Calling for My Mother's Immediate and Unconditional Release

To the Chief of the Anhui Province Women's Forced Labour Camp:

At this very moment, I should be reunited with my mother, whom I haven't seen for nearly three years. However, my innocent mother is still being held in your labour camp. She has been abused by officials from the Hefei City National Security Bureau and the city police department. Herewith, I demand that you immediately release my mother, Ma Jinhua, so that we can be reunited!

Who is Responsible for Interrupting the Lives of Everyday Citizens?

September 4th, 2008, marked the end of my family's peaceful life. Hefei City National Security Bureau officials were responsible for this dramatic state of affairs.

In September, my mother received a visa and a ticket and was going to visit my family in the US. Just before her departure, police officers from the Hefei National Security Bureau raided her home, on a mission to suppress Falun Gong. My mother, retired at the age of 56, was forced to endure a week-long secret interrogation and was then sentenced to one year of forced labour, all within just three weeks. Officials from the national security bureau and the police department collaborated to make this happen very quickly. She was sent to the Anhei Province Women's Forced Labour Camp. During this period, my mother was detained, had no freedom, and was allowed only limited visits from family members. All her legal papers for visiting the US were seized. Later, during an interrogation, officers from the National Security Bureau revealed that they had monitored calls to and from my parents' house for a long time.

Everything they did to my mother was illegal, absurd and inhuman. She is an everyday citizen, an older woman who believes in Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance.

Valid Evidence?

In order to send my mother to a forced labour camp, they claimed that she had committed three so-called crimes related to Falun Gong materials, quitting the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and having an overseas connection.

Let us to look at these three pieces of "evidence" that led to her sentence.

When officers from the national security bureau raided my parents' home, they found Falun Gong books. This was their first piece of "evidence of a crime." As you, the chief of the labour camp, and everyone else in the world, including Hong Kong and Taiwan, where Chinese is the main language--but except China--knows, Falun Gong materials and Falun Gong websites are legal to access and read. Why are the people in China the only ones not allowed to read Falun Gong books or visit Falun Gong websites?

On the other hand, if Falun Gong is not good, people can simply refuse to read its materials. There is no need to make such an effort to suppress it. If Falun Gong is good for people's health, both physically and mentally, since goodness is what people are seeking, the CCP may restrict its website and materials, but can it really restrict people's hearts?

Moreover, what's wrong with my mother following the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance and being a good person? She is over 50 years old and she has the right to choose what kind of person she wants to be. Why spend the people's money to "educate" her in a forced labour camp? What kind of person do you want her to be--a person with no soul and no mind, who lies and fights with heaven and earth?

Quitting the CCP is a personal choice. If a person feels that the CCP is good for him, then he will not withdraw from it no matter how persuasively others advise him. My mother is retired. She cannot and will never force others to quit the CCP. On the other hand, if someone wants to quit the CCP, who can prevent it? My mother has nothing to do with it.

As a matter of fact, it is the CCP's 610 Office¹ that is forcing people to change their minds by using all kinds of tactics. It disregards all the laws when Falun Gong practitioners are persecuted and when it tries to force them to give up their beliefs. Nowadays in China, those who persevere in practising Falun Gong are forced to attend brainwashing sessions and are held in detention centres, forced labour camps, and prisons. They are being deprived of their freedom and are even brutally tortured if they aren't willing to give up their beliefs.

Take my mother for example. From September 4th-28th, she had to endure a secret interrogation, forced brainwashing sessions, and forced labour. She was monitored even when she used the restroom. Where is there such a law? Where are her human rights?

Is talking to one's own daughter in the US is a criminal act? It sounds absurd, doesn't it?

My mother doesn't even know pinyin, not to mention a foreign language. Her purported "overseas connections" are merely the calls she made to me, her daughter. If the relationship of a mother and daughter is regarded as an "overseas connection" and evidence of criminal activity, I would like to ask those involved to explain the logic. In order to avoid such a connection, does one have to void the relationship between mother and daughter?

I would like to remind those involved that Anhui Province needs to catch up with the international trends in doing business with Westerners and having exchanges on technology or culture. Thinking in the style of the "Cultural Revolution" is no longer valid and should be discarded.

Another reminder, monitoring citizens' calls at will and for a long time is extremely immoral and illegal.

In summary, the three pieces of "evidence" that prevented my mother from visiting me in the US and had her sent to a labor camp are simply groundless. It shows the world that my mother is innocent.

Do You Know the Principle of "Goodness is Rewarded with Good, and Evil Meets Punishment?"

My mother is kind and righteous. She is not only a good wife and a good mother but also a good friend to me. She has been a wonderful influence on me. She taught me to think of others, look at the good side of others, and treat others with kindness. Because of her sincerity, she has good relationships. Whenever I encounter any conflicts in life, I always discuss them with my mother and get good advice from her. I always feel lucky and proud to have a mother like her.

I can't imagine that my mother is being subjected to such persecution after retiring. I haven't heard her voice for over a month. There is no way to know how much she is currently suffering.

My mother has a granddaughter. She is supposed to enjoy life at her age. How can she endure life in a labour camp? Who signed the document that sent her to this labour camp?

I again urge you, "Immediately release my mother! Let my mother and me be reunited!"

Wang Maqiong, the daughter of Ma Jinhua
October 9th, 2008
California, USA

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://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2008/10/12/187582.html