Ms. Tan Xiangyu and Her Granddaughter Arrested by Changsha City Police

At around 9:00 p.m. on January 4th, 2010, Ms. Tan Xiangyu, a 63-year-old resident of the Tianxin District in Changsha City, was arrested on Shaoshan South Street by officers from the Yuhuating Police Station of Changsha City. Ms. Tan's 11-year-old granddaughter was also arrested, detained, and interrogated for about one hour at the police station before being released and taken home by her mother. Qi Qi was frightened and trembling throughout this ordeal.

Grandma and Granddaughter Arrested Together

On the evening of January 4th, 2010, Ms. Tan and her granddaughter, Qi Qi, were taking a stroll outside. When they reached Shaoshan South Street in Changsha City, officers from the Yuhuating Police Station arrested both of them and dragged them into a police vehicle, accusing Ms. Tan of posting Falun Gong stickers.

At the police station, Ms. Tan and Qi Qi were separated and interrogated. Ms. Tan was locked in a cell while Qi Qi was detained in a police station office. Neither disclosed her name in protest of the arrest and detention. At 10:00 p.m. that day, Qi Qi's mother heard about the arrests and went to the police station. She saw Qi Qi crying in the office where she was being held. Qi Qi was frightened and said to her mother, "I am so scared." She was quivering from head to toe. That night, she was forced to complete an interrogation transcript and was then released.

Even after returning home, Qi Qi was still so frightened that she could not sleep until after midnight. The second day, she couldn't go to school, fearing that the police would go to her school and defame her in front of her teachers and fellow students. Only after her mother comforted and encouraged her did Qi Qi return to school.

After Qi Qi was released from the police station, the police detained Ms. Tan for a night. On the afternoon of January 5, she was transferred to the Changsha City Detention Centre.

This Family Has Already Endured Much Suffering

During the past ten years that the Chinese Communist Party has been persecuting Falun Gong practitioners, Ms. Tan's otherwise happy family has suffered tremendously.

After the persecution began in July 1999, Ms. Tan and her husband, Mr. Xie Wutang, were arrested several times for continuing their practice of Falun Gong and exposing the persecution of Falun Gong to people. Their home was ransacked many times, and numerous personal belongings were confiscated. In December 2007, Mr. Xie Wutang, now in his 70s, was sentenced in a second trial in Changsha City Intermediate Court to four years and eight months in prison. He is in Wuling Prison in Changde City. Ms. Tan was detained at the Baimalong Forced Labour Camp in Zhuzhou City and Hunan Province Women's Prison, during which time she was tortured to the verge of death on three separate occasions.

Qi Qi was born in late 1998. She has witnessed police arrests and ransackings many times, which has done lasting damage to her innocent, young mind. She still gets scared whenever she sees police officers.

Ms. Tan's son and daughter both support their parents' practice of Falun Gong. Because Ms. Tan and Mr. Xie have been arrested and detained many times, their two children have suffered significantly from the pressure and hardship. Their mother has now been detained again. In the past their mother was tortured to the verge of death on three separate occasions before being released. Their father, Mr. Xie, is still in Wuling Prison and in poor health. He meets the requirements of bail for medical treatment, but he is still held against his will because he persists in practising Falun Gong and also refuses to write any statements to defame the practice.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2010/1/10/216023.html