp for a one year term.

On April 13th, Yu Kejun's 2nd elder brother went to the Changle Forced Labour Camp to visit Ma Yiqing. Even the police in the forced labour camp felt that it was senseless and said they had never heard of a person being sent to a forced labour camp because of that.

Yu Kejun's daughter, who is eight years old now, has to live with her grandfather (on her mother's side) (Her grandparents on her father's side are too old to take care of her. Her grandmother on her mother's side had to take care of a three-year old granddaughter.) Now, her grandfather on her mother's side has been sent to a forced labour camp. Her father goes out to work daily at a construction job. He has to leave home early in the morning and comes back home very late at night and his working hours are very long. With no other options, this little girl, who is only a first grade elementary student, has to take care of herself. She carries a key to her home and during lunch time, she comes home and prepares instant noodles to eat.

We appeal to all people in the world to help put a stop to the behaviour of the Weifang local authorities.

Note

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