Police from the Beijing Domestic Security Division Persecute Ms. Wang Ao

Around May 13th, 2008, Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Wang Ao was arrested by officers from the Domestic Security Division in the Chaoyang District, Beijing. She was sentenced to two years of forced labour.

Ms. Wang Ao, 57, graduated from the Philosophy Department at Beijing University years ago. She is a member of the China Democratic League. She was the deputy editor of the People's Publishing Agency before her retirement.

Ms. Wang started practising Falun Gong in 1994. After she began the practice, her illnesses disappeared and she maintained perfect attendance at work for seven consecutive years. This was a very rare accomplishment at her workplace.

Ms. Wang contributed to editing and publishing many books on health that were very well received. She also helped found many writers' groups of high academic standards, and she received several regional and national awards for her distinguished work.

Ms. Wang's father was an army general who worked in the 1970s as the Military Officer Consul at the Chinese Embassy in France.

Ms. Wang is well-known as a good person in her workplace and neighbourhood. She is also a veteran Falun Gong practitioner among practitioners.

On February 19th, 2001, police from the Domestic Security Division in Beijing and the vice president of People's Publishing Agency, Han Wufeng, arrested Ms. Wang because of her practice of Falun Gong. The persecutors grabbed her by her hair and dragged her into a vehicle. The violent arrest was witnessed by many people at her workplace.

On February 21st, 2001, Ms. Wang was transferred to Xin'an Women's Forced Labour Camp in Beijing, and forced to undergo brainwashing sessions. Guard Li Jirong of the Fourth Brigade ordered several collaborators¹ to assault Ms. Wang. The brutal beating left her with a protruded cervical vertebrae that resulted in pain in her neck, limbs and legs, and feelings of nausea and dizziness.

Her wrist, arms and back were black and purple with bruises. Ms. Wang requested a medical examination and to be allowed to rest. The guards ignored her request and kept torturing her. She was beaten, deprived of sleep, physically assaulted, body-searched and humiliated. Ms. Wang suffered mentally and physically from the prolonged abuse. She developed symptoms of headache, vomiting, loss of eyesight and fainting spells.

Later, Beijing Xiehe Hospital and several other hospitals each provided a medical diagnosis of Ms. Wang's injuries. According to a diagnosis by Beijing Chinese Medical Hospital, her cervical spine was injured, which triggered other illnesses. The hospital concluded from an MRI that cervical vertebrae C6 was dislocated, her C2 and C3 vertebra were pushed backwards, and C5 and C6 protruded, which resulted in pressure to her spinal cord and meninges. Ms. Wang was severely injured and her life was in danger.

Ms. Wang was also mentally traumatized. She showed such symptoms as slow reaction time, excess sleeping, reduced hearing ability and loss of memory. Sometimes she had illusions, inconsistent thoughts, showed difficulty expressing herself in writing, and shook uncontrollably. She eventually lost the ability to take care of her daily needs and was unable to work. After fifteen days in a brainwashing centre, she still refused to be "transformed²." Ms. Wang was transferred to the 7th Division of the Beijing City Public Security Bureau.

To look for a possible excuse to further persecute Ms. Wang, police officer Zhao Fenglin from the Beijing Domestic Security Division and others went to the home of practitioner Liu Guijin, who had been tortured to the point of being disabled. The persecutors questioned Liu Guijin while holding a list of 24 practitioners who had published open declarations of practising Falun Gong on the Minghui/Clearwisdom website, as well as a document to detain practitioner Liu Guipu, the third brother of Liu Guijin.

But the persecutors got nothing from Liu Guijin. They then went to question Liu Yi and Liu Xiuli, the children of Liu Guipu. Liu Guipu and his wife were imprisoned in forced labour camps for practising Falun Gong, and their two children lost living support and had no stable place to stay.

Later, police officer Zhao Fenglin went to Beijing and interrogated Ms. Liu Guifu, a sister of Liu Guijin. But he got nothing from her either.

The police took away Ms. Wang's husband, detained him for seven days and had him dismissed from his job. Ms. Wang's husband is not a practitioner.

Since the Domestic Security Division was unable to find any supporting evidence to further persecute Ms. Wang, she was released on bail for one year while waiting for a further court order on April 4th, 2001. The Domestic Security Division sent people to spy on Ms. Wang and seek chances to arrest more practitioners.

Ms. Wang was disabled from the torture while she was in detention. During the past seven years, she has kept appealing to the court, but has heard nothing. Ms. Wang has only a basic retirement compensation to support her and her husband. Sometimes they have had to look for discarded vegetables in the farmer's market to get through difficult times. But the police never stopped spying on and harassing Ms. Wang. In February 2003, while Ms. Wang went to a court to appeal, the police attempted to deceive her by asking her to have a meeting with them. Ms. Wang refused.

On May 13th-14th, 2008, Beijing City Domestic Security Division used the excuse of "security for the Olympic Games" to once again arrest Ms. Wang and ransack her house. Without any legal documents or procedures, the persecutors sentenced Ms. Wang to two years of forced labour.

Note

1. "Collaborators": former practitioners who have turned against Falun Gong under brainwashing and torture. They are then made to assist in brainwashing and torturing practitioners.

2. "Reform or Transform" Implementation of brainwashing and torture in order to force a practitioner to renounce Falun Gong. (Variations: "reform", "transform", "reformed", "reforming", "transformed", "transforming", and "transformation")

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2008/7/5/181479.html