Shenyang City Practitioner Ms. Zhang Weidi Detained in Masanjia Forced Labour Camp

Ms. Zhang Weidi is a practitioner from Shenyang City, Liaoning Province. On July 4th, 2008, she was arrested in Fushun City and taken to a forced labour camp for two years. Ms. Zhang is currently being detained in Masanjia Forced Labour Camp, one of the most brutal forced labour camps in China. At this time, the labour camp officials are refusing to allow her family to visit her.

Ms. Zhang Weidi

Ms. Zhang, 56 years old, used to work in the educational field in Shenyang City. Later she founded a school. Around 1995, she had three car accidents in Guangzhou City and Shenyang City. As a result, she was no longer able to walk by herself and developed a facial muscle cramp as well as memory loss. She had to rely on IV injections and acupuncture just to stay alive. In 1998, someone introduced her to Falun Gong. Ms. Zhang's health recovered very quickly after she began the practice.

In May 2008, Ms. Zhang was forced to stay away from her own home. Officers with the Fushun City Police Department National Security Division, along with Shenyang City police, were secretly following her. After more than a month, many policemen appeared and arrested Ms. Zhang at the Mingyang Motor Vehicle Repair Shop. They also stole her personal property, including a computer and supplies for it, Falun Gong leaflets exposing the persecution, her bank book, cash totalling more than 7,000 yuan¹, and her car. Later, Ms. Zhang's family went to the Fushun City Police Department National Security Division many times to get her items back, but only some of them were returned.

Ms. Zhang was first detained in Fushun Detention Centre. Then she was taken to Masanjia Forced Labour Camp in Shenyang, one of the most brutal and ruthless forced labour camps in China, for two years. Even though her family has tried to see her several times, the Masanjia Labour Camp officials keep refusing to allow them to visit her. The whole time that Ms. Zhang has been detained, her mother, who is already over 80 years old, has been left on her own.

Before this, when Ms. Zhang and fellow practitioner Zhao Liping were distributing CDs exposing the persecution of Falun Gong at Nanta Electronic Market in 2004, they were arrested by two officers, Liu Guowei and Jin Yinde, from the Dongling District Industrial and Business Police Station: Ms. Zhang was then detained in Masanjia Forced Labour Camp. After being brutally tortured there, Ms. Zhang was in very poor physical condition when her family members were told to pick her up.

It is said that Masanjia Labour Camp is exhausting its resources to persecute Falun Gong practitioners. The authorities have recently refused to release any information about her. Her family and friends are all very worried.

Note

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

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2008/12/23/192083.html